Another resident of Brazil's Amazon has been shot dead in the sixth such murder over land disputes in the region in the past three weeks, a church-linked Pastoral Land Commission said Tuesday.
Obede Loyla Souza, a 31-year-old father of three, was apparently "killed because he denounced illegal logging," said a spokeswoman for the commission, Cristiane Passos.
The man was shot in the head close to a camp in Pacaja, a village in the state of Para, the epicenter of Brazil's violent struggle between those illegally razing Amazon forest and those staking a rival claim to it or seeking to preserve it.
Souza was killed June 9 but his body was not found until two days later. Officials halted his burial to have his body sent to the city of Belem for an autopsy, the Pastoral Land Commission said.
The commission has published a list of 125 environmentalists or farmers who have received death threats because of their efforts to stop deforestation, but Brazil's government has said it is unable to protect all of them.
Amnesty International last week called on Brazil's authorities to put an end to the murders, and to the impunity the killers enjoy.
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Google
