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Rancher Found Guilty of Ordereing Nun's Killing in Amazon
Via NY Transfer News Collective All the News that Doesn't Fit
[Some related articles (among many) are listed below; others who were
apparently hired by this landowner have already been tried and found
guilty, but this trial was important because it finally brought to justice
a member of the previously immune oligarchy. Naturally, Pope Rat had
nothing to say abut Dorothy Stang in his just-concluded visit to Brazil.
- -NY Transfer]
American Nun, 74, Shot in Brazil's Amazon 2/13/05
http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20050207/013180.html
Rainforest Martyr: Her Life, Death and Passionate Cause 2/15/05
http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20050214/013291.html
[Numerous articles follow on the surrender, subsequent trial and
sentencing of several Brazilians accused in the killing.]
As Pope Heads to Brazil, a Rival Theology Persists 5/10/07
http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20070507/062245.html
Los Angeles Times via Truthout - may 16, 2007
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051607I.shtml
Brazilian Rancher Guilty in Nun's Slaying
By Patrick J. McDonnell
Belem, Brazil - A jury convicted a rancher Tuesday of ordering the
slaying of Sister Dorothy Stang, an elderly U.S. missionary who championed
the cause of the Amazon's landless peasants.
The verdict was met here with celebratory music, tearful embraces and
thunderous applause among farmers gathered in a public square. Human
rights experts hailed the decision as a long-awaited break from years of
impunity enjoyed by large landowners in the rainforest region.
"Maybe this is the beginning of justice," said Romeiro Batista
Medeiros, a councilman for the Amazonian town of Anapu, where Stang had
lived for more than two decades and had become legendary as a defender of
the poor and landless.
Medeiros was among the hundreds who had put up a tent city, "Camp
Dorothy Lives," in the plaza across from the courthouse where jurors heard
the case against Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, the rancher accused of being
one of the masterminds of Stang's slaying in February 2005.
"Impunity's reign ends with this conviction," declared Marselha
Goncalves Margerin, who monitored the case here for the Washington-based
RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights.
In a region where land disputes have caused revolution and civil war,
Brazil stands out for its sharp disparities in ownership of arable land.
Disputes have spawned hundreds of killings in the lawless Amazon, most of
which go unresolved. Cattlemen and ranchers involved in land seizures or
evictions of peasants are widely believed to be behind the slayings.
In the past three decades, authorities said, only a handful of
convictions have resulted from almost 800 known killings arising from land
conflicts.
Following the jury's verdict, a judge sentenced de Moura to the
maximum prison term of 30 years. Stang, 73, was shot six times at point
blank range on a muddy track five hours' drive from her home in Anapu, a
sprawling settlement of 30,000 at the edge of the rain forest. The last
five bullets hit her when she was already on the ground, investigators
said. The judge labeled the crime "cowardly."
Two of Stang's brothers, both ex-priests, came from the United States
to witness the trial. The family initially had faced some hostility here
in the capital of Para state, notoriously under the sway of cattlemen and
lumber interests eager to exploit the rain forests.
"I just hope this opens up the door to justice in so many other cases
of violence against the poor farmers of the Amazon," said David Stang, 69,
a former Maryknoll missionary in Africa.
The family had been disappointed that Pope Benedict XVI had not
mentioned Stang in his recent visit to Brazil. She was associated with an
politically-tinged activist wing of the Catholic church, sometimes called
Liberation Theology, that the pope has tried hard to stamp out.
"The pope didn't recognize the miracle of Dorothy's life, but the
people of Anapu sure did," said Thomas Stang, a teacher from Los Angeles.
"For me, Dorothy was a shepherd, and these people were her flock."
The Stangs and nuns of Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Sister
Dorothy's order, were mobbed by the Amazonian farmers as they descended
the stairs of the courthouse and crossed the street into the plaza. An
electric guitar played La Bamba as a mass celebration erupted in the
square provisionally named after the slain nun and filled with posters
bearing likenesses of Stang. A tropical downpour didn't douse the
exhilaration.
"Maybe all these people will finally have some peace," said Sister
Jane Dwyer, 66, who lived with Stang for almost a decade in Anapu.
The conviction of de Moura was far from assured in a state that is a
base for land owners who forge deeds and clear-cut rain forest for cattle
ranching and timber.
When she was killed, Stang was attempting to sort out a dispute
involving peasants in a jungle clearing who had been granted legal rights
to a patch of land but were under threat from cattlemen. Ranchers had
torched a dozen of the peasants' houses just before she arrived to the
settlement, authorities say.
In earlier testimony, three men already serving lengthy prison terms
in connection with the slaying recanted testimony implicating de Moura.
Authorities charged that de Moura and an accomplice paid $25,000 to have
the troublesome "old woman" killed.
At the trial, a convicted gunman testified that he felt "threatened"
by the petite nun, a suggestion denounced as absurd by her family and
friends, who said the nun was dedicated to non-violent protest.
De Moura had denied knowing Stang, although he acknowledged providing
shelter to the gunman and accomplices after the slaying and then going on
the lam for 45 days.
A defense attorney, Americo Leal, recounted episodes from U.S. history
such as the dropping of the atomic bomb in Japan and the detention of
prisoners in Guantanamo to bolster his allegation that the U.S.-born nun
"shares this DNA of violence."
But the argument didn't persuade the jury of seven Brazilian citizens,
which voted 5-2 for conviction, sufficient under Brazilian law.
Another rancher, Regivaldo Galvao, is accused of being a
co-conspirator in the crime. He remains free on bail.
Following the slaying, a government report cited a "consortium" of
plotters it believed was behind the crime.
"We want to see the whole consortium of killers in the Amazon face
justice," said David Stang. "My sister was just one victim among the
hundreds. But this is a start."
Special correspondent Marcelo Soares in Sco Paulo contributed to this
report.
================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Search Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/htdig/search.html
List Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
Subscribe: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
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Hash: SHA1
Rancher Found Guilty of Ordereing Nun's Killing in Amazon
Via NY Transfer News Collective All the News that Doesn't Fit
[Some related articles (among many) are listed below; others who were
apparently hired by this landowner have already been tried and found
guilty, but this trial was important because it finally brought to justice
a member of the previously immune oligarchy. Naturally, Pope Rat had
nothing to say abut Dorothy Stang in his just-concluded visit to Brazil.
- -NY Transfer]
American Nun, 74, Shot in Brazil's Amazon 2/13/05
http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20050207/013180.html
Rainforest Martyr: Her Life, Death and Passionate Cause 2/15/05
http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20050214/013291.html
[Numerous articles follow on the surrender, subsequent trial and
sentencing of several Brazilians accused in the killing.]
As Pope Heads to Brazil, a Rival Theology Persists 5/10/07
http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20070507/062245.html
Los Angeles Times via Truthout - may 16, 2007
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051607I.shtml
Brazilian Rancher Guilty in Nun's Slaying
By Patrick J. McDonnell
Belem, Brazil - A jury convicted a rancher Tuesday of ordering the
slaying of Sister Dorothy Stang, an elderly U.S. missionary who championed
the cause of the Amazon's landless peasants.
The verdict was met here with celebratory music, tearful embraces and
thunderous applause among farmers gathered in a public square. Human
rights experts hailed the decision as a long-awaited break from years of
impunity enjoyed by large landowners in the rainforest region.
"Maybe this is the beginning of justice," said Romeiro Batista
Medeiros, a councilman for the Amazonian town of Anapu, where Stang had
lived for more than two decades and had become legendary as a defender of
the poor and landless.
Medeiros was among the hundreds who had put up a tent city, "Camp
Dorothy Lives," in the plaza across from the courthouse where jurors heard
the case against Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, the rancher accused of being
one of the masterminds of Stang's slaying in February 2005.
"Impunity's reign ends with this conviction," declared Marselha
Goncalves Margerin, who monitored the case here for the Washington-based
RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights.
In a region where land disputes have caused revolution and civil war,
Brazil stands out for its sharp disparities in ownership of arable land.
Disputes have spawned hundreds of killings in the lawless Amazon, most of
which go unresolved. Cattlemen and ranchers involved in land seizures or
evictions of peasants are widely believed to be behind the slayings.
In the past three decades, authorities said, only a handful of
convictions have resulted from almost 800 known killings arising from land
conflicts.
Following the jury's verdict, a judge sentenced de Moura to the
maximum prison term of 30 years. Stang, 73, was shot six times at point
blank range on a muddy track five hours' drive from her home in Anapu, a
sprawling settlement of 30,000 at the edge of the rain forest. The last
five bullets hit her when she was already on the ground, investigators
said. The judge labeled the crime "cowardly."
Two of Stang's brothers, both ex-priests, came from the United States
to witness the trial. The family initially had faced some hostility here
in the capital of Para state, notoriously under the sway of cattlemen and
lumber interests eager to exploit the rain forests.
"I just hope this opens up the door to justice in so many other cases
of violence against the poor farmers of the Amazon," said David Stang, 69,
a former Maryknoll missionary in Africa.
The family had been disappointed that Pope Benedict XVI had not
mentioned Stang in his recent visit to Brazil. She was associated with an
politically-tinged activist wing of the Catholic church, sometimes called
Liberation Theology, that the pope has tried hard to stamp out.
"The pope didn't recognize the miracle of Dorothy's life, but the
people of Anapu sure did," said Thomas Stang, a teacher from Los Angeles.
"For me, Dorothy was a shepherd, and these people were her flock."
The Stangs and nuns of Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, Sister
Dorothy's order, were mobbed by the Amazonian farmers as they descended
the stairs of the courthouse and crossed the street into the plaza. An
electric guitar played La Bamba as a mass celebration erupted in the
square provisionally named after the slain nun and filled with posters
bearing likenesses of Stang. A tropical downpour didn't douse the
exhilaration.
"Maybe all these people will finally have some peace," said Sister
Jane Dwyer, 66, who lived with Stang for almost a decade in Anapu.
The conviction of de Moura was far from assured in a state that is a
base for land owners who forge deeds and clear-cut rain forest for cattle
ranching and timber.
When she was killed, Stang was attempting to sort out a dispute
involving peasants in a jungle clearing who had been granted legal rights
to a patch of land but were under threat from cattlemen. Ranchers had
torched a dozen of the peasants' houses just before she arrived to the
settlement, authorities say.
In earlier testimony, three men already serving lengthy prison terms
in connection with the slaying recanted testimony implicating de Moura.
Authorities charged that de Moura and an accomplice paid $25,000 to have
the troublesome "old woman" killed.
At the trial, a convicted gunman testified that he felt "threatened"
by the petite nun, a suggestion denounced as absurd by her family and
friends, who said the nun was dedicated to non-violent protest.
De Moura had denied knowing Stang, although he acknowledged providing
shelter to the gunman and accomplices after the slaying and then going on
the lam for 45 days.
A defense attorney, Americo Leal, recounted episodes from U.S. history
such as the dropping of the atomic bomb in Japan and the detention of
prisoners in Guantanamo to bolster his allegation that the U.S.-born nun
"shares this DNA of violence."
But the argument didn't persuade the jury of seven Brazilian citizens,
which voted 5-2 for conviction, sufficient under Brazilian law.
Another rancher, Regivaldo Galvao, is accused of being a
co-conspirator in the crime. He remains free on bail.
Following the slaying, a government report cited a "consortium" of
plotters it believed was behind the crime.
"We want to see the whole consortium of killers in the Amazon face
justice," said David Stang. "My sister was just one victim among the
hundreds. But this is a start."
Special correspondent Marcelo Soares in Sco Paulo contributed to this
report.
================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Search Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/htdig/search.html
List Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
Subscribe: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
================================================================
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