These organizations are denouncing the situation of vulnerability faced by natural resources advocates every day.

ALER’s correspondent in Pará State, Joelma Viana, interviewed members of the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), who warned about the possibility of more crimes against environmental activists happening in the future, because many of these murders are still unpunished.

A few months ago, the CPT had warned that 30 people were facing death threats in Pará. Despite this, they did not have police protection. Today, the number went down to 28 people, because José Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and María do Espírito Santo –a couple known for their struggle for land- were shot and killed on May 24, 2011.

In the case of Rondonia State, where Adelino Ramos died, the CPT estimates that there are approximately 100 people who received threats for exposing illegal logging practices.

In the report, ALER’s correspondent demands urgent actions by the Prosecutor’s Office, and a thorough investigation of these tragic events. She also points out that the deaths of people defending the environment “are an extremely serious thing that causes concern all over the world.”

Pará’s figures are extremely concerning: of the 555 murders that took place in the countryside in Brazil from 1996 to 2010, 41.6% (231) occurred in Pará, according to the CPT.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/madame_jo/