Brazil Rancher on Trial for (American) Nun Killing

Source: ABC/Associated Press

Brazil Rancher on Trial for Nun Killing
By MICHAEL ASTOR, Associated Press Writer

BELEM, Brazil - May 13, 2007 - A rancher goes to trial Monday for the killing of an American nun whose death while trying to save the Amazon rain forest now threatens to strip away the impunity of the region's often violent elite.
Vitalmiro Bastos Moura is one of two ranchers accused of ordering the 2005 killing of 73-year-old Dorothy Stang, a naturalized Brazilian originally from Dayton, Ohio.

She spent the last 23 years of her life in Anapu, a hardscrabble town on the edge of the Trans-Amazon Highway, where she helped build schools, taught settlers to defend their rights and to respect the rain forest - earning the enmity of powerful men who hoped to exploit it. She was slain by six bullets at close range on a muddy patch of road deep in Para state.

The gunman, his accomplice and an intermediary have been convicted in Stang's death, but Moura is the first alleged "mandante" - mastermind - to stand trial.
"If Moura is convicted, ranchers will think twice before ordering this kind of killing," said Jose Batista Afonso, a lawyer with the Roman Catholic Church's Land Pastoral, which defends the land rights of the poor.

Over the past 30 years, 1,237 rural workers, union leaders and activist have been killed in Brazilian land disputes. Of those killings, 772 took place in Para.


Read more: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=nation_world&id=5300688

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A real Christian. Aloha.

for her and all the others!
And for the forest!

And the photo of her dead body is searing.

I hope for more than justice. I hope for a change of consciousness. This is what this sweet goddess of the earth and defender of the poor would have wanted. Redemption! A spirit like that lives on. She lives in the people she helped. She lives in the forest animals and plants that she loved. She lives in all of us, and let us hope that her spirit now lives in the people who killed her, and in others like them whose empty greed drives them to such acts.

The violent deaths of Bishop Oscar Romero and the Catholic nuns who were raped and killed and left for dead on the road, in El Salvador, in the '80s, helped change U.S. policy in Latin America--and, gradually over the years, with an accumulation of such horrors, has led to a remarkable revolution for justice and democracy throughout the continent. Let us hope that something similar happens here. The Amazon is so critically important to preventing the death of planet earth. The World Wildlife Fund gives Earth 50 years--at present levels of consumption, pollution, deforestation and other ravages. 50 years to the DEATH of the planet! A miracle is needed. And maybe this saint of the Amazon will work one for us--or we will work one, collectively, in her honor.

But the exploiters and killers are still stalking the earth, and are once again in power in our own land. Bush's Undersecretary of State for Latin America, John Negroponte, was involved in death squad activity in Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua, in the '80s. And the criminal gang in the White House is, without a doubt, planning more horror for Latin America, and is complicit, and possibly directly involved, in the horrors in Colombia. This beautiful woman's death brings it home. We must not be complacent. We must work for that change of consciousness.

And the photo of her dead body is searing.

I hope for more than justice. I hope for a change of consciousness. This is what this sweet goddess of the earth and defender of the poor would have wanted. Redemption! A spirit like that lives on. She lives in the people she helped. She lives in the forest animals and plants that she loved. She lives in all of us, and let us hope that her spirit now lives in the people who killed her, and in others like them whose empty greed drives them to such acts.

The violent deaths of Bishop Oscar Romero and the Catholic nuns who were raped and killed and left for dead on the road, in El Salvador, in the '80s, helped change U.S. policy in Latin America--and, gradually over the years, with an accumulation of such horrors, has led to a remarkable revolution for justice and democracy throughout the continent. Let us hope that something similar happens here. The Amazon is so critically important to preventing the death of planet earth. The World Wildlife Fund gives Earth 50 years--at present levels of consumption, pollution, deforestation and other ravages. 50 years to the DEATH of the planet! A miracle is needed. And maybe this saint of the Amazon will work one for us--or we will work one, collectively, in her honor.

But the exploiters and killers are still stalking the earth, and are once again in power in our own land. Bush's Undersecretary of State for Latin America, John Negroponte, was involved in death squad activity in Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua, in the '80s. And the criminal gang in the White House is, without a doubt, planning more horror for Latin America, and is complicit, and possibly directly involved, in the horrors in Colombia. This beautiful woman's death brings it home. We must not be complacent. We must work for that change of consciousness.

Posted on Mon, May. 14, 2007
Rancher's trial begins in nun slaying
By MICHAEL ASTOR
Associated Press Writer



Andre Penner / AP Photo
Thomas Stang, brother of murdered nun Dorothy
Stang is seen during the trial of Vitalmiro
Bastos de Moura, one of two ranchers accused
of ordering her 2005 killing, in Belem, Brazil,
May 14, 2007.

BELEM, Brazil -- A rancher pleaded not guilty Monday to ordering the killing of American nun who died while trying to save the Amazon rain forest in a case that human rights activists see as a test of Brazil's commitment to halting violence over land.

Vitalmiro Bastos Moura is one of two ranchers accused of ordering the Feb. 12, 2005, murder of Dorothy Stang, a naturalized Brazilian originally from Dayton, Ohio, in a conflict over land he wanted to log and develop.

"I had no participation whatsoever," Moura, 36, told the judge in his opening statement, adding that he didn't even know Stang, who had been active in organizing poor settlers around the jungle town of Anapu for the last 23 years of her life.
(snip)

A gunman, his accomplice and a go-between have been convicted in the killing. The men, who are expected to testify, alleged that Moura and fellow rancher Regivaldo Galvao offered them $25,000 to kill Stang.

Wearing a black shirt and jeans, Moura defiantly told prosecutors he learned of the killing only after the gunmen fled to his ranch. He said he told them to leave and did not call police because doing so would only bring him trouble.

Moura also said he fled for 45 days shortly after Stang's death because police gave him no chance to explain himself without being arrested.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/915/story/105722.html



Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, right, arrives for his trial at the Justice Tribunal in Belem, Brazil, May 14, 2007. Bastos de Moura is one of two ranchers accused of ordering the 2005 killing of 73-year-old Dorothy Stang, a naturalized Brazilian originally from Dayton, Ohio. She was slain by six bullets at close range on a muddy patch of road deep in Para state in a dispute over land. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Brazil Identifies Four Suspects in US Nun Murder
Written by Francesco Neves
Sunday, 13 February 2005

~snip~
While ranchers who opposed her called the nun a terrorist, friends and admirers use to call her "the angel of the Trans-Amazon." The settlement where Stang was killed is part of sustainable development project run by the state government. She had been in the area since 1972 and had become a Brazilian citizen..

Loggers and ranchers have been encroaching on the area reserved for the peasants. Stang was known for telling small farmer not to sell or abandon, but to stay in their land and defend their rights,

The murder occurred in front of the land claimed by two property owners, Luis Angaretti and Regivaldo Galvão, known as "Taradão" (the big sex pervert).

Just hours after the nun's killing there was another similar murder. In the more recent case, a worker from a neighboring settlement was shot and killed by eight armed men, According to the police, the man was murdered in front of his wife and five children.

According to Brazilian police, two of the suspects were pistoleiros (hired guns) and the two other were the ones who paid for the murder. Pará's police also revealed that the American nun was killed with eight or nine bullets in the head and the thorax and died before she could be helped. Earlier information indicated that there were three shots.

Brazil's Human Rights Secretary, Nilmário Miranda, told reporters that the police wanted to wait before naming suspects, but added: "Everything indicates that a local rancher ordered the killing: the gunmen's links, the history of killing contracts in the area."

Saturday, Miranda had indicated that the presumed assassins were two killers known in the region as Eduardo and Fogoio.

Stang's death occurred nine days after she told Miranda that she had received death threats. "They did nothing to protect Dorothy," said Antonio Canuto, a leader of the Pastoral Land Commission, who worked with the American nun. "This government protects only big farmers," he added.
(snip/...)

http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/1428/54/

Only a strong socialist movement can provide land reforms, protect indigenous people and hold ranchers responsible for their atrocities.

Posted on Mon, May. 14, 2007
Gunman recants, clears rancher in death of American nun in Brazil
MICHAEL ASTOR
Associated Press

BELEM, Brazil - The gunman convicted of killing Dorothy Stang recanted previous testimony and claimed the rancher now on trial for giving orders to kill the American nun and rainforest defender did not offer him money to do it.

Testifying for the defense Monday, Rayfran das Neves Sales told the court he acted out of rage when he fired six shots into Stang at close range on a muddy stretch of road in the Amazon rainforest in February 2005.

"She (Stang) spoke in a loud voice and at that moment I felt threatened," said Sales, adding he fled after the killing to Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura's ranch because it was the only place to run. "When I got there he asked, did I tell you to do this and I told him 'no.'"
(snip)

The men have all alleged at one time or another that Moura and fellow rancher Regivaldo Galvao offered them $25,000 to kill Stang. But prosecutors now expect them all to recant earlier testimony in an attempt to free Moura.

"They can recant but if they do they will have no credibility," said prosecutors Edson Souza.
(snip)

Stang's brother, David, who was attending the trial with his twin brother, Thomas, said he was worried about the outcome of the case. "I'm concerned there's a different climate in the courtroom than at the earlier trials," Stang said. "It's obvious this guy (Moura) has money and power and he's not afraid. He's standing up and telling the prosecutors he knows nothing."
(snip/...)

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/17226389.htm






Rancher Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura

Source: Associated Press

Brazil man guilty in killing of US nun

9 minutes ago

BELEM, Brazil - A Brazilian rancher was found guilty Tuesday of ordering
the killing of American nun and rain forest defender Dorothy Stang, a
judge announced following a two-day trial.

Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura was convicted of masterminding the killing
of 73-year-old Dorothy Stang, on Feb. 12, 2005, along a muddy stretch
of road deep in the rain forest.

Judge Raymond Moises Alves Flexa sentenced Moura to 30 years in prison,
the maximum sentence in a case seen as a crucial test of whether the
government could crack down on lawlessness in the Amazon.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070515/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/brazil_missionary_killed

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Earlier (conflicting, premature) AP headline: Rancher Cleared in Brazil Killing of Nun

condenado a 30 anos de prisão, muito bem!!!

The others were sentenced accordingly as well, but Moura got the harshest sentence, deservedly so:

(snip) (em português)

"Em 2005, os pistoleiros Raifran das Neves Sales e Clodoaldo Carlos Batista foram condenados a 27 e 17 anos de reclusão, respectivamente. Amair Feijoli da Cunha, o Tato, acusado de contratar os pistoleiros, foi condenado em 2006 a 27 anos de prisão, mas foi beneficiado com redução de um terço da pena, por delação premiada."

http://vejaonline.abril.com.br/notitia/servlet/newstorm.ns.presentation.NavigationServlet?publicationCode=1&pageCode=1&textCode=126648&date=currentDate

I was so worried that so much money was changing hands that somehow the trial was going to be bought, and the monster released to do this again, and again.

From your article:

....a case seen as a crucial test of whether the government could crack down on lawlessness in the Amazon.
(snip)

These guys have been their own law so long it really looked as if the governmnent was powerless there.

What a breakthrough for hope itself.

Rancher Guilty in Killing of U.S. Nun

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

A Brazilian rancher was convicted Tuesday of ordering the killing of an American nun and rain forest defender in a case seen as an important test of justice in the largely lawless Amazon region. A judge sentenced him to 30 years in prison.

A jury voted 5-2 to convict Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura of masterminding the shooting of 73-year-old Dorothy Stang on Feb. 12, 2005 deep in the rain forest that she had been working decades to defend.

Judge Raymond Moises Alves Flexa said Moura "showed a violent personality unsuited to living in society," adding that the "killing was carried out in violent and cowardly manner." The sentence is the maximum in Brazil, which does not have the death penalty.

Stang's brother David, who flew to Brazil for the two-day trial, trembled and wept after the verdict. "Justice was done," he said. He expressed hope that another rancher accused of ordering his sister's killing, Regivaldo Galvao, might soon be tried. Galvao is free on bail while his lawyers file motions to avoid prosecution.

Stang, a naturalized Brazilian originally from Dayton, Ohio, helped build schools and was among the activists who worked to defend the rights of impoverished farmers in the Amazon region. She also attempted to halt the rampant jungle clearing by loggers and ranchers that has destroyed some 20 percent of the forest cover.

More:
http://www.townhall.com/News/NewsArticle.aspx?contentGUID=88d09bcc-a2e8-489a-a8bf-263b77033102



The two contracted assassins, Raifran das Neves Sales and Clodoaldo Carlos Batista.