Coordinates: 10°39′07″S 68°30′14″W / 10.65194°S 68.50389°W / -10.65194; -68.50389

Xapuri
Church of Saint Sebastian.
Flag Coat of arms
Location of municipality in Acre State
Xapuri Location in Brazil
Coordinates: 10°39′07″S 68°30′14″W / 10.65194°S 68.50389°W / -10.65194; -68.50389
Country	Brazil
State	Acre
Area
• Total	2,027 sq mi (5,251 km2)
Population (2007)
• Total	14 314

Xapuri is a municipality located in the southeast of the Brazilian state of Acre. Its population is 14 314 and its area is 5,251 km² and it is also known under the nickname "City of Chico Mendes" ("Cidade de Chico Mendes" in portuguese)

History[link]

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Foundation of the municipality[link]

The city was founded in the early 20th century, there is controversy regarding the exact date of its foundation. Some historians cite Brazil August 22, 1904, others April 23, 1903, 23 October 1904 and March 22, 1904. The government of Acre and the local council use on March 22, 1904 as the year of foundation for the festive activities of the city.

References[link]

v t e Municipalities of Acre Capital: Rio Branco Brasiléia Assis Brasil Brasiléia Epitaciolândia Xapuri Rio Branco Acrelândia Bujari Capixaba Plácido de Castro Porto Acre Rio Branco Senador Guiomard Sena Madureira Manoel Urbano Santa Rosa do Purus Sena Madureira Cruzeiro do Sul Cruzeiro do Sul Mâncio Lima Marechal Thaumaturgo Porto Walter Rodrigues Alves Tarauacá Feijó Jordão Tarauacá

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Chico Mendes
Born	(1944-12-15)December 15, 1944 Xapuri, Brazil
Died	December 22, 1988(1988-12-22) (aged 44) Xapuri, Brazil
Cause of death	Murdered by Darly Alves Da Silva
Occupation	Social activist
Children	Angela Mendes Elenira Mendes Sandino Mendes

Francisco Alves Mendes Filho,^[1] better known as Chico Mendes (December 15, 1944 – December 22, 1988), was a Brazilian rubber tapper, trade union leader and environmentalist. He fought to preserve the Amazon rainforest, and advocated for the human rights of Brazilian peasants and indigenous peoples. He was assassinated by a rancher on December 22, 1988. The Chico Mendes Institute for Conservation of Biodiversity (Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade), a body under the jurisdiction of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment, is named in his honor.

Early life[link]

Francisco "Chico" Alves Mendes Filho was born on December 15, 1944 in the town of Seringal Santa Fé, outside of Xapuri. He was the son of a second-generation rubber tapper, Francisco Mendes, and his wife, Irâce.^[2] Chico was one of 17 siblings—only six of whom survived childhood.^[3]

At age 9, Chico began work as a rubber tapper.^[4] Schools were generally prohibited on the rubber plantations. The owners did not want the workers being able to read and do arithmetic, because they would then be likely to discover they were being exploited. Mendes did not learn to read until he was 18 years old.^[5]

Activism[link]

Chico Mendes with his children

"At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realise I am fighting for humanity."

—Chico Mendes

To save the rainforest, Chico Mendes and the rubber workers union asked the government to set up reserves as they wanted people to use the forest without damaging it.

^[6]

The Xapuri Rubber Tappers Union was created in 1970, and Chico was elected as its president.^[7]

Mendes played a central role in the creation of the National Council of Rubber Tappers in the mid-1980s.^[8] Mendes' group also had strong ties with the National Campaign for the Defense and Development of the Amazon, and helped locally organize Workers' Party support.^[9]

When the first meeting of this new union was held in 1985, in the capital Brasilia, rubber tappers from all over the country came. The discussion expanded from the threats to their own livelihoods to the larger issues of deforestation, road paving, and cattle ranching. The meeting also had the effect of catching the attention of the international environmentalist movement, and highlighting their plight to a larger audience. The group embraced a larger alliance with environmentalism, rather than strict Marxism, in spite of the bourgeois associations of the former.^[10] Another result of these discussions was the coining of the concept and the term "extractive reserves".^[11] In November of that year, Adrian Cowell, an English filmmaker, filmed much of the proceedings of this meeting as part of a documentary he was making about Mendes, which aired in 1990.^[12]

Mendes believed that relying on rubber tapping alone was not sustainable, and that the seringueiros needed to develop more holistic, cooperative systems that used a variety of forest products, such as nuts, fruit, oil, and fibers; and that they needed to focus on building strong communities with quality education for their children.^[13]

In March 1987, the Environmental Defense Fund and National Wildlife Federation flew Mendes to Washington, D.C. in an attempt to convince the Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank, and U.S. Congress to support the creation of extractive reserves.^[14]

Mendes won several awards for his work, including the United Nations Environmental Program Global 500 Roll of Honor Award in 1987, and the National Wildlife Federation's National Conservation Achievement Award in 1988.^[15]

In 1988, Mendes launched a campaign to stop rancher Darly Alves da Silva from logging an area that was planned as a reserve. Mendes not only managed to stop the planned deforestation and create the reserve,^{[citation needed]} but also gained a warrant for Darly's arrest, for a murder committed in another state. He delivered the warrant to the federal police, but it was never acted upon.^[10]

In 1987 a man called Darly Alves Da Silva bought the plantation where the rubber workers union were working and tried to drive us off the land to build a ranch. We stood firm and the government made it into a reserve.

Assassination[link]

On the evening of Thursday, December 22, 1988, Mendes was assassinated in his Xapuri home by Darly Alves da Silva, a rancher. The shooting took place exactly one week after Mendes' 44th birthday, when he had predicted he would "not live until Christmas". Mendes was the 19th rural activist to be murdered that year in Brazil.^[16] Many felt that although the trial was proceeding against the actual killers, that the role of the ranchers' union, the Rural Democratic Union, and the Brazilian Federal Police was ignored.^[17]

In December, 1990, rancher Darly Alves da Silva, his son Darly Alves da Silva Jr., and their ranch hand, Jerdeir Pereia, were sentenced to 19 years in prison for their part in Mendes' assassination. In February, 1992, they won a retrial, claiming that the prosecution's primary witness (Chico's wife) was biased. The conviction was upheld, and they remained in prison. In 1993, they escaped from jail, along with seven other prisoners, by sawing through the bars of their prison window. All were recaptured, except for Darly Jr., who was as of 2004 still at large.^[18]

Mendes' murder made international headlines, and led to an outpouring of support for the rubber tappers' and environmental movements. In March 1989, a third meeting was held for the National Council of Rubber Tappers, and the Alliance of Forest Peoples was created to protect rubber tappers, rural workers, and indigenous peoples from encroachment on traditional lands.^[19]

Thanks in part to the international media attention surrounding the murder, the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve was created in the area where he lived. More than 20 such reserves, along the same lines as Mendes had proposed, now cover more than 8 million acres (32,000 km²).^{[citation needed]}

The musical group Maná made a song about the death of Mendes. The song was titled "Cuando los Ángeles Lloran", referring to Mendes as an angel that has died. Sir Paul McCartney dedicated the song "How Many People" from his 1989 album Flowers In The Dirt to the memory of Mendes.

Mendes was portrayed by Raul Julia in the 1994 telemovie The Burning Season.

See also[link]

	Brazil portal
	Biography portal

• Dorothy Stang
• Environment of Brazil
• Rubber tree
• Vicente Canas
• Wilson Pinheiro

References[link]

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Revkin, Andrew (2004). The burning season: the murder of Chico Mendes and the fight for the Amazon rain forest. Island Press. ISBN 978-1-55963-089-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=gvwC4Ojo9fEC. 

Further reading[link]

• Revkin, Andrew (2008-12-22). "The Uncertain Legacy of Chico Mendes". New York Times. http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/the-uncertain-legacy-of-chico-mendes/. 
• Rodrigues, Gomercindo & Rabben, Linda (2007). Walking the forest with Chico Mendes: struggle for justice in the Amazon. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71705-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=vf6JglqhNpgC. 

External links[link]

• Website and documentary about Chico Mendes
• Voice of the Amazon -- Award-winning documentary about Chico's life and death
• Children of the Amazon -- Official website of the documentary film
• Living With Chico Mendes -- Documentary from the BBC World Service
• Extractive Reserve Baixo Rio Branco - Rio Jauaperi