This Day in History: 1944-12-15

Chico Mendez founder of the Brazilian “tapero” movement and a major figure in world environmental history was born this day in 1944. (He is pictured here with his wife Illsamar in 1988). Mendez organized a union of rubber tappers and insisted that the Amazon could be saved and yet also be economically useful. He once said: “At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realize I am fighting for humanity.” Mendez was assassinated December 22, 1988 by a group of ranchers whose vision for Amazonian development did not include preservation of the forests. The assassins were convicted and sentenced to prison terms. Although Mendez was only one of 19 activists assassinated in Brazil that year, his death made international headlines.