Environmentalist, Chico Mendes, takes his message to the national and international stages, where he finds both support and increased threat of violence.
Chico takes his message to the national and international stages, where he finds both support and increased threat of violence. Jim and Graham take a look at the larger drivers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. It ends at the beginning, with Chico’s murder.
Sources:
[music]
Jim VO: In March of 1985, Brazil’s dictatorship collapsed and the country was in political turmoil.
The burning in the Amazon reached a frenzied pace as ranchers and developers rushed to
capitalize on the chaos, leveling trees and displacing Amazonian communities at an
unprecedented rate. (Rodrigues, Walking the Forest)
There was a new level of pressure on Chico Mendes, the rubber rappers, and the indigenous
populations in Acre (Rodrigues, Walking the Forest).
And violence in the Amazon was at an all-time high, with criminal groups like the Alves family
reaching the height of their fire power and political influence. It was a perilous time. (Rodrigues,
Walking the Forest)
[music transition]
Jim VO: That was when Chico met an American anthropologist named Stephan Schwartzman.
(Revkin, The Burning Season)
010920 Stephan Schwartzman Int_Part 1:
I first met Chico Mendes at the first national meeting of rubber tappers in Brasilia in October
1985. And I came as an anthropologist who had worked with indigenous peoples in the Amazon
and was beginning to become involved with international environmental initiatives. And it was a
real revelation, I have to say.
Jim VO: Over the next few years, Stephan became one of Chico’s most important allies and
greatest friends from outside Brazil, alongside Brazilian anthropologist Mary Allegretti. (Revkin,
The Burning Season)
When Stephan came onto the scene, Chico was at the top of his game. He’d recently formed
new relationships with indigenous groups and fully galvanized the people of the forest into a
unified front. He was no longer rolling with the punches, but delivering his own, organizing
protests and events in Brazil’s big cities like Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro, where he received
the key to the city. (Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the Rainforest)
Chico recognized that his strong suit was not poetry or statesmanship, never grandstanding or
pushing his weight around, but thoughtfully organizing. He had become an expert diplomat - the
person who could round people up and get them talking. Most importantly, he could get them to
act. (Revkin, The Burning Season)
010920 Stephan Schwartzman Int_Part 1:
Chico was the nicest guy you could ever want to meet. It took me a long time, I think long after
his death, to really begin to appreciate the subtlety and sophistication, that power, of his political
vision for the Amazon.
At the time it seemed almost natural, but looking back Chico was a very brilliant guy and I'm
very honored to have known him and been able to work with him.
Jim VO: Stephan began to recognize the power and influence that Chico could have on the
whole world, not just Brazil, and proposed a number of international trips (Schwartzman
Interview, 2020).
010920 Stephan Schwartzman Int_Part 1:
I explained the opportunity and said, "Look, you know, we manage this through the Congress,
the Treasury Department, and get the World Bank to suspend this loan, I think something like
that could work with the IDP's project in Acre, but if you come with us and help set this off,
what's that going to mean for you? Is this going to put you in more danger than you're already
in"? And Chico immediately responded, "Look, what's going on here is a war. It can't get any
worse. Let's go".
Jim Aikman: 25:59 Wow.
Steve: 26:02 So we did.
[Theme Song]
Intro Monologue:
Graham VO: Welcome to Wildfire, a six-part podcast series about fire in our world’s natural
spaces. In this season, we’re looking at the fires in the Amazon Rainforest and the story of
Chico Mendes. I’m your host, Graham Zimmerman, joined by Jim Aikman.
In the last episode, we learned about the incredible relationship that the indigenous
communities in the Amazon have had with the forest for thousands of years. We then saw it first
hand when we visited the Surui people (Surui, Save the Planet).
Finally, we heard how Chico Mendes formed an alliance between the rubber tappers and
indigenous people, putting to rest hundreds of years of hostility between their communities and
uniting them against the developers (Revkin, The Burning Season).
In this episode, Chico will take all his skills, connections, and ideas to the end of the line,
traveling the world and making change (Revkin, The Burning Season). We’ll also meet his
youngest daughter, Elenira Mendes.
And Jim and I will be back in Xapuri, looking for a better understanding of the events that led up
to Chico’s murder.
Thanks for joining us on episode five of Wildfire.
Body Block 1:
Jim VO: It didn’t take long for Chico to fully commit to Stephan’s travel proposal, and started
scheduling his first trips abroad. From 1985 to 1988, he was exposed to new ideas by scientists
and activists from around the world who introduced him to the notion of environmentalism - the
idea of protecting the forest as a necessary part of preserving the entire planet’s healthy
ecosystems (Revkin, The Burning Season). Chico’s new indigenous allies had approached the
forest this way for millenia and shared much of this wisdom with him (Mendes, Spin), but it was
a new idea to the tappers. Until then, Chico had only considered himself a humanitarian - but
now, he realized how much bigger the world was than his local rubber estates, and how
valuable that message would be for bringing support from the rest of the world. He needed the
environmentalists - and they needed him. (Mendes, Spin)
Chico was finally ready to save the forests themselves, and not just the people in them. In his
book, he wrote: “I became an ecologist long before I ever heard the word.” (Mendes, Fight for
the Forest)
This new breakthrough allowed him to tap into environmental organizations, such as the
National Wildlife Federation and their half a billion dollar budget, which was a lot in 1985.
(Revkin, The Burning Season)
010920 Stephan Schwartzman Int_Part 1:
And that really changed the way that people in Brazil think about deforestation and it helped to
catapult the issue of deforestation in the Amazon to international prominence. I think it's fitting
that people are concerned about the burning of the Amazon. It is an issue of global importance
just as emissions from the US transport sector or our energy sector is an issue of global
importance. We only have one atmosphere on this planet and we need to work together to save
it.
Jim: Of course. And reading about in the 80s with international banks, US banks, basically
financing the deforestation in the Amazon is just horrific.
Steve: Yeah, that was one piece of what was going on. It was certainly a piece that we focused
on quite closely because we felt that it gave us some leverage and some influence
Jim VO: Chico began travelling constantly, spending more time abroad than he was on his
beloved rubber trails. (Revkin, The Burning Season)
010920 Stephan Schwartzman Int_Part 1:
“I had been working with several environmental organizations in the US on these internationally
financed development projects, including a road that was being financed by the Inter-American
Development Bank in Acre. So we saw the opportunity to influence that project by bringing
Chico to the Inter-American Development Bank's annual meeting in Miami in 1987. And then to
talk with some people in Capitol Hill,
Jim VO: Chico went to Washington DC to speak with Democratic Senators and The United
States Senate Finance Committee; met with executive directors at the Bank of Japan, and the
Bank of Sweden; he was warmly received in England by lawmakers and diplomats; and he
received the Protection of the Environmental Medal from the Better World Society, grants from
the Ford Foundation and Gaia Foundation, and was featured in world publications like the New
Yorker. (Revkin, The Burning Season) (Miranda Smith Interview with Chico Mendes, 1988)
010920 Stephan Schwartzman Int_Part 1:
he made, let's see, one trip to Nairobi to receive the United Nations Global 500 Environmental
Award. In '86 if I'm not mistaken. Then in '87 he was in the US twice
Jim VO: The world was starting to notice Chico Mendes (Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the
Rainforest). This wasn’t the game of checkers that he played with his bodyguards back home -
this was chess, strategically positioning the media, big banks and environmental groups around
the world (Revkin, The Burning Season).
And he did all of this under the looming threat of the Alves family’s pistoleiros (Revkin, The
Burning Season).
[music transition]
Jim VO: As Chico’s star was rising on the international stage, the opposite was happening back
home. Things were disintegrating. His new environmental message that was so popular outside
of Brazil had become ironically too radical for the cautious leadership in Brasilia, even on the
left. (Rodrigues, Walking the Forest) To make matters worse, Chico’s earnest and genuine
character made it difficult for him to lie or even bend the truth - which made politicking tricky,
with no room for subterfuge. (Miranda Smith Interview with Chico Mendes, 1988)
On top of that, things were not good on the domestic front. According to his wife, Isamar, their
marriage had come under tremendous strain. Chico had two children with Ilsamir, Elenira and
Sandino, who needed their father to be around. He had a hard time being there for everybody in
his life that needed him during this period and he was spread too thin. (Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair:
Murder in the Rainforest)
He was also flat broke. (Revkin, The Burning Season)
Chico had stopped tapping rubber, which meant he was no longer walking the long miles and
doing the hard labor that kept him fit. He’d begun to put on weight and continued to chain smoke
heavily. These years were hard on Chico. (Revkin, The Burning Season)
And yet, many of his friends recalled that they’d never seen him as happy as he was after these
international trips. He was making a difference, and had big plans for the future. There was a lot
left to do. (Revkin, The Burning Season)
But all of this attention on Chico, and all the actual changes he was starting to make, were
becoming a thorn in the side of developers and ranchers that they could no longer afford to
ignore. Stephan Schwartzman and Mary Allegretti hoped that Chico’s fame would keep him
safe, but it wasn’t that simple. Outlaws in the middle of the Amazon didn’t read the New Yorker.
(Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the Rainforest)
010920 Stephan Schwartzman Int_Part 1:
Well, yeah, I mean, we had hoped that international media exposure would help to protect
Chico, and of course we ended up being wrong on that score.
Jim VO: When the Inter-American Development Bank halted construction on the new highway,
the developers had Chico to blame. They were enraged that a quote-unquote “illiterate rubber
tapper” could disrupt their financial interests (Rodrigues, Walking the Forest).
This all trickled down to the Alves family - the enforcers. They put Chico on notice - his days
were numbered (Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the Rainforest).
Body 2
Graham VO: In 1988, while Chico was traveling around the globe and as he wielded his new
power to create change his perspective had shifted (Revkin, The Burning Season) .
He saw the power and importance of his life’s work (Revkin, The Burning Season) .
He shared:
“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.”(Revkin, The Burning Season)
He was able to see the big picture, what was at stake, and the economic drivers pushing
forward the destruction of the rainforest (Revkin, The Burning Season) .
He saw the forest that was being gouged out and burned back not just as the place where the
tappers and indigenous lived (Feb 2020, Hetch and Cockburn, The Fate of the Forest), but also
the world’s largest and most biologically diverse wilderness with more kinds of fish than there
are in the Atlantic and no fewer than 319 kinds of hummingbird(Feb 2020, Hetch and Cockburn,
The Fate of the Forest).
He could also see that In the 1980’s much of the burning was being completed to make room for
cows being grown for beef(Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the Rainforest).
But, that didn't compute economically since this area was importing more beef than it was
exporting (Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the Rainforest).
In research uncovered by journalists it was found that the real reason the forest was being
destroyed was so that the ranchers could claim huge government incentives (Shoumatoff,
Vanity Fair: Murder in the Rainforest).
But at the same time, Acre, Chico Mendes’ home, had become, in the words of a reporter from
São Paulo, “a state in agony.” (Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the Rainforest)
Big banks based in Brazil, but backed by international consortiums had bought up huge tracts of
the forest (Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the Rainforest).
Banco Real had bought 500,000 acres and The Grupo Bradesco bought 750,000 acres
(Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the Rainforest).
These banks burned it to the ground (Revkin, The Burning Season) .
And Chico saw the tappers were not alone in their plight:
The Huni Kuin Indians were expelled from their traditional homeland after being issued
“negative certificates” from the government (Revkin, The Burning Season).
Shortly after, bulldozers and chainsaws moved in (Revkin, The Burning Season) .
And tensions were high back in Xapuri (Revkin, The Burning Season) .
More specifically, trouble was brewing at the Cachoeira Rubber Estate, where Chico grew up.
(Mendes, Fight for the Forest)
Jim and I had visited the estate on our trip, and today it is only inhabited by a small number of
rubber tappers, many of whom are relatives of Chico. But in 1988, there were 60 rubber tapper
families living on the estate - it was a thriving hub in the Xapuri area. (Mendes, Fight for the
Forest)
This made it a prime target for the developers, ranchers - and the Alves crime family (Revkin,
The Burning Season) .
Darli Alves knew about Chico’s history with Cachoeira, and how many families still lived there at
the time (Revkin, The Burning Season) . He knew how important it was to the livelihoods of
those families and how visible it was in the community. He knew all of that - which was exactly
why he made it a targeted (Revkin, The Burning Season) .
In March of 1988, Darli Alves showed up at Cachoeira with a handful of henchmen claiming that
they had the rightful deed to the land - that they had bought it and the tappers all needed to
vacate. (Revkin, The Burning Season)
The tappers refused.
Darli tried persuasion, offering the tappers 500 acres that they could keep, free of charge,
throwing in a brand new chapel to sweeten the deal. (Revkin, The Burning Season)
The tappers refused.
Darli tried using the courts, filing legal appeals and bringing lawyers to the estate with eviction
orders. (Revkin, The Burning Season)
Again, the tappers refused (Revkin, The Burning Season) .
Chico had been largely absent from Cachoeira because of his travel schedule, but when Darli
showed up with crooked cops and chainsaws Chico headed home. (Revkin, The Burning
Season)
He entered the fray with a few hundred more tappers and they began the Cachoeira Empate - a
protest barricade that lasted more than a month. (Rodrigues, Walking the Forest)
159 people from eighty different families came from all over the Amazon to help them stand their
ground. (Rodrigues, Walking the Forest)
Three more times Darli showed up with armed men to confront the tappers. And three times
they were turned away. (Rodrigues, Walking the Forest)
All of these confrontations remained non-violent, thanks to Chico’s calm energy. (Rodrigues,
Walking the Forest)
At one point, Darli actually met with Chico in person and tried to convince him with veiled threats
and a cash buyout. Chico refused to even shake his hand, saying he would “never shake a
dishonest hand”. (Revkin, The Burning Season)
Then came the final standoff at Cachoeira. Darli returned with a dozen police officers who
approached the estate with guns drawn. The tappers built a wall of men, women and children at
the entrance, and the stage was set for a massacre. But then something incredible happened:
the children began singing the Brazilian national anthem - their parents joined in - and then the
police started singing, and lowered their weapons, pacified by the reminder that they were all
Brazilians. There was a dialogue and the police left peacefully. (Revkin, The Burning Season)
010920 Stephan Schwartzman Int_Part 1:
Chico organized demonstrations, the kind that he had done frequently in the past to stop Darly's
hired hands from clearing that rubber estate, and they succeeded and stopped him. And then
they got the government to agree to expropriate the land and principle to us to create an
extractive reserve.
Graham VO: Ultimately, Chico won the battle for Cachoeira and the Alveses left.
In fact, at this point in 1988 Chico and his allies had successfully moved most of the
deforestation out of the Xapuri area. The same couldn’t be said for the rest of the Amazon, but
at least for now, they were winning the fight for Xapuri. (Revkin, The Burning Season)
[musical transition, new scene]
Graham VO: But it wouldn’t last. Cachoeira was the last straw for the Alves family. (Rodrigues,
Walking the Forest)
010920 Stephan Schwartzman Int_Part 1:
When that happened, Darly swore that he was going to kill Chico
Body Block 3:
Jim VO: Following the Cachoeira Empate, the Alveses hired thirty new gunmen and began a
reign of terror in Xapuri. It was not uncommon to see twenty gunmen at a time on the streets,
reminding everyone who was really in charge. (Rodrigues, Walking the Forest)
Gomercindo Rodrigues 2_Interview Sync - Portuguese Transcript 032520:
eu morava ali em frente aquela pracinha que tem ali. Quando eu abria a janela de manhã, a
partir de maio de 88, todos os dias tinha dois Pistoleiros ali em frente sentado não faziam nada,
mas estavam sentados lá na praça.
e tinha dois em frente ao sindicato, sempre
Jim Translation: I lived in front of that little square there. When I opened the window in the
morning, from May 88, every day there were two Gunslingers just sitting there in the square.
And two in front of the union, always.
Gomercindo Rodrigues 2_Interview Sync - Portuguese Transcript 032520:
Ele era um dos pistoleiros que estava sempre em frente ao sindicato durante o ano 88 todinho.
Ele ficava ali sentado sem fazer nada, revólver assim a arma empurrando a blusa.
Jim Translation: And Darci was always one of them, he was always in front of the union during
the year 88. He sat there with his revolver peeking out of his shirt.
Jim VO: The ranchers held a meeting in Rio Branco, the city outside Xapuri, where a pot of
money was raised to have Chico killed. Ten thousand dollars. (Revkin, The Burning Season)
Gomercindo Rodrigues 2_Interview Sync - Portuguese Transcript 032520
E que nessas reuniões... participavam inclusive pessoas da Polícia Federal, se discutia que
tinham que matar o Chico Mendes,
Jim Translation: And at these meetings, even people from the Federal Police were there,
arguing that had to kill Chico Mendes.
Jim VO: Chico’s death was officially annunciado (Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the
Rainforest).
Jim VO: Chico was stubborn. He picked up a few more bodyguards, but he wouldn’t leave town
(Revkin, The Burning Season) . He said to a friend “I would be a coward to do this. My blood is
the same blood as that of these people suffering here. I can’t run. There’s something inside me
that cannot leave here. This is the place where I will finish my mission." (Revkin, The Burning
Season)
121919 Denise Zmekhol Interview_Part 2:
“The second time when I met him, there was so much tension.
Jim VO: That’s Denise Zmekhol, who was making a film about Chico during this tumultuous
time.
121919 Denise Zmekhol Interview_Part 2:
Imagine knowing that you're going to be killed, that there's no way that you're not going to be
killed. The kids are very small and he was very close to his kids, they're always all over him. He
was a nice man, very special, very charismatic. There was something special about him that I
think everybody felt and saw in him, that's why when he called and said, "I'm not going to live
here." I was like, "No, we need you alive. You have kids, you have family, but we also have this
struggle that is going to be much harder without you."
[music]
Jim VO: Chico’s 44th birthday party was on December 15th, 1988, and he was the happiest he
had been in months. Chico’s daughter Elenira told us about it in her own words. (Revkin, The
Burning Season)
Elenira Mendes_Interview Sync_Portuguese 030520
No dia 15 de dezembro ele ia para uma festa surpresa na casa de uma amiga, logo acima da
nossa casa em Xapuri. E aí ele reuniu com a minha mãe, eu e Sandino. E no quarto, abraçou
nós três e falou assim: “Provavelmente esse é último aniversário que eu passo com vocês,
mas eu espero que vocês tenham força, que vocês não chorem e que sigam em frente”. Então
ele já sentia que ele ia ser assassinado
Female Translation: “On December 15th, he was going to a surprise party at a friend's house,
just above our house in Xapuri. And then he gathered with my mother, me and Sandino. And in
the room, he hugged the three of us and said, "This is probably the last birthday I spend with
you, but I hope you have strength, that you don't cry, and that you move on." So, he already felt
that he was going to be murdered
[transition]
[intense droning music, plenty of pregnant pauses, I want the listener to feel like they’re with us]
200229_001 - Goma Walk&Talk at house, main
5:22 - 5:35 “Rolling? Here we are, estamos aqui, obrigado.”
Jim VO: Back in the modern day, Graham and I met Gomercindo Rodrigues in Xapuri at the
house where Chico lived with his family in the 1980s. We were joined by our guide and
translator, Lailson.
Gomercindo_Walking to Chico House 1_H4n
0:15 - 0:20 “That’s Chico Mendes house on the corner” (including Gomercindo’s Portuguese)
200229_001 - Goma Walk&Talk at house, main
0:11 - 0:23 “It’s crazy and surreal to be here after reading about this place and studying what
happened at this house 32 years ago”
20:53 - 21:04 “To be here now is very special.”
2:06 - 2:10 “Gomercindo’s gone around the back of Chico’s house and wants us to follow him.”
1:20 - footstep sfx
19:25 - 19:35 “It’s emotional to be here with you. Thank you.”
Goma Walk&Talk at hous200229_002e, Jim Description:
0:05 - 0:29 “Being here with Gomercindo is hard to even put into words… is really amazing”
200229_004 - Goma Walk&Talk at house, Lailson thoughts:
0:05 - 0:14 Lailson describes how emotional it is to be at Chico’s house as a Brazilian “... it’s
really sad”
200229_002 - Goma Walk&Talk at house, main:
20:00 - 20:13 Gomercindo with Lailson translating “This is the place where Chico Mendes was
murdered.”
Goma Walk&Talk at hous200229_002e, Jim Description:
1:32 - 1:59 “There’s a bathroom, banero, where Chico was going to take a shower when he was
shot.”
Jim VO: Darci Alves and an accomplice hid in a small gully beside Chico’s house. Nobody
knows how long they were camped out, but it could have been a month - or more. Darli was
raised by generations of hunters so he was an expert at concealment, crouching like a tiger in
the shadows waiting for his prey. (Revkin, The Burning Season)
200229_001 - Goma Walk&Talk at house, main
:317 - 8:10 Guma describes the shooting with Lailson translating
8:25 - 8:32 Guma describes the shooters with Lailson translating
Jim VO: Darci fired a .20 gauge shotgun at Chico from about thirty feet away through the small
crack in the back door. (Revkin, The Burning Season)
200229_001 - Goma Walk&Talk at house, main
21:14 - 21:37 Gomercindo with Lailson translating “Chico was screaming, saying they shot me,
they shot me”
Jim VO: Chico stumbled back into the house, where his wife Isamar, his son Sandino, and his
youngest daughter Elenira watched in horror as he collapsed on the floor, covered in blood.
(Revkin, The Burning Season)
[music]
Elenira Mendes_Interview Sync_Portuguese 030520:
Infelizmente, a única lembrança que eu tenho do meu pai hoje. Que eu guardei minha vida
inteira, foi do momento que ele foi assassinado, e foi uma coisa que ficou muito marcada
assim na minha memória. Porque nós estávamos em casa e nós acompanhamos esses
últimos momentos dele, em que ele levou o tiro e caiu na porta do nosso quarto. Então a gente
correu, se agarrou com ele. Lembro de ele tentar falar meu nome, assim sabe. Infelizmente, eu
tive que conviver minha vida inteira com essa lembrança dele.
Ele tentou falar “Elenira”, tentou falar meu nome. E assim, até hoje eu não sei o que ele queria
dizer. Minha mãe também, tem essa lembrança, que ele tentava falar meu nome. E aí ela diz
que falava para ele não se preocupe que eu vou cuidar das crianças. E foi isso, ele morreu
tentando falar meu nome.
Female Translation: “Unfortunately, the only memory I have of my father today. That I've kept my
whole life, was from the moment he was murdered, and it was something that was really marked
into my memory. Because we were at home, and we followed his last moments, in which he was
shot and fell by our bedroom door. So, we ran, gripped on to him. I remember him trying to say
my name, you know. Unfortunately, I had to live my whole life with this memory of him. He tried
to say "Elenira", tried to speak my name. And so, to this day I still don't know what he meant to
say. My mother also has this memory, that he was trying to speak my name. And then she says
she told him not to worry that she was going to take care of the kids. And that was it, he died
trying to speak my name.”
Elenira Mendes_Interview Sync_Portuguese 030520:
Jim: Wow. Tell her I’m sorry.
Lailson: A gente sente muito por isso Elenira.
Jim VO: After five other attempts on Chico’s life and countless other murders in the Amazon,
Chico Mendes took his last breath on the evening of December 22, 1988, in Xapuri, Brazil.
(Shoumatoff, Vanity Fair: Murder in the Rainforest)
[musical transition]
Elenira Mendes_Interview Sync_Portuguese 030520:
Eu o tenho como um grande exemplo de vida, de coragem. Eu acho que não podia ter
melhor exemplo do que meu pai, que doou a vida dele. Porque ele sabia que ia morrer e em
nenhum momento ele fugiu ou recuou. Ele enfrentou com muita honra seus
inimigos, aqueles que queriam destruir as nossas florestas. E isso para mim hoje eu consegui
transformar toda a dor em motivação de fazer sempre algo pela a Amazônia. Fazer sempre
algo pelos povos da floresta, e isso é muito importante. Graças a Deus eu consegui reverter
toda a dor em esperança, e de acreditar em um mundo melhor, um futuro melhor onde as
pessoas possam de fato ter essa consciência ambiental. E ter de fato a importância da
preservação da floresta.
Female Translation: “And I see that... I have it as a great example of life, of courage. I don't
think I could have a better example than my father, who donated his life. Because he knew he
was going to die and at no point did he run away or back off. He faced with great honor his
enemies, those who wanted to destroy our forests. And for me today, I managed to turn all the
pain into motivation to always do something for the Amazon. Always do something for the
people of the forest, and that's very important. Thank God I managed to reverse all the pain into
hope, and believe in a better world, a better future where people can truly have environmental
awareness. And know in fact the importance of preserving the forest.”
Jim VO: Chico Mendes was gone.
But what had he left behind?
Conclusion
Graham VO: When Chico was killed, members of the global community including Steve
Schwartzman showed up in Xapuri. They were there to mourn and remember their friend.
He was someone they had both believed in and looked up to.
(musical build)
The definition of a Martyr is “a person who sacrifices something of great value and especially
life itself for the sake of principle” and this is certainly what Chico had become but no one knew
what would come of that sacrifice and no one could have expected what would happen next.
(musical release)
In our next and final episode, we will uncover what happened after Chico’s death and answer
the questions:
Would he have a lasting influence?
Would the rainforest be saved?
And would justice be served?
[musical conclusion]
The Podcast “Wildfire: Season Two” is a production ofof REI Co-op Studios Bedrock Film Works
and Podpeak.
The show is written and produced by Jim Aikman and myself Graham Zimmerman, with
additional production support from Chelsea Davis at REI.
Editing, sound design, and theme music are by Evan Phillips.
Sources:
Revkin, Andrew. The Burning Season: the Murder of Chico Mendes and the Fight for the
Amazon Rain Forest. Island Press, 2004.
Rodrigues, Gomercindo, et al. Walking the Forest with Chico Mendes: Struggle for Justice in the
Amazon. University of Texas Press, 2007.
Mendes, Chico, et al. Fight for the Forest: Chico Mendes in his Own Words. Latin America Bu
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