Pedro Alcantara de Souza | |
Nationality: | Brazilian |
Occupation: | Activist |
Death Date: | 1 April 2010 |
Death Place: | Belém |
Death Cause: | Gunshot |
Pedro Alcantara de Souza (died 1 April 2010) was a Brazilian land reform activist operating in the state of Pará. He was shot dead on April 1, 2010. Souza was a farmers' union president, and city councilor of Redenção. In 2008, 20 killings were related to land issues in the Amazon.
De Souza was shot in the head five times[1] by two men on motorcycles while he was riding his bicycle on the outskirts of the town of Belém.[2] The assassination occurred shortly after the trial of a man accused of masterminding the killing of another rain forest activist in 2005, Dorothy Stang. She was an American nun shot and killed in 2005.[3] Watchdog groups say that conflicts between powerful ranchers and poor farmers over land rights have led to 1,200 murders across Brazil in the last 20 years.