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[Michaelangelica]

Killers of renowned anthropologist sentenced in Brazil

The men charged with the 2005 killing of University of Vermont anthropology professor James Petersen in the Amazon rainforest were sentenced Tuesday to nearly 30 years in prison, close to the maximum under Brazilian law.

Petersen, who had been doing pioneering research on advanced civilizations in the Amazon rainforest and had become a popular figure in the region, was shot and killed on August 13, 2005 during a robbery of a restaurant near Iranduba, a small town in the Brazilian Amazon. The two gunmen were apprehended within 24 hours, while their two accomplices were captured after a three week-manhunt through the rainforest.

Peterson's Work in the Amazon

Peterson gained fame for his archeological work in the Central Amazon. Together with a handful of other researchers, Peterson collected evidence of sophisticated societies in the Amazon rainforest. These civilizations built extensive road networks, practiced large-scale agriculture, and produced elaborate pottery, but left little trace after they were wiped out by European disease in the sixteenth century.


JAMES PETERSEN (1954 - 2005)
One of the few remnants left behind by these populations, is their nutrient-rich soil, known locally as terra preta.

and some other sad news
Research and advocacy can be dangerous

Dorothy Stang, 1931 - 2005
Dorothy Stang fought for social equity in the Amazon. Dorothy Stang, an American nun who spent more than 30 years fighting for land rights for poor settlers in the Amazon, was murdered by a contract killer in February 2005 in the Brazilian state of Para. Stang, 73, was shot six times with a revolver as she read from the Bible.
Stang's confessed killer said he was hired by Amair Feijoli da Cunha, a rancher. He and a partner were offered 50,000 reais (around $25,000) to kill Stang. Stang, a member of the Order of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, was working with the Pastoral Land Commission, a Catholic Church group that lobbies for land reform in Brazil and fights for land rights for the poor, when she was gunned down.

Dorothy Stang fought for social equity in the Amazon (Read what her brother has to say here)