Wilson Pinheiro (died in 1980) was the president of the Brasiléia Rural Workers Union in the State of Acre in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. He helped lead the fight against ranchers who were destroying the Amazon rainforest. Pinheiro was committed to defend the Amazon and was assassinated on July 21, 1980. He was a colleague of

Chico Mendes Francisco Alves Mendes Filho, better known as Chico Mendes (; 15 December 1944 – 22 December 1988), was a Brazilian rubber tapper, trade union leader and environmentalist. He fought to preserve the Amazon rainforest, and advocated for the h ...

, the president of the Xapuri Rural Workers Union, who similarly lost his life defending the Amazon.

History

Pinheiro grew up in Acre, Brazil, a rubber-producing region in the

Amazon River Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

. During the 1960s, rubber prices had collapsed to the point that many landowners were beginning to sell their land to cattle ranchers. Traditional rubber tappers were being removed from homes and evicted from their lands. In the 1970s, together with Chico Mendes, he organized the rubber tappers of the forest. The rubber tappers would stage mass demonstrations blocking roads. In addition, they would take over logging sites by disarming guards and convincing the loggers not to continue. Frequently, they were very successful at stopping logging projects, despite resistance from the ranchers.

Individual activism

Wilson Pinheiro was a mentor of Chico Mendes and together they worked in the Brasiléia Rural Workers Union. In the early 1970s, Pinheiro became a member of the Confederation of Agricultural Workers, supported by the Catholic Church, through which he and Mendes began to set up human blockades, a technique known in Portuguese as the empate. The first empate took place in March 1976 in a rubber estate near Brasileia, when 60 men spent three days in trenches in order to stop logging. In the words of Chico Mendes, "They put themselves in front of the chain saws, and the workmen retreated. They were afraid. There was an enormous pressure afterward from the authorities, but from there on, it proved to be the only way." These protests were nonviolent, and some claim that they had limited success. They did, however, attract international attention to the plight of the rubber tappers. Unfortunately, the ranchers responded very violently. They even used the local police to threaten, torture, and kill many of union members.

Assassination

On the night of July 21, 1980, Wilson Pinheiro was murdered inside of the offices of the Rural Workers Union of Brasiléia. He was watching a television program, a police thriller, when he was shot to death by a gunman hired by local ranchers who opposed his union. According to Augusta Dwyer's book, ''Into the Amazon: Chico Mendes and the Struggle for the Rainforest'', the gunman waited for the sound of shots from the show Pinheiro was watching to begin shooting. While 1,500 rubber tappers and their families came to his funeral, the death of Wilson Pinheiro did not make international headlines. It was, however, used very effectively by Chico Mendes as an example during his campaign to end the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest. The death of Pinheiro also meant that the focus of struggle moved towards Xapuri, where Mendes was working.

In cinema

Wilson Pinheiro was featured in the movie '' The Burning Season'' (in

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

, ''Amazônia em Chamas''), directed by the filmmaker

John Frankenheimer John Michael Frankenheimer (February 19, 1930 – July 6, 2002) was an American film and television director known for social dramas and action/suspense films. Among his credits were ''Birdman of Alcatraz'' (1962), '' The Manchurian Candidate'' ( ...

and based on th
book
of the same name by

Andrew Revkin Andrew C. Revkin is an American science and environmental journalist, author and educator. He has written on a wide range of subjects including destruction of the Amazon rain forest, the 2004 Asian tsunami, sustainable development, climate chan ...

Edward James Olmos Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an American actor, director, producer, and activist. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo in ''Miami Vice'' (1984–1989), ''American Me'' (1992) (which he also dir ...

was cast as Wilson Pinheiro in the movie. In total, the film won two Emmys and three Golden Globe Awards.

References

External links