Chico Mendes (1944 - 1988)

Fri Dec 15, 1944

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Francisco Alves Mendes Filho, better known as Chico Mendes, was a Brazilian rubber tapper, trade union leader, and environmentalist born on this day in 1944.

Born into the Brazilian rubber industry, Chico was known as both a radical unionist and an activist by the mid-1980s, also running for several local political positions such as state deputy and city councilor. He fought to preserve the Amazon rainforest, and advocated for the human rights of Brazilian peasants and indigenous peoples.

In 1988, Mendes launched a campaign to stop a man named Darly Alves da Silva from logging the area that its inhabitants wanted demarcated as an extractive reserve. On the evening of December 22nd, 1988, Mendes was assassinated in his Xapuri home by Darci, the son of Darly Alves da Silva. He was the 90th rural activist murdered that year in Brazil.