Why have loggers in Brazils Amazon forests contracted armed gunmen to bring their wood to market?”
After over a decade of ignored complaints, failed negotiations with the government, and countless threats against their leaders by loggers and their gunmen, the residents of the Arapiuns region in the Brazilian Amazon launched a public protest over illegal logging on their lands. More than 500 people from 40 communities joined in their rabetas (canoes with outboard motors), to block the Arapiuns River to logging activity in the Gleba Nova Olinda. The protestors seized two barges of timber. After a failed attempt to bribe community members to allow illegal logging activities, on Jan. 3, the loggers contracted armed gunmen to bring their wood to market. When they reached the encampment and when the community members closed the river in their canoes, the gunmen opened fire. Two community members were shot. The timber barges continued to market.
