KILLING OF JOSÉ CLÁUDIO RIBEIRO DA SILVA AND
MARIA DO ESPÍRITO SANTO
Pará State 24 May 2011
Killing of environmental defenders
On the morning of 24 May 2011, José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espírito Santo were ambushed and murdered in Praia Alta Piranheira Beach settlement, in Nova Ipixuna in the state of Pará, on the orders of a local fazendeiro. Two men armed with a hunting rifle shot the couple point-blank as they were leaving their home by motorcycle. ‘Zé Cláudio’, as da Silva was known, and Espírito Santo were vocal defenders of the forest and vocal critics of illegal logging. Zé Cláudio had one of his ears ripped out by the killers as proof of execution.
José Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espírito Santo were both leading rainforest defenders, who lived in the Praia Alta-Piranheira Agro-extractive Settlement Project. They were also members of the National Council of Extractive Populations, an organization founded by Chico Mendes, dedicated to the preservation of Amazonian forests.
Ze Claudio and Maria do Espírito Santo campaigned against illegal deforestation and the eviction of farmers and reported regular death threats. They had been the target of a failed assassination attempt just weeks before their murder. Despite the concerns for their safety, the couple were never offered police protection. In 2012, they were posthumously awarded the United Nations’ Forest Heroes Special Award.
Zé Claudio’s and Maria Santo’s close family members recount the events of the murders and cast light on their legacy a decade after.
A wooden cross marks the site where Zé Claudio and Maria Santo were murdered as they travelled by motorcycle in a rural area of the town of Nova Ipixuna.
A stone plaque commemorating the lives of the environmental defenders next to the wooden cross. The farmer who ordered their death allegedly put a bullet through it.
The double murder was orchestrated by José Rodrigues Moreira, a local fazendeiro. The crimes were committed by Alberto Lopes do Nascimento and Lindojhonson Silva Rocha, on the orders of Moreira. Zé Cláudio and Maria had told INCRA, the federal land-reform agency, that Moreira was trying to expel three settlers from their plots to take over the land, raze the forest, sell the timber, and plant grass for cattle. INCRA had settled poor families in the forest to use it sustainably.
A first trial for the double murder took place in Marabám in 2013. Alberto Lopes do Nascimento and Lindojhonson Silva Rocha were sentenced to 42 and 45 years in prison. The court found Moreira not guilty. Moreira’s judgment was later annulled and the process moved to Pará’s capital, Belém. In December 2016, a court found him guilty and sentenced Moreira to 60 years in prison. But he was never imprisoned and is currently on the run.
After the murder of Zé Claudio and Maria do Espírito Santo, resistance did not stop. Claudelice da Silva Santos, Zé Claudio's sister, is a renowned human rights and environmental defender who continues the struggle for justice following the killing of her brother.
The progression of deforestation in the Praia Alta-Piranheira Agro-extractive settlement, between 2006— 5 years before the killing of Zé Claudio and Maria do Espírito Santo— and 2021, 10 years after.
