Who was Chico Mendes? What did he fight to preserve and to establish?
Francisco Alves Mendes Filho (December 15, 1944 – December 22, 1988), also known as Chico Mendes, was a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist. He fought to stop the logging of the Amazon Rainforest for the purposes of cattle ranching, and founded a national union of rubber tappers in an attempt to preserve their profession and the rainforest that it relied upon. He was murdered in 1988 by ranchers opposed to his activism. “At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realise I am fighting for humanity” – Chico Mendes, Rubber tappers’ leader History Mendes grew up in a family of rubber tappers in Acre State, Brazil, and when he was of age, continued on in the family tradition. However, rubber prices had collapsed in the 1960s, and many landowners were selling their properties to the highest bidder – which in most cases, meant cattle ranchers. Rubber tappers were finding themselves pushed
