Fighting Impunity: The Murder of Sister Dorothy Stang

The Battle to Protect the Rainforest and Combat Impunity for Human Rights Violations in the Brazilian Amazon

On February 12, 2005, Sister Dorothy Stang, a seventy-three year old activist and American nun from Dayton, Ohio, was shot to death in the state of Para in the Amazonian rainforest of eastern Brazil. Sister Dorothy was walking to a meeting with farmers whose homes had been burned by ranchers and logging companies intent upon driving out them out, when two men approached her with weapons drawn. As the gunmen pointed their weapons at her, Sister Dorothy reached into her cloth bag, took out her Bible and began reading. After some moments of hesitation, the killers shot her six times at point blank range. She died on the muddy road.

Sister Dorothy's Life

Sister Dorothy was a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, an international religious order. She had moved to the Amazon twenty-two years earlier, and had dedicated her life to helping rural workers fight for control of their land from loggers and ranchers. After receiving numerous death threats, Sister Dorothy had recently commented, “I don’t want to flee, nor do I want to abandon the battle of these farmers who live without any protection in the forest. They have the sacrosanct right to aspire to a better life on land where they can live and work with dignity while respecting the environment.”

Sister Dorothy's murder immediately attracted worldwide attention. Her work and accomplishments- as well as her murder-Sister Dorothy's funeral processionhave frequently been likened to those of Chico Mendes, the famous Brazilian rubber-tapper whose murder in 1988 in the nearby state of Acre awakened the world to the destruction of the Amazonian rainforest, and the life-and-death struggle taking place over its fate.

The Investigation of Sister Dorothy's Murder

Suspicion as to the identities of Sister Dorothy's killers immediately centered on powerful local ranchers and logging interests. Charges were soon filed by the state of Para against the two alleged gunmen, as well as three others, including two wealthy landowners who were accused of planning and paying for Dorothy's execution. Undoubtedly, the murder conspiracy runs much deeper.

Sister Dorothy's family and others have grave doubts that justice will be achieved in the state court system of Para. Human rights groups claim that virtually none of the individuals responsible for the roughly eight hundred murders of this type in the past thirty years have been prosecuted.

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Sister Dorothy Stang

Everybody, in a very democratic way, can share in this world’s gifts. Some people are taking off so much of the pleasures in this world, and there’s only so much to go around.

- Sister Dorothy Stang