Dorothy Stang Murdered In Brazil

American-born nun Dorothy Stang spent decades in Pará, Brazil, teaching poor farmers how to harvest forest products without clearing the land and defending them from ranchers and loggers who wanted their plots. Her efforts to preserve the Amazon rainforest and protect peasant land rights put her in direct conflict with powerful local landowners who repeatedly threatened her life.

On February 12, 2005, two gunmen hired by a rancher confronted the 73-year-old on a jungle path near Anapu and shot her six times. Brazilian courts later convicted the gunmen and sentenced ranchers Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura and Regivaldo Galvão to 30-year prison terms for ordering her assassination.

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