This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRASILIA 000437 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
CA/OCS/ACS, WHA/BSC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CASC PGOV PREL BR TIP
SUBJECT: Update on Murder of AmCit Dorothy Mae Stang 
 
Ref: Brasilia 00369 
 
¶1. (U) This cable is Sensitive But Unclassified. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Summary. Warrants for the arrests of three 
individuals for the murder of Amcit Dorothy Mae Stang 
have been issued; the suspects are still at large. 
Violence continues in the region, with the murder of the 
leader of a landless community.  The Stang murder 
continues to receive a great deal of Brazilian government 
and public attention.  The federal government has sent 
2,000 troops to the area to support the police, 
established a large environmental protection area, and 
appropriately land to be handed over to the landless. 
The Ambassador stressed USG interest in a meeting with 
Foreign Ministry officials.  USDOJ is interested in 
pursuing a U.S. indictment; LEGATT is discussing FBI 
involvement in the case with Brazilian law enforcement 
authorities.  End Summary. 
 
¶3. (U) A state judge issued warrants for the arrests of 
three individuals for the murder of Dorothy Stang. 
(Brazilian federal authorities are looking into the 
possibility of re-indicting using criminal statutes that 
would transfer jurisdiction to the federal authorities.) 
Two of the suspects were identified only as "Raifran" and 
"Eduardo," the alleged gunmen.  The third person is 
rancher Vitalmiro Bastos de Moura, alias "Bida," accused 
of ordering the hit.  Press stories have accused a fourth 
individual, rancher Amair Feijoli da Cunha, alias "Tato," 
as being the go-between for Bastos de Moura and the 
gunmen.  All four are at large and presumed to be hiding 
in the jungle. 
 
¶4. (U) In a meeting with the Ambassador, Foreign Ministry 
UnderSecretary Ruy Nunes Pinot Nogueira pledged that the 
government would make the "utmost effort" to capture and 
prosecute the murderers.  He said he was encouraged by 
the reaction to the murder throughout Brazil and noted 
that Stang was a Brazilian, as well as U.S., citizen. 
The Ambassador stressed the USG's strong interest in the 
case. 
 
¶5. (U) Violence in Para continued, with the shooting 
death of Soares da Costa Filho, the leader of a temporary 
camp of landless peasants near the town of Parauapebas in 
southern Para, on February 15.  No arrests have been 
made.  Authorities do not know whether Costa Filho was 
killed in a dispute within the landless movement or by 
large landowners.  Counting the February 12 murders in 
the town of Anapu of Stang and Adalberto Xavier Leal 
(separate events), Costa Filho is the third murder linked 
to agrarian reform in Para this week.  It is not clear 
that the three killings are directly related or more 
broadly reflect the recent tensions in the state. 
 
¶6. (U) Stang's murder continues to receive a great deal 
of government and press attention in Brazil.  Following 
an emergency cabinet meeting Tuesday night, the 
government ordered 2,000 troops into the area around 
Anapu, Para.  According to press, the troops mandate is 
to keep the two sides involved in the land dispute apart, 
to disarm the two sides, and to assist police in the 
manhunt for Stang's killers.  An official with the 
federal Ministry of Agrarian Development said Army and 
Federal Police forces were being deployed to the area to 
guarantee the security of the landless families being 
settled there.  An initial contingent of 140 soldiers 
arrived in Anapu on February 16. 
 
¶7. (U) High-level GoB officials are engaged on the issue. 
Vice President Jose Alencar, Lula's Chief of Staff Jose 
Dirceu, and seven other cabinet ministers met with the 
Governor of Para, Simao Jatene, on February 15.  Dirceu 
later told the press, "The nation can be certain that 
there will be no impunity, neither for the higher-ups nor 
the gunmen.  It's time for us to say 'enough' to these 
activities."  Dirceu announced that the GoB would speed 
up its land reform and environmental projects in the 
area.  Environment Minister Marina Silva, herself a 
veteran of the Amazon's environmental wars, declared, 
"Some people don't want to behave legally.  They can 
either get legal or go to jail."  Subsequently, the 
government announced the establishment of a four million 
hectare environmental protection area near Anapu and said 
that it would appropriate all of the lands (54,000 
hectares) near the town of Anapu that generated the 
conflicts leading to the Stang and Leal murders and 
redistribute them to landless families. 
 
¶8. (U) Separately, Para Governor Jatene announced that he 
would accelerate the state's existing land use plans to 
clearly demarcate protected forest from land available 
for development.  Jatene admitted to the press that the 
remote region is difficult to police, adding that he has 
deployed 100 additional state police there in recent 
days. 
 
¶9. (U) Much of the land in question is tied up in court 
because of complaints by local residents and officials 
that the landowners used it as collateral for government 
loans on the condition that they retain it as virgin 
forest, but after the loans were issued, the lands were 
clear cut for timber and cattle grazing.  It is the 
slowness of the federal government and the courts in 
seizing and redistributing these lands, and the 
perception that local judges have unduly favored the 
landowners, that sparked the recent round of tensions. 
Sister Dorothy Stang was working with the peasants in the 
area to create sustainable development projects. 
 
¶10. (U) The Army will establish a series of temporary 
bases (with no fixed end-date) to support inspections of 
improper land use, deforestation, and slave labor.  The 
Army is working with GoB land reform and environmental 
agencies to identify the best locations for the bases. 
Army command has announced the troops will receive 
overhead support from the Air Force and will be commanded 
by General Jairo Cesar Nass, based in Altamira, Para. 
Forces will be drawn from units based in Manaus, Belem, 
and Maraba (Para).  State police forces have announced 
that they hope to take advantage of the Army's presence 
to execute several existing arrest warrants that they 
have not been able to carry out because of the high 
tensions in the area. 
 
¶11. (SBU) The Washington, D.C. United States Attorneys 
Office's Transnational Crime Unit has reviewed the 
preliminary facts of the case and is interested in 
pursuing a U.S. indictment and possible prosecution in 
Stang's murder.  (DOJ does understand that the 
individuals allegedly responsible for the murders are 
Brazilian and cannot be extradited from Brazil due 
Brazilian constitutional prohibitions.)  The FBI's 
Extraterritorial Squad (based in Miami) is planning to 
send two agents to Brazil to assist with the U.S. 
investigation, with the anticipated arrival date sometime 
the week of February 21, pending LEGATT consultations 
with Brazilian law enforcement authorities.  Due to the 
political nature and extensive media on this case, the 
FBI will maintain an extremely low profile.  The 
Transnational Crime Unit concluded that the murder was a 
clear violation of Title 18, USC 2332 - International 
Homicide of a U.S. Citizen.  One of the key elements of 
this criminal statute requires that the offense was 
intended to "coerce, or retaliate against a government or 
a civilian population." 
 
¶12. (SBU) Comment: Stang's murder is forcing the federal 
government to confront Para's lawlessness and 
environmental degradation, a subject it has long opined 
on, but taken little action.  By any standard, the 
government reaction so far has been strong: federal 
police have invested significant resources and the 
insertion of federal troops is a significant act.  Stang 
and other activists had long sought the redistribution of 
land to the landless and environmental protection areas. 
The government had previously supported the concepts, but 
lacked the political will to take action.  Stang's murder 
changed that.  Nevertheless, Para is a huge region 
(larger than the states of Texas, Oklahoma, and New 
Mexico combined) with little infrastructure and much 
jungle.  Illegal ranchers and loggers are well 
established there and have powerful political allies. 
Finding the Stang's killers will be a difficult task, 
dealing with the decades-old land issues even more 
complex.  We will continue to monitor the investigation, 
and the overall situation, closely. 
 
Danilovich