Elenire and Ilzamar, the widow and daughter of Chico Mendes
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To mark the 20th anniversary of his assassination, Nick Maes looks at the life of Chico Mendes, the highly significant green activist who helped to galvanise the race to preserve the Amazon.
Chico Mendes fought to stop the logging of the Amazon Rainforest and founded a national union of rubber tappers in an attempt to preserve their profession and the rainforest that it relied upon.
He was assassinated in 1988, by those who were opposed to his activism.
With exclusive interviews with the Mendes family and surviving supporters, this revelatory documentary reflects on how the changing face of the rainforest, encouraged Chico Mendes into action.
It looks at how his actions highlighted the plight of the Amazon internationally and how he can be directly credited with creating reserves and preserving vast tracts of land.
Today, there are more than 8 million acres protected.
You will also hear, first hand, from those closest to him and about the day in 1988 when Chico Mendes was assassinated.
Listen to how the tragedy of his death was turned by world's media into an environmental force which is still very vocal and supported by the Mendes family in Brazil to this day.
With original material gathered in the forest areas, interviews with his immediate family and associates, and tributes from key international environmentalists 'Father of the Forest', Nick presents a fascinating portrait of both the man and his surviving legacy.
First broadcast 14th May 2008.
