Abstract
Francisco 'Chico' Alves Mendes Filho was born on December 15, 1944, on a rubber estate in Xapuri, Acre, in northwest Brazil. He married Ilzamar G. Bezerra Mendes and they had two children. At the time of his death Helenira was four and Sandino was two. Chico Mendes was the president of the Xapuri Rural Workers' Union; a member of the National Council of Rubber Tappers; member of the national council of the Trade Union Congress (CUT); an activist in the Workers' Party (PT); and committed to the defense of the Amazonian ecosystem. In 1985, he advised the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank on Amazon development projects. In 1987, he received the Global 500 Prize from the United Nations and a medal from the Society for a Better World, New York. In 1988, he was awarded honorary citizenship of Rio de Janeiro. At 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, December 22,1988, Chico Mendes, trade union leader, rubber tapper, and ecologist, was assassinated in the doorway of his home in Xapuri, Acre.
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