Frontline

Decade of Destruction Part 4: Chico Mendes (1990x20)

Air date: Sep 21, 1990

The series concludes with the story of Chico Mendes, a rubber tapper whose murder in 1988 brought worldwide attention to the problem of Amazonian deforestation. Mendes had become a symbol of the struggle between the rubber tappers and landowners. After surviving attempts on his life, Mendes was finally murdered by gunmen allegedly from a neighboring cattle ranch.