(CPJ/IFEX) – Mariza Romao, who works for Globo Television Network affiliate TV Liberal, fled Maraba, a town in the northern state of Para, on 1 December 1997 after receiving a series of death threats. Romao reported on the April 1996 massacre in Eldorado de Carajas, a town close to Maraba, in which nineteen landless workers […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – Mariza Romao, who works for Globo Television Network
affiliate TV Liberal, fled Maraba, a town in the northern state
of Para, on 1 December 1997 after receiving a series of death
threats.
Romao reported on the April 1996 massacre in Eldorado de Carajas,
a town close to Maraba, in which nineteen landless workers were
killed. The killings occurred when police tried to clear peasants
who were blocking a highway to underscore their demand for land.
Romao testified against 153 police officers implicated in the
massacre. On 12 November, Judge Otavio Maciel ruled that he found
enough evidence to refer the case of the police officers to a
separate court, where a jury will try them for murder. On 13
November, Romao began receiving phone calls from a man
identifying himself as a friend of the police, who warned her
that police officers were planning to kill her. After the calls
became more frequent, Romao fled to the capital of Brasilia on 1
December with her two young children. Local journalists believe
that Romao’s testimony is crucial for the conviction of the
police officers implicated in the Eldorado de Carajas massacre.
The Ministry of Justice has assigned a team of federal police
officers to guard Romao after she began to receive the death
threats.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
persons responsible for the threats against her life
Appeals To
His Excellency Fernando Henrique Cardoso
President
Palacio do Planalto
70160-990
Brasilia DF, Brazil
Fax: +55 61 226 7566Iris Rezende
Minister of Justice
Brasilia
Brazil
Fax: +55 61 226 7566
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
