"Far north of glittering Rio de Janeiro, the Rio Maria region of the Brazilian Amazon is a land of incredible natural beauty and unbelievable violence. In this book, Fr. Ricardo Rezende, a parish priest and worker for human and environmental rights, gives an eyewitness account of the struggles in the Brazilian rainforest that have made world headlines."--BOOK JACKET.

"Rio Maria is filled with memorable vignettes of a world and people that poignantly reveal a life lived amid the ever-present threat of death. Even as the rainforests are slashed and burned with impunity by wealthy miners and ranchers, so its human inhabitants - the poor farmers and indigenous peoples - are cut down if they stand in the way.

One of the most compelling figures is a devout Catholic unionist and poet, Expedito Ribeiro de Souza, well-known to international human rights groups and a special friend to Rezende. Ultimately, it is Expedito's murder that spurs the people of Rio Maria to join together, at great personal risk, to put an end to the violence."--BOOK JACKET.