Pedro Alcantara de Souza

Pedro Alcantara de Souza (died 1 April 2010) was a Brazilian land reform activist operating in the state of Pará. He was shot dead on April 1, 2010. by two men on motorcycles while he was riding his bicycle on the outskirts of the town of Belém. The assassination occurred shortly after the trial of a man accused of masterminding the killing of another rain forest activist in 2005, Dorothy Stang. She was an American nun shot and killed in 2005. Watchdog groups say that conflicts between powerful ranchers and poor farmers over land rights have led to 1,200 murders across Brazil in the last 20 years.