Chico Mendes began to work at the age of nine. He began to work at the age of nine. He became a rubber tapper, just like his father before him. One afternoon, in 1962, a worker came. Someone new, showed Chico a newspaper and then taught him to read. Schools were forbidden on any rubber estate in the Amazon because the rubber owners wouldn’t allow it because they would learn to read, write and add and they would discover to what extent they were being exploited.

One day, when the tappers were extracting latex, the noise of a motor echoed across the Rainforest. And, within moments, Chico and is fellow tappers saw a mass of workers with chainsaws who were chopping down the trees. The rancher, who hired the crew, was a young Paulista (from San Paulo) named Marcos Carvalho Costa Filho, also known as junior, was having 700 acres cut down illegally. So, Chico took a stand. His second in command said “You should put down your saws”. His name was Raimundo de Barros. So, with persuasion, the cutters agreed to stop. Little did he know that this was the beginning of a war that was going to affect him and his fellow men forever…

Over the next few months, more and more workers were invading the rainforests around Chico. It turns out that they were planning to build a road through the rainforest. Chico simply wouldn’t lie back and let this happen. He gathered a crowd of his men and went to take a protest in the forest. Chico’s workers gathered in a line and vowed they would not move. Marcos Carvalho Costa Filho took a step forward to Chico. He did not flinch, so Marcos advanced with a chainsaw teetering above his head. Realising he was not going to stop, Raimundo de Barros lunged forward to protect him, and, incidentally, got his arm decapitated. Realising his actions, Marcos Carvalho Costa Filho gathered his workers and fled.

Over the next 3 months, Chico travelled to the United States to make his protest known. Once the world knew about it, uproar to save the forest began. Later on that month, Chico received a message that the workers had come to an agreement that they would stop the building of the road. Hearing this wonderful news, Chico returned to home. But when he got there however, it was a different story.

They had lied. War was still happening. Chico returned back to his house to find a goat’s head hanging from his door-the Brazillian sign of death.

Chico ignored this warning, even though his wife felt threatened, he carried on as if it was a normal day. He showed the children the presents and souvenirs he had brought back from the United States.

Later on that night, the family were sitting around the table eating supper when Chico heard a noise, he passed it off as a cat. He then heard it for a second time and went to investigate. He could see nothing. He turned back to head inside, when a sniper emerged from the darkness of the alley way and shot Chico, he fell to the ground and was dead within in seconds he was dead.