Threatened in Pará, COP30 host state, activist seeks exile outside Brazil
29 de May de 2025
By Fabyo Cruz – From Cenarium
BELÉM (PA) – Environmental activist Pedro Paulo de Moraes Lima, 61, director of the NGO Guardiões e Amigos do Parque Ecológico (Gape), in Belém (PA), stated in a video that he intends to leave Brazil after a series of threats forced him to take refuge in Manaus (AM). In the recording released on Monday, the 26th, on the organization’s official Instagram profile, Pedro said he is awaiting institutional support to leave the country for San José, the capital of Costa Rica.
“I am a refugee in the State of Amazonas, in the capital Manaus (…). Now I’m going to the Cachoeirinha police station to present myself, so they can decide on my safety. And I would also like the Human Rights Commission of the OAB Amazonas to accompany my case until my departure from the country, in San José, Costa Rica, where I will be defending the Escazú Agreement so that it is urgently ratified in Brazil, so that activists like me, in the future, do not have to seek political asylum in another nation,” the activist declared in the video.
Watch the video:
To CENARIUM, Gape coordinator Flávio Trindade said this Tuesday, the 27th, that he and other members of the NGO continue to be threatened in Belém. He reported that militiamen are intimidating residents and activists.
“We have reports that militiamen, hired by people involved in real estate speculation in the remaining areas of the Ecological Park of the Municipality of Belém, are circulating in the Bela Vista complex. They intimidate the people who reported the illegal sales. These militiamen were even seen together with people who assaulted Pedro Paulo,” Trindade told the outlet.
Flávio also stated that the disputed area is valued at more than R$ 90 million, and the sales have already been deemed illegal by the courts. Gape reported that the first complaints about the irregularities were made as early as 2015, with no concrete action taken to this day. The group has already forwarded reports to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Pará (MP-PA) and the Brazilian Bar Association – Pará Section (OAB-PA).
Pedro Paulo Case
Pedro Paulo was missing for more than ten days after a series of assaults and threats related to Gape’s work in reporting illegal occupations and sales of public land in the Bela Vista complex, in Belém (PA). He resurfaced on May 17, in an audio sent to the site Info Revolução, in which he said he was taking refuge in Amazonas and requested protection guarantees from the local government and the OAB-AM Human Rights Commission.
In the audio, the activist directly accused lawyer Thiago José Souza dos Santos, known as “Carcaça,” as well as a man named Renato and another unidentified individual, who, according to him, appeared to be an armed militiaman. He also mentioned the involvement of a vehicle from the 27th Battalion of the Pará Military Police.
“I am here to request a guarantee of life from the local government and the Human Rights Commission of the Brazilian Bar Association, OAB Amazonas, due to having been physically assaulted and threatened with death,” he stated in the audio.
Response from the mentioned lawyer
In a note sent to CENARIUM, lawyer Thiago José Souza dos Santos denied any involvement in Pedro Paulo’s disappearance and refuted the accusations. He claimed that his legal actions were motivated by irregularities attributed to Gape itself and labeled the complaints as “retaliation.”
“This is retaliation and ‘sour grapes’ from an organization called Gape (…). These ‘accusations’ are nothing more than an attack by this hateful group against me and my rights as a lawyer,” he said.
Assault and disappearance
The assaults on Pedro Paulo were documented in a police report filed by Rosemary Pereira de Oliveira from the OAB-PA Human Rights Commission. According to the report, he was beaten on May 3 by three residents of the Bela Vista complex.
After receiving medical attention and attending a meeting with NGO colleagues, the activist disappeared on May 6, when a note with the phrase “I am being threatened with death,” signed “Paulo Lima,” was found in his home.
Since then, his absence mobilized colleagues and human rights organizations. With his reappearance in Manaus and the announcement that he seeks to leave the country, the case has taken on a new dimension and reinforces the warnings of organizations advocating for the Escazú Agreement — an international treaty that provides specific protection for environmental defenders in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The report requested a statement from the State Secretariat for Public Security and Social Defense (Segup) regarding the case involving environmental activist Pedro Paulo, to find out what measures the State has taken to ensure his safety and a safe return to Belém, but no response was received. CENARIUM remains available to the department for further clarification.