On 16 August 2014, Josias Paulino de Castro, 54, and his wife Irani da Silva Castro, 35, were shot dead in Guariba District, municipality of Colniza, state of Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Before his death, during a court hearing, the social leader from “Associação de Produtores Rurais Nova União” , reported crimes committed by farmers, state agents and police, all connected to the illegal occupation of land.

On that day, Josias claimed “we are dying, we are threatened, the state of Mato Grosso is accomplice, the Guariba Police protect them, the federal state is silent, is it necessary I be killed for someone to take action?”.

At the time, according to reports received there had been repeated calls for the government to take action to protect people who were being threatened in that region.