Brazil: death of Bishop Pere Casaldáliga, defender of the natives

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3 min

The Spanish bishop Pedro Casaldáliga, fervent defender of the indigenous people of the Amazon and one of the main representatives of Latin American Liberation Theology, died Saturday at the age of 92 in Brazil, where he had been living since 1968. 

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The prelature of São Félix do Araguaia, in the state of Mato Grosso (center-west), of which Mgr Casaldáliga was bishop emeritus, announced in a statement that he passed away this Saturday, August 8 in the hospital where he was in intensive care because of respiratory problems, in Batatais, near São Paulo (south-east). He suffered from Parkinson's disease.

Born in 1928 in Balsareny, in the province of Barcelona, ​​ordained priest in 1952, he went on a mission to São Felix do Araguaia, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, in 1968, in the midst of a military dictatorship. He opposed the military regime, the large landowners and even the Vatican by defending the landless peasants and the natives, especially those of the Xavantes people.

"  In this land, it is easy to be born and die, but difficult to live,  " the prelate told AFP in 2012, on the occasion of the release of a television series on his life, Barefoot on red earth  from the homonymous book by Catalan writer and journalist Francesc Escribano.

For the former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, paid tribute to him on Twitter, stressing that he "  is the symbol of the dream, of the defense of the rights of the Brazilian people and the peoples of the Amazon  ".

Dom Pedro é símbolo do sonho, da defesa dos direitos do povo brasileiro e dos nossos povos originários da Amazônia.

In 2016, already very weakened, the bishop já bastante fragilizado, Mgr Pere Casaldáliga had written a letter to defend Dilma Rousseff who was confronted with the procedure which led to her dismissal.

"  Our land, our people today is losing an example of generous life for a better world, we will miss it dearly  ", reacted for his part the former left-wing president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Twitter.

Nossa terra, nosso povo perde hoje um grande defensor e exemplo de vida generosa na luta por um mundo melhor, que nos fará muita falta.https: //t.co/Nm9YZj1Chk

He lived under the constant threat of hired killers in the pay of large landowners, Bishop Casaldáliga was one of the founders of the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) and the Indigenous Missionary Council (Cimi), two key organizations in the struggle for land reform.

In 1998, the Spanish bishop was called to Rome where he underwent a harsh interrogation by the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the time, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI 7 years later.

At the end of July, he had signed with 150 other Brazilian bishops an open letter criticizing far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, criticizing in particular his "  incompetence  " and his "  inability  " to manage the health crisis of the coronavirus, which has made nearly 100,000 dead in Brazil, including several hundred natives.

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