The enormous fight to regain control of the Amazon from gunmen, illegal ranchers and loggers has just begun and is not as rosy as you state in "A Healthier Amazon Jungle" (editorial, some editions, Sept. 13).
The team's work was interrupted previously by gunmen protecting illegal gold mining operations in nearby areas but the security situation is getting worse, Hart told the Guardian.
For years, a group of illegal loggers, protected by drug cartel gunmen, have ransacked the community and nearby forests.
For years, illegal loggers, protected by drug cartel gunmen, have ravaged the area's communal forests and murdered a number of townspeople.
Mark Glaze was named head of Mayors Against Illegal Guns in 2011, three weeks after a gunman opened fire in an Arizona shopping plaza, killing six people and critically wounding Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
Both gunmen were arrested, and officers seized the illegal 12-gauge sawed-off shotguns.
The justice ministry - currently surrounded by militiamen - was also briefly attacked by gunmen following televised remarks by the justice minister about illegal detention centres run by militias.
"The Iraqi court issued the decision," he said, "and the committee of media communication implemented it and shut Baghdadiya TV down because they were in contact with two Iraqi gunmen who were inside the church," which, he added, was illegal.
When he spoke out against the illegal - and often brutal - detention of prisoners by armed militias, gunmen occupied his ministry and kicked him out.
Mbolombo has always admitted involvement in the plot, but was told he would not be convicted of conspiracy to commit murder or illegal possession of ammunition after giving evidence in the case of gunman Xolile Mngeni, who was jailed two years ago.
