Ibama, Brazil’s environmental enforcement agency, has a new president: Hamilton Casara, a 41-year-old agronomist who many here believe will try to jolt the institution’s traditionally slow-moving bureaucracy. Casara has worked for Ibama since it was established in 1989, but he’s not your typical paper pusher. He knows the Amazon well. His parents were rubber tappers from the eastern Amazon state of Roraima, and since 1994 he has been the top Ibama official in the western Amazon state of Amazonas. His size (six feet, 210 pounds) and his reputation (for zealously protecting indigenous areas from encroachment) have earned him the nickname “Big Indian” within Ibama. In Amazonas state, he personally lead armed search parties of four to 40 officers to catch illegal loggers... [Log in to read more]