Explore published stories from Região de Rio Branco, Acre, Brasil and nearby.
Circles, squares, ditches and roads built by Indigenous peoples more than two thousand years ago have changed how western Amazonia is understood. LiDAR has revealed hundreds of previously undocumented earthworks; predictions of thousands more remain models, not confirmed finds. This dossier follows Acre’s sites, evidence of forest management and the questions still open.
1,539 km · Ambato
Arrested in Ecuador in 1980, Pedro Alonso López claimed hundreds of killings of children across three countries. That number became a headline, yet a study of prison records identifies four convictions for named victims, combined into a 16-year sentence. This dossier follows the victims, records and gaps obscured by the criminal’s notoriety.
1,843 km · Armero
In November 1985, a lahar from Nevado del Ruiz destroyed Armero. Omayra Sánchez remained trapped in debris for nearly three days. This dossier examines the known hazard, rescue attempts, the pump debate, the photograph, and the disaster’s legacy while separating testimony from medical certainty.
2,148 km · Jonestown
From an interracial Indianapolis church to a Guyanese agricultural settlement, this dossier traces Peoples Temple’s social appeal, relatives’ warnings, Leo Ryan’s visit, and deaths in Jonestown, Port Kaituma, and Georgetown. Records and testimony show why calling all of it “mass suicide” erases children, coercion, and dissent.