Sao Paulo, Brazil ? An American nun was shot to death Saturday in northern Brazil, less then a week after she accused loggers and ranchers of threatening to kill rural workers, authorities said.

Dorothy Stang, 74, was shot in the face three times near the town of Anapu, about 2,100 kilometers north of Sao Paulo in the Amazon region, federal police officer Fernando Raiol said.

Stang, who had lived in Brazil since the 1960s and worked in the region for more than 20 years, was headed to a meeting with local peasants when her group was attacked, police said.

Two suspects had already been taken into custody, police said.

Stang, of Dayton, Ohio, had lobbied forcefully against efforts by loggers and large landowners to expropriate lands and clear large areas of the Amazon rainforest.

“She was basically protected by her status as being an old lady and being a nun. She also recently became a Brazilian citizen, and she thought that would help but it obviously didn’t,” said her niece Angela Mason, who lives in Dayton, Ohio. She said Stang had told them there was a price on her head.

The early morning attack came less than a week after Stang met with Human Rights Secretary Nilmario Miranda to report that four local farmers had received death threats.

Stang was a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, an international Catholic religious order of about 2,000 women in five continents.

Last June, Stang was honored by the state of Para for her work in the Amazon region. In December she received an award from the Brazilian Bar Assn. for her work helping the local rural workers.

“She was awesome. A little old bundle of joy. She was the happiest person,” Mason said. “She needed nothing. She just loved the people down there.”