Brazil: When Black Lives Matter’s campaign appeared on the streets worldwide last year, together with a local NGO Brazilian Forum of Public Security (BFPS) investigated these deaths.
In this investigation, we have tried to find out at what level police violence takes place in Brazil and which people are most vulnerable to it?
- Three teenagers, three murdered. 14-year-old João Pedro was shot in the back while he was playing at home with his cousins.
- 15-year-old Guilherme Guides disappeared from outside his grandmother’s house and was then shot in his mouth.
- 16-year-old Igor Rocha Ramos was killed when he came out of the house to buy bread, and his mother at home was trying to recover after being infected by Corona.
What is the common thing in these three murders?
The three teenagers were allegedly murdered by Brazilian policemen in 2020. Six-seven months have passed and their families still remain skeptical of getting justice.
The first case in Brazil: Igor Rocha Ramos, age 16, murdered on April 2, 2020
Igor’s mother Ana Paula Rocha told, “He ran to save his life, his blood was spread all over the street. He had fallen up in the street, he ran from the bottom to come here.”
Ana also said, “They did not let me go so close to him. They kept pushing me backwards. After that they took him to the hospital, did not even let me sit in the ambulance.”
Ana Paula has raised four children from her monthly salary of $ 300 as a single mother. She has a home in Jardim Sao Saverio, a suburb of São Paulo, in which she lived with her three daughters Bruna, Barbara and Betriz, and the youngest boy, Igor. They are the conductors of buses in the nearby areas.
The day Igor was shot by a police officer, Ana Paula was at her house on that day. She was recovering from a Kovid infection. Due to severe symptoms of illness and trouble of breathing, he kept himself isolated in the house for 11 days.
Igor got up late that day and went to fetch bread and chips from the bakery, so that people could eat the remaining hot dogs during the day’s lunch. At 1.15 pm he left his house and within 10 minutes Ana Paula heard the sound of shouting in the street.
Ana said, “There was a sound of neighbors saying that they killed him. The boy whom he killed looks like Igor.”
Fearful Ana came down the stairs wearing slippers and opened the door and came into the street. Having trouble breathing, Ana removed the mask.
Dozens of neighbors were already present in the street, who were making videos of policemen from their phones. Ana remembers hearing the voice of the frightened Bruna. Bruna said loudly, “Mother is shot in the head. They have shot in the head.” According to Ana Paula, she was terrified after hearing this.
Footage in the mobile phones of several eyewitnesses show that Bruna and Ana-Paula were pushed back by policemen present and constantly growing around Igor’s body.
Ana says, “It was shocking to see him like that. My body part was gone.” Telling this, Ana gets tears in her eyes.
More than 10 months have passed since this incident, but so far no one has been arrested in the case of Igor’s murder. However, the military police of São Paulo say that the investigation of the case is still going on.
Ana Paula says that while she was present at the site of the accident, a police officer told her, “This is a police encounter.” According to the police officer, Igor had a gun in his hands, but Ana insisted that he had no gun in his hand and had gone out to buy bread.
Witnesses have also told them that they did not see any gun in Igor’s hand. The São Paulo Police Department says that they are currently investigating police officers’ claims of having a gun in Igor’s hands.
The hospital report confirmed that Igor died in the street after being shot in the back of the head. According to Footage and eyewitnesses, he fell near the bakery.
Ana Paula says that she will continue to fight for the justice of her son, but she fears that the judicial system also discriminates against the city’s poor.
Ana Paula says, “If my son had been the son of a rich man, the police officers would have been in jail. He would have been arrested. But that police officer is roaming outside and acting like normal officers.”
Police officers have also confirmed the normal functioning of that officer.
Troubles of black youth
In the first six months of 2020, 3,148 people died at the hands of the police in Brazil. That means 17 people on average every day. Rio de Janeiro, a small Brazilian state with a population of only 16 million, did not have as many people killed by the police during the first six months as in the US with a population of 32.8 million.
But the brutal police violence is common in Brazil and there is no protest against it like in America and Nigeria. Apart from this, it has also been estimated that one in every 10 people killed at the hands of the police is involved in criminal cases.
In Brazil, there is talk of police atrocities – from the streets to the media and the courts – the way people are losing their lives, it seems that people are indifferent and have learned to be accountable.
Second case: Guilherme Guides, kidnapped and murdered at age 15, June 14, 2020
One of the two most heinous murders in Brazil in 2020 is the murder of Guilherme Guides. He disappeared from outside his grandmother’s house and was later shot and killed.
His mother, José da Silva dos Santos, says, “The way my son died, it would have been better for him to be a Kovid-19. Many people are telling me that this is God’s will. But to me it is God’s will Can’t be done. Will God’s will be that someone is killed by two bullets in the head? “
Joce last saw her son at a family event. Since it was long gone, Guilherme said that he left Grandma to the house. José says that on the go he picked up his favorite chicken pastry.
After returning the grandmother to the bed, he returned, but went to meet a boy of his age in the street. The boy had warned that two police officers in plain clothes are coming here in search of you.
ose said, “But Guilherme said, ‘I’m not going anywhere, because I haven’t done anything wrong.’ He stayed there and then two people came. “
The security camera footage outside Guilherme’s grandmother’s house shows that two people surround her in the street.
After six hours, his body is recovered, that too in the neighboring city, six kilometers away. According to a forensic report, he was shot twice, one in the mouth and one in the back of the head.
“The next day my sister went to the dead house. They asked if Gui had a tattoo on her body, then confirmed where the tattoo was. Then she said it was Gui,” says José.
This incident too has been over seven months. São Paulo’s Department of Public Safety says that both suspects in the video have been identified. One of these Sergeant Adriano Fernandez de Campos is currently in jail and the trial has not started. They deny all the allegations. Police are still on the lookout for another suspect and former police officer Gilberto Irik Rodriguez.
History of violence
Why is the Brazilian police so aggressive? The answer lies in the past of Brazil. During two decades of military dictatorship, thousands of people were persecuted across the country, killing hundreds. There are two types of forces in Brazil – military and civil police.
The military police of Brazil are trained in the same way as army personnel, but they have to do day-to-day street policing, while civil police personnel are deployed for judicial and administrative work.
According to former Rio de Janeiro police chief Robson Rodriguez da Silva, there is a lot of pressure on Brazilian police officers. He said that on one hand, the highest rate of crime in the world is in Brazil, on the other hand policemen have to work on a nominal salary and they do not get any help.
According to him, due to uncertainty and job instability over time, many officers have had psychological effects. Robson says, “Any policeman can feel that anyone is with a gun. The reason for this is that guns are readily available in this area. There is no system that prevents them from reaching the hands of criminals.” “This situation creates tension and fear. When a police officer has to face such a situation, he is not able to face such a situation easily.”
According to former Rio de Janeiro police officer Robson, no place in the world will be as dangerous to policemen as the slums of Rio city.
