Rio: "In the Favelas, A New Dictatorship"

Letter to Diego. Intrusive Globo photo popup interface is apparently designed to prevent you from actually viewing the image. This can be worked around. The house ad that appears is cross-branded with the tattoo: it uses a font similar to the lettering style on the man’s back. Ecce O Globo: We use your pain to market our brand.

In the course of this series, we are going to look at cases like that of public employee Claudio Daltro, 50, who tattooed a letter with 13 lines on his back. The text, a mixed declaration of love and farewell, is addressed to his son Diego, 23, who disappeared in March after a misunderstanding with a military police trooper from the militia operating in Vila Sapê, in Jacarepaguá.

In Rio, the problem was never the Red Command, but the “Blue Command,” the military police. The problem is police corruption. There is this impression that crime is high in Brazil. It’s not. Police corruption is high. Criminality flows from the corruption of the police. When the police stop being corrupt, crime goes down. When kids [interviewed in Falcão: Children of the Traffic] say they pay part of the cop’s salary, that’s true. The traffic, in reality, is a partner of the Brazilian police. –Hélio Luz, former chief of the Rio state judicial police, to the Zero Hora newspaper, May 2007. See Top Rio Cops: “Their Priority Was to Protect The Mafia”

Tráfico, milícia e polícia impõem regime de terror a moradores de favelas do Rio: “Traffic, militia and police impose a reign of terror on shantytown dwellers of Rio.”

The story runs under the “eyebrow” “THE NEW DICTATORSHIP” in today’s O Globo newspaper.

I question whether there is anything “new” about it, however. See

• “A History of Death Squads in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo”

[UPDATE: For a local, skeptical review of the entire editorial package, see Rio: A Reply to “The New Dictatorship”]

IO – O jornal “O Globo” começa a publicar neste domingo uma série de reportagens, intitulada “Os brasileiros que ainda vivem na ditadura”, que aborda como cerca de 1,5 milhão de moradores de favelas e morros do Rio de Janeiro ainda vivem sob uma ditadura. Eles têm seus direitos fundamentais violados por grupos armados do tráfico ou da milícia, ou são submetidos a todo tipo de desrespeito por parte de uma polícia despreparada e, muitas vezes, bandida.

This Sunday, O Globo begins publishing a series of reports titled “Brazilians who still live under the dictatorship,” which deals with how the nearly 1.5 million shantytown and hillside dwellers still live under a dictatorship.

Tautology alert! In other words, the title means what we thought it means. How about “how they live in condition similar to those who suffered under the military regime.” That seems to be the principal conceit here.

They have their fundamental rights violated by armed groups from the traffic or militias or are submitted to every kind of indignity by a police that is ill-prepared and, often, corrupt.

Foram realizadas mais de 200 entrevistas. São relatos de quem sofreu na pele ou testemunhou o sofrimento de pessoas que tiveram seus direitos violados nesses territórios “dominados”. Como muitas dessas pessoas sofrem ameaças, elas ganharão codinomes – recurso usado pelos militantes perseguidos pela ditadura militar – e, em alguns casos, os locais onde aconteceram os crimes serão omitidos.

More than 200 interviews were conducted. These are the stories of those who suffered in the flesh or witnessed the suffering of persons who had their rights violated in these “dominated” territories. Since many of them suffered threats, they are identified by code names — a strategy used by militants pursued by the military dictatorship — and in some cases the locations where the crimes occurred have been omitted.

This is a better case for granting anonymity than the one the Folha de S. Paulo used to grant the same privilege to Edmilson “Bruno Surfistinha” Bruno — or Judy Miller to “Scooter” Libby — I think it is safe to say.

Durante a série, vamos conhecer casos como o do funcionário público Claudio Daltro, de 50 anos, que tatuou em suas costas uma carta de 13 linhas. O texto, misto de declaração de amor e despedida, é endereçado ao filho, Diego, de 23 anos, desaparecido em março após desentendimento com um policial militar ligado à milícia que atua na Vila Sapê, em Jacarepaguá.

In the course of this series, we are going to look at cases like that of public employee Claudio Daltro, 50, who tattooed a letter with 13 lines on his back. The text, a mixed declaration of love and farewell, is addressed to his son Diego, 23, who disappeared in March after a misunderstanding with a military police trooper from the militia operating in Vila Sapê, in Jacarepaguá.

Diego figura entre os 10.464 desaparecidos catalogados de 1993 até junho pelo Serviço de Descoberta de Paradeiros da Delegacia de Homicídios, incluindo dados das unidades da Zona Oeste e Baixada Fluminense. Desse total, 70% (7.324) dos casos estariam relacionados à ação do tráfico e, mais recentemente, das milícias. No vácuo deixado pelo Estado, a ditadura imposta por esses grupos produziu, num período de 14 anos, 54 vezes mais desaparecidos do que os registrados durante os 21 anos do regime militar: 136, segundo levantamento do Tortura Nunca Mais.

Diego is one of 10,464 missing persons registered from 1993 until June of this year by the Missing Persons Bureau of the Homicide Division, including data from the Western District and the ["downstate"] Baixada Fluminense. Of this total, 70% of the cases, or 7,324, are related to the activities of the drug traffic, and, more recently, the militias.

The notion that the “militias” are a recent phenomenon needs caveating, I think. See

• “A History of Death Squads in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo”

In the vacuum left by the State, the dictatorship imposed by these groups has produced, in a period of 14 years, 54 times more disappeared persons than those registered in the 21 years of the military regime, which was 136, according to a study by [the NGO "Torture Never Again."]

The group’s NGO counterpart is called TERNUMA — “Terrorism Never Again.” And Olavo de Carvalho is its prophet.

Em cinco meses, o homem que evitava exames de sangue e injeções, por medo de agulhas, transformou o corpo num mosaico em homenagem ao filho.

In five months, this man who avoids blood tests and injections, using needles, transformed his body into a mosaic in the memory of his son.

- Isso aqui é uma forma minha, não sei, de auto-flagelação. É uma forma de atenuar essa dor insuportável – diz Claudio, referindo-se às imagens do rosto do filho e de um coração partido tatuadas nos braços, após o desaparecimento dele.

“This here is my way, I don’t know, of self-flagellation. It is a way of cutting this unbearable pain,” said Claudio, referring to the images of his son’s face and a broken heart tattooed on his arms after the young man’s disappearance.

Wow. That is some seriously heavy stuff right there.

What happened here? A palace revolution in the newsroom? Did Globo demote Ali Kamel to janitor? Did João Marinho undergo a Scrooge-like Dickensian conversion? Is this for real?

I imagine there will be some strong reaction, too. Stay tuned.

Diego my young son, to me, thinking of you is nothing but love, but when I remember that you are gone, I feel deep pain, with the certainty that some day we will meet again to continue this love that lasted so little time, but that was so marvellous. Thinking of you now, I feel genuine love, I feel a longing for you that will live forever.

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