Today's guest post comes from Micaela, an acquaintance of mine from the New York - Rio connection who recently started a blog about Rio de Janeiro. After reading my recent post about crime statistics in Rio, she commented that people reported as disappeared don't factor into murder statistics, which are likely much higher. She went on to write the following post, which she kindly offered as a guest post here.
Twelve days ago, 11 year-old Juan Moraes, a resident of the low-income Rio suburb of Nova Iguaçu, disappeared during a confrontation with the military police (PM). As of yet, the government-led investigation has failed to locate the young boy, who is now feared dead. Although it will be nearly impossible to prove without a body, many claim the boy was assassinated in cold blood by the PMs.
On June 20th, PMs invaded the comunidade of Danon, in Nova Iguaçu. Juan was last seen during during a confrontation between police and residents, in which his 14 year-old brother Weslley was wounded by PM gunshots. Another young man, 19 year-old Wanderson, was also gravely injured by bullets as he was walking home from the candy store where he had worked for over a year. Both Weslley and Wanderson were hospitalized for their wounds, and discharged several days later.
After recovering, Weslley testified that immediately before he went unconscious, he saw Juan's body on the ground in a nearby beco (narrow alley). He confirmed that the boy had taken a bullet.
Later, Juan's mother Rosineia identified a bloody sandal recovered by criminal investigators as Juan's, and declared that she believes her son is no longer alive. "That's my sandal, which I let Juan use," cried Rosineia. "I didn't have money to buy him a pair, so he was using mine."
Further evidence corroborating the probable assassination of Juan by the invading PMs emerged on the 28th, when 5 PM vehicles present during the operation in Nova Iguaçu underwent a luminol examination. At least one of the vehicles presented "streaks of blood", and is being tested to confirm that the blood is human. However, director of the Carlos Eboli Institute of Criminology, Sergio Henriques, says it will take at least a week to carry out the tests.
Meanwhile, following a series of threats, Juan's family has entered into the witness protection program at the suggestion of Federal Deputy Marcelo Freixo (PSOL).
Just this morning, the press announced that Juan's family - temporarily in a secret location under government watch - will permanently leave Nova Iguaçu, the neighborhood in which they have always lived. The family cited threats already received and "fear of retaliation" as their primary motive for fleeing their hometown.
Unfortunately, the progression of the Juan case - like so many other "disappearance" investigations - is likely being hindered by a number of factors, the most obvious of which would be a cover-up attempt by the PMs involved. Although Secretary of Public Security Jose Beltrame has confirmed that the PMs present at the Nova Iguaçu confrontation have been temporarily dismissed, many questions remain regarding their involvement. Although the media does not specify the source of the threats made against Juan's family, it does not take big leap of faith to conclude that those responsible for the threats are also responsible for Juan's "disappearance."
Disappearances such as Juan's are common in Rio de Janeiro. So common, in fact, that few batted an eyelash when a body recovered by investigators on Wednesday turned out to be that of another missing child. There was no media mention of whether another homicide investigation would be launched to ID the body that was found.
Rio de Janeiro's public security forces and politicians point to declining homicide rates as evidence that the police pacifying units (UPPs) and anti-corruption measures are working to produce a safer state. While homicide statistics do indicate that there has been an overall decrease in murders, what the statistics will not tell you is that "disappearances" - such as Juan's - are not included in the data. Examining the data provided by the Institute for Public Security reveals a homicide incidence of 29, 573 for the period of 2007-2011. The number of people officially registered as "missing persons" was 22,533 for the same period. It's probably fair to assume that the majority of these 22,533 are now dead, and that many were the victims of homicide. In other words, if missing persons were included in homicide statistics, Rio could be looking at a homicide rate of nearly twice what the Institute of Public Security reports.
Sadly, the attention that Juan's case has received is the exception, not the rule. Most such "disappearances" will never be reported, never investigated, and never solved.
Micaela is currently living in Rio, and has spent a total of three years there working for various NGOs. After graduating from Johns Hopkins with a major in Latin American Studies, she's now working on her Master's in international development at Tulane. She writes Rio Outside-In.
This is known as "limpiezas" or "limpiezas sociales" in Colombia - social cleansing - but it's usually done en masse. The victims, known as "desechables" or 'disposables', include vagrants, drug addicts, and street kids. All these are household terms among Colombians. My article on Limpiezas in Colombia cites an article that also highlights the practice in Rio. http://www.expat-chronicles.com/2010/03/limpiezas-in-colombia-social-cleansing/
Posted by: Colin | July 04, 2011 at 10:05 PM
Hello Colin,
I've only spent very limited time in Bogota (a week here, a week there). I'd be interested in knowing if the limpiezas that continue to plague Colombia are in any way tied to the murder of Gaitan, the Bogotazo, and the period of La Violencia that followed. It seems that the Colombian state, in a way, has a historical legacy of substantiating mass killings of "undesirables".
An interesting example of US-sponsored ethnic cleansing (depending on whose definition you go by) is the El Mozote genocide in civil-war era El Salvador. There is a great book by Mark Danner on this event, "The Massacre at El Mozote". I highly recommend it.
Posted by: Micaela | July 05, 2011 at 08:35 PM
Não sei o que aconteceu com o menino Juan, mas conheço bem a obsessão, nutrida particularmente por ativistas de esquerda e membros de ONG's, de expor uma interpretação política do fenômeno da criminalidade do Rio de Janeiro. Isso vem de longe. Episódios típicos de guerras entre gangues e vinganças pessoais são apresentados como ação da polícia visando exterminar pobres e marginais. Dessa maneira, o crime ganha uma "cor" de opressão social, às vezes racismo, e a culpa pelo crime é sub-repticiamente jogada à sociedade como um todo, uma vez que a sociedade (presumivelmente) quer a eliminação daqueles indivíduos indesejados. Um bom exemplo foi o episódio conhecido como o Massacre da Candelária, em 1993.
Isso é bobagem. Não existem gangues de policiais com o propósito de eliminar pobres e crianças de rua, isso é lenda urbana. Existiu o Esquadrão da Morte (Escuderie Detetive Le Cocq) no tempo da ditadura, mas está extinto há mais de 30 anos, e nunca matou crianças, só criminosos adultos. O que existe de fato, no Rio de Janeiro da época atual, são policiais envolvidos com traficantes e milícias. Os massacres e sequestros que eles promovem tem a ver com as guerras entre gangues, não se trata de um projeto de eliminar pobres e negros. As mortes misteriosas, aí incluída, provavelmente, a do menino Juan, estão relacionadas a essas guerras, e na maior parte dos casos, ninguém é inocente - nem quem mata, nem quem morre. O fato de existirem 22.533 indivíduos oficialmente desaparecidos não é prova de que todos estão mortos - a maioria simplesmente deixou-se desaparecer no submundo do crime. O mais é excesso de imaginação e viés político nas análises.
Posted by: Pedro Mundim | July 06, 2011 at 12:15 PM
Pois eh, Pedro. Nao quis dizer que todos que desapareceram estao mortes hoje em dia. Foi so um jeito de ilustrar que o numero actual de homocidios divilguda pelo municipio provavalmente eh bem maior do que a estatistica diz.
A discusao que surgiu aqui nos comentarios depois sobre "limpezas sociais", foi outro assunto, sobre outros paises. Nunca quis dizer que isso acontece no Rio. Estava so respondendo ao comentario da pessoa em cima de mim, aqui. Nuna diz que a morte do Juan aconteceu por causa do tom do seu pele.
E sim, com certeza quem mata tem por que matar. Os salarios dos PMs sao uma grande vergonha. Matam, roubam, fazem atos corruptos, porque gera mais um dinheirinho para eles.
E justamente por isso que eh tao dificil culpar uma entidade so. Como disse Tropa de Elite II, "o sistema ta foda".
Posted by: Micaela | July 06, 2011 at 10:57 PM