30 tourists assaulted in area with two UPPs

Early this morning, 30 tourists in the five-star Hotel Santa Teresa (located in the eponymous neighborhood) were assaulted and robbed by five armed bandits. This is the second reported recent incident involving tourist assaults in the area , which boasts not one, but two UPPs (Morro da Coroa and Morro dos Prazeres).

Earlier this week, a woman was found dead in Cidade de Deus, shot in the face by an unknown assailant. Cidade de Deus has had a UPP since early 2009.

Lastly and sadly, Andre Ferreira, 24, was shot execution-style by military police (PMs) staffing the UPP in Pavao-Pavaozinho-Cantagalo. PMs claimed that the officer shot in an act of "self defense", despite witness reports that Andre was unarmed and numerous civilian accounts of Andre's lack of involvement in trafficking. PMs went on to claim that Andre was a traficante, although it seems that as he was shot in the back, a positive facial ID seems unlikely. As federal deputy Marcelo Freixo (PSOL), explains, "There is no doubt that [Andre's death] was an assassination. Freixo also pointed out that the fact that Andre was only shot once indicates an execution.

Last week I had the opportunity to speak with the Captain of the Cantagalo UPP, Leonardo Nogueira. After listening to him paint an unrealistically optimistic portrait of the relationship between the UPP PMs and the residents of the comunidade (Nogueira claims former traficantes turn themselves in to Nogueira and thank him for his services), I asked him specifically about Andre's death. "That was an act of self-defense," Nogueira claimed, in-line with the official PM reports. "He was a traficante."

And these are just three isolated incidents of violence in comunidades with UPPs. Most will go unreported, biasing accounts of the success of the UPPs in combating violent crime. Obviously, the UPPs are a step in the right direction, but as of now, their effectiveness at reducing the incidence of homicide, assault, and corruption seems questionable.

UPDATE: Juan's body is located

You may recall that last weekend, I wrote about the case of a young boy - Juan - who had "disappeared" during a confrontation between traficantes and PMs in Nova Iguacu. Later, blood was found in the police vehicle that was allegedly in the area where Juan went missing. A DNA test is underway to determine if the blood is Juan's.

You may also recall that I mentioned that while searching for Juan, investigators recovered the body of a young girl, and that the media failed to mention if another investigation would be opened to ID the body.

Well, the good news is, there is no need for a second investigation! Why? Because, as it turns out, the body was Juan's after all? How on earth could investigators have made such an egregious error? Juan had only been missing for a matter of days at time his body was found. It's not as if it would have been in such an advanced state of decomposition that he could not have been ID'ed just by looking. So...why they gross mistake in the identification of the body? Was Juan dismembered? Mutilated? The media does not say.

What the media DOES say is that the PMs that may have been responsible for Juan's death and disappearance are also responsible for 37 other deaths resulting from similar skrimishes with traficantes. The media also reports that investigations of these deaths, in some cases, remain open.

I leave you to draw your own conclusions. I don't know about you, but I'm not holding my breath for the DNA test.

CPI das Remocoes (Parliamentary Eviction Investigation) update

Today, in "head, meet desk" news:

The vote in the Camara Municipal last week in favor of a judicial investigation (CPI) into the legality of mega-event-related forced removals has been overturned. Why? Because apparently, five of the city council members rescinded their signatures from the CPI petition, on the grounds that they "did not read it".

Undocumented reading disabilities, or clientelism? You be the judge.

Where is Juan?

Twelve days ago, 11 year-old Juan Moraes, a resident of the low-income Rio suburb of Nova Iguacu, 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 Iguacu. 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 Iguacu 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 Iguacu, 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 Iguacu 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."

A body discovered in Nova Iguacu was that of a young
girl. Photo credit: R7

Disappearnces 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.