The moment we live in calls attention to the profusion of dramatic events that cross our daily lives. We can barely digest them and soon we are faced with new facts to challenge us. We are, undoubtedly, facing a wave that will require intense strength and vigor to withstand times that we thought we had already overcome in Brazil. Most of us certainly did not imagine that we would have to articulate ourselves not to lose the slight thread of democracy that had been outlined in this country since the end of the dictatorship in the 1980s.
In the State of Rio de Janeiro, in an even more peculiar perspective, we have experienced times never lived in relation to the increase of violence regarding its quantity and its form. Slums and peripheries are the areas where these violence manifests emphatically, in a process that deepens over time, regardless of some experiences, such as the Pacifying Police Unit - UPP project, which presented itself to the time of its implementation, from 2008, as a proposal for the dismantling of crime, identified, basically, as drug trafficking.
In the set of the 16 favelas of Maré, where 140,000 people live, we can easily see the presence of public security agents carrying out police operations that end up being confrontations with some of the armed groups of the region. Interestingly, this dynamic affects only the favelas where the two factions, Comando Vermelho and Terceiro Comando, are present. We have no news of clashes between police and militiamen in the two favelas where they operate in the region. In fact, that was a choice made by state security forces a long time ago.
Such operations have greatly altered the daily life of the population. One of them took place in June 2016: it lasted all day and extended until night time in the favelas Nova Holanda, Parque União, Parque Rubens Vaz and Parque Maré, causing terror to the residents. In face of such a violent scenario, a representative of Redes da Maré, together with other Non-Governmental Organizations that operate in the region and Residents' Associations, went to the Judicial Service, accompanied by the Public Defender of the State of Rio de Janeiro, to request the suspension of the ongoing operation, since the population, especially children and adolescents, could not leave schools or their activities to go home.
Then, an unprecedented injunction was granted by a judge with a sense of justice. There was nothing subversive about the injunction: it just defined that police operations in Maré could not take place at night. In addition, BOPE commanders, the Secretary of Public Security, the General Commander of the Military Police and the Commander of the Shock Battalion were summoned to provide clarification on the facts narrated by the residents. From this injunction, the Public Defender of the State of Rio de Janeiro entered into a legal procedure called Public Civil Action in order to ensure that the operations that took place in the favelas of Maré respected the rights of residents. This meant that, as of 2018, police officers had to respect certain protocols to act, such as being identified and not entering residents' homes without a court order. In addition, operations could not take place during school entry and exit times; they should be accompanied by an ambulance; and, last but not least, the Secretariat of State for Public Security should develop, with the collaboration of experts and civil society organizations, a harm reduction plan.
In this sense, the project “Eyes on Maré” - an initiative of the Public Security and Access to Justice Axis of Redes da Maré - since 2016, reveals the importance of an active Judiciary stance.
In 2017, we had 41 police operations; in 2018, there were 16; and in the first half of 2019, we have already reached 21. Regarding the number of people killed, we identified 45 in 2017, 24 in 2018 and 27 in the first half of 2019. As for the days of closed schools, we found 35 days in 2017, 10 in 2018 and 10 in the first half of 2019. Health posts were interrupted in their operation for 45 days in 2017, 11 days in 2018 and 10 days in the first half of 2019.
The 2018 data demonstrate how the police forces, pressured by the State Judiciary, articulated with civil society, changed their posture, which significantly interfered in reducing conflicts and improving the quality of life of the local population.
A state body recognizing that all citizens of the city have the right to public security was a major step forward. Unfortunately, since January 2019, we have been surprised by statements and actions by the governor-elect, Wilson Witzel, that go against this recognition of rights: he broke any commitment to public security in the name of fighting criminal factions of drug trafficking, especially. With this, it has taken on the logic of terror in the favelas, establishing the use of air tanks, for example, as a daily practice, and the absolute liberation of the police to kill anyone who is carrying a rifle or to use missiles to fight the traffic.
The 2018 experience is the greatest proof that the integrated action of State bodies with civil society can help to build a security policy that privileges rights without giving up qualified repression against crime. What is unacceptable is that, in the name of combating drug trafficking, hundreds of thousands of people continue to be terrorized by state forces. In the name of what can this be justified? This is not justice, this is not public security, this is not smart - militias continue to grow in the vacuum left by traffic. Above all: this is not human, considering that we live in Rio de Janeiro 2019, and not, as some think, in the 19th century, before the abolition of slavery. We are free. And we will continue to be. Whether these people like it or not.
Eliana Sousa Silva
Director and founder of NGO Redes da Maré, researcher in public security and visiting professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies at USP
Article published on the website of El País Brasil on August 11 of 2019
https://brasil.elpais.com/brasil/2019/08/11/opinion/1565558361_095370.html
