Here is a letter from Caroline Lellis to the editor of Wrinkly Brain
News.
Today when
you told me that we needed an article I really got confused, sort of
dizzy, and I only realized it later. I’ll explain… I started
reading about everything that had happened, and something automatically
popped in my head: what a sad fate of this country – and many
others – that can only be seen in the media during the World Cup,
the Carnival and when violence takes over the scene. It really makes
me sad, sad as a journalist and especially as a Brazilian.
This situation also makes me question, once more, what we are trying
to achieve with the website. I, personally, have no interest in writing
an article about how many people died since Friday or how many shopping
malls were closed yesterday in São Paulo as I read in BBC and
in the Guardian. After all, that is just the consequence of a long process
of social negligence which has been haunting Latin American for who
knows how long. People seem to be interested in the consequences, in
the bloody part, in Molotov cocktails, but not what’s behind it.
And for me – and I’m pretty sure it’s the same for
you – that is not what really matters. Please do not take all
this as a personal attack, because it’s not. I know that when
you said “we need an article”, you wanted to know the causes
of all this sudden chaos. As I didn’t have much time to write,
I started translating what I had seen in the news – “São
Paulo Under Attack” – and I realized that’s everything
I don’t want to do. It’s funny how it put me in a sort of
depressive state; for a moment I almost believed that this only place
we have to publish decent information was in danger. Am I being too
utopian?
Anyway, back to Brazil. What really happened was that the government
of São Paulo State found out that this criminal faction, the
PCC (First Command of the Capital, which is the biggest one in the country)
was planning to attack some politicians. Therefore, the governor decided
to transfer 765 prisoners from São Paulo City to another unity,
around 600 kilometres away, in order to isolate the main leaders
and neutralize the possible attack. The criminals got pissed, of course,
and sent the order – from inside the prisons – to start
an attack against police officers and prison guards. The surreal part
is that in Brazil the drug traffic is organized by the guys that are
in jail. These guys manage to get cell phones into the prison and do
all their business from there. And how do those cell phones get in there?
Some women put them in their vaginas, others put them in the middle
of food, but of course there’s a lot of corruption of the guards
– it’s a big business for them to let all sort of stuff
get in, from cigarettes to cell phones.
So,
the attacks started on Friday and went on through the weekend. Sunday
was Mother’s day and 12,000 prisoners were allowed to go out to
spend the day with their families. The police found out that some of
these prisoners actually served as messengers for the arrested leaders
to the members who were “acting” on the streets. Monday
those on the outside had all the instructions from the inside, brought by the guys who
were out on Sunday; they attacked several cities all over the state;
chaos. I don’t even need to tell you how scared the population
was, that’s a given. Besides, there were all sorts of rumours
going on the internet, everybody was in panic. They even closed the
hospitals, man!
Now, the question: why did the governor refused the intervention of
the army? Well, he said it wasn’t necessary, that the police would
deal with the situation. The leader of the PCC, who is also in prison,
declared today that there was a negotiation between the faction (meaning
him) and the governor. This son of a bitch governor actually agreed
to negotiate with this other son of a bitch, and once more, WHO knows
what he promised the drug dealer in order to stop the attacks. Now you
tell me who the criminal in this story is. It’s abusive to put
18 million people in danger (and that’s only in SP city) to prove
“he can deal with the bad boys”. The hell he can…
I’m still curious to know why he refused the intervention. Probably
because his political adversary Lula has been suggesting it for quite
some time.
But
what really shocks me in all this story is the stupidity of all this
violence. These guys are killing just to prove their force; they have
absolutely NO purpose, no values, nothing… their lives have no
value; other people’s lives have no value. Yesterday my brother
told me that Brazil was starting to look like Colombia. Actually, I
think it’s worse than Colombia. At least the FARC (Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia), or at least a part of it, has legitimate
causes behind it – and of course I’m not excusing their
actions, I’m just saying that they’re not only about drug
traffic, killing police officers and politicians. The guy I’m
going to interview for The EYE was telling me that in 1996, some peasants
from a region controlled by the FARC came to the government and presented
a proposition to stop producing coca and replacing it for other cultures.
They said it would take an investment of 1500 dollars per hectare to
replace the coca. Of course the government didn’t accept the project
and went on with its politics of throwing toxic agents over the plantations
– with the help of the American government, obviously. And here
comes the sordid detail of the story: do you know how much it costs
to the American government to kill each hectare of coca with its toxic
products? More than 3,000 dollars, which happens to be two times more
than the amount the peasants asked for. Viva la stupidity!
My headache is gone! I think I only needed to tell you all this, because
it bugged me all day long. And yes, we’re going to put a decent
article together about this story. For a moment today I was afraid of
loosing my dear “compañero” of ideals and ideas.
Love you,
Carol
Photos as
seen from top to bottom:
Moacyr
Lopes Junior
Victor
R. Caivano
São
Paulo faces the results of inequality
by Leticia Salla
Panic. There’s no better word to describe people’s reactions
since the attacks from PCC (First Command of the Capital) started. São
Paulo has never been in such a situation. Until this Friday, 93 suspects
and 41 police officers were dead, numbers that are usually only seen
in a civil war.
Nevertheless, what is particularly notable is how desperation has taken
over the people. Last Monday, while the police commanders announced
that the situation was under control, rumours of fear were being spread
all around – some were saying that the police were ready to set
a curfew in the city. São Paulo’s police commander Elizeu
Ecclair denied the rumour, but even though schools were closed, companies
released their employees earlier and shops closed their doors before
three in the afternoon. Transportation companies took the busses out
of circulation after several vehicles were burned. Once more, chaos!
More than 200 km of traffic jams in the city, a new record.
What we saw in São Paulo City on Monday was a direct consequence
of rumours and the concretization of the elite’s worst fear: the
fear that, one day, drug dealers and the marginalized population realize
the power and the strength they have in their hands. When the attacks
were concentrated on the suburbs and didn’t reach the wealthy
neighbourhoods, this kind of confusion was nothing but “another
sad episode of suburban violence”. Well, a different day has arrived.
Now it’s up to us to realize that inequality has reached its limits
– São Paulo is a city that has one of the biggest fleets
of helicopters in the world and, at the same time, thousands of kids
asking for money at its traffic lights.
How can you feel safe in a country where a criminal faction manage to
buy a tape containing the transcript of a secret meeting concerning
gun traffic investigations for only R$ 200,00 (80 dollars)? And even
worse, listen to the audio operator of the tape saying that this money
is his “living”? But this is the reality in a country that
has wonderful cities and 14 million people starving. The timing couldn’t
be better. In October, we’ll have presidential elections and the
“who’s responsible” game has already started. What
else can we say other than “Good night and good luck”?
