{"id":14686,"date":"2014-04-26T15:11:43","date_gmt":"2014-04-26T18:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=14686"},"modified":"2019-06-05T17:32:55","modified_gmt":"2019-06-05T20:32:55","slug":"upp-violence-in-pavao-pavaozinhocantagalo-comes-to-a-head-following-death-of-dancer-dg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=14686","title":{"rendered":"UPP Violence in Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho\/Cantagalo Comes to a Head Following Death of Dancer DG"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Demonstration<\/a>An increase of violence in Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho<\/a> and Cantagalo<\/a>\u00a0over recent months–neighboring favelas located above the\u00a0beachside\u00a0neighborhoods of Ipanema and Copacabana in Rio’s\u00a0South Zone<\/a>–combined with the high profile death of a widely known and loved young man this past week have led to an uprising and widespread\u00a0resident questioning of the effectiveness of the Pacifying Police Unit<\/a>\u00a0(UPP) there. PPG, as the three adjoining\u00a0favelas are collectively known, has been pacified since December 2009. However, the UPP program there\u00a0has seen many forms of mismanagement since the unit was implemented, leading to distrust between residents and police forces. Community leaders and residents are calling for an end to the violence. Since the year began, the community has seen\u00a0an increase in violence including police brutality<\/a>.\u00a0The most recent event, now bringing the situation\u00a0to a head, being the death of a\u00a0rising\u00a0dancer and actor, Douglas Rafael da Silva Pereira, known as DG, on April 22nd. Shortly after the discovery of DG\u2019s body on Tuesday morning community\u00a0residents claimed DG was beaten to death by police, and intense protests began demanding justice and an explanation for the young man\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Recent Uprising Sparked by DG\u2019s Dea<\/strong>th<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Tuesday, April 22, DG, a 26-year old actor and professional dancer on Globo\u2019s \u201cEsquenta” TV show, was found dead at\u00a0a local day care in Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho. DG recently played the protagonist in the short film, \u201cMade from Brazil\u201d,<\/a> who is killed by police. A tragic coincidence, the actual death of DG happened in the same favela where the film was shot less than a year after it was produced.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the discovery of DG\u2019s body on Tuesday, residents protested, accusing the UPP of\u00a0beating DG to death. The \"Douglascircumstances of his death are still unclear and under investigation, however it was claimed that DG\u2019s body was found with boot marks, suggesting he had been kicked to death; a police report claimed his wounds were comparable to a death caused by a fall. His mother, Maria de F\u00e1tima, commented to O Globo<\/a><\/em> that \u201chis body was full of boot marks. His back, all scratched, and the walls of the nursery, which are roughcast, bloody. The UPP doesn\u2019t protect anyone. We live in a regime of arbitrariness. We want whoever did this to my son to be punished.\u201d Residents believe<\/a> that the day before, DG had jumped over a wall to hide from a confrontation<\/a> between police and drug traffickers<\/a> and that police confused DG as a gang member and beat him. He was heading into Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho to visit his four year-old daughter. The UPP has not yet confirmed this information or commented.<\/p>\n

Later on Tuesday<\/a>, residents from Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho marched to a local police station demanding an explanation for DG\u2019s death and protested by setting barricades and cars on fire blocking the main access street to the favela. Shortly after, shots between local bandits and the police began. Police claim the shootings were initiated by a local\u00a0criminal gang and retaliated with tear gas and stun-grenades. During the shooting, a 27-year old man, Edilson Santos, was killed with a shot in the head and there are claims that a 12-year old boy had been shot. On Twitter a post stated, \u201cWhat will be the excuse this time? That the innocent person the UPP killed was a suspect, that he had suspicious attitudes, that he was in a confrontation with the police, that he was an ex-trafficker? One more innocent dead, one more mother without a son, one more child without a father.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DG's<\/a>On Thursday, April 24, at the entrance of Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho, a demonstration<\/a> in memory and for the justice of DG and Edilson Santos occurred and protesters then marched to the cemetery where DG was buried. The demonstration<\/a>\u00a0had over\u00a0two\u00a0hundred people in attendance, carrying signs saying \u201cPolice assassinated DG and Edilson, victims of the state!\u201d and questioning \u201cHow many more are going to die, UPP?\u201d<\/p>\n

At one point during the protest, police forces attacked protesters, who got increasingly angry as a result, with batons\u00a0and tear gas. In a video of the protest, one resident commented about the UPP, \u201cThey come up to disrupt and to end lives and dreams and happiness of families in the community, so, how are we supposed to accept this project here continuing with the name of pacification? When truthfully, they are entering prepared for a war, a war against people who\u00a0are tired from a\u00a0past of war and fighting. They\u00a0are entering and bringing yet more war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previous Conflicts\"Protesters<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Before the events of the past week, however, social movements in PPG\u00a0had already\u00a0been springing up in response to recent months’ violence in the community. A young resident who chose not to share\u00a0his name commented, \u201cIt\u2019s barbarian what is starting…\u00a0Exchanges of gunfire almost all of the nights. It\u2019s starting to happen again because the police don\u2019t know how to act and don\u2019t know how to work. It\u2019s generating a revolt. It\u2019s going to continue, going to sustain until the World Cup, after the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

This recent conflict with the UPP originated from a string of violence involving the Red Command (Comando Vermelho)<\/a>\u00a0gang, after the gang\u2019s chief, Adauto do Nascimento Gon\u00e7alves, also known as Pitbill, received the benefit of a\u00a0periodic home visit<\/a> in June of 2013 after being imprisoned since 2009. Pitbull did not return to prison and has been on the run since last June.<\/p>\n

Since the beginning of 2014, violence picked up in Cantagalo as police search for Pitbull. In mid-January, according to the Coordinator of Pacifying Police (CPP), police were attacked by armed criminals, with gunfire and homemade bombs. On January 17, Petrick Costa dos Santos,<\/a> 21, died following\u00a0the confrontation with UPP officers. He had been spotted by UPP officers with an Israeli gun and shots were immediately exchanged. The following day’s commerce<\/a> was highly regulated; police checked every car and moto-taxi that entered the favela.<\/p>\n

The following week on January 24, shots were fired when police reached what they believed was the location for Pitbull, and the Red Command headquarters. Two members of the gang were caught in this exchange and Pitbull escaped. In March there were a number of shootings between police and traffickers. In early April, protests began in front of the Ipanema metro station after two men were shot, one of whom\u00a0was a trafficker according to police. Throughout a number of these operations the BOPE (Military Police Special Operations Battalion)<\/a> was brought in. The conflict on this past Monday originated when police again believed they found the location of Pitbull and other gang members. DG was accused of\u00a0being a member of the gang.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UPP is a hoax, a lie\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even before the last week’s\u00a0death of DG and the uprising sparked as a result, residents felt there was a lack of respect from the UPP. Social activist, Deize \""Police<\/a>Carvalho, born and raised in Cantagalo, is strongly against violence in the community. After the death of her son Andrew, 17, in January of 2008, who was assassinated and tortured by agents of DEGASE (General Department of Social and Educational Actions), Deize joined\u00a0the city-wide movement of families with innocent members killed by police, the\u00a0Network of Communities Against Violence<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0The network works to document cases, call for justice and fight against violence in defense of human rights\u00a0to prevent other families from having to go through the loss of loved ones due to violence. Deize said, \u201cThe majority of people don\u2019t have a good relation, don\u2019t have a closeness with the UPP. We already had experience with police. And we don\u2019t want the UPP.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho and Cantagalo have already known a history of police\u00a0action<\/a>\u00a0that aims to combat violence and trafficking. Residents had hoped the UPP would be different and they would see change in the community. Now, however, a number of residents have lost hope that the program can have any form of success in Cantagalo and Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho. Resident, Filipe Barbosa, 22, commented, \u201cPacification was fast, one thing after another. When we realized it the favela was full of police inside. It was sinister, it was sinister. Disaster came. Then the BOPE<\/a> came here.\u201d In a YouTube video<\/a> posted after the protests in Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho on Tuesday night, one resident said\u00a0in regards to the implementation of the UPP, \u201cI thought it was going to improve, that my grandson, that the new generation that is arriving now, would not see more arms, more drugs. But everything is getting worse.\u201d Many residents were hopeful that change would come\u00a0and that after the installation of the UPP, social programs would also arrive.<\/p>\n

\"DG<\/a>Residents, now more than ever are questioning the effectiveness of the UPP program. DG\u2019s mother, Maria de F\u00e1tima,<\/a> stated, \u201cThe UPP is a hoax, it’s a lie.\u201d Already prior to DG’s death, Deize expressed her frustration,\u00a0saying, \u201cNow, I don\u2019t know how [the UPP] can have a positive impact…If they didn\u2019t come here in violent form, if they came here…really to do good for the community, I believed it could have changed. I believed that it was going to improve. I wanted it to improve. But in the first week, I could see they really came like the second Elite\u00a0Squad<\/a><\/em>\u00a0[movie].\u201d Deize, very passionately, continued, again in an interview prior to DG’s death, \u201cIt should\u2019ve been the opposite, when the police arrived in the community. (It should’ve been) beautiful, everything’s great, how marvelous that we don\u2019t have shootings. Lies. People who\u00a0don\u2019t live in the favela don\u2019t know what the residents go through.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent protests, some\u00a0residents have made reference to the UPP being as\u00a0violent as\u00a0a criminal gang by referring to the UPP as Comando Azul<\/em> (Blue Command), saying \u201cRed Command or Blue Command, what difference does it make?\u201d Although violence has existed previously in the community, residents blame the UPP for the recent growth. Deize commented, \u201cViolence always existed in the community. But now that the police pacified it, this violence grew because the government is using propaganda to show what it wants. When you see a (police) representative on television that says that a good bandit is a dead bandit, they are showing\u00a0what the police are doing\u00a0in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The perspective\u00a0that a good bandit is a dead bandit and the lack of respect in police approaches of innocents leads to the distrust and disrespect between community members and police. The criminalization of poverty that results from this approach is leading some to question whether, for the community, the UPP is better than what preceded it. A young resident of Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho who chose not to share his name said, \u201cIt\u2019s not an issue of traffickers in the favela. Traffickers, when residents arrive, have respect. The guy is going to respect us. The UPP doesn\u2019t. The UPP arrives and is in your face, punches you in your face, gun in your face and that\u2019s not okay. It\u2019s for this reason that the UPP is not respected.\u201d He continued, \u201cThe UPP, in some places\u00a0is good. But in other places, its bad because of the ignorance. They don\u2019t know how to arrive guaranteeing\u00a0rights, they don\u2019t know how to work with rights, so in these places\u00a0I prefer the UPP leave the favela. [Maybe] if the UPP came to the favela to help and build bonds\u00a0and remained calm, but the UPP came to the favela to kill and wants to accuse residents who\u00a0have nothing to do with the trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An increase of violence in Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho and Cantagalo\u00a0over recent months–neighboring favelas located above the\u00a0beachside\u00a0neighborhoods of Ipanema and Copacabana in Rio’s\u00a0South Zone–combined with the high profile death of a widely known and loved young man this […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":14710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1277,335,336],"tags":[356,112,2961,125,25,918,213,15,155,17,1179,18,809,443,156,268,30],"writer":[1167],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14686","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uppwatch","8":"category-policies","9":"category-violations","10":"tag-bope","11":"tag-cantagalo","12":"tag-degase","13":"tag-drug-traffic","14":"tag-human-rights","15":"tag-military-police","16":"tag-rede-contra-violencia","17":"tag-pacifying-police-unit","18":"tag-pavao-pavaozinho","19":"tag-police-brutality","20":"tag-ppg","21":"tag-protest","22":"tag-public-security","23":"tag-security","24":"tag-south-zone","25":"tag-state-violence","26":"tag-urban-violence","27":"writer-rachael-hilderbrand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14686"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=14686"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=14686"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=14686"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=14686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}