{"id":55830,"date":"2019-09-24T16:36:51","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T19:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=55830"},"modified":"2019-09-30T10:37:34","modified_gmt":"2019-09-30T13:37:34","slug":"rio-mourns-death-of-8-year-old-agatha-felix-protests-governors-bloody-security-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=55830","title":{"rendered":"Rio Mourns Death of 8-Year-Old \u00c1gatha, Protests State’s Bloody Security Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This is the third article in a year-long partnership with the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies<\/a>\u00a0at San Diego State University to produce a\u00a0series<\/a> of monthly favela-sourced human rights reporting from Rio de Janeiro on RioOnWatch.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thousands flooded the steps of the Rio de Janeiro State Legislative Assembly<\/a> (ALERJ) on Monday night, September 23, mourning the death of eight-year-old \u00c1gatha Felix and protesting the security policy of Governor Wilson Witzel. Monday evening\u2019s act<\/a>, organized by local student movements and the <\/span>Parem de N\u00f3s Matar!<\/span><\/i> (Stop Killing Us!<\/a>) movement, marked the third consecutive day of protests since Felix\u2019s shooting on the night of September 20.<\/span><\/p>\n

Felix, who passed Saturday morning, was riding a community transport van<\/a> in her native favela of Fazendinha<\/a>, located in the hills of Complexo do Alem\u00e3o<\/a>, in the city\u2019s North Zone<\/a>. According to the van\u2019s driver<\/a> and multiple witnesses<\/a>, a police officer fired at a passing motorcycle, piercing the van\u2019s exterior and striking Felix in the back. Favela residents took to the streets in protest on Saturday, and again on Sunday as they proceeded to Inha\u00fama cemetery, carrying yellow balloons in homage.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Felix\u2019s death makes her the fifth Rio child<\/a> to be shot and killed by Rio police this year in alleged shootouts between police and drug traffickers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Record-Level Police Violence<\/h3>\n

Under Governor Witzel, a former judge who rose to power on a campaign of hardline anti-crime rhetoric<\/a>, Rio de Janeiro police violence has reached new records: police killed 1249 people in the first eight months of 2019, up 16% over the same period in 2018<\/a>, and reaching an all-time high, according to the government’s Institute of Public Security (ISP). So far this year, police are responsible for more than 30% of all homicides in the state, according to the Network of Public Security Observatories<\/a>, a monitoring body.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the death of Felix and the many other victims of police violence across Rio, Monday\u2019s protesters blamed Witzel. \u201cThe hands of the governor are covered in blood,\u201d yelled Walmyr Junior, a coordinator of the Enegrecer National Black Youth Collective<\/a> and resident of the favelas of Complexo da Mar\u00e9<\/a>, in Rio’s North Zone. Throughout the evening, protesters alternated chants, calling Witzel a murderer (<\/span>Witzel Assassino<\/span><\/i>) and calling for his ouster (<\/span>Fora Witzel<\/span><\/i>).
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For Zen Ferreira, a journalist and resident of Vila Cruzeiro<\/a>, located just north of the favelas of Complexo do Alem\u00e3o, the governor has yet to accomplish anything positive for the favelas. \u201cThey just come in, shooting, with rifles and armored vehicles. Is that the education policy they want for the communities of Rio de Janeiro?\u201d Even when residents and civil society step up, said Ferreira, the State interferes using violence. \u201cWe are doing our best to keep our kids from living this adversity<\/a>, we\u2019re constantly implementing some kind of cultural activity. But then when we do, the armored cars show up in the early morning, shooting everywhere.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the most genocidal governments we have ever seen,\u201d said Daniel Octaviano, a student at the Federal Fluminense University (UFF<\/a>) and member of Enegrecer. \u201cThe black population is always the majority in these processes,\u201d he added. In September, the newspaper <\/span>Extra<\/span><\/i> found, via a Freedom of Information request, that the proportion of black and mixed-race people killed by the police <\/span>has grown under Witzel<\/span><\/a>: in the first four months of 2019, black and mixed-race people represented 78.4% of all victims killed by police in Rio\u2014up from 71.5% for the same period in 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

Witzel Stays the Course<\/h3>\n

Witzel, who has said in multiple interviews that police need to \u201ctake down<\/a>\u201d anyone holding a rifle, and has instructed security forces to shoot criminals “in their little heads<\/a>,\u201d has yet to budge. At a press conference<\/a> Monday afternoon\u2014the governor waited nearly three full days to issue a statement\u2014Witzel lamented Felix’s death, but blamed drug users and organized crime. He accused opposition parties of using the girl\u2019s death as a political platform, and maintained that the police were \u201con the right path.\u201d Speaking alongside Witzel, Civil Police Secretary Marcus Vinicius Braga said Felix’s death had nothing to do with<\/a> the state’s security policy. Tuesday morning, reporters discovered<\/a> the governor had altered a monthly bonus system for the police, removing incentives for those that contribute to reducing police lethality rates.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Speaking to RioOnWatch<\/em> at Monday\u2019s protest, Dr. Jacqueline Muniz, an anthropologist and professor at UFF, described the governor\u2019s policy as one of fear-mongering and political electioneering<\/a>. \u201cThese killings are all about publicity. When the police get killed, it becomes a political platform. When citizens are killed, it allows them to say that they need to kill even more, that they aren\u2019t repressing enough\u2026 They need to create this type of illusion, where repression is an end in and of itself.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Witzel, said Muniz, is out of his league. \u201cHe can\u2019t control the Civil Police<\/a>. He can\u2019t control the Military Police<\/a>. He is deluded. He is a hostage to his own cabinet.\u201d Emphasizing the need for cohesion, Muniz concluded: \u201cWe need to return security forces to civilian control, and that\u2019s done through social mobilization and coming together as a society.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ant\u00f4nio de Mello, a resident and long-time community leader from the South Zone<\/a> favela of Rocinha<\/a>, said that this was the main point of the evening\u2019s protest. The idea is to \u201ctake our feelings of anguish, of internal repulsion, and expand this to the rest of the population, with indignation,\u201d said Mello, better known as Xaolin da Rocinha<\/a>. \u201cWith this indignation, we will organize and push the whole population to protest against this security policy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Upcoming Events in Rio de Janeiro<\/strong><\/h3>\n