{"id":60893,"date":"2020-07-26T09:43:43","date_gmt":"2020-07-26T12:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=60893"},"modified":"2023-08-23T12:20:07","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T15:20:07","slug":"struggle-and-mourning-on-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-acari-massacre-launch-2020s-black-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=60893","title":{"rendered":"Struggle and Mourning on the 30th Anniversary of the Acari Massacre Launch 2020&#8217;s &#8216;Black July&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3f0YmIU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong><em>Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/strong><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3f0YmIU\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-23766 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/PT-e1439583827971.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sunday, July 26, 2020, is the 30th anniversary of the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/1oyHpes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Acari Massacre<\/a>. On this day in 2020, the activities of the <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3hxyAh5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">5th Annual Edition of Black July<\/a> (Julho Negro) will begin. Black July is an international movement against militarization, racism, and apartheid, based in Rio de Janeiro and organized by favela movements composed of mothers and relatives of victims of <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2JooYnq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">state violence<\/a>, such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/2OSJ6TT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mothers of Acari<\/a> (M\u00e3es de Acari). On July 24, activist movements connected to Black July conducted a Twitter campaign to raise awareness about the fight against the genocide of Afro-Brazilians, using the hashtag <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3jDmGnD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#ChacinaDeAcari30Anos<\/a> (#AcariMassacre30Years).<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"pt\">As Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, da Argentina, procuravam seus filhos desaparecidos na ditadura militar. As M\u00e3es de Acari procuravam seus filhos desaparecidos na &#8220;democracia&#8221;. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ChacinaDeAcari30Anos?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ChacinaDeAcari30Anos<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Favela em Pauta (@favelaempauta) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/favelaempauta\/status\/1286771515871113217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 24, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo [in Argentina] searched for their missing children during the military dictatorship. The Mothers of Acari searched for their missing children in a \u201cdemocracy.\u201d \u2014 Favela em Pauta<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>On the night of July 26, 1990, a group of 11 young people, 7 of them minors, most of them black residents of the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2XW8L4i\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Acari<\/a> favela in the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2IgR5qe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">North Zone<\/a> of Rio de Janeiro, were visiting a country house in Suru\u00ed, in the municipality of <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2L1AXLY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mag\u00e9<\/a>, in Greater Rio\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2KWNzV0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Baixada Fluminense<\/a> region, when hooded men identified as police officers invaded the house and kidnapped them.<\/p>\n<p>This crime happened only five years after the end of the <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/2NLDuds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">military dictatorship<\/a>. It \u00a0has become known as the Acari Massacre. The policemen\u2014the criminals responsible for these crimes and for many others\u2014such as the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2JkoHDa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vig\u00e1rio Geral Massacre<\/a>, in which 21 favela residents were executed inside their own homes while they slept, were part of an <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/2WUG4mp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">extermination group called Running Horses (Cavalos Corredores)<\/a>, that terrorized favela residents in the 1990s.<\/p>\n<p>From that moment on, according to investigations at the time, nothing more could be proven about the crimes. No new evidence was gathered for the cases of these murdered youth. Their bodies were never found. In the nearby area, all that was found was a van that took the kids to the country house. The crimes of the Acari Massacre moved some of the mothers of victims of state violence <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2O6BCgT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">to organize into activist movements<\/a>. Mothers of Acari among them, these mothers&#8217; pain fuels their resolve t0 fight against cases such as their children&#8217;s and to use activism to help heal the wounds caused by their loss (especially in these cases, this is an incomplete mourning\u2014as the bodies were never found).<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the Mothers of Acari, their children&#8217;s cases have not been forgotten, neither by the state nor by the media. These mothers have acted as detectives, investigating the disappearances of their kids. This cost the life of one of these mothers: <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/1VZLfr9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Edmea da Silva Euz\u00e9bio<\/a>, assassinated on January 15, 1993, in Pra\u00e7a XI, downtown Rio, three years after her son, Luiz Henrique da Silva Euz\u00e9bio, had gone missing. Two other Mothers of Acari have been assassinated.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"pt\">Acari foi a primeira favela a sofrer com uma chacina ap\u00f3s a ditadura militar, esse ocorrido marcou o in\u00edcio das M\u00e3es de Acari, que iniciaram por conta pr\u00f3pria a busca pelos filhos e por justi\u00e7a. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ChacinaDeAcari30Anos?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ChacinaDeAcari30Anos<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/oPoB8yFR1t\">pic.twitter.com\/oPoB8yFR1t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Luis Melo &#x2764;&#x270a; (@luismelo025) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/luismelo025\/status\/1286775159773376515?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 24, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Acari was the first favela to go through a massacre after the end of the military dictatorship, this was the founding moment of the Mothers of Acari, who, on their own, started searching for their kids and for justice. \u2014 Luis Melo<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Acari Massacre is of utmost importance not only because it preceded many other massacres (<a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2tTFCFu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Candel\u00e1ria<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3hESN4v\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vig\u00e1rio Geral<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3f5TeDD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nova Bras\u00edlia<\/a>, among others), but also because it unveiled a set of <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2K9UdaT\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">characteristics of structural racism<\/a> working through public security agents in Rio de Janeiro who deal with black and poor populations, especially residents of favelas and urban peripheries. It reveals an analogous pattern of investigation, silencing and impunity that is responsible for the <a href=\"https:\/\/glo.bo\/2MzD6hw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">genocide of the black population<\/a>, with the subtle \u201cpermission\u201d of the state.<\/p>\n<p>In 1994, Amnesty International Brazil identified involvement by military police officers of the 9th Military Police Battalion, in <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/32UR3jO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rocha Miranda<\/a>, and detectives of the 29th Civil Police Station, in <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2ZXnw7K\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pavuna<\/a>, in the disappearance of these young men and women from Acari. Nonetheless, according to the investigation at the time, no one was indicted due to the lack of evidence and also to the statute of limitation\u00a0of the crime. In 2010, the case went cold with no one found guilty for the massacre. Until today, <a href=\"https:\/\/glo.bo\/2jy29af\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the military police battalion in the region of Acari<\/a> is the leading killer of civilians during confrontations with state forces, as stated in the Amnesty International report<em> <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/1YYJNZr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Voc\u00ea Matou Meu Filho<\/a> <\/em>(You Killed My Son).<\/p>\n<p>For <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/2Bs7l8g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Buba Aguiar<\/a>, a member of the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2Dx68rd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fala Akari Collective<\/a>, the Acari Massacre permeates her own life story. She says she \u201ccannot recall exactly how many male friends [she] has lost in summary executions and slaughters,\u201d as they were too many. She was born in the Baixada Fluminense, but raised in Acari. According to her, the history of the massacre is as if it were her own. That\u2019s why she believes it\u2019s her duty to carry on the fight of the Mothers of Acari.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is very sad to see that through this day, and I am now 28 years old, we have the same fight as those mothers. A fight for justice for a massacre that happened two years before I was born. Governments changed, and not only has the crime not been solved, but it has been perpetrated many other times. Residents of the favela of Acari still suffer at the hands of state agents. Now the executioners are others, but they are not less violent,\u201d she says. And concludes:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"pt\">A vis\u00e3o de que o Estado \u00e9 o \u00fanico monopolizador aceit\u00e1vel da viol\u00eancia na sociedade coloca no mesmo um manto de impunidade e com isso vemos ocorrer o que estamos vendo: uma chacina h\u00e1 30 anos sem resposta <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ChacinaDeAcari30Anos?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ChacinaDeAcari30Anos<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Buba Aguiar (@BuubaAguiar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BuubaAguiar\/status\/1286788910186729472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 24, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe view that the State is the only acceptable monopolizer of violence in society hangs a veil of impunity over the police and that\u2019s why we see something like this: a 30-year-old massacre still unanswered\u201d \u2014 Buba Aguiar<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>The 11 victims of the Acari Massacre are:<\/h3>\n<p><em>Rosana Souza Santos, 17 years old<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Cristiane Souza Leite, 17 years old<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Luiz Henrique da Silva Euz\u00e9bio, 16 years old<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Hudson de Oliveira Silva, 16 years old<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Edson Souza Costa, 16 years old<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Ant\u00f4nio Carlos da Silva, 17 years old<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Viviane Rocha da Silva, 13 years old<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Wallace Oliveira do Nascimento, 17 years old<\/em><br \/>\n<em>H\u00e9dio Oliveira do Nascimento, 30 years old<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Mois\u00e9s Santos Cruz, 26 years old<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos de Deus, 32 years old<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Black July Online<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Julho-Negro-2020.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-60899\" title=\"Black July Poster\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Julho-Negro-2020.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"620\" height=\"235\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Julho-Negro-2020.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Julho-Negro-2020-300x114.jpg 300w, https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Julho-Negro-2020-1024x389.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Julho-Negro-2020-768x292.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Considering the global <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/2RD5IJR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Covid-19 pandemic<\/a>, the 5th Annual Black July will occur in a series of online activities held between July 26 and July 30, discussing how the Covid-19 pandemic aggravates racism, militarization and apartheid in the world. <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/30H0VLf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Check it out<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3eZ4W2O\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">1st Annual Edition of Black July<\/a> happened in 2016 with the <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/32Ux6JG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">participation of the U.S. Black Lives Matter movement<\/a>. In the following year, the event&#8217;s central discussion was about the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2YkFYYf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">similarities between military occupations<\/a> in Brazil, <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/2Ee66dP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Haiti<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3hB6Po2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Palestine<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>From this starting point, <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2YhInCS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Black July<\/a> has continued holding annual meetings, teach-ins and conferences with activists from Brazil, Palestine, <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2T9fMde\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chile<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2DXlda2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Argentina<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3hMVVf5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">South Africa<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/30SitEm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Venezuela<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/39wx247\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Colombia<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3fZy4YN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mexico<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/3fYyRt2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">India<\/a>, and the <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2AxbiHF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mapuche people<\/a>, among others. The idea is to strengthen international solidarity in the fight against walls, borders and genocides.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4>Support our efforts to provide strategic assistance to Rio\u2019s favelas during the Covid-19 pandemic, including\u00a0<i>RioOnWatch<\/i>\u2019s tireless, critical and cutting-edge hyperlocal journalism, online community organizing meetings, and direct support to favelas\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/FavelaCovidResponse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">by clicking here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas Sunday, July 26, 2020, is the 30th anniversary of the Acari Massacre. On this day in 2020, the activities of the 5th Annual Edition of Black July (Julho Negro) will begin. <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=60893\" title=\"Struggle and Mourning on the 30th Anniversary of the Acari Massacre Launch 2020&#8217;s &#8216;Black July&#8217;\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":209,"featured_media":60901,"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":[1288,1290,2242,336],"tags":[555,460,2467,2468,168,2630,2087,3068,2622,3014,1197,1734,463,2466,1360,1678,1105,918,33,683,213,37,790,2471,2910,1189,1045,268,1431,253,2690],"writer":[3125],"translator":[3168],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-60893","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-highlight","8":"category-civilsociety","9":"category-democracy","10":"category-violations","11":"tag-acari","12":"tag-baixada-fluminense","13":"tag-black-lives-matter","14":"tag-candelaria-massacre","15":"tag-centro","16":"tag-civil-police","17":"tag-colombia","18":"tag-coronavirus","19":"tag-event","20":"tag-genocide","21":"tag-greater-rio","22":"tag-haiti","23":"tag-india","24":"tag-julho-negro","25":"tag-mage","26":"tag-mexico","27":"tag-military-dictatorship","28":"tag-military-police","29":"tag-militia","30":"tag-mobilization","31":"tag-rede-contra-violencia","32":"tag-north-zone","33":"tag-nova-brasilia","34":"tag-palestine","35":"tag-police-massacre","36":"tag-racism","37":"tag-south-africa","38":"tag-state-violence","39":"tag-venezuela","40":"tag-vigario-geral","41":"tag-vigario-massacre","42":"writer-tatiana-lima","43":"translator-julio-santos-filho"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60893","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\/209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/60901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60893"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=60893"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=60893"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=60893"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=60893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}