In the lead up to the recent World Cup and Olympics, a surge in police killings in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas drew international attention.
However, high rates of police violence in the favelas –often involving extrajudicial executions— has been the norm for decades. A critical factor in these cases has been the impunity with which police officers act, enabling further use of excessive and unlawful force.
But this arc towards impunity may soon bend towards justice. On October 12 and 13, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights held hearings for the first time ever on a case regarding police killings in Brazil, the Favela Nova Brasilia case, named for the community in which the facts of the case took place. Family members of 26 victims, murdered by police officers during raids, now hope to obtain justice more than 20 years after the deaths of their loved ones.
A New Brazil: The Sound of the Police
Favela Nova Brasilia is a community within the Complexo do Alemao, a network of 15 favelas in northern Rio de Janeiro. The name refers to the former owner of the land in the area, a Polish farmer who lived in the region in the 1920s. By the late 1940s and early 50s, the rapid industrialization of the region, coupled with the sale of the land, made the site a prime destination for migrant workers from the northeastern Brazil. The population rose steadily, reaching 9,000 by the end of the decade.
Between the 90s and 2000s, the Complexo do Alemao –like many other communities in Rio— faced a rising population and decreasing standards of living. By 1991, the Complexo had over 62,000 residents. 54 percent of teenagers ages 15 to 17 were out of school, and 12 percent of girls had children of their own. During this time period, the Complexo became an epicenter of Rio’s drug trade. As such, the 15 favelas within it, including Nova Brasilia, were subject to recurrent police raids.
On October 18, 1994, the police carried out Operation Nova Brasilia. The raid resulted in the deaths of 13 men and the sexual abuse of three girls. The operation was carried under the pretext of executing warrants that were never produced. Several residents reported that officers tampered with the crime scenes, moving bodies after the killings.
Seven months later, the police carried out another raid to intercept a local weapons trafficker. Witness statements gathered during the police investigation revealed that at least eight men were executed by the police although they had already surrendered, but the fatalities totaled 13.
Addressing a History of Violence: ‘Chacinas’ and Impunity in the Favelas
More than 20 years after the raids at Nova Brasilia, nobody has been convicted for their role in the violence. At the same time, criminal impunity is common in other communities as well.
Between 2003 and 2014, 10,634 homicides were registered as a result of police action in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The majority of the victims were young men ages 15 to 29, an overwhelming number of them afro-Brazilians.
Other incidents of police violence further indicate how the Brazilian state contributes to the de facto segregation of cities, society and politics. In theory, police officials should guarantee the life and safety of all Brazilian citizens. In reality, many of these officials become agents of repression, acting violently against low-income, black residents who they view as either collateral damage in the fight against crime or criminals, based on race and class stereotypes.
The hearing at the Inter-American Court on Human Rights held this week was an opportunity to shed light on this situation. For family members and victims, the hearing represented the only opportunity they have had to tell their story, and “a last hope” for truth and justice. Maclaine Faria Neves, a sister of a victim of the 1994 raid, testified before the Court: “It wasn´t only our family members that died, a part of us did too… This crime cannot go unpunished, while there is impunity it will only get worse ... things just got worse, too many people died."
Then and now, justice at the domestic level and representatives of the state failed the residents and victims of Nova Brasilia. Hopefully, the Inter-American Court´s binding judgment will be a turning point in the fight against police killings, and provide justice to the victims and their families. The decision by the Court will provide an opportunity for Favela Nova Brasilia and other communities fractured by tensions between law enforcement and residents to construct a brighter future, and for citizens living along the fault lines of urban inequality and discrimination to once again believe in justice.