[lbo-talk] Please ACT NOW! Massacre in brazil: part3

mitchelcohen at mindspring.com mitchelcohen at mindspring.com
Tue Feb 22 14:57:56 PST 2005


Very Important!

Our friend Brad (from IndyMedia Center in NYC and EarthFirst!) has been arrested in Brazil as he documented the slaughter of a homeless encampment in the town of Goiania. Below is part 3 of this story, which is happening NOW.

He asks that we contact the Brazilian Mission to the UN and Embassy. The Contact info is below.

- Mitchel Cohen

******************************** From: "brad ." <zradley at hotmail.com>

please contact or visit the embassy nearest you with several friends and make trouble. tell them to stop the bulldozing, stop the cover up, start an international investigation

Brazilian Consulate General in New York 1185 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), 21st Floor New York, NY 10036 Phone: (917) 777-7777

After the message come son, Dial 0 and you'll be switched to an operator. Ask politely where you might leave a message regarding the assault on the homeless encampment in Goiania, Brasil.

If you are not in New York, you can find contacts for your local consulate (if you are in a major city in the states) by going to the following website:

www.brazilhouston.org/ingles/jurisdic.htm.

At the bottom of the webpage is the Brasilian Embassy in Washington, D.C. You may want to contact them first and then the consulate nearest you.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- part3

i was lost -- there were rows and rows of detainees and more being

marched hands over head in a line -- clusters of women with small

children and elderly trickled out unescorted and were shown to waiting

buses-- i had been handed over to a plains clothes policeman who

finally found my digital photo camera -- the idea of losing another

camera in one day put me in a panic -- i told him just to take the card

out and give me back the camera again and again -- he went through

every little pocket and had all these scraps of paper i had forgot to

throw away with phone numbers and addresses of people who had nothing

to do with anything and put my passport and my camera in a separate

plastic bag with these things -- i kept asking if he could cut off the

plastic cuffs and replace them -- he just wandered away with my bag

after placing a guard right over my head -- a couple dogs were on the

lose and one came close and he kicked it -- the militarty police kept

yelling insults and kicking people who were sitting on the ground --

the pain in my back was making it hard to sit but if i relaxed at all

it would push on my hands andthe pain would shoot into me -- the hard

brazilian sun was beating down and i was sweating hard -- i looked up

and there was a local companero from indymedia pointing at me -- he

wasnt even in cuffs -- they came over and he started explaining we were

together -- what an incredible relief -- i wasnt alone -- soon another

was discovered -- his video camera had also been stolen -- they cut off

my cuffs and my whole body sighed -- we were separated from the mob

scene and placed in neutral territory baking in the sun between the

prisoners and a tent where the hard core military police were in the

shade celebrating their victory -- they would come marching out in

formation singing songs -- it was twisted i looked in some of their

eyes and there was just darkness -- it was like they had no souls, cold

hard steel killers-- i saw other undercover police with a computer and

some really young ones getting into a car -- there was a lot of talk of

infiltration the days before -- time crawled -- eventually we were

placed on a bus with all the other prisoners -- i coulnt figure out

which was worse for us, being isolated or lost in the herd -- but with

the other imcistas i was calmed -- at the police station it was mayhem

-- paperwork took forever -- we were led to an area turned into a

medical station -- there were pools of blood on the floor starting to

turn black at the edges -- people were getting stiches for head wounds

-- i saw a guy with bandages all over his head caked in blood -- he

described a bullet passing through his scalp -- he was refusing more

medical treatment --- he looked scared -- there was movement everywhere

and every available space was utilized with scores of prisoners -- it

was a much more mellow scene -- there was a journalist who spoke

english and i told her i was beaten and they stole my camera but no one

say it on the news -- i got a medical check and slowly slowly we made

our way to the federal police -- i was the only foreigner -- as we

drove out there were other imcistas outside trying tofigure out were we

were off to -- there were crowds of young people who had gone to school

that day and were gloomily waiting for their parents -- looking at them

they could be from anywhere, any class and country, all clean and in

their nice clothes with book bags -- we sped away -- at the federal

police the snails pace continued as they argued about my visa -- i had

a tourist vias but they said i was working as a journalist -- we

explained that my work with the imc was completely unpaid -- they said

they were going to cut me loose with a court date in june -- ok -- then

they wanted to go copy all the photos in my camera -- this took about 3

hours and suddenly i was buzing away out of there and ready to pass out ----

so many stories to tell -- i only have written about what i saw so far

but now i need to write about the witness accounts -- people said they

saw bodies being dragged to the water wells and dumped, they saw bodies

thrown into burning buildings -- no one knew how many were still

missing -- all night there were military ambulances leaving the

encampment -- all night imc volunteers were at the hospitals and these

ambulances never arrived -- a massive orchestrated coverup was underway

while i collapsed that night -- people working in the hospitals were

afraid to talk with us -- they were already bulldozing houses -- in the

jail so called leaders were being selectivle pulled into special

holding for interogation -- children still looking for their parents --

streams of refugees -- there was no government plan what to do with

these people -- the next morning there was a gathering called for at

the catholic church -- i asked if the police would be there waiting and

a friend said never, after what happened the day before, this was the

center of the city -- there was a sound system and people scattered

everywhere in and out of the church sleeping -- most of them didnt even

have a change of clothes -- i talked to many who had their money, their

identification and their cell phones stolen -- everyone was hungry --

was takijng pictures and say a gathering near the alter and it looked

like they were distributing food -- i walked up and there were two open

caskets -- it was more than i could handle -- they were floating in

pools of flowers and surrounded by loved ones crying -- little children

didnt seems to understand -- one had pictures of he and his wife,

hisnew home in the encampment, them on a vacation -- so proud and full

of life -- the other had strange marks on his hand and everyone told me

they were the initals of the policeman who killed him -- some kind of

weird trophey marking -- i was spilling out and dizzy i stumbled away

and cried -- they could have been anyone, they could have been me --

the police said they died shooting eachother and the corporate media

repeated it unquestioned -- the two official deaths -- outside there

was a huge line waiting to report missing people -- their faces -- i

turned away -- there was some distribution of clothing and soap and

bread but it was a mad house people pushing and desperate clutching

babies -- i went with a friend who said she was getting food at the

market for the church kitchen -- i went to a safe house to rest a while

and people came running in to tell me about the attack -- undercover

police had infiltrated the rally that started at the church and had

grabbed on of the so called leaders to arrest him -- the people werent

having it and started to fight for their companero -- the undercovers

pulled out their guns shooting in the air and were barely able to flee

the scene running into a forming block of military police who were

suspiciously near by in large numbers -- the community was there for a

funeral -- despite the gunplay they assembled for a march carrying the

caskets to a huge park then buses took them to the cemetary -- after

the funeral the buses went to the mayors office and everyone camped out

for hours -- a storm was brewing black clouds in the distance and the

wind kicked hard -- there were different proposals on the loudspeaker

and people decided to go to two gymnasiums set aside for housing --

what a dark night

to be continued...



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