June 15th, 2019, A
Pública https://apublica.org (Brasil)
https://apublica.org/2019/06/in-rio-de-janeiro-the-militia-isnt-a-parallel-power-its-the-government/
Mariana Simões
English
In the following
interview, a sociologist who has studied Rio de Janeiro’s [vigilante off-duty
police] militias for 26 years explains the relationship between lawmakers and
militia members and says that the Bolsonaro family is the political heir of
representatives linked to extermination groups that were active in the 1990s.
In January, during a
police raid dubbed Operation Untouchables, members of the militia that operates
in Rio das Pedras, in Rio’s West Zone, were arrested. One of the targets of the
operation was former Military Police captain Adriano Magalhães da Nóbrega,
accused of heading the Rio das Pedras militia and taking part in the Crime
Bureau death squad—currently under investigation for the murder of Rio city
councilor Marielle Franco. His mother and wife took part in the cabinet of
Flávio Bolsonaro (son of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro) in the Rio de
Janeiro State Legislative Assembly (ALERJ). Flávio Bolsonaro also awarded
Nóbrega with the Tiradentes Medal, the greatest honor granted by ALERJ.
The news didn’t come
as a surprise to José Cláudio Souza Alves, author of the book “From the Barons
to Extermination: A History of Violence in the Baixada Fluminense”. A
sociologist and former associate dean of academic extension programs at the
Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), Alves has studied the
militias for the last 26 years. In an interview with Agência Pública, he
vehemently summarizes: “The militia is the government.”
‘They are formed by
government agents themselves—assassins and militia members who are also
representatives and city council members. A militia member is the
