Congresswoman Renata Souza denounced Rio’s governor to the UN
Note from BW of Brazil: This story gives you an idea of the maniacal forces that run Brazil today. Today is somewhat of a follow up to a story posted here a few days ago. Dig this. The governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro is flying above a poor community in the city of Rio in a helicopter with the city’s mayor and special unit of Civil Police forces wielding heavy artillery weapons. Said governor says he wants to eliminate the criminal elements in the area so the police unit opens fire on a target in the community that they believe is a drug trafficking base. Inside the target was actually a group Evangelical church people. In a related photo, we see a group of schoolchildren running for lives with the bullets reigning down from the air in the community of Maré just days before. An absurd act of violence, right? And sanctioned by the head of government of the state no less. A congresswoman denounces said governor to the United Nations, which she well should have, and the governor reacts and attempts to have the congresswoman’s term cancelled. What kind of world are we living in?
Rio Governor Witzel wants to annul the term of congresswoman for denouncing him to the UN
The deputies of the PSC, the party of the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Wilson Witzel, filed this Thursday, May 9th the request for the annulment of the term of Congresswoman Renata Souza (PSOL) along with the Presiding Board of the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro (Alerj).
The opening of the process is signed by Congressmen Márcio Pacheco, Bruno Dauaire, party leader, and Sérgio Louback. They argue that Renata broke parliamentary decorum by making institutional a personal demonstration. In the document, they affirm that the denunciation made by Renata “was not an institutional attack operated by CDDHC, but of individual, calculated and opportunist action.” In the coming weeks, the Board of Directors of Alerj should evaluate the merits of the request, with or without referral to the Ethics Board.
Renata presented to the UN (United Nations) and the OAS (Organization of American States) a questioning about the action of the Civil Police that shot at the population in Angra dos Reis, a community in Rio, last weekend, with Witzel on board. The shots hit a tent of Evangelical prayers. Witzel posted a photo on his Twitter account in which police officers armed with rifles appear in the background.
The action performed by men of the Civil Police was orchestrated and accompanied by Witzel himself who filmed and posted the video on his social networks. In the images the governor affirms that “it would put an end in the criminality”. Witzel was inside the Core (Coordination of Operations and Special Resources) helicopter, along with the mayor of the city, Fernando Jordão, of the State Secretary of Civil Police, Marcus Vinícius de Almeida Braga, and Civil Police Undersecretary of Operations, Fábio Barucke.
This Friday, during an event held to celebrate the 211 years of the Civil Police of Rio, the governor defended the cassation of the parliamentarian of Alerj. In the document, the deputados (congressmen) argue the breach of parliamentary decorum, with justification that Renata made a personal demonstration institutional, after denouncing Witzel to the UN for promoting a “genocidal agenda” in the state.
“There will not be a governor who behaves like a sheriff who will shut me up. “LuteComUmaPreta,” state representative Renata Souza responded on Twitter, “He thinks that he can intimidate her this way. He is mistaken. Renata was raised in Maré, a black woman who does not lower her crest for any bully. She has all our support and solidarity. Strength, Renata!”, The president of the party, Juliano Medeiros, expressed his solidarity.
Several parliamentarians expressed their solidarity with the deputada:
Thanks, @ julianopsol50. I learned to resist at an early age. “There will not be a governor who behaves like a sheriff who will shut me up. #LuteComPreta https://t.co/bqmiRbmDn5
– Renata Souza (@renatasouzario) May 10, 2019
MarceloFreixo and I will not give a truce to @ wilsonwitzel. As long as he continues to tear up the Constitution to impose the death penalty, we will put it him in the sights of #OEA, #ONU, #OAB and #MP. #PGR has just opened an investigation into the governor’s actions. #LuteComUmaPreta
– Renata Souza (@renatasouzario) May 10, 2019
The governor of Rio de Janeiro is a disastrous administrator and a violent and authoritarian politician. Wilson Witzel now asks for the cassation of the deputada of the PSOL @renatasouzario for having denounced his arbitrariness at the UN. Renata is not alone. Mess with one, mess with all.
– Sâmia Bomfim (@samiabomfim) May 10, 2019
Solidarity to Rep. Renata Souza (PSOL/RJ) @renatasouzario threatened to have her mandate annulled by Governor Witzel for denouncing him to the UN.
He participated in a criminal action, with random shots, putting lives at risk and says that who broke decorum was the deputada.
– Ivan Valente (@IvanValente) May 10, 2019
Witzel wants to revoke @renatasouzario’s mandate for her denunciation of the governor’s absurd apology for extermination. A lot of strength, Renata! We are together! pic.twitter.com/9OhrLkgfBU
– Guilherme Boulos (@GuilhermeBoulos) May 10, 2019
The governor “Rambo” Witzel wants to annul (!!!) the deputada Renata Souza, for having denounced to the UN his apology to the summary execution in poor areas. This intention well reveals the authoritarian and truculent mentality of this man. He will not prosper! pic.twitter.com/Z869VCw1aL
– Chico Alencar (@ 50ChicoAlencar) May 10, 2019
Renata, congratulations on your work and the denunciation to the UN and the OAS of Witzel for crimes against humanity. Only international pressure can stop this policy of genocide! https://t.co/HUoxrKFjLf
– Lindbergh Farias (@lindberghfarias) May 10, 2019
“For them, a black woman could never question a white man,” says a Congresswoman who denounced Rio’s governor to the UN
Congresswoman who denounced governor of Rio to the UN has cassation filed against her annulled.
Ten days ago, state Representative Renata Souza (Psol-RJ) was surprised by a request for the annulment of her term by the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Wilson Witzel. This came days after the parliamentarian, who is the first black woman to preside over the Human Rights Commission of the Rio de Janeiro’s Legislative Assembly (Alerj), denounced Witzel to international bodies after the governor flew over the municipality of Angra dos Reis and fired rifle blasts at a particular location.
The documents sent by the representative’s office to the UN and the OAS question the overfly and point out that from his campaign until assuming the state government, Witzel has made statements that incite violence, such as in saying that it is necessary to “kill traffickers”, to construct “our Guantánamo”, and shoot the criminals in the head.
For Renata Souza, Witzel’s attitude is an attempt at intimidation: “My role as a deputada (representative/congresswoman) is precisely to look at human rights violations and to supervise public power. That is why I made a report to the UN and the OAS explaining what was happening in Rio de Janeiro. My surprise was to see the governor, instead of presenting the answers, asks for my cassation (annulment of term). He is trying to intimidate the action of an elected deputada by trying to censor my action as a parliamentarian. If a Member can no longer function, that is dangerous, that is, democracy is at stake. I will not be silenced. I will not be interrupted.”
Alerj rejected the request for the annulment of the deputada’s mandate. The president of the House, André Ceciliano, said that Renata “acted with the autonomy that is due to the parliamentarian”, when making the denunciation. The request for cassation of the parliamentary mandate was made by the government leaders, Márcio Pacheco, and the party in the Alerj, Bruno Dauaire, and deputy Sérgio Louback, all of PSC, Wilson Witzel’s party.
According to Renata Souza, the appeal for annulment exemplifies political racism: “The political persecution that I am suffering demonstrates not only its racism (by the government) but also a whole process of disregarding the rights of a society. It is important for us to analyze how having a black female, from the favela, within these spaces of power, questioning another power, causes discomfort. For them a black woman could never question a white man. What is commissioned is state terrorism against corpos negros (black bodies). The political racism of which I am the victim is what kills black, poor and favelado (slum residents) every day.”
A portion of the document filed by Souza reads as follows:
“Today Rio de Janeiro is at its worst when it comes to death by police intervention, there are more than 400 cases in the first four months of 2019 alone, the highest number in the last 20 years. The governor has made numerous public statements legitimizing police lethality within the favelas and peripheries of Rio, which makes us think that this significant increase in the number of deaths by police action is directly related to the permissiveness of the chief of the executive.”
Even though everyone knew that the document sent to the international organizations had left the office of the deputada and not the Human Rights Commission, as the deputies of the base of the government said erroneously, the deputadas of the PSC bench decided to follow up the process in the Commission of Ethics of the Alerj.
Source: Brasil 247, Notícia Preta, Revista Fórum
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