
Note from BW of Brazil: Sad. Outrageous. Disturbing. But I can’t say shocking. Why? For a few reasons. 1) As we’ve seen time and time again, violence, mob attacks and lynchings are shockingly common in Brazil and 2) There seems to be a very strong undercurrent of anti-black immigration in Brazil. The ironic thing about today’s post is that it happened on very same day that an interview with an expert on the topic was released. In an interview posted here just yesterday, Alex André Vargem detailed with specific examples of how African and Haitian immigrants “are treated differently in relation to immigrants of other nationalities coming to Brazil.” In Vargem’s view, violence against these two groups can repeat itself “at any moment”. Again, the mood here is sadness but not surprise, after all, we’ve documented numerous cases of anti-African/anti-Haitian behavior in Brazil (see numerous stories in highlighted link above). The question is, what will Brazilian authorities do about it?
Haitian beaten and stabbed to death by a group of people in Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil
Police suspect alleged hate crime against the immigrant Fetiere Sterlin. The victim was going to a party with his wife and friends when he suffered the attack
Courtesy of Zero Hora Notícias and Contexto Livre

The Civil Police of Santa Catarina are investigating an alleged hate crime that occurred in the city of Navegantes this weekend. The Haitian Fetiere Sterlin, 33, was attacked and stabbed to death by a group of about 10 people on Saturday night. The victim came to be rescued by the fire department in the area, but ended up dying before they even brought him to the city hospital.
“The police report was made as robbery, but the stronger hypothesis is a hate crime. In fact, I would have started with this and then made it a robbery. We have heard some witnesses and in the course of the investigation we will determine the motivation,” explains the chief Rodrigo Coronha.
The Haitian and his wife, who is Brazilian, were going to a party in the neighborhood Nossa Senhora das Graças along with four friends, also of Haitian nationality. According to his wife, Vanessa Nery Pantoja, three men began cycling by the group shouting expletives in Creole – a language spoken by the majority of the Haitian population – including “macici”, which is equal to the pejorative Portuguese term “viado”, meaning homosexual.
“My husband just said ‘macici’ are you (all). That was the reason they vowed death. About 10 minutes later they came back with about 10 people and were on top of us,” she recounts. She said that before going away, the guy said, “I’ll come back and give you a bunch of shots.” Another witness said that the men said that “Haitians have nothing to do here.”
Vanessa explains that the group, composed of several teenagers, returned with knives, a shovel and other tools to attack them. She said the attackers also took his cell phone, which her husband had at the time of the crime.

“When I got close to my husband, he was already in a pool of blood. Then some people nearby called the fire department. He died in the ambulance after several pauses in breathing,” she says.
“They came back with knives, an iron bar, shovel and came back to attack us. There was no discussion. There came on top of each of one of us four, and the rest were all over my husband, and they began to stab him.” According to her, most appeared to be teenagers, “between 16 and 17 years maximum.” (1)
Sterlin was injured in the arm, chest, abdomen, face and back, according to the fire department. Another Haitian who was with him was also injured during the attack, but without gravity. The others managed to run or protect themselves from the aggressions.
Shortly after the crime, a 16-year old was admitted to hospital with an injured knee. According to the Military Police, it would have been hit during a fight in the same neighborhood. The young man was sent to the police station and recognized by Vanessa as one of those involved in the fight.
The Civil Police said the teenager was heard and released. According to the chief Coronha, the youth denied the attacks, but his testimony was contradictory. Others involved in the crime have not been identified.
Xenophobia would have motivated crime, says wife
To the victim’s wife Vanessa, the crime was totally xenophobic. According to her, Sterlin didn’t have disagreements and even knew the people who assaulted him. She explains that her husband was very quiet and worked as a naval insulator at a shipyard in the city. The two met two years ago and since then, had lived together.
“He was very correct, never had an argument. But it’s very common they (Haitians) are insulted on the street, it just never reached this point. We want these people to be arrested. The Civil Police is giving us all the necessary support,” she says.
The director of the Associação de Haitianos de Navegantes (Haitian Association of Navegantes), João Edson Fagundes, said that a serious incident like this has never been registered in the city, where about 250 Haitians are residing.
“In general, we are well received by Brazilians. They had the misfortune of coming across this gang. We will seek justice so that it does not go unpunished,” he guarantees. But also according to Fagundes, this was not the first attack on Haitians in the city.
“He was the first Haitian murdered here in the region [Vale do Itajaí], but last year, another guy was shot five times and survived, but soon left Brazil,” he reported. He suspects that it was a case of xenophobia.
Sterlin and Vanessa met two years ago in Navegantes. He had been in Brazil for four years and had lived in the states of Pará and São Paulo previously. The Sterlin family currently lives in the United States.
The burial of Sterlin’s body should take place in Navegantes, but has not yet scheduled. As the victim was not officially married, only one first-degree relative can make the release of the body at the Medical Legal Institute.
Source: Zero Hora Notícias, Contexto Livre
Note
- One thing that should be noted here is that neither the victim’s wife nor initial police reports made any mention of the race of the assailants. It should be pointed out that Santa Catarina is one of the states in Brazil with the largest percentages of people who classify themselves as white. For more on this factor, see here, here and here.
Brazilians don’t want blacks to come, That is the simple truth. A buss with 30 blondes? YES. Welcome, you will not only be well treated, you are a treasure.
Haitians? Africans? I’m sorry, country is closed. We are trying to become more European and you are ruining our plans. Drop dead.
This is only somewhat true. In my observation, the ONLY value of white Europeans to Brazilians is so that Brazilians can take advantage of them in some way. I ALWAYS have to laugh when I see yet another Brazilian thinking that they are marrying into some kind of wealth, only to realize that the European has nothing, or when they wake up to find that the European is only trying to gain legal access to the bounties Brazil has to offer. I also have to laugh, at least a little, when naive Brazilians find that their perfect European is really just a depressed alcoholic who can’t really integrate into Brazilians culture, thus becoming a pet for the Brazilian wife/husband to feed and clothe each day…but at least they are white, right?!
The joke goes even further when Europeans who come to Brazil discover that Brazilians only like them because they are white and,thus, presumed rich. I have to hold back my facepalm when I meet yet another white European/American/Canadian/Australian who discovers that virtually all Brazilians “want something” from them, rather than a truly meaningful friendship/relationship. It gets even funnier when the Brazilian goes to a cold, white climate/culture – usually after the European has discovered that he/she can’t really thrive in Brazil – and spends the rest of their lives trying to convince themselves that they really do like cold weather, alcoholics, depressed people, tasteless food, shitty music, and working at a shoe store…cuz at least all the people are white, right?!
C’mon man, make sure you let the people know the WHOLE story!
I was being sarcastic. I agree with you.
Racism is for those who are not informed and well educated; in other words: illiterates. Brazil is not a country of white people. Even Roberto Carlos (Footballer) has been victim of racism. What the fuck have done to be born white or brown? You are fucking stupid. You are just arrogant and ruthless. Idiot like you cannot be anything else other than a CANNIBAL.
Marginalized by hatred and ignorance, you are just a monster. May burn in hell for your evil message!
Problem with non-white Brazilian celebrities (including Pelé) is that most of them do not even speak up or protest about the slaughter of Blacks or Pardos in the favelas before the World Cup of 2014. The media did its best to keep silent about it. It was reported more by foreign media. Brazil try to make out that it is a racial republic… Do not fall this Brazilian fantasy fallacy.
Brazilian racism is just as bad as the United States. Remember, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to enslave Africans en masse to the Americas. So, I am not surprised by the news of Haitians getting killed in Brazil; they should not be there in the first place, when corrupted Haitian governments fail to get their house in order.
I would really love to know the race of the MURDERERS.
I’m guessing they were White Brazilians.
I don’t think Brazilians even understand how closely related to Haitians we are. Recently I got my DNA tested and as expected a significant part of it was African, But the most interesting thing is that I found I was related (5 generations ago, but doesn’t matter) to a family from Haiti. I can actually imagine how my African family was separated long time ago. This racism madness needs to stop some day.