In yet another sad tale of events, six Afro-Brazilian teens were recently murdered in the Baixada Fluminense region of the state of Rio de Janeiro. Police are blaming the murders on warring factions of Rio’s drug war. We have previously reported on the genocidal numbers of Afro-Brazilian males between the ages of 15 and 29 being assassinated by police and death squads throughout Brazil, and although these youth were apparently killed caught in the cross fire of rival drug dealers, the end result is the same: more black bodies being buried far before their time.
Police investigate participation of 20 drug dealers in the massacre of 6 young men.
The wave of violence that culminated in the massacre of six young men and the deaths of two other men led to the Rio’s BOPE police (Special Operations Battalion) and Shock Battalion Military Police (BPChq) to occupying the Chatuba Favela in Mesquita, in the Baixada Fluminense region in the early morning hours of Tuesday (11).
Starting at midnight, a large convoy of BOPE officers drove down a lane of Avenida Brasil and met with Marines. BOPE police and the military and BPChq got together and decided on a strategy to occupy the favela community of Chatuba. Around 1am, the Navy tanks stationed themselves outside the barracks along with BOPE cars to start the operation. The convoy followed with the armored tanks in front. During the night, the police arrested Luiz Alberto Ferreira de Oliveira, 29, a suspected drug dealer. It is unclear if he was involved in the deaths of the young men. In Oliveira’s house were seized 15 thousand dollars in cash and drugs.
Police investigate area where bodies were found
Traffickers are suspected
Chatuba drug traffickers are suspected of the deaths of at least eight people over the weekend. Among them are the six young men who were between the ages 16 and 19, who disappeared on Saturday (8) when they were bathing in a waterfall in the region. The bodies of Glauber Siqueira, Victor Hugo Costa and Douglas Costa Ribeiro, 17, Christian Vieira, 19, Josias Searles and Patrick Machado, 16, were found Monday near the Rodovia Presidente Dutra highway. Their bodies were found naked, gagged and wrapped in sheets. The funeral was to be held in a municipal gymnasium and they were to be buried at 2pm Tuesday in a nearby cemetery in Nilópolis. None of the young men had previous criminal records.
Six young victims of the massacre
A relative of Glauber Siqueira, 17, one of the murdered youth, declined to be interviewed, but said the six boys were close friends: “They were like brothers”, she said, eyes full of tears.
The program coordinator of the Segundo Tempo program in the Cabral neighborhool in Nilópolis confirmed that the six boys were close friends. “They were quiet. The six boys participated in all of the project activities. They especially loved playing soccer,” said the coordinator who declined to be identified. The Segundo Tempo (Second Time) is a project of the Ministry of Sports aimed at children, teenagers and young people exposed to social risks.
However, the coordinator said the waterfall where the boys were was in a dangerous area. “The only problem is that they went to a waterfall from another area, that they entered, and it was not for entering,” he said. “The waterfall is located in Mesquita, but you go inside through Nilópolis,” added the coordinator.
Nilópolis resident, Patricia Machado de Carvalho is the sister of Patrick Machado de Carvalho. She says that Patrick was a student and had no involvement with crime. The murdered youth lived in the Cabral neighborhood, an area of influence of the rival faction that occupies Chatuba in Mesquita.
“They (the young men) had no involvement with drugs, not with crime. They were innocent. What happened was cowardice. There’s a law that the people here can’t go there. They didn’t know this and paid with their lives. Yesterday, we went to look for the boys in the woods, and they didn’t let us go through. They shot at us”, she said.
Police investigations point to the involvement of at least 20 drug dealers in the massacre, according to the sheriff Júlio da Silva Filho, head of the 53th Precinct in Mesquita. The delegate said that besides the murder of the boys, criminals were also responsible for the death of the pastor Alexandro Lima and a man that aspired to become part of the Military Police. Another death has not been confirmed: José Aldeci da Silva Júnior, 18, who accompanied the pastor in the community and is one of the witnesses to the death of the pastor. Traffickers are said to have executed him because of this. His body still has not been found.
The body of José Aldeci da Silva Júnior has yet to be found
The sheriff said that all of deaths were commanded by Remilton Moura da Silva Júnior, known as Juninho Cagão, head of drug trafficking in the Chatuba favela. Although police said there is a possibility that the Military Police cadet had been tortured in the park area by the criminal group.
Police say that drug kingpin Remilton Moura da Silva Júnior ordered the murders
Slaughter
The six youths left home Saturday in Nilópolis to go to a waterfall that sits next to the Favela Chatuba, and also the Gericinó park, in the Army area. The bodies were found early on Monday with bullet and stab wounds.
According to the delegate, the six youths were killed because they live in a community belonging to a rival faction of criminal drug traffickers of Chatuba. Júlio da Silva Filho also said that the José Aldecir was executed for not complying with criminals orders of leaving the scene at the time of execution of the Military Police officer. On Monday afternoon, Civil Police agents siezed pieces of clothing that could have belonged to the young victims: shoes, flip-flops, a jacket, shorts, shorts and a pillow.
Relatives of young people were instructed to attend the police station on Tuesday (11) for the recognition of the clothes that were found on the ground. The material was recovered in another area of Chatuba. At the site, rifle bullets were also seized.
On Monday, the officer heard from about ten people regarding the case. He added that there is still a rivalry that exists between traffickers of Cabral , which is the region where the youth lived in Nilópolis, and the Chatuba community in Mesquita.
According to the brother of one of the dead youth, his younger sibling had been mistaken for a drug dealer. The older brother of Patrick Machado, one of the six young people killed on Saturday in Gericinó Park, said the teenagers were mistaken for rival traffickers of the Chatuba favela. “They picked the boys thinking they were ‘os alemão’ (ie, the ‘enemy’) invading Chatuba,” said the brother.
“We went to Chatuba with the manager of the dope house. He said the boys were mistaken for drug dealers,” said the brother, who declined to be identified.
He said that at the time, he wasn’t afraid, and just wanted to know where his younger brother was. “My brother had gone to the other side, near the slum. So I went to get my brother, “he said, continuing that he had gone to Chatuba accompanied by relatives of other young people, and that he has not suffered threats or reprisals from traffickers. “They (traffickers) didn’t want to see police invading Chatuba,” said the brother.
I am in tears for these young teens, what an horrible action those drug dealers did, they will curse forever for the tears of the mothers and family of these teenagers!