Nine people were killed and 12 others were injured during a police operation in the Paraisópolis favela in São Paulo, Brazil, on December 1st.

While state governor João Dória originally defended the police’s actions and denied any responsibility for the violence, the images captured by eyewitnesses and shared on social media have since forced him to change his story, saying three days later that he was “very shocked” by the videos and that he’s ordered a review of police protocols for the use of force. 

The massacre happened when police arrived to disrupt a “baile funk” party where 5,000 people were celebrating favela funk music culture. Although the police originally claimed that local gangs were to blame for the deaths, local residents said the officers arrived with extreme violence and deliberately entrapped the people trying to flee. Horrifying videos showed police beating young people as they tried to run away, later being cornered and corralled into a narrow alleyway where some were trampled to death. The victims were between the ages of 14-23.

After the killings, investigative news agency Ponte launched a campaign focused on cellphones as a tool for self-defense, encouraging the public to share any videos of police violence — sharing WITNESS guidance on how to film safely and effectively.

The governor’s feigned “shock” is almost as outrageous as his claim that the Paraisópolis massacre was an “isolated” flaw unrelated to “routine” behavior by police. Brazilian police are among the most lethal in the world with official statistics breaking records year after year. In São Paulo, the number of those killed by police in 2019 so far is 12% higher than last year and, in Rio, official numbers show the highest number ever recorded, with 1546 people killed by police in the first 10 months of the year alone.

The majority of those killed by police are young, black residents of the country’s favelas and urban peripheries, where often the most significant presence of the state comes in the form of heavily armed police officers and military tanks, instead of schools or hospitals. When these killings happen, predominant narratives reinforce the country’s legacy of racism, and victims are often presumed guilty by default.

But video is helping change that, capturing evidence from the point of view of the community and not allowing these stories to be further misrepresented or denied. WITNESS remains committed to standing alongside the courageous activists and favela media groups that are rising up to confront and end state-sponsored violence in their communities. In the current climate of elected politicians like Bolsonaro and Witzel, we also reaffirm our commitment to fighting for the Right to Record.   

Follow WITNESS Brasil on Facebook and Twitter for more on how video is helping communities expose and confront the legacy of police violence in favelas.

Brazil is one of the countries in the world that has suffered most from the use of misinformation, disinformation and so-called “fake news.” On July 25th, 2019, WITNESS held a convening on “Deepfakes: Prepare Yourself Now” in São Paulo, Brazil; it followed on from an earlier meeting with grassroots activists and human rights defenders. The workshop participants included favela-based activists, journalists, fact-checkers, technologists, civic activists, satirists and others, who focused on prioritizing perceived threats and solutions. 

“This is likely to be a global problem and it’s critical that the decisions about what is needed and the solutions we want, both technical and otherwise, are not just determined in the US and Europe or excluding the voices of people who will most be harmed,” emphasized Sam Gregory, WITNESS Program Director.

The report is available in English and Portuguese.

For more on WITNESS’ work in this area:

• “Prepare, Don’t Panic: Synthetic Media and Deepfakes” including our twelve recommendations for action now
• “Deepfakes and Synthetic Media: Updated Survey of Solutions against Malicious Usages”

For more on WITNESS’ programmatic work in Brazil:

• WITNESS Português
• “Relatório da WITNESS Mostra os Desafios Enfrentados Para Combater as Deepfakes”
• Folha de S.Paulo: “Não devemos entrar em pânico, e sim nos preparar, diz especialista em deepfakes”

Bolsonaro had been getting an illegal helping hand from a group of businessmen who were bankrolling a campaign to bombard WhatsApp users with fake news about the opposition candidate.

Researchers have found that fake news stories and rumors spread quickly via person-to-person and group messages on the app, using its features in culturally specific ways or taking advantage of third-party workarounds to add extra layers of utility — and creating new avenues of potential abuse in the process.

Our Senior Program Manager Priscila Neri recently sat down with NBC News to talk about how WhatsApp became linked to mob violence and fake news. Read the article here.

Android users, help us test our Mobil-Eyes Us app on June 6 at 8 p.m. ET. Mobil-Eyes Us is a WITNESS’ initiative that connects frontline human rights defenders with distant supporters in real time.

On June 6, join us for a debate on state violence in Brazil centered around the “Auto de Resistência,” a documentary on homicides committed by Rio de Janeiro’s military police. The debate will be livestreamed from Brazil via the app with community leaders and victims of police violence joining in and sharing their experiences. The debate will be in Portuguese and translated into English by volunteers via the app.

Here’s how you can get involved:

• If you’re an Android user, download the app here;
• Share the event details with partners, friends, and activists who you think may be interested in the Brazilian context of police abuse, and those thinking of ways to better document those abuses;
• Tune-in June 6 at 8 p.m. ET to watch the debate and share your support;
• Help us improve the app by noticing any glitches or if you have suggestions, you can post your comments in real time via the app.

For more information about the app, click here.

Photo: Leandro Justen

Just over a week ago, Marielle and her driver Anderson, were murdered following an impassioned speech Marielle had just given at Rio de Janeiro’s city council where she served as the only black female member.

WITNESS joins the global outpouring of grief and solidarity in the pursuit of justice for Marielle, Anderson and our allies in communities that live with and work to expose impunity of state violence daily. Just days after Marielle was assassinated, we heard from our partners at Coletivo Papo Reto that a 2-year-old boy named Benjamin, along with a woman and a man, had been killed by police bullets during an operation in Complexo do Alemão, a network of favelas in north Rio.  

Photo: Leandro Justen

Marielle and voices from the favelas such as Coletivo Papo Reto actively work to counter harmful narratives about their communities as places that are plagued by drug trafficking and violence. As we heard from Raull Santiago, a founding member of Papo Reto, in September, “the reality in Brazil is that a person is killed several times. First, they are killed by the actual bullet. Then, they are killed by the media narrative, which parrots the police version of events by describing that person as criminals and assassinating their reputation. And finally, they are killed by the legal systems that fail to hold perpetrators accountable.” Video is one of the most powerful tools to fight this impunity– as evidenced by the impact that Papo Reto has accomplished.

A black, lesbian single mother, born and raised in a favela, Franco was a rare face of representation in an overwhelming white and male political landscape. And with two degrees from one of Brazil’s most elite universities and over a decade of experience in politics, she was an undeniably powerful charismatic force in the growing movement to confront the epidemic of violence perpetrated or perpetuated by the state. – The Intercept

Marielle denounced the thousands of police killings that take place in Brazil each year (the last official count for 2016 in Rio de Janeiro alone was 920 people killed by police, but human rights groups say the number is likely higher) and whose victims are a majority black and poor. She was killed, but her voice has not been silenced as the #MariellePresente (Marielle is here) movement continues to grow.

[All photos by Leandro Justen]

On February 23, the military deployed 3,200 soldiers to favelas Kennedy Village, Korea, and Vila Aliança on the western side of Rio de Janeiro. As a result, residents were forced to start passing through checkpoints in order to travel outside their communities. This intimidating move on behalf of local and federal governments against favela residents is increasingly looking like a dictatorship rather than the democratic society it claims to be.

Armed with smartphones, military forces at the checkpoints enforced embarrassing violations of privacy, allowing residents to pass through the checkpoint only after completing a “background check”. In one instance, Edvan Silva Monteiro, a 47-year-old mason, had forgotten his paperwork and was prevented from going to work. Though Edvan was told by soldiers to go back home and retrieve the necessary documents, he was late to work and ultimately fired by his employer as a result of the incident. 

The commander-in-charge of the checkpoints spoke briefly to the press, stating that the information collected by soldiers on their smartphones was input into an ‘army app’, which communicates with a criminal database run by security officers. The Military Command of the East—which controls the military intervention in Rio—did not comment on the matter.

We do not yet know the full extent to which the information gathered by soldiers at the checkpoints is being used, though this move is bringing up major concerns regarding tracking and privacy of favela residents. WITNESS will continue to work with community groups and monitor the situation. Click here for more on our Brazil coverage. 

WITNESS’ Brazil Program Manager Victor Ribeiro joined a panel at the National Archives to discuss the importance of archiving and community strategies regarding Brazil’s favelas where black youth are especially targeted, surveilled and murdered by police. Our Brazil team continues to train, organize, and help preserve critical footage of police violence and community-led narratives by bolstering the work of partners like Coletivo Papo Reto. 

Thanks to the efforts of all translators and volunteers reviewers in Brazil, with special shout-outs to Maria Byington and Marco Dreer, whose translations and revisions have resulted in the final guide which has been circulating around the country in events and discussions on the use of video in the fight for social justice.

Read the original post in Portuguese. 

WITNESS’ partnership with Coletivo Papo Reto began in 2014. Upon learning that communities on the frontlines of police violence in Brazil were embracing the potential of video and social media to speak out—and at great personal risk—WITNESS’ Latin America team offered resources surrounding safety and security. In collaboration with WITNESS’ representatives in Brazil (Senior Program Manager Priscila Neri and Brazil Program Coordinator Victor Ribeiro), Papo Reto also pulls together teams of allies including activists, public defenders, and lawyers, to critically consider how to use visual documentation for advocacy, protection, and evidence.

At our weekly staff meeting, WITNESS staff, partners, and allies gathered to hear Papo Reto co-founders Raull and Renata speak about life in Complexo do Alemão, as well the collective’s process, challenges, and accomplishments fighting impunity in the favelas. The media is littered with stories depicting Raull and Renata’s community as one plagued by drug trafficking and violence, reinforcing a mainstream narrative that fails to account for the full experience of those who live in the community. Raull described the “war on drugs” and legal systems as racist tools of containment and control over poor communities in Brazil. As an example, he invoked the case of Eduardo de Jesus, a ten-year-old boy who was fatally shot in the head in 2015 by a police officer who supposedly mistook his phone for a gun as he played on his front stoop.

In the aftermath of Eduardo’s murder, Papo Reto was the first on the scene and quickly began filming and taking photographs to preserve critical evidence. Papo Reto’s presence and cameras prevented the police from tampering with the crime scene, a common tactic used to mask extrajudicial killings. Their involvement also initiated a forensic analysis of the scene, something Raull remembered as “the first forensic analysis of a killing in a favela that I’ve ever seen in my 28 years of living in Complexo do Alemão.”

Without Papo Reto’s visual documentation, certain victories would not have been possible: the preservation of the evidence and an in-depth investigation (rare), as well as the ultimate conclusion that Eduardo was indeed killed by police fire (even rarer). However, the officer was never brought to justice in the courts of law. Eduardo’s story speaks to the paradigm of police activity in Rio; officers are rarely held accountable for their actions, and the statistics citing frequency are shocking.

“In Brazil,” Renata informed the room, “one young black person is killed every 11 minutes.”*

“And the reality in Brazil is that a person is killed several times,” Raull explained. “First, they are killed by the actual bullet. Then, they are killed by the media narrative, which parrots the police version of events by describing that person as criminals and assassinating their reputation. And finally, they are killed by the legal systems that fail to hold perpetrators accountable.”

In the event of extrajudicial deaths like Eduardo’s, or the ongoing illegal invasions of private residences in Complexo do Alemão, Papo Reto both receives and produces documentation of violence, and uses it to publicly demonstrate the impact of these violations on the residents—with the ultimate goal of creating accountability and change. For the collective, mobile phones are “weapons of defense and protection.” Members burn through phones rapidly, filming continuously and tirelessly to capture the truth, often amassing a series of explicit and clear videos that can be used as evidence.

This summer, Papo Reto celebrated an important victory, when a collection of video footage was used as evidence in court to indict two high-level commanders for their responsibility in the unlawful invasion of private homes. This case is a significant success, considering the widespread impunity for abuses committed by police in favelas.

In contrast with the mainstream narrative of his community, Raull describes Complexo do Alemão as “a place with a lot of power and amazing ideas—a space of resistance for poor and black families,” who fight every day to combat the larger, very intentional, systems that seek to profit from the lives of marginalized residents. Raull and Renata are also quick to clarify that for them, “it’s not a choice to be an activist.” The violence faced by residents of Complexo do Alemão is a reality, and the documentation of that violence is a matter of daily survival.

“I am most scared of giving up and not fighting for a better tomorrow,” Renata explained, a sentiment that Raull echoed with resounding confidence: “I just need to know that you are with me, and for you to know that I am with you. I believe in that.”

Our session concluded with Renata asking all in attendance to please share the following message: “Stop killing our youth – the extermination of black youth in Brazil needs to end.”

Follow Coletivo Papo Reto on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

*Officially, police were responsible for 920 killings in 2016 in the city of Rio de Janeiro alone, and post–Olympics, that number continues to rise; the number of police killings was 78% higher in the first two months of 2017 compared to the same period of 2016. However, as is also true in the United States, statistics tend to be unreliable. Reporting of extrajudicial killings by police end up masked as “deaths by resistance,” with terms like “stray bullets” used to deflect accountability. Activists believe that the actual number of people killed by police in Brazil is as high as four or five times the official count; in 2014, the BBC reported that the Brazilian police kill six people each day.

Featured image: Raull and Renata on the subway in New York City, September 2017.

This Thursday, August 31, the state government of Rio de Janeiro will make the call for bids for the construction work on the land known as Favela da Skol, located in Complexo do Alemão. The event will be broadcast live, at 12pm UTC time (9am RIO; 8am NY), by one of the most prominent and inspiring community leaders, Camila Moradia from Quero minha casa. The livestream will include English translation and additional local context through the support of WITNESS’ Mobil-Eyes Us project.

Since 2009, about 500 families who occupied the land – where the Skol brewery was once located – have been removed on the grounds that the homes were at ​​risk because of the presence of the abandoned brewery building.

During his time as deputy governor of Rio, Luiz Fernando Pezão (who is now governor) promised that he would deliver new homes within nine months. Seven years have gone by and the residents still remain without adequate housing. And they receive insufficient rent assistance to be able to afford the city’s high cost of housing.

This Thursday, we have a great opportunity to change the way this community has been treated in the struggle for housing rights. Your support is urgent and fundamental, as well as the support from the people around you, so that this victory does not become another empty promise in this history of resistance and fight. Now it’s more important than ever to show that we’re on their side and that there are a lot of people watching!

Show support by sharing the Facebook event, invite your friends to do the same and on August 31st, make yourself present wherever you are! We will be documenting everything, providing English translation and offering links with contextualization of all the other promises made and not fulfilled by the Brazilian State.

This livestreaming event is a continuation of our pilot Mobile-Eyes Us project during the Rio 2016 Olympics. The project brings ‘distant witnesses’ into livestreams and offers context, translation and other meaningful ways to take action. Learn more about the pilot here.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 31

WATCH (with translation & local context – no registration needed): http://mobile-eyes-us.itp.io:8000/

REGISTER (receive notifications & give feedback on our Mobil-Eyes Us project): email claramedeiros@gmail.com

SHARE: Invite others to attend via this Facebook event

This week the extermination of the black residents in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro continued.

Police operations in the north of the city left at least 13 people dead as a result of “stray bullets.” Additionally, about 2,500 children went without classes because of these clashes, an operation that mobilized at least 500 police officers.

Photo from her Facebook page.

Maria Eduarda Alves da Conceição, 13, was one of those victims murdered yesterday. She was hit by three shots while playing basketball in her physical education class at the Municipal School of Jornalista Daniel Piza in Fazenda Botafogo. Maria Eduarda was a talented basketball player who collected medals at school Olympics and teachers saw a promising future for her sports career.

Her future was interrupted by an operation led by the 41st BPM (militarized police force) which is already known by local residents and human rights organizations as a veritable extermination group.

The case of Maria Eduarda is important in deconstructing the “stray bullet” narrative of the press and the police, particularly because she was shot three times, according to the expertise of the Legal Medical Institute.

Responsible for about 20% of all deaths resulting from police operations in the city, the 41st BPM is the same group that fired 111 shots at five young people of Costa Barros in November of 2015. They are also the subject of an Amnesty International report “You Killed My Son”, that was published two years ago and details nine cases of execution in Rio’s Acari favela.

Also this week, local residents filmed these same policemen firing on men who were already injured or dead, laying on the ground in front of the same school where Maria Eduarda was killed, as shown in the video [Graphic Content] on our partner Coletivo Papo Reto’s Facebook page.

Still from Facebook video showing police fire at two men lying on the ground [Graphic]