Number 356, June 25, 1999.
Visit our home page: http://www.oneworld.org/sejup/
In this week's issue:
>NEWS BRIEFS
- Campelo steps down; new Director-General of Federal Police appointed
- Workers' income diminishes
- Judicial preliminary permits the sale of arms in Rio
- Inspection confirms contamination in lime deposit
- Update on Diniz Case
- Land reform fraud totals up to R$165 million
>SPECIAL: Human beings, not animals -- Brazil's prison crisis
>URGENT ACTION APPEAL
NEWS BRIEFS
- Campelo steps down; new Director-General of Federal Police appointed
After assuming the post of Director-General of the Federal Police for
three days, João Batista Campelo caved into mounting pressures and
submitted his resignation last Friday, June 18. After Campelo had been
nominated for the office, several witnesses stepped forward to accuse
Campelo of having tortured people during the military dictatorship. The
principle witness was ex-priest José Antônio Monteiro, who said that
Campelo personally assisted his torture sessions in 1970. Commenting on
Campelo's resignation, Monteiro stated, "It is a victory for the Brazilian
people, not for me."
On Monday, June 21, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso nominated a new
person to fill the post, Agílio Monteiro Filho. Filho, the first
Afro-Brazilian to assume the position, has been serving as the chief of the
Department of Political and Social Order in the state of Minas Gerais. He
has served as a federal employee since 1973. A representative of the group
Torture Never Again, Heloisa Greco, said that the group does not have any
facts that link Filho to acts of torture.
Meanwhile, Campelo has been nominated as the Secretary for Public Security
in the state of Roraima. He will assume this role on Friday, June 25.
However, the Brazilian Order of Lawyers in the state of Roraima have sent a
letter to the governor recommending that Campelo not be allowed to take
office until the allegations into torture have been investigated thoroughly.
Source: Folha de São Paulo
June 19, 22 & 23, 1999
- Workers' income diminishes
According to a recent study by Dieese (Inter-union Department of
Statistics and Socio- conomics), the average real income of workers, which
grew after the first few years of the Real Plan (the current monetary
system created by President Cardoso), began to diminish in 1998, and has
drastically dropped in 1999. Dieese studied six major metropolitan areas:
São Paulo, Porto Alegre, Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Salvador and Recife. In
São Paulo, for example, the average real income of workers in 1994 was
R$806; it went up to R$905 in 1995, but then dropped to R$877 in 1998. In
March of this year, the average income was R$831.
- Judicial preliminary permits the sale of arms in Rio
Two weeks after the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Anthony Garotinho,
sanctioned a law which prohibited the sale of weapons in the state, four
stores which sell arms reopened their doors for business. The stores are
for now protected by a ruling given by Chief Judge Jorge Uchôa de Mendonça
which stated that the ruling on arms is a matter for the federal, and not
state government. Garotinho says that he will fight the decision.
Source: Folha de São Paulo
June 19, 1999
- Inspection confirms contamination in lime deposit
A judge, state and federal representatives who visited the chemical
industrial plant of Solvay of Brazil confirmed on Wednesday that there has
been a contamination in the area from the company's lime deposit. Further,
they said that there may be as many as four more companies who have also
contaminated the area. The investigation began after the NGO Greenpeace
claimed that Solvay was responsible for a 1 million-ton deposit of lime
contaminated with dioxine (a generic name for a group of more than 200
chemical toxins) near a water source in São Paulo. This is the same
substance that was identified in 1998 as that which was responsible for the
contamination of a citric pulp. The contaminated pulp, exported to
Europe, was used in cattle feed, subsequently contaminating European milk
and butter. Officials from the company however deny that their lime
deposit had anything to do with the contamination.
Source: Folha de São Paulo
June 19 & 24, 1999
- Update on Diniz Case
The two Argentinian kidnappers of businessman Abílio Diniz began another
hunger strike this week as a response to a political game being played by
Brazil and Argentina. Each country claims that it is waiting on the other
to ratify the accord which would transfer the prisoners back to Argentina.
On the second day of the hunger strike, one of the Argentinians, Humberto
Paz, 45, suffered an attack of hypertension, and was taken to the hospital.
He was treated and returned to the prison. On Thursday, a São Paulo judge
announced that the two will be transferred to their homeland this weekend
(before a meeting between Latin American countries and Europe begins in Rio
de Janeiro). The Argentinians have vowed they will continue their hunger
strike until they have boarded the plane.
Source: Folha de São Paulo
June 21, 23 & 25, 1999
- Land reform fraud totals up to R$165 million
In the first three years of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's mandate,
Incra (National Institute of Colonization and Land Reform) has overpaid
R$165 million to large landowners who have had their lands appropriated by
the government for the purposes of land redistribution. This amount may go
up to as much as R$200 million after more suspicious cases are
investigated. One specific case was sited in the state of Tocantins.
Incra was going to pay R$25.6 million for a land estate was market value is
estimated to be $R2.9 million. Fortunately, the transaction was blocked
before the deal was settled. But this sort of overinflation of land prices
has been a common occurrence in nearly all of the states.
Source: Folha de São Paulo
June 21, 1999
SPECIAL:
* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
News Service: 113/99 AI INDEX: AMR 19/15/99 23 JUNE 1999
BRAZIL
Human beings, not animals -- Brazil's prison crisis
We committed a crime and we are paying our debt to society. But no one
deserves to be treated like this -- like animals. A Brazilian prisoner.
Criminal suspects and ordinary prisoners are forgotten victims of human
rights violations in Brazil, a new Amnesty International report says.
Packed into dark, airless, vermin-infested cells, they are exposed to
life-threatening diseases, and live in constant fear of assault at the
hands of other inmates or of being beaten or tortured by prison officers
and police.
The report, No one here sleeps safely -- human rights violations against
detainees, which is being launched in São Paulo today, is the result of two
years of research by Amnesty International and it shows a prison system in
crisis.
Out of sight, locked up behind the walls of a prison or police station,
these human beings are also out of mind to the general public, and the
contempt expressed by many in Brazilian society for criminals and suspected
criminals serves to justify the most appalling brutality against them, said
Javier Zúñiga, director of Amnesty Internationals Americas Research
Programme, launching the report.
Brazilian law provides wide guarantees for the protection of human rights,
and the rights of detainees in particular are enshrined in the Brazilian
constitution. It is not the quality of the written legislation that is
failing these people, but a damaging combination of corruption, lack of
professional training for prison guards, and lack of official guidelines
and effective monitoring of abuses. These combined factors help foster
impunity.
It does not have to be like this, stresses Fiona Macaulay, Amnesty
International Researcher on Brazil. A number of smaller prisons have shown
that it is possible to administer detention centres based on the
rehabilitation of the offender and respect for fundamental human rights,
even with limited resources.
We have visited some detention centres where efforts have been made to
support prisoners relationships with their families, introduce work and
rehabilitation programs and provide adequate health care. Despite having to
cope with less than ideal conditions, these places show that good prison
administration has a clear effect in reducing tension and violence.
Making prisons safe for all who live and work in them is one of the most
powerful ways of guaranteeing human rights in detention. With political
will, improvements can be made on limited resources, said Dr Macaulay.
The contrast between these and most other prisons is startling. Some
170,000 ordinary prisoners are currently incarcerated in Brazil, in more
than 500 prisons, thousands of police stations, and municipal jails. Every
year, scores of deaths occur as a result of violence on the part of police
and prison officers, denial of medical care, and negligence by the
authorities in preventing violence between detainees. The vast majority of
these deaths in custody go uninvestigated and undocumented.
In Brazils police stations, torture -- as a means of extracting confessions
-- is widespread. Beatings and intimidation are also employed in prisons
and police stations as a means of controlling an ever-growing number of
detainees. Weekly riots and violent incidents suggest that the authorities
are simply losing control of certain establishments.
Cells in many prisons and police stations in Brazil are very overcrowded
and vermin-ridden, with little or no space for exercise. Sanitary
facilities are very poor and constitute a health risk, with blocked toilets
and broken wastepipes. In the Cariacica police station in Espirito Santo,
92 men were crammed into a single holding area with only two toilets and 16
bunks.
Overcrowding in Brazil's crumbling jails means that thousands of pre-trial
and convicted prisoners are held in civil police station lock-ups, where
some of the most serious cases of beatings and torture occur. According to
a Brazilian government official, the prisons are purgatory, but the police
stations are hell.
Humiliation and torture are part of everyday life. For instance, detainees
in civil police precincts in Belo Horizonte are regularly herded naked into
a courtyard while their cells are being searched. They are then hosed down
with water by police officers standing on the roof. A special room has been
set aside for torturing prisoners.
In response to the prison crisis, Brazil has embarked on a major
construction programme to reduce overcrowding, but the structural flaws and
systematic disregard for human rights have simply been exported to the new
installations -- where riots and violence are already breaking out.
The Amnesty International report offers a number of recommendation for
reform in eight key areas which could bring Brazils penal system into line
with international standards. These recommendations -- some of which could
be easily implemented at little or no cost -- include effective inspection
and complaints procedures, appropriate training and clear policy guidelines.
When prisoners forfeit their liberty they do not forfeit their fundamental
human rights. The Brazilian authorities have an obligation to ensure their
rights are fully respected, Mr Zúñiga concluded.
ENDS.../
Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street, WC1X
8DJ, London, United Kingdom
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URGENT ACTION APPEAL
As a follow-up to report, AI is calling for international help. First of
all, they request that you divulge this information to your own governments
and relevant NGO organizations. They ask that you write to the authorities
listed below and ask them to:
- begin an independent investigation into all cases of deaths among the
prisoners, and all cases of torture and mistreatment, and to hold
accountable those responsible for such acts;
- organize at state and federal levels an effective monitoring unit which
is independent of the prison system and police stations;
- establish a procedure of denunciations that permits the prisoners to
recount their stories without fear of retaliation;
- provide for all prison personnel training and well-defined directives
necessary to do his/her work in the re-socializing and rehabilitating the
prisoners under his/her care;
- implement the guarantees and arrangements of the imprisonment of minors
as determined by the "State of the Child and Adolescent of Brazil";
- articulate directives for the care of the requisites and rights specific
to women prisoners.
Addresses:
Minister of Justice: Exmo. Sr. Ministro da Justiça do Brasil, Dr. Renan
Calheiros
Ministério da Justiça
Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco 23
70064-900 Brasília, DF, Brasil
Secretário de Estado para os Direitos Humanos: Exmo. Sr. Secretário de
Direitos Humanos, Dr. José Gregori
Ministério da Justiça
Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco T, Ed. Sede, Sala 402
70064-901 Brasília, DF, Brasil
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