Brazil: UV-LJR condemns the murder of a youth in Barueri by the Military Police

We share an unofficial translation of an article found in A Nova Democracia.

The Red Unit of the League of Revolutionary Youth (UV-LJR) issued a statement on March 17 denouncing the murder of Lucas Almeida de Lima, 26 years old, by two military police officers from the state of São Paulo. The crime by the old State occurred in the municipality of Barueri.

According to the media monopolies, the young man was grabbed and beaten with punches and kicks. A video recording of the incident shows that, after being shot and knocked down, Lucas was shot two more times while falling. The reason for the pursuit was a “suspicion” from the police when they saw him fixing a friend’s car, which led him to flee. The UV-LJR, in its statement, responds to the case:

“The Democratic Rule of Law that many people proudly defend does not exist for the vast majority of our people. The media monopoly that presents itself as a ‘stronghold’ of democracy defense places these cases in footnotes and always returns with the same refrain of ‘isolated case.’ As we have already reinforced in our positions, when it really comes to the life of the people, they completely converge with the same positions of the far-right and fascists. This is the Military Police of the fascist Tarcísio de Freitas, sold as ‘moderate’ by these people.”

While the media monopolies respond to the incident by pointing to occasional reductions in the number of police killings as an attempt to defend their “moderate” candidate, a number of policies mark the steps toward a return to the violence and war policies against the people from the time of the fascist military regime. One example is the initiative to grant the Federal Highway Police the power of ostensible police, discussed by the current government. Another of these policies, as cited by the UV-LJR, is:

“It is in this context that a law was passed to transform the Municipal Civil Guard (GCM) of the city of São Paulo into Municipal Police. Increasingly militarized, the GCMs throughout the metropolitan region, such as that of Barueri, have become more and more militarized, adopting the same modus operandi as the Military Police with criminal approaches against the people, while they lower their heads and speak softly in approaches in some wealthy neighborhoods, as is widely reported on social media.

Cases of murder are merely the final consequence of police repression. Tortures, humiliations, and threats occur frequently in the lives of black and poor people, but they rarely become notorious facts in the monopolistic media. In light of this, the UVLJR concludes:

“We, from the Red Unit – League of Revolutionary Youth, demand immediate justice for Lucas Almeida. May the mobilizations in Londrina against the murder of the young Wender Natan da Costa Bento, 20 years old, and Kelvin William de Oliveira, 15, serve as an example, for only an organized people will be able to put an end to all this reactionary and criminal violence against the poor people.”