Brazil: Campaign for the Freedom of Student Mateus, Anti-imperialist Political Prisoner
We hereby share an unofficial translation of the call for a national campaign against the arrest of an anti-imperialist student, published by A Nova Democracia on February 11.
Organizations launch campaign: Freedom now for student Mateus, anti-imperialist political prisoner! Justice for all anti-imperialists shot by the Pernambuco Military Police!
The student organizations MEPR, Mangue Vermelho, Movimento Ventania, and the National Executive of Pedagogy Students (Exnepe) are calling for a national campaign: “Freedom now for student Mateus, anti-imperialist political prisoner! Justice for all anti-imperialists shot by the Pernambuco Military Police!” following the events of the demonstration held in Recife on January 28, marked by student resistance against police repression and in solidarity with the Venezuelan people and nation and against Yankee imperialism (United States).
Mateus Galdino and a high school student were arbitrarily arrested after an anti-imperialist demonstration in solidarity with the Venezuelan people and nation. During this same protest, people opposed to the actions of the Great Satan (the United States) in Venezuela threw a petrol bomb at a McDonald’s restaurant, a symbol of Yankee imperialism.
Faced with the combative revolutionary action of the masses, the Pernambuco Military Police (MP-PE) brutally repressed the demonstration, shooting at least five activists with live ammunition and attacking dozens with pepper spray. Two of those shot were a journalist from the Support Committee for the newspaper A Nova Democracia (AND) and a student of education at the Federal University of Pernambuco. Faced with the fascist repression of the PM-PE, the students defended themselves fiercely, leaving three police officers injured, including one with head trauma.
With the demonstration already dispersed, and more than a kilometer from the site of the event, a high school student and Mateus Galdino were arrested for carrying flags, revealing that, for the MP-PE and the old Brazilian State, struggling is a crime.
In a statement published on social media, the organizations affirm that “the charge of attempted murder is completely unfounded, it is nothing more than political persecution and the thirst for revenge of the MP, demoralized after being repelled by the self-defense of the protesters. At no time was any evidence presented that the arrested students were involved in the conflict, given that they all had their faces covered and were arrested after the demonstration was dispersed. There is no record linking the two students to the alleged assault suffered by the MP officers.”
On the night of the demonstration, the high school student gave her statement and was released, but Mateus Galdino remained in custody.
The following day, Mateus’s custody hearing was held at the Rodolfo Aureliano Court, where the judge ordered his preventive detention, requiring him to remain imprisoned at the Professor Everardo Luna Criminological Observation and Triage Center (Cotel) in Abreu e Lima, despite the fact that he met all the legal requirements to await trial in freedom.
During the hearing, students protested outside the courthouse demanding his immediate release and justice for all those affected by the MP-PE’s aggression. The following day, student organizations launched a campaign demanding: “Investigation and punishment for the police officers who shot at the protesters! Immediate freedom for Mateus Galdino! Struggling is not a crime! Justice for all anti-imperialists shot by the MP-PE!”
The far right launches a defamation campaign
On January 30, Federal Deputy Coronel Meira of the Liberal Party (PL) posted a video on social media branding anti-imperialist protesters as terrorists and stating that “in any country in the world they would be immediately shot down” and said that “here in Pernambuco, it’s difficult!”, defending the summary execution of activists in the popular struggle.
The deputy also stated that, as a full member of the Public Security and Organized Crime Combat Commission, he requested his cabinet to prosecute political prisoner Mateus Galdino under the anti-terrorism law, enacted by Dilma Rousseff/PT after the protests of 2013 and 2014.
