Methods from the darkest years of the military dictatorship threatened to resurface on January 8, 2023.

On August 19, 2025, Representative Pastor Henrique Vieira presented Bill 4089/25 to the Chamber of Deputies, proposing the inscription of Frei Tito de Alencar Lima in the Book of Heroes and Heroines of the Nation. 

The initiative rekindles the memory of one of the most poignant symbols of resistance to the 1964 military dictatorship—the coup dubbed a "revolution" by the generals—which kidnapped, imprisoned in medieval dungeons, tortured, and killed hundreds of Brazilians, most of them in their twenties. More than a tribute to one of the victims, Henrique Vieira's initiative is a political gesture of reparation and historical affirmation. Frei Tito was not only a victim of repression—he was a martyr for faith and freedom. One of the victims of the murderous fury of a dictatorship that was defeated, but never definitively buried, and which, from time to time, tries to resurface with the same cruel methods of the darkest years.

Brutal tortures under the command of a student of Ustra.

Born in Fortaleza in 1945, Tito joined the Dominican Order and became an activist in the Catholic Student Youth. During the political upheaval of the 1960s, he became involved with movements opposing the military regime, being accused of collaborating with the National Liberation Action (ALN). In 1969, he was kidnapped and taken to the DOPS (Department of Political and Social Order) in São Paulo, where he suffered brutal torture under the command of delegate Sérgio Fleury—one of the darkest faces of the repression of the macabre school of Brilhante Ustra, the hero of Jair Bolsonaro, his sons, and today's coup-plotting military. Even after being released in exchange for the Swiss ambassador Giovanni Bucher, Tito carried deep wounds. Exiled in France, he lived in silence and suffering. On August 10, 1974, at the age of 28, he took his own life in the Éveux convent. His act was a cry against barbarity, an extreme testament to the pain caused by state violence.

“I cannot forget what they did to me.” Frei Betto, his friend and fellow believer, wrote in Baptism of Blood: “Tito died because he couldn’t kill the pain. But his life is a beacon for all who face the darkness of oppression.” In one of his letters, in moments of despair, Frei Tito reveals the psychological impact of torture: “I cannot forget what they did to me. I try to pray, but sometimes I can only cry.” The memory of Frei Tito is also the memory of those who resisted, those who fell, and those who dared to dream of a free Brazil. To inscribe him among the heroes of the nation is to recognize that Brazilian democracy has bleeding roots—and that its preservation requires courage, lucidity, and a commitment to historical truth.

Green-Yellow Dagger: The Return of Murderous Methods

The rescue of Frei Tito's memory is directly connected to the recent revelations of Operation Green-Yellow Dagger. Yesterday, as today, authoritarianism resorted to the same methods of physically eliminating opponents, and we can foresee what would happen if the far-right's continued coup triumphed in 2023. It is never too much to remember the dagger that would be plunged into the heart of democracy. Led by Jair Bolsonaro and orchestrated by four-star generals, the operation envisioned not only an institutional coup but also the execution of democratic leaders. Among the planned victims were President Lula, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, and Minister Alexandre de Moraes. The chosen method—poisoning—reveals the criminal nature of the plot: to establish a bloody military dictatorship through the physical elimination of those who symbolized democratic resistance.

The echo of 1964

This is no coincidence. During the military dictatorship, similar methods were employed against opponents. Lethal torture, staged hangings, disguised executions, and even planned poisonings. Vladimir Herzog, Manoel Fiel Filho, and Stuart Angel are just three examples of hundreds of people murdered by state terror. The thread of continuity is clear. The same sectors of the Armed Forces that supported the repression of 1964 reappear, in the 21st century, resuming the heinous logic of extermination.

Democracy under attack

By planning targeted assassinations, the far-right Bolsonaro coup plotters showed that their goal was not only to prevent a democratically elected government from taking office. It was also to resurrect the murderous methods of the 1964 dictatorship. Bolsonarism created nothing new. It merely recycled the old project of military terror that marked the darkest period in Brazilian history. If Operation Green-Yellow Dagger—meticulously planned by the criminal organization led by Bolsonaro—had been executed, Brazil would today be plunged once again into the horrors of an authoritarian and bloody regime. Revealed by the Federal Police in 2023, within the scope of Operation Countercoup, the plot was a terrorist and coup-plotting plan, to be executed by the “Black Kids,” soldiers of the Army Special Forces, with the objective of physically eliminating leaders and the pillars of Brazilian democracy.

The plan included the use of a war arsenal. 

The seized documents indicate that President Lula and Vice President Alckmin were to be poisoned, while Alexandre de Moraes would be followed, monitored, and likely kidnapped, tortured, and killed. The plan included the use of a war arsenal—rifles, machine guns, and grenade launchers—as well as the creation of a "crisis cabinet" to seize power after the assassinations. Retired General Mário Fernandes admitted to having conceived the operation, and General Braga Netto was cited as responsible for financing the action, including delivering cash to facilitate logistics. The operation was not just an attempted coup. It was a concrete threat to reinstate armed authoritarianism, with methods that echo the dungeons of repression faced by Frei Tito and hundreds of others. History repeats itself, and remembering Tito and those tortured and murdered in 1964 is also to resist the repetition of the horrors they faced.

Memory as resistance

The attempted coup was not merely institutional. It was physical, violent, and planned with military precision. And that is precisely why honoring the memory of Frei Tito becomes even more urgent. He is a symbol that freedom is not given: it is conquered, even with one's own life. By inscribing Frei Tito in the Book of Heroes and Heroines of the Fatherland, Brazil reaffirms that democracy was watered with blood, faith, and courage. And that the ghosts of authoritarianism never give up. They continue to haunt our institutions, seeking an opportunity to attack again. 

Recognizing Tito and all those who fell victim to or survived the tortures of the dictatorship that lasted 21 years is, therefore, to affirm that democracy does not bow before violence. It flourishes from the memory and struggle of its martyrs.