Suicides in exceptional times

Deaths during exceptional times are nothing new.

And to make matters worse, in the 21st century, in the year 2019, ignorant and inhumane people dare to celebrate the barbarity of the 1964 military coup and its hidden corpses.

We realize that we have made almost no progress in our recent democracy (I dare say that today, after the parliamentary coup, we live in a pseudo-democracy).

During the military coup, political persecution was evident, literally hunting down potential "communist threats," as did the paramilitary organization, the Communist Hunting Command (CCC). Death was certain, and bodies were dumped in clandestine graves—many of which have never been found—or blatantly "discovered" under the guise of "hit-and-runs and suicides." Let's remember the image of journalist Vladimir Herzog's "suicide," crudely fabricated to protect the military?

(By the way: and it seems they will never be found and/or identified, because the Nazi-fascist who assumed the presidency of our country issued a decree preventing technicians from working in these services).

Today we face a veiled threat to our struggle, coming from companies and parents who threaten the schools where we teach, in a clear attempt at intimidation. However, deaths also continue to occur...and in very suspicious ways, including the complicity of public bodies, such as the police and members of the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Who doesn't remember the "suicide" of Lucas Arcanjo, the Minas Gerais civil police officer who denounced on social media – after being denied help and ignored by public authorities – the direct link between then-PSDB senator Aécio Neves and international drug trafficking? This same politician also had his name linked to the death of model Cristiane Aparecida Ferreira, who acted as a front in the PSDB's Minas Gerais mensalão scandal. It's also worth remembering the Cláudio airport (whose investigation was reopened after Aécio's cousin was wiretapped by the Federal Police, confirming some of these suspicions), built with public funds on his property.

And we can't forget the Perrella family's helicopter, carrying almost 500kg of cocaine base, seized in a highly suspicious partnership with this same private airport – but nobody talks about it anymore. Out of fear of being "suicided"?

Speaking of "helicoca" (a play on words combining "helicopter" and "cocaine"), at the beginning of April, a new helicopter carrying 500kg of cocaine was seized in Presidente Prudente, in an operation against international drug trafficking. And guess what? Again, right-wing politicians were allegedly involved in the case: the helicopter belongs to the company Park Sul Derivados de Petróleo, and one of its owners is Remi Vitorino Sorgatto, father of Diego Sorgatto, a state deputy in Goiás...for the PSDB party. Then, three days later, one of the people involved in the case was found dead in a motel, with a gunshot wound to the head. And the police claim he committed suicide!

(Speaking of which, does anyone know where Aécio Neves is/is flying?)

Recently, another "suicide" has surfaced: the money launderer "Tonico," operator of the shady deals of former president and coup plotter Michel Temer, Antônio Claudio Albernaz Cordeiro. A cover-up?

The question remains: if it took 50 years for the truth to come to light after the military coup – even if only partially, thanks to laws passed during Dilma Rousseff's government, such as the Access to Information Law and the National Truth Commission (which are now censored by Bolsonaro's corrupt/militia-linked government) – will crimes like those mentioned ever be solved, or will they continue to be treated as suicide? Will we ever see right-wing politicians finally paying for their cowardly acts, or will they remain free and unpunished? Is there hope for true justice, or will we continue to survive under corrupt judges of a partisan and selective justice system?

While hope may die last, the abusive and unconstitutional actions against Lula, orchestrated by the Supreme Federal Court and the Superior Court of Justice, offer no comfort. Either we react decisively, or we will simply lament!