BRAZIL: Hometown Mourns Brazilian Slain by Police in London

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 25 2005 (IPS) - Gonzaga, a small Brazilian town with a population of roughly 2,600, came to a standstill on Monday as residents took to the streets to protest the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, the young Brazilian shot down by police in London on Friday.

Menezes, a 27-year-old electrician, had been living and working in London for three years. Like most emigrants, he regularly sent part of his earnings home to his family, impoverished small farmers living on the rural outskirts of Gonzaga in the central Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.

The young man was shot dead in a London underground station by the police, who had mistaken him for a suicide bomber. According to the most recent reports, he was shot a total of eight times at close range, seven times in the head and once in the shoulder, a fact that further outraged the protesters in Gonzaga, headed up by the mayor of the town himself, Julio Maria de Souza.

The British police said the officers were acting under an anti-terrorism shoot-to-kill policy, on the belief that Menezes was a suicide bomber carrying explosives, like the ones used in the Jul. 7 blasts that killed 56 people in subway trains and buses in London.

"We are shocked and perplexed by his death," town hall secretary Ana Lucia Ferreira told IPS in a telephone interview.

Menezes’ family and friends are even more upset by the fact that they have not been able to bring his body back to Brazil, so that he can be buried in his hometown, she added.

The British government has promised a thorough investigation into the incident and a "sympathetic and swift" response to any demands for compensation by the family, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Monday in a joint press conference with his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim.

The Brazilian minister said the fight against terrorism must be conducted with respect for human rights.

Ferreira described Menezes as "a good son" who used the money he managed to save in London to build his family a house – something he had always dreamed of – and to help raise their standard of living.

She said the last time she saw him was in February, when he had come home to celebrate the Brazilian carnival season and his birthday in Gonzaga.

Many young people from the area have emigrated, mainly to the United States, "because it is impossible for them to continue their studies and they have no prospects for the future here," noted Ferreira.

Some press reports have stated that a third of the local population has left the country, and Ferreira said she is convinced that at least a third of all the town’s young people are living abroad.

Gonzaga is a rural municipality whose economy depends primarily on small-scale family agriculture and dairy farming. Its population dropped from 5,713 to 5,482 between 2000 and 2004, according to official statistics, and more than half of its inhabitants live in the countryside outside the town of Gonzaga itself.

Emigrating is an option chosen by a growing number of young Brazilians. The residents of Gonzaga believe their town was "infected" by the massive wave of emigration to the United States that began in the 1980s in Governador Valadares, a city of 255,000 located 90 km away.

"Around 95 percent of families in Gonzaga have a relative in the United States," which continues to be the main destination for local emigrants, said Ferreira.

For her part, Ferreira, who is 18 years old and just recently graduated from high school, says that she would rather try her luck in Brazil than "run the risks of crossing the border" between Mexico and the United States, the route taken by most would-be emigrants.

The United States’ increasingly tight control of its southern border, stepped up even further after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, have led more and more Brazilians to opt for emigration to Europe.

This fact is reflected in the growing number of cases handled by European consulates in Brazil, as well as an increase in deportations of Brazilians illegally living and working in Europe on tourist visas, the Brazilian foreign ministry has acknowledged.

There are roughly 100,000 Brazilian immigrants living in the United Kingdom, although this is considered a conservative estimate, and some place the real number at closer to 150,000. While some Brazilians have earned a bad reputation in Britain for crimes like small-time financial scams and forgery, none has ever been linked to terrorism.

But there are only a handful of Gonzaga natives in Britain, and emigration to Europe in general – with Portugal as the main gate of entry – has only increased slightly in this particular part of Brazil, as most locals continue to set their sights on the United States.

Menezes was one of the small number of emigrants from Gonzaga who chose Europe as his destination, and spent some time in Portugal before settling in London.

His family denies the police allegations that he was living illegally in Britain, pointing to the fact that he visited Brazil earlier this year, and that it would have been impossible for him to go back to London if he were not there legally.

His family already suffered an earlier tragedy, when two of Menezes’ cousins, also emigrants, were killed in a car accident in Portugal in 2002.

Despite tragic incidents like these, the increasingly tight controls over national borders, and terrorism, Ferreira has no doubt that young people will continue to leave Brazil, because the reasons behind this exodus remain intact: "All the best houses and stores in Gonzago belong to families who are supported by the money sent to them by relatives who have moved abroad," she maintained.

Ferreira’s own situation is a prime example of the lack of opportunity offered to young people in Gonzaga. Earning a minimum salary of 300 reals (125 dollars) a month, she cannot even afford the daily bus fare to the nearest university, in Governador Valadares. And because it is a private university, she would have to find a way to cover her tuition fees.

Her dream of studying psychology or social work appears to be an impossible one. Given this reality, it is no surprise that so many young people choose "the easiest route," which is to go abroad, despite the risks involved in crossing borders and the difficulties of adapting to life in a far-off country, she said.