The film “”, by Walter Salles, will hit home. He tells of the suffering of the family of the former deputy, arrested in January 1971, in his home, in Leblon, and taken to the DOI on Rua Barão de Mesquita.
According to the version released by military commanders at the time, Paiva was kidnapped by partners while being transferred.
All lies.
Since 1986 it has been known that medical lieutenant Amílcar Lobo was taken to the DOI in the early hours of January 21 and, in a cell, examined Rubens Paiva. In his words:
“He was just a bruise. He was purple from the tip of his hair to the tip of his toes. He had been tortured, but when I went to examine him, I found that his abdomen was hard, a plank abdomen, as they say in medical language. I suspected that there was a rupture of the liver or spleen, as they cause brutal internal bleeding.
[…]
I stayed in the cell with him for about 15 minutes. The whole time he was lying down. I was conscious. He didn’t moan. He said just two words:
Rubens Paiva. I had never heard that name, I didn’t know who it was.
[…]
— The next day, or rather the same day, when I arrived at the barracks, an officer told me:
— Look, that guy died.
I further asked:
— Did you guys take him to the hospital?
— No, he died right here.”
Rubens Paiva’s last hours are here and, with them, the antics of the military commanders.
Major José Antônio Nogueira Belham, who commanded the DOI on January 21st, says he was on vacation. Okay, but that day he signed the receipt for the objects that the prisoner had when he arrived at the barracks: two pens, a Movado watch at 260 cruises.
During his time at DOI, nine other people disappeared.
As he taught, people don’t die, they become enchanted. Rubens Paiva is still here.
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