Men, students and residents of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro were most of the victims of officially identified, according to data from the OBSERADH (National Observatory of), initiative of the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship.
The analysis takes into account the number of 434 people victims of the state from 1946 to 1988. Historians heard by SheetHowever, they point out the need to problematize the data, since the actual number of victims tends to be far higher, which can camouflage the impact of the regime in relation to other social groups.
According to the survey, the most brutal period of the regime was from 1969 to 1978, after AI-5 (), when 351 people killed or missing were counted.
The study also points to deaths before the dictatorship was initiated, “showing that political persecution already existed,” and in its final years. From 1979 to 1985, for example, 20 victims were recorded even with negotiations for political opening, “demonstrating that repression persisted until the final moments of the regime.”
Data analysis pointed out that 82.5% of people killed and missing at the time were affiliated with political organizations. The affiliates to political parties composed 37.3% of the sample, and those unions affiliated, 4.1%. Not affiliated with political organizations composed 17.5% of the total.
As for the occupation, much (140) was from students, followed by workers (57) and rural workers (30). Journalists appear in fourth place with teachers (28 each).
The average age of the victims was 32.8 years. Most, 77.4%, was between 18 and 44 years old. The survey also points out five victims from 12 to 17 years old, as well as a child under one year of age dead by the regime.
According to Observadh, 11.8% of the total were women (51 people). The proportion of those who were murdered increased significantly at the end of the military regime, the survey points out.
“From 1979 to 1985, the end of the military regime, the proportion of women murdered compared to murdered men was significantly higher than in previous years, representing 35% of deaths. In addition, women tended to be younger than men: 68.7% of them were between 0 and 29 years old. Among men this percentage was 48.3%.”
As for geographical regions, there were records of victims outside Brazil, such as Chile and Argentina. In the national territory, crimes were registered in 15 states and in the Federal District. The larger concentration was in the capitals (62.7%), mainly in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, cities that had 47.2% of deaths.
Pará, Maranhão and the current Tocantins had 70 victims at the time, an inflated number by the Araguaia Guerrilla, becoming the third territory with more deaths. The first two are the states of Rio de Janeiro, with 114 cases, and São Paulo, with 101.
Specialists heard by SheetHowever, they point out that the real profile of all the regime’s victims is probably much wider than portrayed by the Observadh survey. This is because the official number is still today discussed, with most historians understanding that the official figure of the National Truth Commission was quite conservative.
According to Gabrielle Abreu, historian and memory manager at the Marielle Franco Institute, the survey data reflects a “methodological mistake” of the committee, which, despite further efforts to think about the impact of the regime on minorized groups, “ended in a deliberate way, contemplating a specific victim profile.”
Marcia Carneiro, professor of history at UFF (Fluminense Federal University), says she hit much broader groups of society, even though some were less visible. “We still do not know the size of the violence that occurred at the time, which may reflect on what is known about the profile of the victims,” he says.
According to Lucas Pedretti, historian and coordinator of the Brazil coalition by memory, truth, justice, reparation and democracy, the figure of 434 recognized victims “is part of a historical process through which a very restricted set of subjects and groups has been able to obtain this public recognition as victims of the dictatorship.”
He recalls that CNV itself recognized more than 8,000 indigenous deaths linked to the period, even though it did not count the figure in the final number of victims in an attitude, says Pedretti, “paradoxical”.
In addition to the indigenous people, another example of victims underrected in the data are, many of which were the target of the death squad in the peripheries, the historian points out.
“A person being the target of violence and a person being publicly recognized as the target of violence is not equivalent processes. This is a complex social phenomenon that allows someone who has been the target of brutal violence not socially recognized as such,” says Pedretti.
HAS Sheet The Ministry of Human Rights reported that the analysis based on official CNV data, which recommends the deepening of research on victims such as indigenous people and peasants.
The folder also said that “it reinforces its commitment to memory, truth and justice, and recognizes the importance of continuing investigations for the recognition of all victims.”
