After breaking, in February last year, the electronic anklet he wore in Brazil, flee to Argentina and ended up arrested, Paraná Ana Paula de Souza says she feels abandoned.
Condemned by attacks on the headquarters of the three powers of the Republic on January 8, 2023, in Brasilia, she and four other Brazilians are arrested in the Ezeiza Penitentiary Complex in Buenos Aires, waiting for the.
The hearing, initially scheduled for June 18 by the Federal Criminal Court number 3, was postponed twice and was eventually suspended at the request of one of the fugitive advocate lawyers, who filed in the second instance.
“We are forgotten in an Argentina penitentiary,” says the fugitive CNN. “We are simply abandoned, thrown into the moths and no one cares. Our life doesn’t matter, our family doesn’t matter, our health doesn’t matter,” he adds.
Prison
In an interview given by the landline, which she answers when she is alone where she is detained, she says she was once in a worse place. “I was in a pavilion with eleven people. No sunbathing. No crap,” he says.
The arrest came after the issuance of warrants by federal judge Daniel Rafecas, after Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Supreme Court (STF), request the extradition of dozens of convicts by 8/1 who were on the run in Argentina.
Ana Paula de Souza asked for refuge for Conare (National Commission for Refugees of Argentina) and believed she was protected after the beginning of the process. But he was arrested near where he lived in the capital Buenos Aires.
She believes that the Argentine commission itself has given its residence data to the authorities who made their arrest. “I trusted in this country. And I followed the law of that country. And for what?
Souza says that on a bus and entered Argentina through a regular dry border, which connects Dionísio Cerqueira, in Santa Catarina, to the Argentine city of Bernardo de Irigoyen, presenting his identity document.
Penitentiary set
Today, Paraná is in a penitentiary set, which describes as a kind of “home” with two other detainees. According to her, one is arrested for drug involvement and the other by kidnapping followed by death. “These are people who are used to another type of life,” he says.
In the previous arrest site, she says she discovered that one of the detainees exchanged her drinking water for dirty water, which made her have intestinal pain. He also reports that he was the target of xenophobia and lived with detainees who used drugs in front of her, and one that shouted all day long.
Souza says he was transferred to where he is currently after having a panic crisis: “I deleted it to the ground and took me to the medical center,” he says.
Currently, he says he sometimes feels “extorted” by his prison companions.
“[Dizem:] I will need this, but my family cannot bring it. Can you buy? And of course, I’m alone, I’m vulnerable. For my own security, I speak ok, I’ll buy it, ”he reports, adding,“ I end up doing it for fear that something happens to me. ”In prison where she is, it is possible to buy food.
The suffering, however, did not cause her to regret participating in the acts of 8/1, which qualifies as a “manifestation”. It claims to be against the depredation and the invasion of the headquarters of powers.
Souza was sentenced to 14 years in prison for attempted coup d’état, attempted violent abolition of the Democratic Rule of Law, deterioration of overturned heritage and criminal association.
Her lawyer in Argentina, Carla Junqueira, says that the conviction of 14 years in prison of the fugitive client is “wrong”. According to her, Souza was “stuck in the midst of a huge mass of people, without individualization” of the case.
“I feel betrayed”
Paraná claims to have not regretted fleeing Brazil, but of choosing Argentina as the destination of the escape. “I didn’t know we would be treated that way.”
“I feel betrayed,” he says, referring to Javier Milei’s government. “They are being negligent with our situation. I like coherent people. So there is no way you can say, ‘Ah, Lula, Alexandre de Moraes, chase Brazilians, and when these people come here to ask for help, you hold them.’ For me, this is not coherent,” he says.
Milei never commented on the fugitive Brazilians, who began to arrive in the country last year. Questioned by CNN At a press conference in June last year, President Manuel Adorni’s spokesman said the situation of the fugitives who asked for refuge in the country to be analyzed on a case by case by Conare.
“This decision escapes us, I understand that [para a concessão de refúgio] They need to be met certain conditions, which will be verified in each case whether they are fulfilled or not and whether this is feasible, “Adorni said at the time.
Conare is made up of representatives of different government ministries. Also participating in the Board of the United Nations High-Commissioner for refugees and non-governmental organizations, but without voting rights.
Sources involved in the case state that the final decision turns out to be political, as Milei may focus on granting the asylum, or never pronounced, allowing the last word to be that of justice.
But Souza does not feel abandoned only. “I miss the pronouncements of Brazilian politicians, who should help us,” he argues.
Some Bolsonarist parliamentarians, such as Magno Malta (PL-ES) and Damares Alves (Republicans-DF) were in Argentina in May to visit the fugitives arrested. But Souza says that contact with them or their families has not continued.
Questioned by CNNShe states that all the fugitives in Argentina feel abandoned. And that those who were not arrested are afraid, as they are still targets of the 62 extradition requests issued by Moraes.
She states that the fear of prison has led some to leave Argentina, but many are still in the country, waiting for Conare’s position on the refuge.
