Three reporters from ICL Notícias (Juliana Dal Piva, Chico Otavio and Igor Mello) uncovered one of the mysteries of the “years of lead”: the connection between the dictatorship’s repressive apparatus and England’s intelligence services. Some clues were known, but the trio exposed the monster in detail, in the series of reports “Bandidos de Farda”.
They worked on the archive left by Colonel Cyro Etchegoyen, one of the heads of the Army Information Center, the CIE, from 1971 to 1974. There are 23 folders, with 3,000 sheets of documents, recounting part of “Doctor Bruno’s” career at the house in Petrópolis, where a clandestine CIE apparatus operated.
Called the “House of Death”, it was a “dog” factory, the name given to militants from left-wing organizations who were arrested, released and infiltrated into the militancy. Whoever accepted the new role lived. The rest died. It is estimated that 22 people were murdered there. He only told what he saw.
Collaborations between the American and French services were known. There were only scattered clues about the English.
In a long document, the BIS (British Information Service) and MI-5 (Internal Security Service) teach interrogation techniques used by the services. In several passages he condemns torture, even because it is counterproductive.
At least four soldiers went to England: lieutenant colonels Cyro Etchegoyen and Milton Masselli Duarte, from the CIE, and Milton Machado Martins and Moacyr Coelho, from the SNI. Coelho became director of the Federal Police.
They would be the authors of the booklet entitled “Information Internship in England – Report”. There were two stages, from December 14th to 19th, 1970 and from February 22nd to 26th, 1971. The military visited BIS and MI-5.
The rules of the field
The booklet teaches: “The location of the center must be a state secret (…). Only the heads of BIS and MI-5, interrogators and guards know its location.”
(…)
“When arriving at the field, the following rules must be observed:
– The prisoner must be completely isolated (…) No guard can speak to him: all orders are transmitted by abrupt and dry gestures.
– The prisoner does not eat, drink or smoke while being interrogated, it is up to the interrogator to authorize the start of his eating.
– [A apostila fala de um interrogatório que durou 58 horas.]
– [Entre 20 de abril e 23 de maio uma militante da VPR foi interrogada 25 vezes por cerca de 41 horas.]
– Nothing is told to you, about anything to anyone.”
December 1970: terrorism on the rise
A year after the murder of Carlos Marighella, terrorist organizations were in retreat. From 1968 to the beginning of 1970, around 300 banks and armored vehicles had been robbed. From May onwards they also began robbing supermarkets, cigarette dealers and gas stations.
In December, the Popular Revolutionary Vanguard kidnapped the Swiss ambassador, and the government dealt him a mortal blow, refusing to release 13 of 70 prisoners. It was the last kidnapping.
During those days, the CIE and SNI group went to London.
English candles
The booklet talks about English cells:
“The cells must have the following characteristics:
Small, 1.5 m by 2 m with black walls.
(…) A small ventilation window, very high to prevent any view of the outside, even the sky.
There must be a toilet and a hard stretcher, nothing else.
The interrogation room must have the following characteristics:
A system of reflectors with strong lights. (…)
A table and two or three chairs for interrogators.
(…)
The WC is only for interrogators and guards.
(…)
All movements of prisoners (to the camp or its interior) must comply with the following rules:
– Handcuffed (hands behind), blindfolded (hood, the best process).
– Walking in circles (in order to lose track of time, distance and orientation).
(…)
You are not told anything about anything or anyone.
(…)
When being taken for interrogation (…) the spotlights are turned on the prisoner’s face, the hood is removed (…) he remains standing, handcuffed.
(…)
The prisoner must not be touched (physical violence).
In principle, the prisoner does not sleep or is allowed to doze.
(…)
A microphone system (minimum two) must be installed in each cell.
(…)
Loss of sense of time (hours, day or night, everything is dark). (…) Absolute lack of all comforts in prison and controlled food (the minimum necessary to avoid getting sick, very simple and with an unpleasant taste).
(…)
The monotony of the environment (…) cold, smooth, uncomfortable cell.”
Beto, the first victim
The SNI and CIE trainees do not register that the British taught them how to kill.
The Swiss ambassador was released on January 13, 1971 and Lieutenant Colonel Moacyr Coelho went to London on the 15th, returning on the 19th. On the night of the 21st, in an operation coordinated by the CIE and the DOI of the 1st Army, former deputy Rubens Paiva was murdered.
On February 15th, Carlos Alberto Soares de Freitas disappeared. He would have been the first prisoner to be murdered, in April, at Casa de Petrópolis.
A fellow activist of Dilma Rousseff, arrested in 1970, Beto wrote a long report while in captivity recounting his time at Polop, VPR and VAR Palmares. He narrated meetings and his trip to Cuba. In a quick reading, with many names, one gets the impression that he was “broken”. A closer reading suggests that the interrogators didn’t like what they read and shot him in the head. Another 21 would suffer the same fate.
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