Before entering politics, the mayor of São Gonçalo, Nelson Ruas dos Santos, 68, father of the state deputy, pre-candidate for the government of Rio de Janeiro by PL, served in the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro – hence why he adopted the electoral nickname of Captain Nelson.
As an officer, among other functions, he was commander of a Patamo garrison (Mobile Tactical Patrol) and headed a P2 section (intelligence, in which police officers work undercover) of the 7th BPM, in the city he currently administers.
In the final report of the Militia CPI of the Legislative Assembly of RJ, unanimously approved in 2008, Captain Nelson is mentioned as one of the leaders of a militia that would operate in Jardim Catarina, in São Gonçalo – at the time, he had already abandoned his uniform and was a councilor for the PSC.
Among residents of São Gonçalo, a rumor circulates that Captain Nelson had been part of the infamous “sausage car” in the 1980s that terrified the city at the time. A 2007 report in the newspaper O Globo reported that unmarked P2 vehicles were carrying heavily armed men who terrorized the favelas of neighboring Niterói with torture and deaths.
The head of P2 of the 12th BPM gave his version of the nickname at the time: “This name appeared in São Gonçalo and became popular in Niterói. I believe it is related to the nature of P2’s work. Sometimes, in a confrontational situation, we are forced to kill.”
In the early 1990s, then-sergeant Nelson was denounced as one of the perpetrators of a massacre in 1988 on Morro do Grotão (among the victims was the son of a judge).
In a written interview, Mayor Captain Nelson denied all the allegations.
Regarding the mention in the final report of the CPI on Militias, he said that his name came up through an anonymous complaint that was “totally unfounded, especially because in the mentioned neighborhood there is no history of militia activity” and that he was not indicted by the CPI.
Regarding his participation in the 1988 massacre, he claims that “there was a violent confrontation against heavily armed drug traffickers, from Rocinha and who were murdered [escondidos] in São Gonçalo. The case was duly investigated, as usual, and it was proven that we acted in self-defense.”
As for participation in the “sausage car”, the mayor stated that it is “a legend”.
“I used a nondescript Summer car when I worked in P2 of the 7th Military Police Battalion and, coincidentally, there was a sausage and snack seller who traveled through the city’s neighborhoods with a car of the same color and model. And this became a source of jokes on the streets”, he declared.
“I am very proud of my career as a military police officer, I have always acted within the rules in defense of the population of Gonçalo, I fought against crime and I regret absolutely nothing”, added Captain Nelson.
When he was already in reserve and in his second term as councilor, he was a friend of , , and appointed police officers for the magistrate’s security. She worked in a court in São Gonçalo, and the death was in retaliation for her work of convicting criminal police officers. His name christens a forum in the city.
