“The police in Brazil do not exist to protect the citizen. They exist to protect the State,” emphasized Wagner Moura during a press conference at the Nimas cinema in Lisbon. Moura stated that “the State determines who the enemies are, and currently the enemies of the State are the favela residents”. However, he expressed hope “that people realize the officer who did that is not the villain, but also a product of a situation that has persisted until today”.
“What happened last week is tragic, and with the support of the majority of the population. It’s sad. Do you really think the Comando Vermelho is going to leave the favelas? Some people think so, but that’s ignorance. They are being manipulated by people who know exactly what they’re doing. What the governor [of Rio de Janeiro] did was an electoral massacre, promoting himself as a politician at the expense of 121 dead”, he declared.
In an extended response after being questioned on the topic, Wagner Moura also expressed feeling powerless. “I don’t know what to do, because when a voice is raised, the right-wing people say, there goes a defender of bandits. But I don’t want the Comando Vermelho to be ‘let go’. I want these ‘guys’ to be arrested and tried for the violence and the way they terrorize,” he explained.
However, he noted, he does not want “the State to go in killing” either. The protagonist of “The Secret Agent” highlighted the treatment of Brazilians living in favelas. “Want to occupy the favelas? Occupy them with schools, with hospitals, with books, with playgrounds for children, with theaters…”, he advocated.
During the press conference, the Brazilian actor also warned of the danger of polarizations, which he believes are destroying democracies.
Regarding Brazil, Wagner Moura believes that the right is organizing for the upcoming elections and will come in force next year for the elections, but he trusts in the victory of Lula da Silva: “Lula is the greatest Brazilian of all time. I’m waiting to see them bring the old man down!”
The favela complexes of Penha and Alemão in Rio de Janeiro were the setting last week for the deadliest police operation ever recorded in Brazil.
So far, the state government of Rio de Janeiro has acknowledged 121 deaths, while the Public Defender’s Office points to 132.
The governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro, and the state’s security forces publicly celebrated the “successful” operation, which, according to them, resulted in only four victims: the officers who died during the action.
The State Public Security Secretariat released an initial report on the identification of the bodies, stating that the vast majority of the 121 deceased had criminal records for serious offenses such as drug trafficking and homicide.
In addition to the 121 deaths, the police reported that 133 individuals were detained and more than 90 automatic rifles were seized.
