King of Sampa

Alemão is homeless, over sixty years old and from what I can tell quite possibly schizophrenic. He lives under a tree on a overpass in an upper class neighborhood.

On every ocassion that I have visited him he talks to me of multi million robbery, fraud, extorsion, murder and rape that ocurred twenty years ago. In this crime, an American was killed. As far as I can understand this American, named David, got involved with a woman who betrayed him because she was actually the lover of a man in the Comando Vermelho criminal organization. Somewhere along the story the man was killed, for his money and the woman's daughter was also raped in the process. Somewhere else along the line a transvestite appears, as usual?

Alemão also says, the criminals are waiting for him to die so that his mother will inherit the loot, located in his bank account which he cannot access because he lacks proper ID but is to his mother;s name. So the criminals are actually after his mother. How old would she be now?

He may be mentally ill, but it fascinates me every time I visit him to hear this story and try to make sense of the pieces he offers me in bits. His story actually never changes which makes me ever more curious. Yet, what really fascinates me his will and power to survive, feed his dog and apparently look quite happy.

On the first photograph above he was describing to me a king that had lost his clothes and tried to sell them to him as authentic.

Labor Day Countdown

May First, Labor Day. A date marked by struggle, but often nowadays a date marked by the innocence of humanity attempting to discover human rights. We have so few human rights that sometimes I believe we don´t have any at all.

It´s almost three in the afternoon and I´ve returned to the MTST (Movement for the Roofless Workers) camp Joao Candido. They have been out all morning marching downtown for their rights. The leaders compromised of students, militants, lawyers and vast army of popular supporters have united behind the movement to fight a pending eviction threat for Monday, May 7th. The mood in the camp was nothing but surprising. They are in their fighting mode and expecting to win a settlement that will at least drive them from where they are now to another land.

At the uppermost part of the camp, lies section 33. The last area of a total of 33. A group of children and their mother are playing soccer across one of the three they have established. Football may be a birthright in Brazil, but here each field is the only center of entertainment and a form of unison for the movement´s cause. Joao Rodriguez de Jesus, 55 years old, missing all his from teeth and originally from Bahia, is watching alongside three other elder sitting on a log. Leliel, only five years old and with the enthusiasm of gazelle. danced around Joao begging for attention. She also begged to be snapped by the camera. She kept calling out to him, ¨Tio, Tio¨(meaning uncle in Portuguese, but commonly used to refer to an elder friend). I asked to take their portrait and while doing so, tears rolled down Joao´s face. His eyes were small and his face showed the hardships of the land. At first I thought his eyes were ill and that the incessant tears were simply washing out his eyes from some malday. I asked him what was wrong with his eyes. Nothing he told me. They cry because of her. Joao explained to me that Leliel´s father was in jail and still to see a child so happy and full of life on this camp, struggling for a home, made him cry when she called out to him as ¨Tio¨. Joao has lost all hiss family..

The next morning the camp began gathering at its base, preparing for another march to Itapecerica´s city hall. One more of many efforts to come, to pressure the mayor into finding them a solution. Maria Bonita, in her mid 50´s, she would not confess her age, was leading section 12. Her hat was a true representative of the land, the people and their struggle. Yet it was her hard cold eyes and their determination that really demanded a portrait.

Exodus

The Prestes Maia 911 occupation by the MSTC, after a four year battle for a dignified home, has lost and the building is now being vacated.

Beyond the Roof of the City

It's about to rain and heavily. Some 3,000 families are camped out under improvised plastic tents since March 16, demanding proper housing. They are part of the the MTST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Teto). The movement has occupied a farm area of over 1,300 square meters, just outside the southern edge of the city of São Paulo, in Itapecerica da Serra. It's a political attempt to further the cause of the lack of proper habitat and part of on going race to reach Labor Day celebrations/protest.

It's sad to see these people here. Most of them really don't seem to know what they're doing. Many come from the northeast. Many have lost their jobs and can no longer pay rent. Others come from the adjoining urbanization and are supporting the movement. Many have abandoned the site too. It's most evident among the hundreds of abandoned single person tents.

The camp includes some small commerce, mostly bars. It's like the begining of another periphery. Yet the illusion is that this is a grand scale occupation when in fact the original 12,000 population has been leaving. The population now floats on a daily basis. However, it's important to note that these people are in dire need of a home and have been flowing from the inner middle of the city and past the periphery. In other words the city may have reached it's denominated urban limit, but the population grows and wants to lay down new concrete that will adjoin to it. The Meta city is growning alive and well.

I walked the camp from edge to edge with "Tres Reais", a sympathetic ex marine corp who abandoned the military, tired of seeing the abuse he had to give to his own people. In fact he himself has participated of various disoccupations. He is here now to fight against that and support the cause. And find a home.

Most of the people I met had the same, perhaps orchestrated answer? "We are here because we are homeless." Some I could admit looked the part. Others, like the young crew cooking barbecue inside a smokey tent, seemed to have come in for a laugh and to add to the list of families. They came from the neighboring urbanization. It doesn't matter really, as if these families are not enough, there are hundreds of them elsewhere in the city in worse conditions.

The rain finally came, in a downpour and with it the wind that lifted a few tents. I took shelter with a family who explained to me how they had lost their rent privileges due to a single delayed payment. Unemployment wasn't helping. The father of the family is mentally incapcitated. The daughter still breast feeding her first born was abandoned by her partner. Like so many other families I have met in the occupations, the female is leading the household.

When I left there was an assembly gathering. A relgious one and a political one to boost morale. The camp is scheduled for eviction on May 7. The MTST is trying to reach an agreement to move them out into an area under the control of the mayor of Itapecerica. Whatever happens, these people will add to the continuous flow and growth of this city.

Still There

They are still there. Praça Republics is full of children living on the street. This one, is 13 years old.

Santos Dumont Occupation a Farse

Last month I blogged that on Sunday March 25, four occupation movements had taken over the abandoned Santos Dumont hotel. Last night one of my sources, an ex-Prestes Maia occupant and ex-member of the MSTC told me it was an arranged occupation. The four socialist movements involved reached an agreement with the owner to squat the building as long as the cleaned it out of the junkies already squatting and took care of painting and cleaning out the infrastructure. This would explain why the police did not interrupt the occupation when they arrived at the time of the break in. It would further explain why the local newspapers were unable to contact the owner.

It's worth noting that I have received word from some of the residents in the Prestes Maia, that the MSTC is attempting to lure many of the residents into obtaining the R$1800 being offered by city hall and then attempting to charge them of overdue condominium fee. In essence the movement has obtained housing for them and now wants their money?

Assembly and Sorrow for Samara

I returned to the Prestes Maia that same night for an assembly meeting that would explain to the residents their options for obtaining housing, as described in the previous post. The assembly was led by Jaira, Jo Marina and Yanette an all women team of MSTC leaders. There were a lot less people as you can see.

Yanette made her points and then a series of questions and answers went around. During her presentation she also made note that through the grapevine she's heard of people talking behind her back. Samara, who I photographed last year, was included. In the beginning of February the coordinator on Samara's floor accused her of stealing a bikini, of all things to steal in city! The MSTC leaders searched her shack without warning and in front of her children. Nothing was found. The cocoordinator proceeded to threaten her and accuse her of having sold it already. After the search she returned with Jaira and Jo Marina and physically abused Samara, leaving her with a broken arm.

Days later, under Samara's threat to press charges, Yanette appeared in the building, apologizing and defending Samara. Yanette convinced her not to press charges, alleging it could endanger the negotiations going on at city hall. What I couldn't understand was why now Yanette, with microphone in hand, threatened to punch Samara's teeth out? By the way, the crowd at the assembly cheered on.

All in all it appears to be gossip and jealousy once again taking hold of these people. Samara is good friends with Veronica from the 12th floor. Yanette is dating Veronica's ex. Get the picture?

Samara out of fear for her life and her children, left the building, seek Mauricio her husband at work.

Sunday Mass for the Masses

The Igreja Universal and its Evangelists soldiers are back. I say they are soldiers because they stand at attention outside the Prestes Maia and at church. They also, have a one track mind, Jesus is everything you will ever need they repeat to me. Any time a woman would exit the building, the man at left would signal the woman at left to pursue and attempt to convince her to go to church. There's really nothing wrong with having faith. But as you will see I question the legitimacy of their goals.

I came along because I was hoping to have access to the church. I have been refused to photograph the Igreja Universal ceremonies several times. There's been a long battle with the media accusing them of fraud and manipulation. The truth is that only 10 min. after the beginning of the ceremony the crowd was already marching up the stage to make donations, just like I had seen in the periphery. Little white envelopes full of cash were being dropped into a large glass box. It looked more like Jesus was getting monetary votes of approval. The preacher repetitively revolved his sermon on becasue you give the lord now he will give back. Invest in the lord, he says.

On the bus there I sat next to Maria da Lapa and three of her twelve children. I had not seen Maria in a while. Maria has confessed to being a nymphomaniac. Reason why she is a mother of 12? The eldest married and living in the building too, with her own three children. Maria, lost her home four years ago due to her husband's alcoholism. She was a bit depressed now, even knowing she was going to get an apartment in Itaquera. She kept asking me if I knew of an NGO that could help her get her kids back to school so she could "get them off her back" for a while. Maria doesn't want to work but she did finally confess she's going a crazy with eight children in her single room shack in the Prestes Maia.

When we arrive at the church and before letting the residents off, the soldiers make it perfectly clear that they are here because God wants them to be. There are no coincidences, they say. God wanted you to be here today because it is God who has helped you find a place to live and has commanded that your situation be resolved. As the residents got off the bus, me included, the soldiers blessed us our heads with holy water.


The theatre operatics were at work. I must say the Evangelists make up for the boredom of Catholicism. Going to church here is very participatory. Anyhow I was in and shooting! Ha! I didn't last more than five minutes before the security and a lawyer member pulled me aside to know why I was shooting. It didn't matter that I explained how I was documenting the goals of the Prestes Maia residents and how faith had helped them survive. I needed the permission of the preacher, too busy on stage now and who would certainly tell me I needed permission from central headquarters. I had visited that building in Santo Amaro last year, asking for permission. It looked more like the vautl or general headquarters of multinational. I never got a reply.

The lawyer and second in command here told me to come back next week. They did invite me to stick around for the ceremony. Can't you shoot after the ceremony, outside? they said. Useless I told them, the moment was now. And so, I left. It wasn't long before Helena, who had invited me rushed out to ask me back in. She said, if you can't shoot stay and listen to the lord, he has brought you here for another reason. God wanted you to come church today not to shoot pictures, she insisted.

Good Luck on Friday 13

The Prestes Maia has been saved? Housing is going to be made available for all its residents? Politics are on the move. This coming Sunday was the deadline for the MSTC to resolve the Prestes Maia pullout or finally be evicted. I never believed they would be put on the street. The city already has a huge homeless population and putting another 500 people on the street overnight is no good for anyone.

On Thursday night City Hall, the Ministry of Habitat along with the CDHU showed up at the Prestes Maia and began conducting a census. From what I was told the basement was absolutely packed. Individual lines of men, women, pregnant women and elders were trying to prove how long they had been living in the building. They were there until 5 am. There was people who had never lived there too. The MSTC must have mobilized everyone they had. THe Prestes Maia has been sold the world over as the largest occupation in Latin America. Housing 468 families. If you do the math in Brazilian family equations, that amounts to 2300 residents. No way! I've been in that building for a year and at most there 600 people. The MSTC uses that number to obtain that amount of housing and solve most of their occupations problems. Last week a series of occupations were done downtown. Many of the residents of the Prestes Maia collaborated.

The officials had come to begin establishing a new housing offer to the residents with three options: 1. Move to the Itaquera housing projects 2. Receive USD$850 to pay for six months rent while the city renovates a series of buildings downtown for them or 3. Obtain a USD$12,000 financing project. The financing project is ridiculous cause no one here in this building can prove their salaries, they all have irregular or freelance jobs.

The following night, Friday the 13th, the mayor Gilberto Kassab (PFL) showed up to give the good news. The mayor in the Prestes Maia on a Friday night? The press had come along to boost the mayor's accomplishment, not the actual housing problem.

The basement was packed. I had been to many assembly meetings but had never seen so many people. On Sunday night the leaders of the MSTC would come back and explain to the residents how the plan was going to work. This time the room would be half full. This confirmed my suspicions the movement had brought people in from other occupations to the official census.

After the many hoorahs and love expressed to the mayor, who last week was being bithced at, members of the Evangelist Igreja Universal took the stage for a prayer. The Evangelists have begun working the building for the last month in an attempt to attract more faithfuls. On Sunday they would bring a bus to take them to church.

I won't believe they've got their believe until I see it myself. The last picture?

Back to a Nowhere Home

Miriam used to live in the occupied Prestes Maia 911 in downtown Sao Paulo. Her youngest daughter, aged two, developed an allergy so severe to mold in the building it scaled her skin. The doctor told her she had to move out of wherever she was living. Miriam works as a social assitant for an NGO helping homeless people get off the street. This same NGO helped her buy a one room cinder block house on the periphery slum Jardim Pantanal. Was this a coincidence? I finally found a tie to the Prestes Maia occupation and to the expanding periphery settlements.

She bought the house for US$2,500. She has a paper entitling her to the house but the land on which it stands is owned by someone else, so it's ok until the owner claims the land. In other words someone built a cinder block house on illegal land and sold it. For Miriam to keep her job she has to get her children back into school. Downtown they all went to school. It's full of schools out in the Jardim Pantanal but there are three times as many children. After two months in the periphery she found school for her two eldest. She was thinking of taking the youngest with her downtown, drop her off at the kindergarden and then go to work. She starts work at 7 am. This means she would have to leave home at 430 am walk to the train for 30 min, take a 1 hour train, take the subway to the kindergarden and then go to work. Her social counselor prohibited her from leaving her home with her child at such early hours.

Miriam had been working for the NGO St. Lucia, where she had a contract offer for $US350 but upon entry they reduced it to less than $US250. Then they fired her and she received a new job offer before moving out to the periphery. She couldn't take it because of the prohibition by her social counselor. However Miriam is absolutely sure she can get a new job if she moves back to the downtown area. That will take months Her husband, who beats her frequently, stayed in the Prestes Maia because someone obviously had to put food on the table. So the family has a home now, has poor schooling for the children and the parents are seperated for better or worse.

Out here in the periphery her children have nothing to do but hang around the mean streets. Downtown they had a park one block away. Downtown there was infrastructure, restaurants, supermarkets, public transport, etc. Here there is nothing, her home doesn't even have a bathroom and she'e living in dangerous part of the slum. She now believes in the MSTC (Movimento Sem Teto do Centro), even if its corrupted. The MSTC is a socialist movement occupying abandoned buildings downtown, in an attempt to get people off the street or those who can't afford a rent. Miriam knows that no matter what she's not staying here. She's going back to the MSTC and to another occupied building. And she's going back to fight, because she's living proof as she says that when city hall evicts the over 250 families in the Prestes Maia and spreads them out in to the periphery the will have nothing, once again.

Quarter 79 Grave 500

Maria Jose Ferreira, also known as Zeze, is probably one of the fiercest and strongest woman I have met. She often acts like my mother too, calling me up to see if I've eaten properly. I met her on the sixth floor of the Prestes Maia 911 building in downtown Sao Paulo. The building has been occupied for over four years and Zeze along with her son Jose Heron Ferreira were among the original 468 families who took over the abandoned building. Heron managed to move out and find a decent place to live in October of 2006 but was murdered on December 22, two months later for suspected organ trafficking. His partner and daughter survive him.

Heron was a freelancer, selling pirated DVD's in the Bras neighborhood from 4 to 8 am. Bras is tumultuous market district full of stores and itinerant merchants. He worked the night shift because it was easier to dodge the authorities and the already protesting established store merchants. Hundreds of thousands of people from the periphery arrive into Bras every morning by bus, train and subway to supply the freelancers.














It had taken Heron months to land a space out there and when he did, it was larger than he needed. According to Zeze, he began sharing it with an older man, Jeremiah Melekias, who had nothing. Little by little this elderly man began demanding more space until he began claiming it was his and acutally tried to kick Heron out. Obviously frictions began to surface. Jeremiahs drank a lot and would often harass the women in the area. Heron didn't like his manner and finally confronted him on December 22. Two hours later, with his back to Jeremiah, Heron would turn around and be stabbed in the heart by Jeremiah. Blood flowed quickly and with the aid of his partner he was put into a cab and taken to the Tatuape public hospital. A military police officer chased after saved Jeremiah's life, as a crowd tried to lynch him. Zeze would not arrive at the hospital until 10 am, since Heron's partner had called in saying it wasn't critical. (Above: Zeze holds a picture of her son's murderer, Jeremiah, who was released within a couple hours of his arrest due to lack of evidence, even after two witnesses came forward.)

When Zeze arrived and demanded to see her son, she discovered he wasn't registered in the hospital. She panicked after finding Heron's partner who told her he was in intensive care. "Why? You said he was alright, what's going on, where is my son?!" She found him in the emergency ward, sitting up and holding the wall. When he saw her he tried to stand up and reach her, naturally she moved closer, but was abruptly stopped by a medic.

The doctor came to her and told her it was serious and that she should be prepared for the worst. A total of four doctors would try to convince her it was serious, but none explained to her what was going on. The doctors kept repeating
they could not operate until they knew what was going on. At 2:40 pm, almost 9 hours after his arrival, Heron was being taken on a stretcher into surgery. Zeze recalls the time because he passed right in front of her. At 5pm Zeze was told he was dead.

She could not believe it. Distressed she recalls exiting the hospital ward into the waiting room. Almost immediately four women approached her asking her to donate her son's organs. They consistently pressured her about how her son's vital organs could benefit and save lives. By law in Brazil, it is prohibited to donate organs from a violent death. Zeze told me she immediately knew something was wrong, she could smell it, but it was not until she had calmed down several days later that she began to put the dots together.

It took the hospital another four hours to hand over the body and when they did they refused to let her see it. In fact the only one to see the body in the casket was her other son and he only saw the head because the casket was already sealed.














Three months later Zeze legally exhumed the body. This would be the first time a judicial order in the state of Sao Paulo would be excecuted to investigate an allegation of organ trafficking. Zeze would carefully bring in her own forensic scientist from Brasilia, Eduardo Reis from the Federal Police. By law the delegate of the county must attend the exhumation and bring its own forensic scientist.

We arrived at the Vila Formosa I cemetery. The exhumation was programmed for 9 am. The cemetery had received no official announcement. The delegate and her forensic team arrived an hour later and was completely surprised to see that the mother's victim had brought her own forensic scientist. The delegate immediately announced that no pictures or video could be taken. Zeze of course had her own judicial orders allowing her to film and shoot. The NGO, Contra o Trafego de Orgaos, led by sister Enilda dos Santos, had helped her through months of bureaucracy to obtain these permissions.














I admit I know little of forensic science, but what I saw that morning was incredibly absurd. The official forensic scientist began un-burying the corpse before the morgue vehicle arrived. He pulled the body out of the ground with no care at all as you can see in the pictures where he's practically crushing the skull. The exhumation was an official criminal investigation and this official had barely put on a pair gloves and was using no medical instruments. He began manipulating the evidence before our very eyes with a very large cooking knife. He stabbed the eye sockets twisting and turning and then calling out to the delegate so she could see that the corneas had not been removed. I was flabbergasted, can you tell really see this on a three month old corpse? Incredibly enough the forensic from Brasilia, Reis, demanded they stop. He went off to collect his full body medical suit and offered one to the Sao Paulo forensic, which of course he refused. This wacko actually wanted to do the autopsy right beside the grave. He wanted to open the body with a pair of household scissors, remove the visceras and take them down to the lab. What??? I mean of all the crazy things I have seen this was unbelievable, someone was deliberately trying to destroy evidence.














Eventually under Reis' protest and the threat to report this abnormality, the delegate and her crew abandoned the scene leaving the corpse under a threatening thunderstorm. They excused themselves claiming they could not wait all day for the morgue to arrive. Shouldn't the morgue have been their with them? This of course was further proof that they were attempting to tamper with the corpse. Legally you can't leave a body out in the open, Tthe cemetery wanted to re bury the body which legally then would require another judicial order for exhumation. Burying the body would also damage it further.

Eventually we stood our ground, protected the body, buried it with plastic and flowers as we waited another two hours for the morgue to arrive. The body has been analyzed by both forensic scientists and we are now awaiting for their report. Reis was unable to provide any information until that report is released in case it contradicts what he saw. He did tell me to stick around, because there would be a big surprise.