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The death on Wednesday of four children who were playing in a courtyard of the Cantinho do Bom Pastor nursery, in Blumenau, in Vale do Itajaí, Santa Catarina, has shocked Brazil. The Public Ministry of Santa Catarina has requested in a statement that details of the criminal or images of the scene not be disclosed, but that media coverage focus on the victims. The case, which provoked reactions from the political class, comes less than ten days after a teacher was killed during an attack at a São Paulo school.
By Raquel Miura, RFI correspondent in Brasilia
At the end of March, a 71-year-old teacher was stabbed to death by a student at a public school in the west of São Paulo. This year alone, several students have been apprehended with weapons in schools across the country, including one in Paraná, another in the Federal District and one in the interior of São Paulo, who spread massacre threats on social media.
“A country, a world that kills children is anything but democracy. It is anything but a decent world. We are miserably failing the people who need us most in this country. And we have to admit that we have to step up. I feel I would like, on behalf of the Brazilian state, to apologize to them,” said Brazilian Human Rights Secretary Silvio Almeida, looking at a girl during a speech.
President Lula said that he could not understand so much violence. “For any human being who has Christian feelings, a tragedy like this is unacceptable, an absurd act of hatred and cowardice,” he said. “There is no greater pain than that of a family that loses its children or grandchildren, even more so in an act of violence against innocent and defenseless children,” added the head of state.
Other authorities lamented the tragedy on social media. “We need to put an end to this environment of violence in the country,” said Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco, commenting on the deaths at the Santa Catarina nursery. The president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira, also spoke about the attack in Santa Catarina, committed by a 25-year-old man who jumped over the nursery wall with an ax in hand. Lira suggested tougher legal measures for the criminals in that case. “Disgusting, deplorable and unjustifiable the attack on the SC nursery. We cannot apply legal mitigations to atrocious crimes. In whatever it takes, society will count on my support to toughen punitive measures against those who attempt against life,” he published. .
A report by the current government’s transition team late last year showed at least 35 victims of attacks on schools in Brazil since 2000. The data does not include deaths this year. The document points out as possible causes exposure to bullying and prolonged exposure to violent processes, such as parental authoritarianism, family abandonment and content that extols the culture of violence disseminated on social networks and messaging apps.
culture of violence
“The culture of violence that has spread throughout Brazil is sad. This time, it hits the Bom Pastor day care center in Blumenau,” said the government’s Secretary of Social Communication, Paulo Pimenta. Planning Minister Simone Tebet also mourned the death of the children. “What a tragedy! I cannot even imagine the pain of this terrible and tragic loss. More and more security measures are needed in schools and kindergartens in Brazil to prevent tragedies like these from happening again. Severe punishment for the murderer.”
The way in which the murderer behaved after the attack, when he presented himself to the police and turned himself in, also drew attention. The authorities investigating the case have not ruled out the possibility that the São Paulo case motivated crime in the south of the country. The Santa Catarina Public Ministry said in a statement that media professionals should avoid identifying the murderer or disclosing his biography, as well as disseminating images of the tragedy. “There are already studies and extensive literature that indicate that the exposure of the attacker and the images of what happened are a stimulus for new attacks,” said Fernando da Silva Comin, state attorney general.
official three-day mourning
The governor of Santa Catarina, Jorginho Mello, decreed three days of official mourning for the tragedy. “It is important to note that the killer is in prison and does not pose any risk to anyone else. Our goal now is to clarify the motives for this brutal attack and provide relief to children, families and employees. May God help us at this time “Mello said.
The Minister of the Secretariat for Human Rights affirmed that the situation of children as a whole must be reviewed by the government and society. “It is the fault of Brazilian society, of the Brazilian State, the way in which we have treated children and adolescents in this country. For a long time. The way in which society in general, governments, I would say all entities, business, everyone, the way we have treated children in this country,” said Silvio Almeida. “But there is also another way to kill children. We have been cultivating and normalizing it for a long time. We have allowed children to starve. Children starve. We have allowed them not to go to school. We have allowed, for a long time, that the children live, not really in houses, that the children stay on the street,” he added.
