‘I felt angry, but I needed to keep my health to fight’

It is necessary to make noise against a violent police that exterminates black and poor young people in the Brazilian peripheries. “March of silence”, a non-fiction novel that hits bookstores, written by journalist Itamar Cardin (Editora Temporada, R$ 69.90), narrates the battle of Márcia Jachinto, the mother who transformed her cry into an echo to prove the innocence of the son Hanry Silva Gomes. He was killed by police officers who accused him of involvement in drug trafficking, at the age of 16, with a shot in the chest, in Morro do Gambá, in Complexo do Lins, in the North Zone of Rio. The murder took place in 2002, and its consequences had national repercussions.

— The book not only gives a voice to me, but also to other mothers who face the same situation. I had depression after I lost my son, and talking to Itamar was always venting. It’s important to see that they give credibility to our history – points out Márcia, 61 years old, who has become a reference in the fight for human rights: – I didn’t know it would be that person, that he had that strength. I became a militant. I know that what I say touches people.

And her speech touched Itamar, who, when faced with a report on the case in 2008, the year of the conviction of one of the police officers involved, decided that he wanted to take this woman’s story to more people. Over the course of ten years, he followed Márcia’s life and the people around her. There were around 50 meetings, visits to the community, interviews with friends, neighbors and family. The entire investigation of the case, testimonials and denunciation are reproduced in the work.

— It was devastating to interview Marcia. She took me to the stone where her son was killed, to the cemetery. In several interviews she banged the table, cried. I even asked myself if she was doing the right thing, because in these conversations she relived everything – says Itamar about the investigation process.

Lives are not statistics

Márcia’s journey in search of evidence and witnesses that would help her to show that her son was not a drug dealer brought her closer to other women who deal with the same pain and to entities that fight for human rights. In one of the trials depicted on the pages, she is in the company of Marielle Franco, who at the time was a parliamentary advisor to then-deputy Marcelo Freixo and who years later, in 2018, as a councilwoman, was murdered in a case that has not yet been fully clarified.

— Márcia starts alone, at first she didn’t even know what the Public Prosecutor’s Office was. But it starts to receive constitutional support from other groups. He went to work in Freixo’s office, where I spent a day being very well received. Through her story, we reach the mothers of Candelária and many others. In addition to showing the grief and struggle of the great woman she is, the book leaves the message that behind every loss like this, there is a sea of ​​devastation that takes over entire families – highlights Itamar.

Hanry’s mother, who also has daughters Patrícia, 45, Beatriz, 43, and Gabriel Lucas, now 9 and adopted when he was 2, ponders:

“I’ve been very angry. I had hate, every police car I saw I wanted to explode. But I needed to keep my feet on the ground and my health to fight. It frustrates me to see that 20 years have passed and things haven’t changed much, because Brazil is genocidal and prejudiced, yes. But at the same time, what sustains me is seeing other women struggling like me.

The importance of her struggle even led Márcia to be awarded, in 2009, the Faz Diferença award, by the newspaper O Globo. A chapter of the publication is especially dedicated to this moment and records in detail her spontaneous but consistent speech. Despite the reason that led her there, a dose of enchantment is inevitable: “That was just missing. A bunch of favelados at the Copacabana Palace”, she says, as soon as she arrives at the sumptuous hotel for the awards ceremony with her family.

— The moment of the award was incredible, because I was able to say to all the authorities present that the state is a machine that exterminates poor people. I spoke on behalf of many other people,” she reinforces.

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Two decades after Hanry’s execution, the process is still not over. Former military police officers Marcos Alves da Silva and Paulo Roberto Paschuini were expelled from the corporation and convicted of the young man’s death. They put a revolver in the student’s hand, in addition to small bundles of marijuana, with the intention of incriminating him. The afterword of the book, however, records that, over these years, trials were canceled, and, in 2019, the third popular jury found Paschuini guilty again. But his sentence was changed in the second instance, and the defense continues to appeal.

Justice has determined, in all instances, that Márcia be compensated by the state, but until today she has not received the money.

“What matters to me is that they were expelled. Raising a community in uniform and with a badge to kill innocents they won’t be able to anymore – summarizes Márcia.

Launch:

“March of silence” opens this Wednesday at 6:30 pm at Livraria da Travessa de Botafogo. In addition to the author, Márcia Jachinto is present. On Thursday, the book will also be released in the Lins community, where it all happened, with a 50% discount.