The Unpast: Elite Violence and Social Control in Brazil, 1954–2000 by R. S. Rose (review)

Book Reviews THE UNPAST: ELITEVIOLENCE AND SOCIAL CONTROL IN BRAZIL, 1954-2000. By R. S. Rose. Athens: Ohio UP, 2006, pp. 437, $28.00. Brazil is a sui generis nation. The late George F. Kennan, in his seminal work Around the Cragged Hill- A Personal and Political Philosophy (2993), has included Brazil in the category of ”monster country” due to its geography, demography, economy, political potential, magnitude of its problems and challenges. By any measurement, Brazil is South America’s largest nation. It is the fifth largest country in the world and possesses the eighth largest economy in the world, placing it among some economic powerhouses such as the U.S., Germany, and Japan.Yet, due to its many social problems Brazil still remains by many standards a Third World nation. R. S. Rose, in his book The Unpast, examines how and why, after the abolition of slavery, elites in Brazil imported new methods of killing, torturing, or disfiguring dissidents and the poor to maintain dominance. Bringing a critical-historical analysis to events following the 1954 suicide of President Cetidio Vargas, Rose takes the reader through a fifty-year period that helped shaped a nation’s moral climate. He covers the misunderstood presidency of JoBo Goulart, the overthrow of his government by a U.S. assisted military, the appalling dictatorship that followed, the efforts to rid the countryside of troublemakers, and the ongoing attempt to rid the urban environment of the needy -an endeavor that produced, according to Rose’s critical historical analysis, some 32,675 victims in just two Brazilian states (SBoPaulo and Rio de Janeiro)between 1954 and 2000. Rose hypothesizes that, in light of the long historical importance of class rather than caste in Brazil, a majority of the victims in Brazil’s elite violence and social control are the poor. As Rose argues, ”this is not to negate the importance of race. It is to state only that the poverty variable should manifest itself more strongly than color in the Brazilian cultural mosaic” (271). Most of the victims of this elite violence are the so-called ”undesirable” or “subhuman“ classes of Brazil’s society: usually poor, uneducated, unemployed, and black favela residents. Although favela residents live where they because of a lack of social advancement, most residents are lawabiding citizens and hard workers. Their only crime in life was being born poor. This assurance of impunity for those who commit offenses against the ”undesirable” or “subhuman” is reinforced by the perception that the police, as the effective guarantor of public security, ought to protect society from ”marginal elements” by any means available, even if those means are illegal. Torture and extra-legal execution of the “undesirable” are the techniques used by the police to inflict fear, routinely applied to the Brazilian poor and underprivileged, therefore establishing a culture of violence. The police excessively use torture to obtain confessions from prisoners for crimes not committed by them or for the pure joy of inflicting harm on the “undesirable.” The police in the states of Rio de Janeiro, SBo Paulo and Minas Gerais are notorious for their brutality when dealing with delinquent suspects. Most prisoners, once arrested, do not make it to the police precinct. 117 F The Latin Americanist, Fall 2007 For example, in a recent gun battle in the shantytown of VigarioGeral in Rio de Janeiro between the police and drug leaders, the leader of the gang know as “Pimentinha”was wounded in the left leg and taken to the nearest hospital. Upon his arrival, he was almost dead. The state is currently investigating the incident but thus far no one has been charged and most likely no one will. Another tragic example of the culture of violence and brutality in Brazil occurred on 25August 2003. Chan Kim Changwas arrested at the TomJobim International Airport when he attempted to board a flight to the United States with approximately US$30,000 not declared to the Federal Police customs. Chang was charged, arrested, and taken to the Ary Franco prison. Two days later, he was found unconscious and admitted to the Salgado Filho Hospital where he died on 4 September. According to eyewitnesses, the police and inmates...