On February 27th, Operation Tarantula completed 36 years.
At the time, the São Paulo police created the action, under the justification of “combating AIDS”, but which promoted the persecution of transvestites.
In an interview with CNN Radio on CNN No Plural, activist, transgender woman and publicist Neon Cunha recalled the time.
“It’s difficult to narrate that whole period of political and social transformation in Brazil after the Dictatorship, which, in practice, does not end”, he said.
According to her, when the black and white van, “the barge”, passed by, “it caused panic.”
“It was violence, they could ‘put the club down’ or worse, in downtown São Paulo I saw a black trans woman executed with a shot in the forehead”, she said.
At the time, she stated that the officer replied “what are you looking at? run while you’re alive.”
Neon reports that he “turns and turns” found bodies in the streets.
She also remembers that there was a “perverse game”, in which younger transvestites, like her, were “negotiated” so that there was no aggression and used as a sexual object.
“Luckily I survived,” he added.
The activist believes that times have “changed a lot”, but that the country “still does not assume responsibility for the physical integrity of our bodies.”
Brazil is still the country that most kills trans and transvestites in the world, according to the National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals.
For her, education is the best way to seek to reverse this situation.
*Produced by Isabel Campos
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
