Boanerges de Souza Massa | |
|---|---|
 At USP Faculty of Medicine, age 27 | |
| Born | (1938-01-07)January 7, 1938 |
| Disappeared | June 21, 1972(1972-06-21) (aged 34) Formosa,Goiás, Brazil |
| Status | Missing for 53 years, 7 months and 27 days |
| Alma mater | University of São Paulo |
| Organization(s) | Ação Libertadora Nacional,MOLIPO |
Boanerges de Souza Massa (born January 7, 1938 – disappeared June 21, 1972) was a Brazilianphysician who joined theresistance against themilitary dictatorship. He was the field surgeon of theNational Liberation Action (Portuguese:Ação Libertadora Nacional,ALN) founded byCarlos Marighella. After the police liquidated Marighella, he went toCuba to takeguerilla courses and co-founded thePeople's Liberation Movement (Portuguese:Movimento de Libertação Popular Brasileiro,MOLIPO). The army captured him in 1971 inPindorama and hedisappeared shortly thereafter. 25 years later, the Brazilian government officially acknowledged its responsibility.[1]
Boanerges de Souza Massa was born on January 7, 1938, inAvaré,São Paulo, to Francisco de Souza Massa and Laura Alves Massa. He married Maria Lucia Sant'Anna Saadi Kerbeg inSão Paulo on January 9, 1969. In the 1980s the authorities granted her a divorce because her husband had disappeared for a decade.[2] In the 1990s the authorities granted Boanerges' brother Cyro Massa a 100,000reais compensation because his brother had disappeared for two decades after being in government custody.[3]
Boanerges de Souza Massa was born in a rural area and worked as teacher and accountant to pay for his studies. He was admitted to the Medicine School and theLaw School of theUniversity of São Paulo. He graduated from the former in December 1965 and the latter in June 1966. Heinterned at theUniversity of São Paulo Faculty of Medicine Clinics Hospital.[4] He is the co-author of a published academic research article onleptospirosis.[5]
In July 1962, Boanerges was invited to speak toJohn F. Kennedy on the lawn of theWhite House as part of a delegation of theAlliance for Progress.[6] A journalist reported: "Wagging his finger, the student from Avaré questioned the President of the United States on his interference in poor countries." In medical school he was designated ascommencement speaker for the Class of 1965, but his speech was censored for being critical of the military dictatorship.[4]
Over the years, Boanerges de Souza Massa gravitated towards the militant groupAção Libertadora Nacional (ALN).[7] On May 8, 1969, the ALN robbed a bank and killed a policeman, but one of their members, Takao Amano, was wounded. It was Boanerges who gave him emergency medical care and extracted the bullet.[citation needed]
On June 4, 1969, the ALM conducted another bank robbery, leaving one soldier dead. Two bullets wounded Francisco Gomes da Silva, the brother of ALN leader Virgilio Gomes da Silva (codenameJonas in theOscar-nominated movieFour Days in September about the kidnapping of US ambassadorCharles Burke Elbrick). Boanerges, along with the rest of the ALN commando, hijacked a hospital to treat the wounded. This 4-hour operation was medically successful, but Boanerges was recognized by the hospital staff and forced into clandestinity.[8]
Over the course of 1969, the most actively sought-after opponents to the military dictatorship became known as the "Marighella 7", among which Boanerges. He escaped from Brazil thanks to false identity papers provided byDominicans.[9] Traveling throughUruguay, Boanerges linked up inArgentina with other ALN operatives, and they hijacked an airplane to fly toCuba where they took refuge.[10]
In Cuba, Boanerges de Souza Massa lived with other exiled Brazilians in a house provided by theCuba. They took guerilla classes: physical training in the morning, political in the afternoon. Their goal was to return to Brazil and liberate their country from themilitary dictatorship. To this end they formed a newMarxist revolutionary organization, theMOLIPO, abbreviation ofMovimento de Libertação Popular (in English:People's Liberation Movement).[9]
Boanerges de Souza Massa was the first MOLIPO operative to be sent back to Brazil to establish a rural guerilla base in theNortheast region. Butcounter-insurgency forces were aware of his return. He was the first to be captured, inPindorama, on December 21, 1971. According to the sociologist Renato Dias:[better source needed]
A document from the National Archive says that the capture of Boanerges de Souza Massa accelerated the dismantlement of the [MOLIPO] group...[11]
As for the fate of Boanerges himself, according to theSpecial Commission on Political Deaths and Disappearances:
Among all the Brazilian political disappearances, the case of Boanerges de Souza Massa is one of those most surrounded by doubts, mysteries and controversies.[12]
He was seen in prison by other political prisoners, but his arrest was never officially registered by the security organs of the military regime. As late as 1995, his name was not on the official list of dead and missing political activists.[13] A declassified Army document says that he was physically impaired to the point that his identification would be difficult.[14] His body was never found. Yet for the family there is no doubt: he was murdered in prison.[15] His brother, Cyro Massa, said:
At the time Boanerges disappeared, my family was not informed of his arrest. It is public that, in prison, torture was used so that prisoners would reveal what they knew. What I want to know is where the body of my brother is. This information will have to come out of the archives.[16]
After a proof of his incarceration dated June 21, 1972, was produced,[17] the Brazilian government officially acknowledged responsibility for his disappearance on September 5, 1997.[3] Investigative journalist Taís Morais, based on her extensive interview with a member of the secret services codenamedCarioca,[18] finally revealed in 2008 that Boanerges de Souza Massa had been killed and buried near the city ofFormosa in the state ofGoiás.[19] On November 22, 2012, Victor Manoel Mariz,Public Prosecutor of the State ofTocantins, suedLieutenant Colonel Lício Maciel for the unlawful arrest, torture and murder of Boanerges de Souza Massa.[20]