Dancer Douglas Pereira Shot Dead in Copacabana Favela

04/24/2014 - 09h49

The dancer Douglas Pereira, known as DG, died after being shot in the back during an exchange of fire between police and drug traffickers in the favela Pavão-Pavãozinho, in Copacabana, in the south of Rio de Janeiro. The information was disclosed yesterday by the police. However, just the day before, they had suggested that the probable cause of death was a fall.

Pereira's death on Monday night resulted in protests which may have international repercussion. Residents blocked off streets in Copacabana, setting piles of garbage on fire and throwing rocks at buildings close to tourist hotspots - just fifty days before the start of the World Cup.

Pereira was part of the Brazilian funk group Bonde da Madrugada, which used to appear on Regina Casé's program 'Esquenta', on the Globo television channel.

According to the police, the bullet entered one of Pereira's lungs, causing internal hemorrhage, before exiting through his shoulder. However, it is still unknown from where exactly the projectile was fired, and it has not been found.

The incident occurred when ten police from the Pavão-Pavãozinho Pacifying Police Unit (UPP, in its Portuguese acronym), ran into a group of drug traffickers while investigating an anonymous tip. Pereira, meanwhile, was in the favela to rehearse with his group and visit his four-year-old daughter.

In the protests the following day in Copacabana, another young man, Edilson da Silva Santos, 27, was found dead with a bullet wound to the face. The individual responsible has yet to be identified.

Pereira's mother, the nursing assistant Maria de Fátima da Silva, 56, alleges that her son was tortured and killed by the Military Police. 'He had cuts to his head and nose. He was badly hurt, he had boot marks on his back,' she said.

She also claims that residents of the favela took pictures of the police using latex gloves to tamper with the crime scene. 'My son won't be another Amarildo,' she said, referring to the construction worker who disappeared last year after being taken into custody by the Rocinha favela's UPP during a police operation.

The Military Police says it will investigate whether UPP officers are in any way to blame for Pereira's death, but it denied that any officers tampered with the young man's body. For Rio's Secretary of Security, José Mariano Beltrame, there are still no clear signs that the police were responsible for the death, which is why the officers involved in the operation remain on duty.

'I don't want to promise them protection, but I don't want to condemn them prematurely. There needs to be proof,' he said, claiming that currently there is only 'speculation.' State governor Luiz Fernando Pezão (PMDB) said that he 'will wait for the results of the investigations in order to take the appropriate measures.'