Remains Found in São Paulo Belonged to Left-Wing Militant Killed by Dictatorship 47 Years Ago

02/21/2018 - 11h48

The remains of Dimas Antônio Casemiro, a left-wing militant and Votuporanga local who died at the age of 25 in April of 1971, were discovered in the neighborhood of Perus by the work group that has been conducting forensics in a local pit since the 1990s.

Since 1996, the Brazilian government has taken responsibility for the death of Mr. Casemiro, although it never managed to locate his remains.

On Tuesday (the 20th), Folha revealed that this was the first match in several years made by the the Perus Work Group (GTP) ever since the unidentified remains of approximately one thousand people were located in the neighborhood of Perus.

Prior to Mr. Casemiro's case, three other matches had been made since forensics in the pit began in the 90s.

According to the National Truth Commission (CNV), Mr. Casemiro had been an insurance broker, a car dealer and a typographer, not to mention a militant of the VAR-Palmares group (Palmares Armed Revolutionary Vanguard) and the MRT (Tiradentes Revolutionary Movement).

According to the CNV, in 1971 Mr. Casemiro was accused of leading the murder of businessman Henning Albert Boilesen, the president of the Ultragaz company, which helped finance Operation Bandeirante (Oban).

The operation had been put in motion by the dictatorship in order to fight against left-wing militias and has also been accused of human rights violations and assassinations.

According to the dictatorship's official version of Mr. Casemiro's death, the militant died on April 17, 1971 after resisting arrest.

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

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