State violence and trauma: peasants from the Guerrilha do Araguaia

Abstract

Brazil has experienced a long dictatorial period in its history, marked by state repression and suppression of rights. One of the most violent acts of that moment was known as Guerrilha do Araguaia, in which the Armed Forces (FFAA) carried out a sequence of operations in order to eliminate the guerrillas and any traces of a possible communist uprising. Among the forces of the State and the guerrillas were the peasants who were victims of the most diverse types of violence because of their belief in their participation in the movement or in search of their collaboration in capturing the guerrillas. Through a descriptive-analytical study, this work aims to make a topology of the types of violence perpetrated on the peasants and analyze their updates based on the non-overcoming of the trauma. For this purpose, testimonies from military personnel available in literature were used, as well as the reading of peasants' cases that had been processed by the Amnesty Commission linked to the Ministry of State and Justice (MJ) and the Ministry of Family, Women and Human Rights (MDH). As a result, we highlighted five types of violence ranging from torture to total extermination. We conclude that the suffering inflicted does not cease to be present due to the impossibility of overcoming the trauma due to the absence of a national reparation project.