RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The state of Rio de Janeiro registers an average of 15 missing persons per day, according to data from the State Secretariat for Social Development and Human Rights. Some are found, others never return home.
The grief of families who saw loved ones disappear, without further explanation, was shared on Friday, August 30th, in a meeting in the gardens of the Palácio Guanabara.
A common feature among fathers and mothers of missing persons is to speak of their children in the present tense, with the hope – and even the certainty – that they will return at some point, coming from somewhere, even when more than ten years have gone by.
“My life has been one of search; we have become detectives because it is we who have to search. The case is already closed. My daughter is still missing. She is 22 years old. I’m sure she’s alive. A mother’s heart isn’t wrong,” said Rogéria Alves da Cruz, the mother of Vitória, who disappeared in 2009 at the age of 11 when she was going to a friend’s house in Irajá, near where she lived.
The disappearance of Priscila Belfort, the sister of MMA fighter Vitor Belfort, was another case that was much talked about at the time. She disappeared on January 9th, 2004 in downtown Rio at the age of 29, when she left for lunch. No ransom was ever demanded and to this day the family does not know what happened. For Jovita Belfort, Priscila’s mother and head of the newly formed Coordination of Missing Persons, a disappearance, unlike death, is an ongoing process. “It is a grief that never ends. I have been burying my daughter every day for 15 years,” she said, among other mothers of missing persons.
The state secretary of Social Development and Human Rights, Cristina Quaresma, said the issue of disappearances should be discussed, seeking greater exposure to the issue. “Through this department established by the governor [Wilson Witzel] two months ago, we will make their lives easier. It’s a shocking figure, it’s very high, an average of 15 cases per day,” the secretary said.
The Coordination for Missing Persons is located next to the secretariat’s headquarters, in the Central Station building. The state further includes the Police Department for the Detection of Missing Persons (DDPA), located in Cidade da Polícia, since 2014, which provides assistance by phone at +55 (21) 2202-0337 and +55 (21) 2202-0338.