Rio Police Identify Integralist as Perpetrator of ‘Porta dos Fundos’ Raid

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Civil Police of the State of Rio de Janeiro identified a suspect in the Molotov cocktail raid on the production company Portas dos Fundos’ headquarters on December 24th.

Eduardo Fauzi Richard Cerquise is president of Rio de Janeiro’s FIB (Brazilian Integralist Front) and also a leader of Accale (Arcy Lopes Estrella Civic and Cultural Association), a far right-wing group linked to the Brazilian neo-integralist movement.

Fauzi is also a member of PSL, the former party of President Jair Bolsonaro.

On the morning of Tuesday, December 31st, the police carried out an operation to enforce search and seizure warrants at Fauzi’s house.

The police seized R$119,000 in cash, a variety of a weapons, ammunition, a “philosophical-political entity” shirt, as the corporation described the Accale shirt, books, and computers. The suspect is still wanted and is on the run.

The attack was claimed by the group “Comando de Insurgência Popular Nacionalista” (“Popular Nationalist Insurgency Command”) that acted, according to a video posted on social networks, because of the Christmas special made by the production company, available on Netflix, entitled ´The First Temptation of Christ´, which portrays Jesus Christ (Gregorio Duvivier) as a gay man dating Orlando (Fábio Porchat).

“They used two vehicles in the attack on Porta dos Fundos. After the attack, Fauzi left the car behind and walked away and we were able to observe him getting into a taxi. We were able to investigate the taxi driver, who confirmed it,” said detective Marco Aurélio Ribeiro.

According to him, the investigation remains open. “Throughout the investigations, we will find out if it was an isolated act of people or if there are links with associations, etc.”, he continued.

Videos released by the Civil Police (see above) show a Ford Ecosport model vehicle arriving in Humaitá, a neighborhood in the south zone of Rio de Janeiro, where the production company’s headquarters are located.

Another image shows a man, said to be Fauzi, according to Civil Police. Finally, the police released images of the Molotovs striking the ‘Porta dos Fundos’ building. However, they did not explain whether the street CCTV cameras filmed the exact moment when the attack occurred and the suspect.

The Civil Police are still unable to fully confirm that Fauzi threw the Molotovs or whether someone else did, but they are able to confirm his participation in the attack.

Granting a petition by the detective, a court ordered a Fauzi’s 30-day preventive arrest, as he was not found at his address. “He’s being investigated for attempted murder, among other things,” Ribeiro said before profiling the man.

“The investigation is at its early stage, but he’s a violent person who is responsible for other crimes. Eduardo has a violent, antagonistic profile. He has books related to the Christian and Muslim religion and is very interested in Russia,” he explains.

Attack on UniRio

The Command claiming the attack is the same group responsible for attacking UniRio in 2018 when it stole and burned anti-fascist flags placed opposite the Law School.

On November 25th, 2019, Fauzi revealed on a Facebook social media post that those responsible for the theft of the flags displayed at the university were, in part, students -and even a teacher- from the institution itself.

“This picture is of an integralist circle that carried out a direct action at UniRio, the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, and is, for the most part, comprised of students and a professor, who preferred to remain anonymous due to the Marxist inclination of the deans and the decadence of the Law School, where they come from (in their majority),” he wrote.

According to the website integralismo.org.br (FIB), Fauzi is president of the Fluminense section of the Integralist Front. The information is reinforced by the ‘Notícias do Sigma’ website, which lists integralist portals in Brazil.

In a 2018 post, it is said that Eduardo Fauzi reached the formal leadership in 2018. The FIB, however, denies that he is president.

Source: El Pais