Twenty years ago, Ceara, Brazil and Portugal were shocked by the news that six Portuguese businessmen who went missing were buried alive in a tent in Praia do Futuro. As it became known about this case, the Portuguese massacre began to be considered the largest in the history of the state at a time when multiple murders were not part of the daily life of Ceara.

The crime took place in the early morning of August 12, 2001. On the 16th, the first contact was made with the then Honorary Consul of Portugal in Fortaleza, Carlos Pimentel de Matos. Their return to Portugal was expected on 21 August. On the 24th, ABOUT PEOPLE were reported to have disappeared. At about 5:45 pm on 24 August 2001, federal police discovered the first of the bodies piled in a mass grave under the floor of a tent in Praia do Futuro, Vela Latina.

The crime ends in two decades, when the person appointed as the perpetrator of the crime is still in a closed prison. Also Portuguese Luis Miguel Militão Guerreiro, now 51, was sentenced to 150 years in prison – since Brazilian law provides for a maximum sentence of 30 years, he should be released in 2031. And he could go to semi-open mode in 2024, as O PEVO found out, where he can go to work and study and return to the prison block.

At least three others convicted of the crime – Manoel Lawrence Cavalcante, Leonardo Sousa dos Santos and Raimundo Martins da Silva Filho – are already serving their sentences in a semi-open regime, the State Court (TJCE) confirmed. The TJCE was unable to locate the fifth convict, Jose Jurandir Pereira Ferreira, in the centralized execution information system. In 2016, the Court informed O POVO that Jose Jurandir may demand a regime change in 2021.…

All five men identified as involved in the crime by the Federal Police (FP) were sentenced to more than 100 years in prison. An autopsy revealed that the Portuguese had been beaten, beaten, strangled, shot and strangled. However, he was buried alive. During the massacre, the following were killed: Joaquim Silva Mendes, Joaquim Manuel Pestana da Costa, Joaquim Fernandez, Manuel Joaquim Barros, Vitor Manuel Martins and António Correia Rodriguez.

In an interview with O POVO in 2001, Militau said it all started with a “joke.” When he said that several celebrity friends from Portugal would come to Fortaleza, he and the other defendants began commenting on the money being taken from them. The demand for kidnapping and ransom was also broadcast. According to him, the crime began to be planned about 20 or 30 days earlier. Kill, however, had only been awakened a few days ago. According to him, this will be the “best solution”, which should not be disclosed. He even said in an interview that Antonio has been his best friend since the divorce.

Upon arriving at Fortaleza airport, the victims went straight to the Vela Latina tent, which Militau rented from his son-in-law, Manoel, and turned it into a nightclub. There they began drinking with Militau, Manoel and the other defendants, the guards from the tent. However, then they were surrendered and killed. Militau even pretended that he, too, had become a victim of a crime by going out to check the passwords of his compatriots’ cards. Even after the crime, he continued to loot, and this is how the PF located him: he fled to Barra do Corda in Maranhana. At the police station, he confessed to the crime.

REMEMBER THE HISTORICAL COVERS OF THE PEOPLE:

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(Photo: O POVO.doc) On August 26, 2001, O POVO released an IML report according to which the Portuguese were buried alive.

(Photo: O PEVO.doc) On August 25, 2001 PEVO announced the death of Portuguese businessmen.

Militau even wrote a book detailing the incident. “There was panic on their faces, and I felt that some were suspicious of my involvement in the kidnapping,” he said in “Dying in Praia do Futuro – the truth of Luis Miguel Militão.” I looked at Tavares (Antonio) and saw that he lowered his head, looked down and felt betrayed by me. This was the last time I saw those six men, compatriots and fathers of families. “

In prison, Militau began to devote himself to his studies. He graduated from the pedagogical faculty and completed an internship in the penitentiary system itself. He also studied Letters, a college he had not yet graduated, and a major in gerontology. According to the person who kept in touch with him, the feeling that the Portuguese experience is a feeling of regret and a search for resocialization. Militão continued to harbor a sense of injustice through the “notoriety” gained through the coverage of the media, as it did in the case. In his view, this led to normal treatment of the other defendants, while he struggled to obtain legal benefits.

News is causing a stir in Portugal

The sentiment this news generated across the Atlantic was reflected in the headline of the Portuguese magazine Jornal de Notícias: “Shock.” The coverage was intense not only in the Portuguese press, but also in international agencies spreading the topic around the planet. “Journey to Death” is a way of referring to the theme used on the Lusomundo website.

The Portuguese press described the reactions of family members. “I cried more for my son than in my life,” said Louise Barros, mother of 80-year-old Manuel Barros, published in Jornal de Notícias.

“The widows of Manuel Barros and Joaquim Mendes, two sisters who saw their husbands leaving on the 11th on vacation in Fortaleza, could not contain their screams and tears. Soon the house was filled with people. Relatives and friends who came together. Pain.” , – the newspaper wrote then.

Portuguese Radio and Television (RTP) followed the case closely, from disappearance, interviewing the chief during searches to news of the tragic outcome.

In the weeks that followed, lighting continued on both sides of the ocean. While the Portuguese press followed the Fortaleza investigation, there were direct reports from the places where the victims and the executioner left in an attempt to restore the steps of both.

The case still haunts the Portuguese. In 2019 The Observer website has published a special with the title: “Militão. 18 years after the massacre, Monstro de Fortaleza wants to be a teacher. “

“Although at first they did not believe the confession -” It was too creepy “- the authorities immediately suggested that Luis Miguel Militao Guerreiro was the culprit of the whole incident, the kidnapping or murder. were also convicted, they knew what they were doing, but the rest were just executioners. Militau did not get blood on his hands, he was an intellectual, he was the one who came up with the idea and commanded everything, ”guarantees the person in charge of the investigation” (federal delegate Claudio Barros Hoventino).

“I have investigated other violent crimes, but like this, six murders aimed only at the financial side, without compassion, I have never seen that,” Joventino said 18 years later on a Portuguese website.

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