“Who is this? Is it Alcantara or Carioca?”
The searches of mineralogist Assis Henrique de Oliveira by Ellen Cristina Seravo de Oliveira and her mother, Enida Martínez Seravo de Oliveira, yielded a trove of documents, photographs and memories made from excerpts from conversations and situations; Scattered but still vivid memories of her daughter.
When asked about the names of Alcantara (Antonio Corcino de Alcantara, director of labor relations at GM do Brasil) and Carioca (Aderval Montero – DOI-CODI agent, who arrested worker Martinho Leal Campos inside the plant in São Caetano), she answered positively about knowing the names, But not about their professions. He remembered two passages from life at home in between. He recalled an incident and also sent a photo in which he, a girl, appears next to the two men he knows as Alcantara and Carioca.
“When I answered the phone and called my father, I said I was his friend, and my father asked: Who is he? Is it Alcantara or Carioca?… It was like yesterday… The person said it was Carioca and I took it to my dad… Then it got heavy… My dad had just taken a shower, dinner was ready, he didn’t want to to eat, and was even rude to my mother, saying he had lost his hunger.
In the photo from the personal archive sent to the reporter, the daughter is shown with her head down. He looks sad next to a white guy, who would be Alcantara, and who in turn is next to a black boy, who could be Carioca. She was celebrating her fifth birthday and remembers that she seemed so nervous that they (the father and the two men) had quarreled, that Assis did not even want to stand with them. The year was 1978.
Some of those interviewed for this report believe that the men in the photo could actually be Antonio Corsino de Alcantara and Agent Carioca. However, there are those who do not recognize either of them, which opens the possibility that they are homogeneous and prevents the publication of the picture in this report.
Assis Henrique de Oliveira was a worker for General Motors. He disappeared after being fired for going on strike
Who are Alcantara and Carioca
Antonio Corcino de Alcantara has been the Director of Labor Relations at GM do Brasil for several years. He died. Representing the company in conversations with foreign employees and maintaining contacts with bodies and persons who have sent reports to the Department of Political and Social System (DOPS). He was a member of the General Motors management along with military Ivaldo Herbert Cerrín, who, according to interviewees, was a bridge between the automaker and the authorities of repression. He also participated in negotiations with trade unionists. His position, according to the latter, was more confrontational than unanimous.
On the other hand, Carioca was referred to as an agent of repression by the former president of the metalworkers’ union of São Caetano, João Lenz. “companions [da Oposição] “They were persecuted because there was a group of investigators here headed by the agent known as Carioca,” he says in the video “Dossiê Greve GM 1985”, which was produced for the National Amnesty Commission. Lenz headed the entity during the dictatorship and was considered a corporate accomplice.
According to Lens, Carioca “distributed his men” at the base and within the company to monitor and denounce the workers. Carioca, or Aderval Montero, was one of Martinho’s tormentors Lil Campos, who was caught inside General Motors in 1972.
But Carioca also became the embodiment of the spy or snitch inside the factory in the following decades, says Joel da Costa Marquez, who worked there in the 1980s. [de uma pessoa] I had never seen him, he was an entity in the factory, someone to be afraid of, a shadow of fear, not just inside GM, but outside as well. It was not known who it was, but he could “hear” the comments. He was a haunting figure in the changing rooms, especially in the dressing room [da Modelagem]Marquez says, who recalls a very tense environment at the company when the topics of conversations were workers’ rights and union issues. The report did not specify Carioca’s whereabouts.
Former GM metallurgist Arlindo Pereira Dias, better known as Xexéu, was adamant when confronted with a photo of Alcântara and Carioca sent by Assis’ daughter: “It looks like Alcântara and Carioca to me.”
Xexéu tells of another GM scheme to pressure and persecute its employees: the automaker’s board of directors has sent agents to the union leaders’ residence to pressure and deter family members from working in the union movement.
“During the strike period, some people came to my house to talk to my wife. They said I was supposed to leave the movement, and that I would lose my job.”
Opposition union leader in São Caetano do Sul, José Ferreira da Silva, better known as Free Chico and brother of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, reported that the repressive government maintained union control in the city, making opposition union work difficult within the general. Motors. Friar Chico talks about the persecution of the opposition leaders and the control of the entire labor movement.
“Having a job at General Motors was a luxury. Everyone wanted to work there. So they used that to control the workers. Alcantara was the true representative of HR, he tied a knot in a drop of water to give his opinion and the opinion of the company. Those who didn’t fit were fired. The person was later embarrassed, as his name was included in the “dirty lists,” explains the former union member, who was also arrested and tortured during the dictatorship.
The “dirty lists” were publicly displayed with the names of those dismissed. For example, in the old General Motors club in São Caetano do Sul, on Avenida Goiás, where family members and friends of the employees had access. “GM is indebted to the workers and their families as well. The workers were dismissed for just cause while claiming their rights, suffered material and moral damage, as their names were exposed all over the country as bandits, assailants and hooligans. GM monitored and threatened workers who deviated from company policy. Orivaldo says. Barbarotto, who worked for the company from 1973 to 1985: “Many of our comrades are already gone, but we hope that justice will be served one day.”
The strategy to publicly exclude and humiliate the strikers, and to criminalize their actions, was expressed in a classified report of the Ministry of Air of June 17, 1985. The document records a meeting of the Center for Community Security of Valle do Paraíba (CECOSE VP) that took place five days earlier in Ford do Brasil, in Taubaté . The report on General Motors in Sao Jose states that “the company considers itself victorious in the recent strikes. The tactic used was counterinformation. Through the press, the population became aware of the acts of vandalism and terrorism carried out by the activists, and as a result, public opinion sided with the company.”
GM’s involvement and collaboration with the military government during the dictatorship is denied by the automaker today. “General Motors is a company that champions democracy, respects the legislation in the countries in which it operates and follows strict compliance rules around the world. There is no history of the company being involved in related activities during the time of the military dictatorship in Brazil. We reiterate our commitment to democratic ideals and reflect these values in all of our operations.”
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