The Federal Police (PF) arrested two suspects in the murder of Flávio Gabriel Pacífico dos Santos, also known as Binho do Quilombo. He was a representative of the quilombola community of Pitanga dos Palmares, in Bahia, along with his mother, Maria Bernadete Pacífico Moreira, also a victim of homicide last year. The operation took place on Wednesday afternoon (17) and Thursday morning (18).
“The information produced during the course of the proceedings demonstrates that the suspects used a vehicle fraudulently acquired in the name of a third party, financed using falsified documents, in the criminal enterprise. It was also recorded that the cell phone number used by one of the suspects at the time of the crime was registered in the name of this same person,” explained the PF, in a statement.
“These were circumstances that, at the beginning, made the investigations take a direction that was far from the correct elucidation of the criminal act. Once the true user of the telephone terminal of interest was identified, two arrest warrants were issued against the suspects, which were served during the launch of the operation,” he added.
The death of Binho do Quilombo has been under investigation since September 2017, when the crime occurred. He was shot dead inside his car, near his home, in the remaining community of the Pitanga dos Palmares quilombo, in the municipality of Simões Filho, in Bahia. The motive for the crime has not yet been released. Eight other search and seizure warrants are being served in the state. Weapons and luxury watches were collected by PF agents.
The arrest of the suspects in the murder of Binho do Quilombo comes almost a year after the death of Mãe Bernadete, who fought for years for an answer to her son’s murder. She was shot dead inside her home in August 2023. She worked as the national coordinator for the articulation of quilombos and leader of the Pitanga dos Palmares quilombo. She had denounced the actions of loggers in environmentally protected areas.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva even spoke out calling for a thorough investigation. The case was also followed by the Ministry of Human Rights and Racial Equality.
*with information from TV Brasil
