ONLINE SALVATION
The only way to quit Brazil’s gangs requires a priest and YouTube,
RIO BRANCO, BRAZIL— As the sound of gunshots grew closer, Janderson Viera knew that the rival gang that had taken over his neighbourhood was coming for him.
Running to his bedroom, he called the only lifeline he had left: the Rev. Arnaldo Barros. “I want to convert,” he said. As gang wars drive Brazil’s homicide rate to historic highs, evangelical pastors — long revered in the nation’s slums and prisons — have come up with a new way to protect members looking for a way out.
Gang leaders say the only way to leave the business alive is to convert to Christianity. So Barros, a televangelist popular here in western Brazil, memorializes a gang member’s embrace of the ancient articles of faith using the most modern of tools: He records the conversion on his smartphone and posts the videos on YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp. The converts gain immunity against retribution by rival gangs and their own.
Gang leaders and law enforcement officials say it works.
“We aren’t going to go against the will of God,” a local leader of the powerful Comando Vermelho, the gang that was pursuing Viera, told The Washington Post. “God comes first, above everything.”
“It’s become a nonviolent escape route,” agreed Lucas Gomes, the head of prisons here in Acre state. “A way to publicize, justify and explain the exit.”
Barros, meanwhile, keeps close watch on each new Christian to make sure the conversion sticks. If it doesn’t, he lets the gangs know.
Gang violence has made Brazil one of the most dangerous countries in Latin America — killings nationwide reached a record 64,000 in 2017, and the death toll remains high.
The gang wars have transformed sleepy Rio Branco, a jungle-covered town of ramshackle houses and polluted canals, into one of Brazil’s most violent cities.
Making converts has long been Barros’ business. As the death toll mounted, so did the calls. But it was a challenge spreading the message that the new Christians were out of the game in time to save their lives.
“They come to me desperate for help,” the 56-year-old pastor said. “This is the only exit, the only way out. I thought, ‘How am I going to get the gang leaders to see this?’”
For years, Brazilian gangs have posted cellphone videos on social media to keep members in line, intimidate rivals and orchestrate attacks.
Barros, pastor of Rio Branco’s Igreja Geração Eleita — the Elected Generation Church — saw these videos circulating on his feeds and decided to co-opt the approach. The social media-savvy televangelist began to film gang members’ conversions and post them online to declare that the new converts were off limits. Other pastors in Acre have followed his example.
Political scientist Bruno Paes Manso studies gangs and violence at the University of Sao Paulo.
“What’s interesting is that the response here isn’t coming from the universities, from intellectuals or from the state,” he said. “It’s coming from the people who are living with these problems, who had to react and came up with this solution.”
The Rev. Adilson de Oliveira says the church’s endorsement of the videos adds a sense of legitimacy in a world of shifting alliances. Oliveira, 60, spent nine years behind bars for armed robberies and drug dealing before he converted himself 20 years ago. Now he helps prison inmates.
“Sometimes people don’t believe that a member is leaving,” he said. “But a pastor is someone they can trust. The video says, ‘I’m leaving, but I want to stay on good terms.’ ”
The videos show burly men such as Dianne Farias looking tearfully into the camera and making their confessions.
Standing before bullet-pocked buildings — and often bullet-pocked themselves — they state their names, code names and ID numbers within their gangs. They list their crimes, the number of people they have killed and announce they are now men of God: “My brothers, I have to think about my family.” “I don’t want this life for me.” “I have kids to raise.” Barros places a hand on their shoulders and pronounces them free: “In the name of Jesus, you are officially unaffiliated.”
Barros estimates he has saved 500 men through social media conversions since he began posting them in 2014.
To non-believers, the video conversions might smack of compulsory spirituality. But for those who fear death at the hands of rival gangs, the choice is clear. Inside prisons, where Barros and other pastors film weekly, converts are stacking up.
Gomes, the prison official, said “the result is visible.”
Of course, conversion by video is no guarantee that a gang member will stay straight. But converts who return to their gangs face serious danger.
Cunha, 18, was at work when a rival gang broke into his house. Worried they would eventually find and kill him, he called Barros and asked him to record a video.
When his attackers saw it, they dropped their pursuit. But they monitored him for months, checking to see if he was going to church or had contact with his former leaders.
“If I do anything wrong, they will kill me,” Cunha said. “I have to take the video seriously. They don’t tolerate regressions.”
Viera, 23, managed to escape both Comando Vermelho — the Red Command — and his own gang, Bonde dos 13. He’s staying at a rehabilitation centre run by Barros’s church while looking for a place to live.
Barros says vouching for the converts can put him in danger. His home on the outskirts of Rio Branco is ringed by surveillance cameras. Barking dogs announce anyone who passes too closely to the gate.
He estimates that 5 per cent of them slide back into crime. So he keeps a close watch on new converts. If he catches wind that one is back in the game, he informs gang leaders — to protect the integrity of the conversions.
Barros learned this month that Francisco Marinaldo, a former member of Comando Vermelho, had resumed using drugs. He tried to coax Marinaldo back to the church, he says, but was rebuffed. Before Barros had a chance to let gang leaders know, he says, Marinaldo was stabbed to death.
“They come to me desperate for help. This is the only exit, the only way out.” REV. ARNALDO BARROS