Youth Violence in Latin America:

Gangs, Street Children and Juvenile Justice in Perspective

LSE CSRC-ISA International Workshop
Thursday 26 & Friday 27 May 2005

Wagner's Testimony

On 23 July 1993 a gang of hooded men opened fire on a group of over 50 street children who were sleeping rough near the Candelária Church in the centre of Rio de Janeiro city. Seven children and one young adult were killed. Although several eye-witnesses came forward after the massacre, by the time the first Candelária case came to court only one was still prepared to testify: Wagner dos Santos, who was 22 years old at the time of the massacre, during which he was taken off in a car, shot, and left for dead. He suffered a further attempt on his life in December 1994, when he was shot by police four times, and again left for dead, in an attempt to prevent him from testifying. Without Wagner's testimony it would have been very difficult to get prosecutions for some of those who carried out the massacre. After pressure from NGOs, the Federal government of Brazil took responsibility for moving Wagner to another country for his own safety. He still lives in the European country where he was taken. As a result of the two attempts on his life, Wagner suffered severe injuries, which persist to this day. In 2004 the Brazilian Federal and Rio State government flew Wagner to Rio for operations to rectify some of the damage caused to his face. He has not received full and final compensation for his injuries.