On the 12th day of June 2000, a terrible incident happened in the Rio de Janeiro area of Brazil, this incident would become one of the most disturbing events in the history of the country.
A man known as Sandro de Nascimento, who was a Black man from a ghetto area of the city, hijacked a city bus and held its passengers hostage for so many hours. The event was so serious, it was even broadcasted on their national television. Unfortunately, the police’s method of handling the situation resulted in lots of casualties which included the K*dnapper and one of the passengers.
Sandro had a criminal past, he had escaped from a police station where he was being held in the past. The young man hijacked Bus 174 while it was going through the busy streets of Rio, he took the driver and the passengers hostage. Sandro demanded to speak with the press and threatened that he would take the lives of his hostages if his demands were not met.
The media and the police responded to the situation immediately by sending journalists and police negotiators to the scene of the crime. The hostages were very scared, they could be seen through the bus windows as Sandro threatened them. The situation escalated quickly as the k*dnapper became more as agitated and violent.
The police made a wrong decision to storm the bus which resulted in the death of Sandro and the injuries of many hostages. One of the hostages, Geisa Silva, who was a school teacher, was k*lled after being shot during the exchange of fire between Sandro and the police. The public heavily criticised the method that the police used to handle the situation, according to them, lethal force wasn’t necessary.
This ugly incident drew the attention of the government to issues of race, police brutality, poverty and many other issues in Brazil. This was an incident that resulted in the loss of innocent lives and it brought up the debate about the need for police reform. The government saw this as a reminder to look into the consequences of societal inequality and the need to address these issues to avoid any further similar tragedy in the future.
During the hijacking of the Bus, Sandro was acting erratic and agitated, making demands for money and threatening to k*ll any hostage that didn’t comply. He also demanded to speak with the press, saying that he wanted to air his grievances. Sandro spoke about corruption, injustice and police brutality, happening in the country. He made it clear that he had a serious to resentment towards the authorities.
At the time of committing the crime, Sandro was under the influence of hard drugs, this is possibly what must have contributed to his agitated behaviour. Some people saw Sadro’s act as just a crime, but there were others who saw it as the cry of a hopeless man who was looking for a desperate way out of his problems. People saw the decision of the police to storm the bus as wreckless and unnecessary.
People also said that the failure of the police to properly track Sandro before the incident, is what led to the tragic outcome. They cried for the police to implement better methods during their training to avoid similar occurrences in future.
A film titled “Bus 174” was released in the year 2007. This movie talked about the bus Hijack by Sandro and covered the events that transpired on that faithful day. The film provided a better understanding of Sandro as a person as well as the other factors that contributed to his actions on that very day.
The movie highlited the consequences of poor social policies and the repercussions of poverty in Brazil. The movie highlited that Sandro is just like many other individuals who had been failed by the society and his actions were the result of going through the life of poverty and oppression. Many people praised the movie for its realistic portrayal as it raised the need for social reform in Brazil.