On the day of the argument at the radio station Galindo responded to Cazuza's accusations. Cazuza stormed into the studio during the program and said, "Mayor, you are lying!" According to eyewitnesses, Galindo called Cazuza "a marijuana smoker and homosexual" and added that he would have further to say to him off the air. According to his aides, Galindo said that if he were not mayor he would have killed Cazuza that day. From then on, the relationship between Galindo and Cazuza worsened. In a small city like Canindé, with a population of a 17,000, to be called a homosexual and be accused of using drugs is a cause for comment and shame. Few people discuss such an issue and when they do it is in a prejudiced way.

Cazuza was suspended for 30 days. But Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira Costa, the radio station's owner, recalled that "on the fifth day the suspension was lifted."

The argument between Cazuza and Galindo forms part of the investigation into the murder as evidence of a public threat made by the mayor to the journalist. The tape recording is not available at Rádio Xingó FM, explained the station's director, Paulo Costa Neto, the owner's son, because copies were handed over to the police and to local radio and television stations at the time of Cazuza's death.

The public scrap between the two would have been inconceivable just months earlier. Cazuza had been close to Galindo. He was city hall's official announcer, according to his friends. After the murder, Rádio Xingó FM owner Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira Costa submitted to the public prosecutor's office a series of accusations against the mayor.

Costa had already been criticizing the Candindé municipal administration in his Sunday column in the newspaper Jornal da Cidade in Aracaju. His wife, Eliane Moura Moraes, was a candidate for city deputy mayor as running mate of mayoral candidate Orlando Andrade (at the time Galindo's deputy mayor). Support of Eliane's candidacy could have been the reason for Cazuza's having distanced himself politically from Galindo and criticizing him in his radio program. Costa said this was not the case, that his wife's candidacy came after Cazuza's death, in order to oppose Galindo's power.

Early on the morning he was killed, Cazuza was returning from a party commemorating the fourth anniversary of the founding of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST). The day before, he had taken part in a walk organized by the MST from the neighboring town of Poço Redondo to Canindé. He then arrived at the home of Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira Costa. "Before he left Cazuza he said jokingly that he was going to sign a letter using my last name and my wife's name, because he regarded himself as part of the family," Costa recalled. The letter referred to graffiti on walls around the city saying "Cazuza 2000" - an allusion to his bid for a seat on the city commission. The letter, to the local judge, said that the signs had been made by unidentified people and they would be cleaned off.

Costa asked Cazuza not to go that night to the party, where the mayor and his aides would be. He instructed the radio station manager to take him home, according to Costa, he was concerned for Cazuza's safety due to the fact that a number of people connected to the mayor had commented that after the carnival they were going to "have their own party." "I feared that Cazuza was going to be beaten up, but never murdered," Costa said.

Costa believes that by Cazuza's death they indirectly sought to intimidate him. "They thought that by killing Cazuza I would run out of town. They would not kill me because I had a lot of political connections, including with the state governor - my father and he worked together - and the repercussions would have been much worse," he said.

Costa is sure he is under threat. Besides being the majority shareholder of Rádio Xingó FM he is also Secretary of Sustainable Development of Poço Redondo, some 20 miles from Canindé, but he spends most of his time in Aracaju, a place he regards as being where the major decisions are made.


Poor boy becomes Canindé's most popular radio journalist

Since he was 10 years old Cazuza liked to play with an imaginary microphone. He would grab a broomstick and pretend to be a sportscaster covering soccer games or the host of children's parties. He earned the nickname Cazuza when he was grown up because he looked like Cazuza, the irreverent singer and composer of Brazilian popular music. Like the singer, José would tie a handkerchief around his head when he acted as DJ at dances and parties in Canindé de São Francisco. Singer Cazuza became a symbol of controversy and courage when he revealed that he had the AIDS virus, which led to his death in 1990. In his turn, Cazuza the radio journalist became a symbol of the battle against impunity in the city in the highland sertão district of Sergipe state when he was murdered on March 13, 2000.

In Canindé de São Francisco he was known simply as Cazuza. He loved to sometimes be the coach of the local kids' soccer team. When he was not on the radio he would accompany music groups in events promoting the city. He generously turned his home into a reception center for donations of essential goods and wheelchairs for the needy. He used the Rádio Xingó microphones to raise funds. It was not by chance that he ran twice for city commissioner. "He said he was going to be a great politician," recalled his sister, Meire Fernandes Lima.

He was the son of separated and poor parents. Meire, one year older than he, was the sibling that Cazuza got along with best. Eventually, when he went to Aracaju, he would talk to lawyer João Santana Pinheiro, one of the 12 brothers and sisters by his father. "Cazuza was very extrovert and when he drank he sometimes talked more than he should," Pinheiro said. "Despite that, he was peaceful and showed no malice."

Whenever he could Cazuza traveled the 104 miles from Canindé de São Francisco to Propriá to visit his sister Meire. On leaving, he would pretend to "forget" money he left behind to help pay for his nephew's schooling.

Zezinho Cazuza was born in Propriá, a town of narrow streets where everyone knew everybody else and the doors remained unlocked and unbarred. He liked to visit the town. In January, the month of feast of the town's patron saint, he used to report on the festivities, which he did not do in January 2000 because he said he was unable to leave Canindé that time. "I felt he was sad, as if he had a problem and he did not want to talk about it," Meire said. Cazuza did not give any reason nor mentioned any threat or tiredness. "He was always invited whenever there was a dance or a party. He was in everything, including politics," she said. The notoriety of Canindé de São Francisco as a violent town scared Meire, who warned her brother to be careful.

Anléssia Alves Cruz, 27, who has worked at Rádio Xingó FM for five years, smiled as she talked of her late colleague. "He was crazy, for Cazuza everything was OK, nothing bored him," said Anléssia, who lives on the same street as Cazuza did. "He was like a brother," said Marcos André de Araújo, 26, events promoter at the radio station. Cazuza's fame was that money did not matter to him. Sometimes he would give away whatever he had and later would borrow money to be able to buy food or he would go and eat at someone's house. "He would say that wealth had to be distributed in Canindé to lessen the misery of the people," Anléssia said.

Canindé: A poor place despite the wealth of the politicians

Located on the highland sertão (the name given to the region of arid lands in inland northeast Brazil) in Sergipe state, 125 miles from Aracaju, capital city of the state known for its beaches of clear blue water, the city of Canindé de São Francisco is a paradox. It is the state's second largest provider of tax on goods and services - some 2.5 million reais ($1 million) per month - thanks to the installation of the Xingó hydroelectric plant there. However, the nearly 17,000 inhabitants live in miserable conditions.

Fourteen years ago Canindé de São Francisco was just another little town on the banks of the São Francisco River, surrounded by cactus, the only vegetation able to grow in the semi-arid climate. The residents lived mainly from fishing, hunting and raising cattle. In 1987, construction began on the Xingó Dam, regarded as one of the biggest hydroelectric plants in Brazil. The work attracted thousands of laborers, whose presence swelled the original population of the town.

The out-of-towners who arrived to work on the construction transformed the poverty-stricken area into one of apparent development. An irrigation project, called California, was put under way on inappropriate land. The development project initially gave hope to the local people, but currently the results are doubtful. There is not further interest in investing in other such programs. The artesian wells have to be deepened once more.

The desire for progress also was insufficient to bring about changes in the local power structure. In a situation known locally as "colonelism" - where one person has all the power and just a few people own a great deal, the oldest traditional families continued to retain political power. It was at that time that businessman Genivaldo Galindo da Silva arrived in Canindé de São Francisco. Born in Pernambuco, he set up in Sergipe state a vehicle rental company, servicing companies working on construction of the dam. He already had businesses in Bahia state. After a while he ran for mayor, lost the election but finally was elected eight years ago.

The power struggle in Canindé de São Francisco was always linked to impunity. One of the local leaders, Delmiro Miranda de Brito, who became mayor in 1992, was found dead in his car in May 1993. The police investigation has not yet been completed and there are strong suspicions that someone ordered him to be killed.

To date no one has been brought to trial for the so-called Massacre of Canindé of January 20, 1995. Murdered in the incident were Ademar Rodrigues de Assis, chairman of the city commission, his guard, a mechanic and another person accompanying them.

Another suspicious death occurred in February 2000. Maria Paulina dos Santos, 33, at the time pregnant, a candidate for deputy mayor of Canindé as running mate of former mayor Jorge Luiz de Carvalho, was returning from her farm in Alagoas when her car skidded and plunged into a 100-foot ravine. There are suspicions she was murdered.

In the struggle for power the news media generally are used as tools to support or destroy politicians. It is common for radio stations and local newspapers to depend on advertising placed by city hall, which buys space to publicize its activities. The radio stations principally serve as platforms for aspiring candidates to public office - including radio journalists themselves. Cazuza sought election to the city commission twice. He died before he could run for office again.

"A lot of radio people are going to die yet," said Marco Antônio Soares Passos, Civil Police superintendent in Sergipe state. This gloomy prediction of Passos is based on the fact that some radio journalists use the news media to forge a political career. As Passos put it, "they lose the sense of responsibility of every good journalist." In a region where everything is solved by the bullet, the risks are enormous.

Passos said that in Canindé de São Francisco violence is targeted. There are no armed holdups, as in the big cities. The crimes are of a political order. The state of Sergipe is surrounded by areas with major problems, such as the marijuana-producing region in Pernambuco or the neighboring state of Alagoas, famed as a gun-toting center where everyone goes about armed. "Sergipe has a great deal of drought and poverty, it is a land of adventurers and lack of public power," Passos said. In such a place, crime and speculation abound. Passos recalled that in the past four years a total of 15 contract murders had been carried out.

Violence since the times of the settlers

There are those who say that violence in the region dates from the time of the early settlers. The geographer of Ceará state, Raimundo Eliete Cavalcante, who lived half of his 58 years in the sertão and devoted himself to the study of peasant social movements, explained that the São Francisco River, the center of population, was also the channel for the entry of cruelty, such as that of the Portuguese who used the indigenous population as armed manpower to help them in their battles for land. Those that managed to break away from the yoke of these bosses became bandits and outlaws.

The first outlaws on which we have any information emerged in the 18th century. Some historians regard them as merely bandits. For others they were soldiers in the battle for civil rights against those in power. The outlaw movement, known as cangaço, was one that originated in Pernambuco and Ceará. But it was also known in Sergipe, because it was there that the legendary outlaw Lampião mustered his companions. It was in Grota de Angico, near Canindé de São Francisco, that police liquidated him and his group in 1938. The place now is a tourist attraction.

The main hotel in Canindé contrasts with the simplicity of the houses and narrow streets of the city. It is named after the hydroelectric plant and has an observation deck that looks out to the Xingó dam. On the deck are life-size statues of Lampião and his girl friend, Maria Bonita, as well as other outlaws in his group. Opposite them are the figures of Father Cicero, who won fame as a mediator between the poor and the outlaws and the government, and of musician Luiz Gonzaga, regarded as the king of baião - typical music of the region. This mixture of religion, battle, popular culture and music, against a background of economic power, is the face of the land where Cazuza died.


Police have no doubts and consider the crime solved

For the police, the murder of Zezinho Cazuza is solved, even though former mayor Genivaldo Galindo da Silva, accused of being the instigator, is a fugitive and the young man suspected of having accompanied the hit man at the time of the murder has never been found. "The young man disappeared, we believe he may have been exterminated," said Marco Antônio Soares Passos, superintendent of the Civil Police in Sergipe state. As of December 2001 there was no indication that the police had uncovered any new lead as to the whereabouts of Galindo or the young man known as Nininho.

The police investigation into Cazuza's death was problematic from the outset. "The police always knew that it had been a contract murder," Passos said. In less than 48 hours the police determined who had carried out the killing, Zé de Adolfo. The police proved that the gun and vehicle used in the murder belonged to Zé de Adolfo, but the case was so complicated and the pressures were such that the superintendent pulled from the case the detective initially handling the investigation, Jocélio Franca Fróes.

According to Passos, the police are in no doubt as to who committed the crime. Some facts, however, hampered the investigation and led to confusion among the public. One of these was the economic power of Galindo and the post he held. "He bought certain police officers and even part of the press and when we requested an arrest warrant for him he tried to subvert the police," Passos said. The result was that a year was to go by before the arrest warrant was issued, time enough for Galindo to be re-elected mayor of Canindé de São Francisco. When the warrant was issued, he fled.

Passos believes that the former mayor was informed in advance of the arrest warrant. He said that with the support of the Federal Police several raids were carried out around the country in search of Galindo. It is believed that Galindo may have left the country by plane. "We have done our part, even though the public might not agree," Passos added.

Sergipe State Attorney General Moacyr Soares da Motta is also certain who the mastermind of the murder is. "We had arrest warrants issued, now we hope the police can locate the fugitives," he said. With the period of state intervention in the Canindé city administration requested by the attorney general's office now expired, the deputy mayor, Rosa Maria Fernandes, took office. "Our role is not to police but to persist in the process to prevent impunity," Motta said. As far as Motta is concerned, the crime has been solved, even though the accused is not in jail. To those who insist that only by imprisoning Galindo will Cazuza's death be punished, he offered this consolation: "A convicted and fugitive person is not totally without punishment. He will end up paying for the crime because by remaining at large he will spend the rest of his life extorted on all sides."

This point of view is not enough for Cazuza's family and friends. "The crime continues to go unpunished because the one who ordered him killed is free. Prison is not going to restore Cazuza to life, but whoever did it has to pay one way or the other," said Meire Fernandes Lima, the slain journalist's sister.

The radioman's death puts spotlight on other crimes

The death of José Wellington Fernandes (Cazuza), continues to be surrounded by controversy due to the complicated power game in the region. However, his murder had national repercussions. Canindé de São Francisco was suddenly in the national news, which brought to the country's attention the financial frauds engaged in by the last four city administrations. The total amount of misspent public funds came to nearly 50 million reais (about $21 million), of which at least 70% was spent during the administration of Mayor Genivaldo Galindo da Silva, according to auditors.

On March 27, 2000, Sergipe State Attorney General Moacyr Soares da Motta requested a six-month moratorium in Canindé de São Francisco in order to investigate the accusations of wrongdoing at city hall. The same day, Galindo resigned as mayor and fled when a warrant was issued for his arrest as a suspect in the murder of Cazuza.

State auditors uncovered irregularities in the granting of loans, award of contracts to unregistered companies to the benefit of friends of the mayor's or his own, adulteration of tax records, the hiring of a services cooperative whose members were also public officials, donation of public lands to private individuals and their subsequent re-acquisition at elevated prices, and engineering services provided by a funeral parlor.

In filing his request for state intervention, the attorney general pointed out the degree of involvement of Galindo's family in top local government positions, for example the current deputy mayor, Rosa Maria Fernandes Feitosa, was living with Genilson Chaves Galindo, the mayor's son, and the city commission chairman, Júnio Silva Galindo, the mayor's nephew. Genilson and Júnio are now in jail.

Coincidentally, the defense attorney of Galindo's nephew is Aderval Vanderlei Tenório, 70, who also is defense counsel of José Ferreira de Melo, known as Zé de Adolfo, accused of being the one who shot Cazuza.

The lawyer denied any influence by Galindo in the defense of Zé de Adolfo. "Initially they thought it was Galindo who was paying for Zé de Adolfo's defense," Tenório told the IAPA. "But I am defending Zé de Adolfo free of charge, because I know he is a man who has been unjustly accused and because his father asked me to. He was a congressman in Alagoas and he has always trusted me, he is a great friend."

Zé de Adolfo, jailed following the Cazuza's death, said initially that Galindo was the mastermind of the journalist's murder. He later denied this but subsequently, during a confrontation with the mayor, repeated his original accusation. His lawyer alleges that the changes in his client's statements came about as a result of pressure from the police and he added that Zé de Adolfo only had the courage to "tell the truth" once he left the police precinct and had asked the examining magistrate for protection. "Then he said he had never killed anybody, that he never participated in Cazuza's death and neither did he have any motive to kill him, because he got along well with the journalist," declared Tenório, who said he intends to point the finger of guilt instead at Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira Costa, owner of Rádio Xingó FM where Cazuza worked.

The lawyer accused the person who had said he sold the gun to Zé de Adolfo of being involved in the crime himself and moreover was the bodyguard of Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira Costa. "I requested the gun to investigate its history, but it disappeared. There is an interest in keeping the investigation into Cazuza's death just as it is, in order to promote a political change in Canindé," Tenório said. He also cited other factors that he considers prove the existence of a plot to incriminate the former mayor.

"Detective Jocélio (relived of his duties) said that there was a meeting of police officers to point the case against Galindo. They thought that if they nabbed Zé de Adolfo and his being an alcoholic he would confess to the crime. Cazuza's own brother-in-law said that Cazuza's relationship with Galindo was excellent, but not that with Luiz Eduardo," Tenório added.

There is also the statement by Jorge Moreira dos Santos, a brother-in-law of Cazuza who lived with his sister, Josefa Vânia da Silva. Santos told the police in December 2000 that some 15 days before Cazuza died he was saddened and wept a great deal because at the radio station they had required him to suspend his friendship with the mayor. Cazuza was said to have told Jorge that he was afraid, but he did not mention why. Meire Fernandes de Lima, Cazuza's closest sister, and João Santana Pinheiro, his half-brother, know neither Santos nor Josefa. "That person must have received some payment from Galindo to say that," Meire declared.

Sergipe Civil Police Superintendent Marco Antônio Soares Passos acknowledged that he became involved in the investigation, pulling out detective Jocélio Franca Fróes, because there were many pressures. Passos openly accused Galindo of having bribed police officers to get him out of jail.

Before the murder, the relationship between Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira Costa, owner of Rádio Xingó FM, and Galindo changed according to the political interests. When the then mayor was jailed in July 1999 in the city of Feira de Santana, Bahia state, on charges of illegal possession of weapons for the exclusive use of the Armed Forces, Costa intervened to get him released. On that occasion, seized from Galindo and six men accompanying him were three sub-machineguns, 9mm pistols and 38-caliber revolvers. None of the weapons was registered. Costa said that due to his good relationship with Galindo and with Governor Albano Franco he called the Brazilian president and asked him to meet with the mayor's sons. "The governor said that he already was aware and he was going to transfer the case to Public Security Ministry," he recalled.

The mayor was freed from jail and he declared that the men who had accompanied him in two vehicles were his bodyguards and the weapons were for his defense, because he had many enemies in Canindé. As far as Luiz Antônio Araújo Mendonça, 51, a federal judicial official, is concerned, in that case there was a general omission by all involved - examining magistrate, public prosecutor's office, and police. Mendonça, who has a supervisory role over the police, was assigned by the federal attorney general to investigate crimes in Canindé.

Due to the fact that a public prosecutor was murdered in 1998 while investigating the alleged participation of judges and politicians in crimes in the area, Mendonça now carries a gun. He himself had received a death threat when he was investigating allegations of civil police participation in the extermination of children and teenagers 17 years ago. His work over the past 10 years led to the dismantling of cattle rustling rings involved in homicide and to the imprisonment of more than 100 people. Mendonça believes there were shortcomings in the Cazuza investigation. "You cannot stop an investigation when there is a suspicion of the participation of other people," he said. "That is what leads to impunity." He recognizes, however, that to go in search of others involved is not a priority at this time because, he said, "there are much more serious cases in the area."

Journalist Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira Costa also carries a gun and avoids staying for any length of time in Canindé, despite being the owner of Rádio Xingó FM. "I became an opponent of Galindo as a result of the administrative disaster in which the city was left. As Cazuza had a very close relationship with me, he came to criticize him, too," he said. Zé de Adolfo's lawyer accused Costa of having another interest in the accusations. His wife, Eliane Moura Moraes, was a candidate for deputy mayor to succeed Orlando Andrade (at the time vice mayor under Galindo and himself running for mayor) in the 2000 elections, following the death of Cazuza.

The day Cazuza died Costa said on the radio that Canindé should undergo state intervention. He later delivered a dossier to the public prosecutor's office with denunciations of alleged wrongdoing committed by the mayor and his aides. "I did not formally complain about Galindo before because I lacked the necessary elements. Moreover, during his first administration he was improving education, but immediately he brought in a group from outside and began to abandon the city," Costa added.

Costa responded to accusations that he had an interest in the death of Cazuza and that the latter was unhappy about delays in payment of his salary. "He was like a son," he declared.

Although he is still a fugitive, Galindo's influence in Canindé remains. Costa said that Galindo had a company that rented vehicles to third parties. On renting a car in Canindé, this IAPA reporter learned that the driver had worked at the Agriculture Department in the Galindo administration. He said he was fired when the state moved in, but he intends to return to work as an adviser in the same department.


Galindo the fugitive grants an interview

The police were unable to locate Galindo, but reporter Messias Carvalho, 38, had better luck. Galindo gave an interview to Messias, managing editor of the newspaper Ação Popular in Aracaju and host of the Rádio Liberdade FM program "Liberdade Sem Censura" (Freedom Without Censorship) and of the TV Caju show "Liberdade de Expressão (Freedom of Expression). Carvalho had interviewed Galindo previously, when he was mayor. "I am not sure that the former mayor is the instigator of Cazuza's murder," he said. "Meanwhile, he is only accused."

Messias called for justice to be done. "As far as the police are concerned, the case is closed, but as no one has been convicted and the accused claims he is innocent, it remains for the truth to come out or be confirmed," he declared. He said the negotiation to get in touch with Galindo took a month and a half. The venue for the meeting was changed several times.

In the interview, published in the August 26-September 1 issue of Ação Popular, Galindo stressed that he was innocent of both the murder of the journalist and the charges of wrongdoing while in office. He said that currently he is living in poverty and he wants to turn himself in, but first he needs an assurance from the police that his physical integrity will be safeguarded and that his sons will be freed from jail. Concerning the murder of Cazuza, he said the following:

"I was very surprised by that death because in the first place Cazuza was a person that had a salary from city hall. He was a person that lived in my home all his life; he had breakfast there, lunch and dinner, due to the low salary he had. He was my friend and also a member of my family. That death was solely to do me harm. They used Cazuza's death all the time (and Luiz Eduardo joined with the Andrades) to oust me in the elections. But fortunately the people know that it is a lie and the people voted again for me, proving that everything that people were saying was not true."

At the end of the interview the former mayor declared, "I feel broken apart, done with. God is great, God's justice takes time but it does not fail."

In Canindé de São Francisco, where many people owe their living to work for the public sector and the spirit of the former mayor and his family remain omnipresent, fear of speaking out predominates. "We have doubts as to whether or not it was the mayor," said high school student Martinha Ricardo de Souza, 14. "Cazuza was a good person, he never did harm to anybody, but about his death I know nothing … people make comments, that's how things are here," added Noel Vieira da Silva, 38, who for the past nine years has sold juice in Canindé's main square, outside city hall. "They say it was the mayor who did it, but no one has any concrete evidence," said Maria José Mariano de Souza, owner of a downtown clothing store and a receptionist.

Maria José went to many parties organized by Cazuza, but voted for Galindo after Cazuza's death and after the mayor was identified as the chief suspect in the murder. "The truth is that Canindé is like a family, everyone knows everybody else. Most people do not believe that Galindo did it, they think it was a political maneuver by the opposition," she said.


Shortcoming in the investigation

1. The slowness in completing the police investigation enabled Zé de Adolfo, suspected to be the gunman who shot and killed Cazuza, to give conflicting statements. First he said that the person behind the murder was Mayor Galindo and later he denied this.

2. The delay in ordering the arrest of Galindo enabled him to flee.

3. The lack of technical equipment to gather evidence has meant the identity of those involved in Cazuza's death remains unclear.

Source: Chief prosecutor of Aracaju, Luiz Antônio Araújo Mendonça, appointed by the attorney general to investigate crimes in Canindé de São Francisco.


Continuing doubts

1. Where is Galindo? Despite the fact that he was a fugitive, former mayor Galindo gave an interview to a newspaper and a radio station in Aracaju, published and broadcast in August 2001. If the reporter was able to get to Galindo, why could the police not find him?

2. Where is Nininho, who was accused of having driven the car of hit man Zé de Adolfo the day of the murder? There are suspicions he himself may have been killed. Why have the police found no trace of his whereabouts to date?