On November 7, the Military Police of São Paulo (PMESP) shot and killed four-year-old Ryan da Silva in Santos, a port city outside of São Paulo. The authorities' excuse, as is often the case in Latin American police killings, was that the police perceived a threat. There is no evidence for this claim.
The killing is endemic to the extreme brutality of Brazilian police, one of the most violent and militarized police services in the world. The United States government has helped create this crisis.
