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The Arquivos das Policias Politicais of the State of Rio de Janeiro

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2022

Darién J. Davis
Darién J. Davis*
Affiliation:
Middlebury College
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In the liberal tradition, democracy is often defined by the holding of open elections and the preservation of a given set of civil rights and liberties. As neoliberal democratic governments emerge around the world, the relationship between democracy and a citizen's democratic rights is rapidly being redefined. In the ensuing debates, access to information has become an important issue. Many of these new governments, in their efforts to project themselves as “democratic,” have moved quickly to declassify a host of documents. This strategy has resulted in a tidal wave of revisionist research. One of the countries following this trend is Brazil.

Type
Research Reports and Notes
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , 1996 , pp. 99 - 104
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 by the University of Texas Press

References

1. Law no. 8.159/91 established the framework for creating the archive, which opened 3 Mar. 1994.

2. This research note resulted from investigations following a preliminary exhibition of DOPS photographs and materials in Rio de Janeiro in 1993; research and interviews at the Arquivos Públicos do Estado do Rio de Janeiro and the Arquivos Nacionais in Rio; and consultation of two works found in the Arquivos Públicos de Rio de Janeiro: DOPS: A Lógica da Desconfiança (Rio de Janeiro: Secretaria de Estado da Justiça, 1993); and Os Arquivos das Polícias Políticas: Reflexos de nossa história contemporánea (Rio de Janeiro: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, 1994).

3. The political police included agencies such as the Corpo de Investigação e Segurança, and the Inspetoria de Investigação e Segurança Pública, both sections of the Polícia Civil of the federal district of Rio de Janeiro.

4. The federal government was transferred to Brasília in 1955. In 1960, the political police ceased its federal activities in the state of Rio de Janeiro, but its archives remained in the newly created state of Guanabara until 1975. In that year, the state of Guanabara was annexed by the new state of Rio de Janeiro.

5. See Pedreira, “Recolhimento do Arquivo das Polícias Políticas do Rio de Janeiro,” DOPS: A lógica da desconfiança, 19–21. Interview with Eliana Rezende Furtado de Mendonça, Director of the Arquivos, 10 Jan. 1995. The equal-access clause resulted from the expectation that certain interested parties, especially opposition forces, would seek access to individual collections.

6. Researchers are expected to wear appropriate attire. Shorts are strictly prohibited.