Violence in Ponta Grossa

Thursday, 09 April 2009 17:36

At the time INRI lived his public life as a prophet, he travelled throughout many cities in Brazil, always speaking on the radios and televisions; many people sought him in search of guidance. On one of these occasions, he was coming back from Mato Grosso, in June 1978; INRI had in his company two secretaries, Dalmir de Jesus Machado, his motorist, and Rosmara Buss, who took note of his commitments. After they had driven all through the night, INRI asked the motorist to stop in Hotel J.J., placed in the beginning of the Café Highway, in the city of Ponta Grossa, state of Paraná, Brazil, where he had already lodged many times for considering it was a very pleasant place, even because the previous owner always had sympathy and was a helpful man for him.

While INRI had his breakfast, a young beautiful lady came to greet him, as she knew him from television programs. She introduced herself as Hamilton Trivelato’s wife; he was the new owner of the hotel. Hamilton was known as Ataliba. Full of enthusiasm, she took INRI to know all the new facilities in the hotel, including the swimming-pool recently built in the courtyard. The hotel had a wide reception area with a restaurant; in the background, there were many wooden chalets around the central area, where the swimming pool was placed. INRI was thankful for her kindness and attention, but as he was just passing to have a breakfast and for a brief rest, he called his secretaries as he wanted to leave due to some pending appointments in Curitiba, his domicile at that time. However, before leaving, they insistently said that the young woman wanted very much to talk to him in particular, as she had great admiration for him. It was a weekday and INRI was determined to go; but due to their insistence, he authorized Rosmara to set an appointment with that young lady on Saturday, at 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

Always very punctual with his commitments, it was almost 2 p.m. when INRI arrived at Ponta Grossa on that Saturday, accompanied by his two advisors. A cold drizzle saturated the atmosphere of that rigorous southern winter. The windshield stopped working right in front of a rotisserie. INRI had the habit to eat lunch at 12:30 p.m., all and every day. At that time, INRI had already become a vegetarian; even so Dalmir suggested that they took the opportunity to have lunch, since there were also many options of vegetables in the rotisserie.

Moved by reasons he could not explain at that time, INRI decidedly refused to have lunch and was very resolute to finish the appointment as soon as possible. At the established time, INRI and his advisors arrived at the hotel, but instead of the young lady, there was a reception committee waiting for him. Ten armed addicted men, commanded by Hamilton Trivelato, pulled him from inside the car (a Ford Landau), surrounded him and started a session of violence, with kicks, whips, dozens of gun-stocks on his head… besides trying to drown him in the swimming-pool, intending to kill him. It is not known the real circumstances that unchained this episode; it is believed that Hamilton had a crisis of jealousy because of his wife. But nothing happens on Earth without the acquiescence of GOD. All that happened was part of GOD’s plans, and only on the occasion INRI fasted in 1979 did he fully comprehend the true meaning of this torture: it had been his baptism.

In the beginning, the fury of those men was also against INRI’s two secretaries. However, INRI shouted: “Not them! They are just my servants!”. This gesture annoyed Ataliba; he turned to INRI vociferating: “You still want to protect your servants? So die, you have to die!”, and then ordered some of his subordinates to take him next to a chalet. They started to concentrate their fury only on INRI and threw him in the swimming-pool.

While Ataliba’s subordinates alternated in the attempt to hold INRI’s head under the water, he simulated death. At this moment, the voice that always spoke inside his head (but whose origin he still did not know) said with vehemence: “Pretend you are dead!”. When the aggressors had their moments of negligence, INRI had strength enough to jump out of the water and restock his lungs with air. But the torturers filled his mouth with pepper and vinegar, scourged his body and threw him in the water again, yelling: “Die, you have to die!”.

Ataliba’s plot was to simulate death by drowning, to make believe it had been an accident, not a murder. He did not even use his own guns to misguide the police from any clues leading to the possible suspects.

After three hours of torture, all those men were tired and surrendered to exhaustion (despite beating INRI so much, they failed in their attempt of drowning him). From a distance, Ataliba’s father observed INRI’s physical resistance despite his body being full of excoriations, cut by the whips; his face disfigured, swollen by the blows, his head with salient bubbles of coagulated blood… Then he had an extra-plot: called the police insinuating that INRI was addicted and suffered the fury of some guests in the hotel. Next, Ataliba, his father and subordinates fled away. The police arrived and started the investigations.

At that time, INRI still lived as the prophet Iuri, he did not eat meat or smoke cigarettes. On the contrary, he publicly manifested against all the vices. All the evidences lead the police to ignore the agressors’ lying denunciation. Dalmir de Jesus Machado and Rosmara Buss, following the authorities’ instruction, took INRI to hospital São Vicente, in Curitiba. In the hospital, journalists asked if INRI would denounce those responsible for the violence; he just answered: “Let men prosecute men”.