Brazil: Black, Homeless University Student Killed in Brasilia

Friends and relatives of 33-year-old Jiwago Henrique de Jesus, who was found dead with signs of having been physically assaulted, said their final farewells on Monday to the homeless university student who attended the University of Brasilia, or UnB. He was buried in Hope Cemetery Field.

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Verenilda Pereira, a communications professor, said de Jesus, who also suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, was the victim of societal biases and discrimination.

“First he was Black. Second, he became homeless. And, thirdly, he suffered from a psychiatric problem. He never received the necessary support for his condition,” Pereira said in reference to his mental condition.

She added that fellow students and professors often raised funds to purchase de Jesus' medications. “I was not his professor. Contrarily, it was he who taught me. He helped me on several occasions while I was doing my doctorate's degree. He had an incredible view of the world.”

Twenty-year-old Lubmila dos Reis Sales said de Jesus came to a class last Thursday with a swollen red eye and, without going into details about his condition, asked her for protection.

Estella Villar, another fellow student, said de Jesus was “given the run-around from one institution to the other. Nobody provided him with assistance. Honestly, those who should have helped him hoped that he die, that way, it would be one less problem to deal with.”

De Jesus was a student of philosophy at UnB. Having successfully presented his Course Conclusion Paper, or TCC, he had graduated and “was awaiting his diploma to assume a post at the Secretary of Education,” said professor Ana Miriam Wuensch.

His body was found over the weekend in a scrub vegetation near the Colina, a university residential area that he frequented. The Communication Division of the Civil Police force said there were signs that stones had been thrown at de Jesus.

The perpetrators of the attack have not been identified. De Jesus leaves behind 6-year-old twins who live with his grandparents in the state of Bahia.