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Candelária massacre

SOLVED1993Candelária Church, Pius X Square, central Rio de Janeiro3 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026

Documents violence · crimes against children — written to inform, not to shock.

Illustrative

The Candelária Church is a historic Roman Catholic church in central Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. By the early 1990s the church and the surrounding buildings in Pius X Square had become a nighttime refuge for large numbers of the city's street children, to whom church personnel offered food, shelter, education and religious guidance. Many of the children were connected to the drug trade and to prostitution, and as pickpocketing and robbery rose in the area, police kept a constant watch on the church's surroundings.

On the night of 22–23 July 1993, several Chevrolet Chevette cars with covered license plates stopped in front of the Candelária Church, and their occupants opened fire on a group of roughly seventy street children sleeping nearby. Eight people were killed, six of them minors; the youngest, Paulo Roberto de Oliveira, was eleven. Survivors said that on the morning before the attack a group of children had thrown stones at police cars. Investigators later concluded that the shots were fired by militiamen who used the square as a point for selling drugs, and several other people were wounded.

The inquiry led investigators to Wagner dos Santos, a teenager who survived despite being hit four times. His identification of those involved was central to the case. He was attacked again on 12 September 1994 at Central do Brasil and was subsequently placed in the state's Witness Protection Program before leaving the country with federal assistance; he continued to suffer serious health problems.

Seven men were indicted, among them a former military police officer, two serving military policemen and a locksmith. Three defendants were acquitted, and one was not tried for the mass killing but received a two-year sentence for possessing one of the weapons used. Three men received convictions following extended appeals: Marcus Vinícius Emmanuel Borges was ultimately sentenced to 300 years in a February 2003 trial; Nelson Oliveira dos Santos, initially absolved despite a confession, was convicted on the prosecution's appeal in 2000; and Marco Aurélio Dias de Alcântara was sentenced to 204 years. The source records that the convicted men nonetheless remained free through pardon or parole.

Studies linked to Amnesty International reported that forty-four of the seventy children who had slept in the area later died violently, and that most of the young victims were poor and Black. By the 2023 thirtieth anniversary, most survivors had died or gone missing, among them Sandro Barbosa do Nascimento and Elizabeth Cristina de Oliveira Maia, both killed in 2000. A wooden cross bearing the victims' names stands across from the church; for the anniversary, the Rio de Janeiro City Hall renovated the memorial.

Key facts

Victims
Anderson de Oliveira Pereira, Valdevino Miguel de Almeida, Paulo José da Silva, Paulo Roberto de Oliveira, Leandro Santos da Conceição, Gambazinho, Wagner dos Santos, Marcelo Cândido de Jesus, Marcos Antônio Alves da Silva
Date
1993
Location
Candelária Church, Pius X Square, central Rio de Janeiro
Case status
solved

Case timeline

  1. 1993-07-22

    According to survivors, a group of children threw stones at police cars near the Candelária Church the morning before the attack.

  2. 1993-07-23

    Occupants of several cars opened fire on street children sleeping beside the Candelária Church; eight people were killed, six of them minors.

  3. 1994-09-12

    Wagner dos Santos, a survivor and key prosecution witness, was attacked a second time at Central do Brasil.

  4. 2000

    On the prosecution's appeal, Nelson Oliveira dos Santos was sentenced for the killings and the attempted murder of Wagner dos Santos.

  5. 2003-02

    In a further trial, Marcus Vinícius Emmanuel Borges was sentenced to 300 years.

  6. 2023

    For the 30th anniversary, the Rio de Janeiro City Hall renovated the memorial cross bearing the victims' names.

Best coverage

No approved coverage links are attached yet.

People

  • Cláudio dos Santos

    ACQUITTED

    Military police officer; indicted and acquitted

    citation on file

  • Anderson de Oliveira Pereira

    VICTIM

    13 years old; among the eight people killed

    citation on file

  • Jurandir Gomes França

    ACQUITTED

    Locksmith; indicted and acquitted

    citation on file

  • Valdevino Miguel de Almeida

    VICTIM

    14 years old; among the eight people killed

    citation on file

  • Marcus Vinícius Emmanuel Borges

    CONVICTED

    Former military police officer; convicted and, in a February 2003 trial, sentenced to 300 years; reported to remain free

    citation on file

  • Paulo José da Silva

    VICTIM

    18 years old; among the eight people killed

    citation on file

  • Paulo Roberto de Oliveira

    VICTIM

    11 years old; among the eight people killed in the massacre

    citation on file

  • Leandro Santos da Conceição

    VICTIM

    17 years old; among the eight people killed

    citation on file

  • Gambazinho

    VICTIM

    17 years old; name inscribed on the memorial cross

    citation on file

  • Arlindo Afonso Lisboa Júnior

    CHARGED

    Indicted in the case; not tried for the mass killing; sentenced to two years for possessing one of the weapons used

    citation on file

  • Wagner dos Santos

    VICTIM

    Survivor; shot four times and later a key prosecution witness; placed in the Witness Protection Program

    citation on file

  • Marco Aurélio Dias de Alcântara

    CONVICTED

    Sentenced to 204 years and later released from jail

    citation on file

  • Marcelo Cândido de Jesus

    VICTIM

    14 years old; among the eight people killed

    citation on file

  • Marcos Antônio Alves da Silva

    VICTIM

    19 years old; among the eight people killed

    citation on file

  • Marcelo Cortes

    ACQUITTED

    Military police officer; indicted and acquitted

    citation on file

  • Nelson Oliveira dos Santos

    CONVICTED

    Initially absolved despite a confession; convicted on the prosecution's appeal in 2000 for the killings and the attempted murder of Wagner dos Santos

    citation on file

Places

Candelária Church, Pius X Square, central Rio de Janeiro

-22.9009, -43.1778

View on the map

Common questions

What happened to the victim?
Eight homeless people, six of them minors, were killed near the Candelária Church in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 23 July 1993; several men, including police officers, were indicted and some were convicted.
Where did the massacre happen?
Candelária Church, Pius X Square, central Rio de Janeiro.
Who was convicted?
Marcus Vinícius Emmanuel Borges (Former military police officer; convicted and, in a February 2003 trial, sentenced to 300 years; reported to remain free), Marco Aurélio Dias de Alcântara (Sentenced to 204 years and later released from jail), and Nelson Oliveira dos Santos (Initially absolved despite a confession; convicted on the prosecution's appeal in 2000 for the killings and the attempted murder of Wagner dos Santos).
What is the current status of the case?
Status: solved. Last verified July 2026.

Sources

  1. Candelária massacrewikipedia · Wikipedia · 2026-07-05
  2. Contemporaneous CNN coverage of the Candelária case: officer convicted over the killing of street children (1996)news · CNN · 2026-07-05
  3. 30 anos depois da chacina da Candelária, local ainda é refúgio para moradores de ruanews · Folha de S.Paulo · 2026-07-05

Last verified JUL 2026

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