Paulo Malhães was a Brazilian Army officer who died during a home invasion and robbery. Shortly before his death Malhães had acknowledged he had tortured and killed dissidents during the

Brazilian military dictatorship The military dictatorship in Brazil (), occasionally referred to as the Fifth Brazilian Republic, was established on 1 April 1964, after a coup d'état by the Brazilian Armed Forces, with support from the United States government, against presi ...

, and was unapologetic for doing so. According to the

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...

his death was suspected to have been an act of retaliation, but his autopsy demonstrated that he died of a heart attack. Malhães first spoke about serving as a torturer in 2012, to the

Truth Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state ac ...

, forty years after he had been assigned to manage a

safehouse A safe house (also spelled safehouse) is a dwelling place or building whose unassuming appearance makes it an inconspicuous location where one can hide out, take shelter, or conduct clandestine activities. Historical usage It may also refer to ...

Petrópolis Petrópolis (), also known as the Imperial City, is a municipality in the Southeast Region of Brazil. It is located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, northeast of the city of Rio de Janeiro. According to the 2022 Brazilian census, Petrópolis mun ...

, colloquially known as Casa da Morte—the "house of death"—where torture was routine. His work in 1970-1972 consisted of torture and interrogation of suspected political opponents of the regime. According to Malhães, the nominal goal of the activities in the safe house was to convince the suspects to agree to serve as double agents. According to Malhães, in addition to ending their torture those suspects who agreed to serve as double agents would receive clandestine payments as incentives. However, the only suspect he described agreeing to serve as a double agent,

Inês Etienne Romeu Inês Etienne Romeu (December 18, 1942 – April 27, 2015) was a Brazilian political prisoner held in extrajudicial detention in a Brazilian torture camp in the early 1970s. Romeu has been described as the sole captive to survive the camp. In 201 ...

, was later deemed to have been insincere, and was imprisoned for a further eight years. Details of the activities at the ''"house of death"'' was the safehouse was colloquially known were first confirmed in her 1979 memoirs. At least 22 suspects held in the house died. Malhães acknowledged that Carlos Alberto Soares de Freitas, a high-profile regime opponent who had disappeared, and was never seen again, had been held in the house. But he claimed that former Congressman Rubens Paiva must have been held elsewhere.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malhaes, Paulo 2014 deaths Military dictatorship in Brazil 1938 births 20th-century Brazilian military personnel