Followers of Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion, persecuted by Pentecostals and drug traffickers in Brazil<

The old wooden door painted blue resists. Squeaks. Then eventually give in. " Oh my God ! It's awful! “Yells Carla (the first name has been changed), her voice choked with tears. With one bound, the 37-year-old rushes through the rooms of the ransacked sanctuary. Yellowish dust. Wild grasses. Torn lace. Ritual objects broken by dozens, exploded on the ground. Leaning against a wall, a small abandoned doll, her white dress adorned with pearls and shells, stares blankly at this scene of disaster.

"I hadn't been back for two years. It's horrible. Here, it was a place of life, of peace, of celebration! Carla sobs. Sacked by assailants, Ilê Axé de Bate Folha in the town of Duque de Caxias, in the northern suburbs of Rio, was once one of the main terreiros in the region, places of worship of Candomblé, a Afro-Brazilian religion mixing Christian beliefs and African rites. A place where, for decades, faithful and believers danced in white dresses or colorful outfits, to the rhythm of sacred atabaque drums and songs sung in the Yoruba language, celebrating the powers of the beautiful Oxum, black goddess of the rivers, joy and true love.

An atmosphere of terror

Carla, who was initiated into worship here, calms down and sits down. “It was July 11, 2019. It was around 9:30 a.m. and the weather was very nice,” she begins. That day, Maria Eduarda*, 85, high priestess of Candomblé – mãe de santo Yatemyquiamasi, according to her religious name – comes to sweep her terreiro. A few minutes later, there's a knock on the door. Facing the old lady, “three boys under 25 in shorts and sandals, armed with pistols”. One of them, threatening, enters the premises: “Now, my old, finished joking. You will stop with your demon sorcery! »

For an hour, the mãe de santo is forced to break, one by one, the sacred objects of her sanctuary. Ritual outfits and musical instruments are thrown into the street and set on fire. "She tried to calm them down, begged them to stop, she was crying," Carla continues. The barbarism ends after an hour with the arrival of the police. But when calm returned, the terrified faithful resolved to close the terreiro. “Everything that was sacred has been destroyed. It was our lives that were shattered,” sighs Carla.

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