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Seven months with Desirée
Not a day went by that I didn't cry in Cracolândia. I cried everyday.
Desirée: past, present and future
The operation in Cracolândia had started one week before.
The police invaded Helvetia Street. Torn the place apart.
We were accompanying a police action towards the crack users in that region.
Suddenly, the cavalry arrived. Among the horses appeared madam Teresa.
A 71 years-old lady, white hair, with those short steps of hers, walking quickly...
And she came to ask us if we'd seen her daughter-in-law, Desirée.
Because nobody could find Desirée, she was a hard one to be found on her own.
Very hard one.
She told me that her daughter-in-law was pregnant, and that she was a well know crack user in that region.
Before they invaded Cracolândia, my intentions were to take her out of there,
keep her until the baby was born and she could figure out what to do with her life.
But there was no time.
We ran story on January 11th. On the 19th, actually, on the 18th, Desirée was arrested.
Women´s penitentiary of the Capital.
His mother told me he was ***-positive. I took all the money I had and spent it on drugs.
And I said: Now, I'll smoke until I die.
Because I was so insane, so disturbed at that time,
that I didnt even see the police coming, when I noticed them they were already taking me.
When I realized, I was already arrested, didn't even take a hit.
She was condemned for 6 years in prison for drug traffic. During this time, Desirée gave birth in jail.
Pregnant women who give birth in prison are entitled to spend 6 months with the child.
I know. I'm aware that when he leaves, I will only see him again when I leave.
When I get out of jail. He won't recognize me.
He won't recognize me.
I say it because it's not the first son I have in jail.
In 2001, when I was arrested for the first time,
I had a child in prison too. I was with him for 4 months,
and when I left jail, he hid in the corner of the walls. He was terrified of me.
We did the interview with her on one week, the next week she would be transferred to a health unit.
But she ended up being released; she was put on probation
because she had been pregnant in prison.
I feel that my son is a huge miracle in my life, in every way.
Even because he was born so healthy and full of life.
What I thought was my end, was actually a fresh start, right?
Only time will tell us, and she will prove it herself. Not to me, not to her mother, not to anybody,
but to herself. "I'm capable of living without drugs"
If she manages to be a mother, manages to take care of this child
in these first months of live, in this first year, maybe she has a chance.
Look, I‚'m not really asking for no one to believe in me,
because the most important in all of this
is that I believe in myself now. The more important is that I want to.
It's a very strong will. I want to.