Operation Tarantula
Operation Tarantula (Brazilian Portuguese: Operação Tarântula) was a major police operation carried out in São Paulo between February 27 and March 10, 1987. It was based on the criminalization of sex work by travesti and transgender people, in the context of the HIV epidemic in Brazil.[1][2] 56 travestis were arrested on the first night of the operation.[2][3][4]
History
[edit]In Brazil, at the end of the 1980s, a process of redemocratization was underway, following more than two decades of Brazilian military dictatorship (1964–1985). During this period of political opening, society expected the extension of fundamental rights and guarantees to vulnerable populations.[2]
From the early 1980s until at least the early 1990s,[5][6][7] there was a moral panic related to the proliferation of AIDS, then associated with gay men and transgender women, being named, in the academic field, as Gay Related Immune Deficiency (GRID) and, in the media, as "gay cancer", "gay plague" or "pink plague", which resulted in the stigmatization of the LGBTQ population.[2] On May 1, 1980, O Estado de S. Paulo displayed the following headline: "Police already have a joint plan against travestis".[8] In 1981, Jornal do Brasil published the article "New disease affects homosexuals in the USA".[9]
Police persecution intensified between 1980 and 1985, when police chief José Wilson Richetti ordered the mass arrest of travestis and transgender people through operations known as "Clean-up" (Portuguese: Limpeza) and "Round-up" (Portuguese: Rondão), which led to the arrest of more than 1,500 people in downtown São Paulo alone.[8][10]
Operation Tarantula was based on Article 130 of the Brazilian Penal Code (promulgated in 1940), which condemns to imprisonment of three months to one year (or a fine) any individual who exposes someone to the contagion of a venereal disease with which they know they are infected. An additional year is added to the sentence if the individual intends to transmit the disease.[2] The operation was, therefore, an action to combat AIDS.[11][12][13][14]
At the same time, the operation was linked to an apocalyptic religious ideology, centered on the criminalization of prostitution, especially of transgender people, while concealing information about HIV transmission among cisgender heterosexuals. In the early days of the operation, Márcio Prudente Cruz, chief delegate of the department that brought together the regional police stations of the São Paulo Metropolitan Region (Degran), pontificated: "The times of Nostradamus are coming."[2]
The travestis apprehended by the police were facing charges for the crime of venereal disease transmission, and newspapers of the time indicated the possibility of compulsory testing to detect sexually transmitted diseases, with the penal system appearing as an instrument to contain the growing spread of HIV.[2]
LGBTQ rights groups pressured the São Paulo Public Security Secretariat to end the operation. During the 12 days of Operation Tarantula, it is estimated that more than 300 transvestites were arrested.[2] In addition to them, many others were killed.[11]
Neon Cunha, one of the survivors of Operation Tarantula, recalls, in an interview with CNN Brasil, what she went through at the time:[11]
When the black and white police van (called "the boat") passed by, it caused panic. It was all violence; they could "bring down the baton" or worse.
In downtown São Paulo, I saw a Black trans woman executed with a shot to the forehead. The police officer said: "What are you looking at? Run while you're alive."
Every now and then, bodies were found in the streets.
Origin of the name
[edit]Operation Tarantula was named as such because "the tarantula does, in fact, have long arms",[2] just like the operation, which covered a large part of the São Paulo Metropolitan Region, including Osasco, Guarulhos and ABC Paulista.[13][4]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Silva, Brune Herculano da. "OPERAÇÃO TARÂNTULA E A TRAVESTI MARAVILHA" [OPERATION TARANTULA AND THE WONDER WOMAN TRAVESTI] (PDF). Anais do 3º Seminário Internacional Gêneros, Sexualidades e Educação na Ordem do Dia – Trajetórias interrompidas e caminhos possíveis (in Brazilian Portuguese). Nova Iguaçu: Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro: 1–8.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Cavalcanti, Céu; Barbosa, Roberta Brasilino; Bicalho, Pedro Paulo Gastalho (2018). "Os Tentáculos da Tarântula: Abjeção e Necropolítica em Operações Policiais a Travestis no Brasil Pós-redemocratização" [The Tentacles of the Tarantula: Abjection and Necropolitics in Police Operations Against Travestis in Post-Redemocratization Brazil]. Psicologia: Ciência e Profissão (in Brazilian Portuguese). 38 (spe2): 175–191. doi:10.1590/1982-3703000212043. ISSN 1982-3703.
- ↑ Tavares, Hiago de Souza; de Souza, Marwyn Soares (November 2021). "Travesti não entra: uma análise crítica sobre o tratamento dado as travestis durante a ditadura civil-militar" [Transvestites do not enter: a critical analysis of the treatment given to transvestites during the Military Civil Dictatorship] (PDF). Dignidade Re-Vista (in Brazilian Portuguese). 8 (13): 1–13.
- 1 2 Vilardaga, Vicente (June 20, 2024). "Opinião - Andanças na metrópole: A vergonhosa Operação Tarântula" [Opinion - Wanderings in the metropolis: The shameful Operation Tarantula]. Folha de S.Paulo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved January 6, 2026.
- ↑ "FDA Approval Of HIV Medicines. A timeline with all the FDA approval dates for HIV medicines, categorized by drug class". National Institutes of Health. Retrieved January 6, 2026.
- ↑ "Antiretroviral Drug Discovery and Development | NIAID: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases". National Institutes of Health. February 5, 2024. Retrieved January 6, 2026.
- ↑ Rocha, Lucas (February 21, 2024). "Virada de jogo: evolução da medicina revoluciona o tratamento do HIV" [Game changer: medical advancements revolutionize HIV treatment]. Veja Saúde (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved January 6, 2026.
- 1 2 Gonçalves, Maria Eugênia (March 31, 2021). "Operação Tarântula: Os Rondões Contra Travestis Na Ditadura" [Operation Tarantula: The Raids Against Travestis During the Dictatorship]. Revista Híbrida (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved January 6, 2026.
- ↑ "Doença nova atinge homossexuais nos EUA" [New disease affects homosexuals in the USA]. Jornal do Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). 52. 1981 – via National Library of Brazil.
- ↑ "LGBT e prostitutas denunciam violência" [LGBT people and sex workers denounce violence]. Memorial da Democracia (in Brazilian Portuguese). June 13, 1980. Retrieved January 6, 2026.
- 1 2 3 Garcia, Amanda (March 2, 2023). "Sobrevivente da Operação Tarântula lembra perseguição a travestis: "Pânico"" [Survivor of Operation Tarantula recalls persecution of travestis: "Panic"]. CNN Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved January 6, 2026.
- ↑ "Espetáculo gratuito 'Tarântula Transita' recorda operação que perseguia pessoas trans e travestis em Presidente Prudente" [Free show 'Tarântula Transita' recalls operation that persecuted transgender and travesti people in Presidente Prudente]. G1 (in Brazilian Portuguese). April 8, 2025. Retrieved January 6, 2026.
- 1 2 Nascimento, Rafael (February 27, 2023). "Operação Tarântula: perseguição a trans e travestis completa 35 anos" [Operation Tarantula: Persecution of transgender and travesti individuals turns 35]. Portal iG (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved January 6, 2026.
- ↑ Canofre, Fernanda; Pereira, Cledivânia (January 17, 2018). "'Sobrevivi', diz vítima de operação da polícia de caça a travestis há 31 anos" ['I survived,' says victim of police operation targeting travestis 31 years ago]. Folha de S.Paulo (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved January 6, 2026.