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In 1972, in the Andes mountain range, a group of Uruguayans found cannibalism to be the only way to preserve their lives after an air disaster. The passengers on the aircraft were in a "life or death" situation.

 

But what if it were in Brazil? What does Brazilian law say about the practice of cannibalism?

 

On the topic, we heard from criminalist Fernando 

 

The lawyer explains that in Brazilian Criminal Law there is no specific crime for cannibalism. However, the "cannibal" can be included in other crimes under the law, such as intentional homicide, if the perpetrator causes the victim's death to eat their flesh; or the vilification of a corpse, when, despite not committing murder, the perpetrator vilifies, destroys the corpse to consume the flesh.

 

Still according to the lawyer, if the film case fell under Brazilian jurisdiction, it is likely that the survivors would not even be denounced, as they had no alternative, resulting in the unenforceability of different conduct, which excludes culpability.

 

The "miracle of the Andes"

 

The Netflix film is based on real events, and tells a story that took place in October 1972, when a Fairchild aircraft left Uruguay for Santiago, Chile, carrying 19 players from the "Old Christians" team and 21 other people. Due to bad weather conditions, the pilots made a stopover in Mendoza, Argentina.

 

After resuming their journey the following day, the mistaken flight over the Andes Mountains resulted in a collision with the mountains, causing the death of 13 people.

 

The 32 survivors spent 72 days in the wreckage, facing extreme conditions such as intense cold and food shortages.

 

Even after consuming the few provisions available, such as chocolate, sweets and wine, the lack of resources led them to make an extreme decision: eating the flesh from the bodies of the deceased.

 

"They ate almost every part of the human body, including the entrails, hands and feet, and brains. When they had finished every last particle of meat, they split the bone in half and extracted the marrow. They only discarded the lungs, skin and bones. genitals", reported the official page "Sociedad de la ".

 

With the search suspended, three survivors set out on a nine-day journey in search of help, being rescued by the Chilean armed forces in December, more than two months after the accident.

 

Image from the website  compares a scene taken from the Netflix film and the original photo of the survivors of the air disaster. (Image: Reproduction/

Cannibals of

As absurd as it may seem, there are cases of cannibalism in Brazil. The most recent, and which shocked the country, occurred in 2012 in the city of /PE. Three people were convicted of quadruple homicide, vilification and concealment of a corpse after murdering, dismembering, consuming and making pies and drumsticks with the flesh of the victims, three women aged 17, 20 and 31.

 

The crimes committed by Jorge  da Silveira, Isabel Cristina Pires da Silveira and Bruna Cristina Oliveira da Silva, who attracted women with job offers, were only discovered after the trio used the credit card of one of the victims, who had been reported missing.

 

Newspaper "O Estado de S. Paulo" reported acts of cannibalism in /PE. (Image: O Estado de S. Paulo)

In an interview, Jorge claimed that he fed on the victims as a form of "purification" so that the flesh would not rot. According to the clinical psychologist, Viviane Rojas, and the criminal psychologist, Christian Costa, in the documentary series "Anatomy of Crime", the leader of the  "sect" suffered from delusional disorder, which, unlike the schizophrenic person, is able to plan, pursue a victim and carry out the crime.

 

Lawyer Fernando  clarified that, although there is no specific classification in Brazilian law, when a person kills another to consume the meat, there will be an intentional homicide, with the qualification of the use of cruel means.

 

Source: Migalha