The Cult Dossier · No. 109 · Occult / Esoteric / Satanic
Superior Universal Alignment
Lineamento Universal Superior (LUS)
1980s – 1993 · Altamira, Pará, Brazil
XII. THE WIDER FIELD — CONCISE ENTRIES
Fully religious — invented apocalyptic sect
Who led it
VALENTINA DE ANDRADE (c.1931 – 31 December 2022), an Argentine woman and author of the book Deus, a grande farsa (God, the Great Fraud).
What it worshipped and taught
An anti-God apocalyptic teaching. Material attributed to the sect called children unconscious instruments of God's great scam and singled out those BORN AFTER 1981 for special suspicion. Prosecutors alleged that boys were castrated and killed in ritual acts linked to that teaching.
Who was in it
Valentina de Andrade; the doctors ANÍSIO FERREIRA DE SOUZA and CÉSIO BRANDÃO, the military policeman CARLOS ALBERTO DOS SANTOS and the merchant AMAILTON MADEIRA GOMES, all convicted; the victims — 14 boys kidnapped, mutilated, killed or never found in Altamira between 1989 and 1993.
How it ended, or where it stands
Broken by prosecution. Four men were convicted; THE LEADER WAS ACQUITTED, never served a sentence, and died in 2022. A serial killer's later confession has left the question of who did what contested.
The dead
6 boys killed and 5 never found, with 3 more mutilated and surviving; the 2003 charges covered 3 murders and 2 castrations
Of note
One of the least-known lethal cases in the record, and a reminder that the English-language literature covers a small fraction of the field.
Its timeline
- late 1980s The sect's writings single out CHILDREN BORN AFTER 1981. Prosecutors later pointed to that teaching.
- 1989–1993 Boys disappear in and around Altamira, Pará. By Wikipedia's count 6 BOYS AGED 8–14 ARE KILLED, 3 AGED 8–10 SURVIVE MUTILATION, and 5 AGED 8–13 ARE NEVER FOUND. Brazilian press puts the total at 14.
- 1990s Andrade, the doctors and others are arrested; in September 1995 they are released on habeas corpus while the case drags on.
- DECEMBER 2003 THE TRIAL. After 17 days a jury ACQUITS ANDRADE, 6 votes to 1, for lack of evidence on charges of masterminding the murder of THREE BOYS and the castration of TWO OTHERS. She is the only one of the five defendants tried to go free. The others receive 77 years (Souza), 57 (Gomes), 56 (Brandão) and 35 (dos Santos).
- after the trial The serial killer FRANCISCO DAS CHAGAS claims 42 child murders, 12 of them in Altamira. The convicted men demand a reinvestigation, and the case remains contested.
- 31 DECEMBER 2022 Valentina de Andrade dies, aged 91.