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  Criminal process of Paulo Santana and Aidil [..]
  PUBLIC ARCHIVE OF THE STATE OF BAHIA. Judiciary Fund. Republican Section.
  1958

  It was an ordinary day at the Station of the 1st Police District of Salvador in the end of October 1958 when a policeman Lima came in with a couple Paulo and Aidil.(PUBLIC ARCHIVE OF THE STATE OF BAHIA, 1958) They went to the police station after a quarrel and Paulo having fought with the policeman leading them, due to a misunderstanding that started around 8 PM in the "junction of the Senator Costa Pinto Street with Pedro Altran", where the official was conducting the traffic. The official had stopped the bus "Barra Avenida" to ascertain the excess of the passengers.

  It appears that the deficiencies of the collective transport were seen from different angles by the contenders at that moment. The policeman wanted to uphold the law, telling the bus driver to admit to having an excess of passengers and to give him his documents". (PUBLIC ARCHIVE OF THE STATE OF BAHIA, 1958) Aidil had then, as other folks, gotten impacient and complaining about the policeman's actions. In her opinion "other measures should be applied", such as "increasing the number of vehicles to attend to the needs of carrying the passengers". (PUBLIC ARCHIVE OF THE STATE OF BAHIA, 1958) In what followed Paulo enters the scene, dissatisfied with the policeman's attitude towards his wife.

  From then on the versions of the accuser and the accused, as was expected, take to diverging aspects. They agree that right after "the two were rolling on the ground", Paulo and Lima the policeman, but disagree on the cause and effect: according to the couple, Paulo retaliated the agression; according to the policeman it was the opposite. What is certain is that the skirmish only ended when two more policemen that were passing by in a car intervened and took everybody to the police station.

  The policeman Arivaldo França, that helped taking in the couple, said that he knew that man

  [...] by nickname "Paulo Satanás" and it was the third time that the current person has been charged with blatant offence and in one of these cases having wounded the Civil Guard inspector Pitanga with a razor; [...] that the current person is in the rogues' circle known as a pothead [...].(PUBLIC ARCHIVE OF THE STATE OF BAHIA, 1958, p. 4)

  A few days later they paid the bail, staying in freedom. The police chief and the district attorney agreed on the cuplability of the couple advising the court to take appropriate measures. Nevertheless, it was only in 1961 when they were sought for by the law to comply with the court order. It was then learned by the official that they didn't live in the city any more and had moved to the Guanabara state. With this the attorney that had started the judiciary process asked the case archived, which was allowed by the judge and there were no more news of the couple.

  Lets focus, however, on what had happened. There was more that was said in the police station. The accusation of the policeman Arivaldo França shows a direct contact with the general lines of the prohibitionist discourse of the time that violent behavior was the natural consequence of the psychic effects of marijuana. “Paulo Satanás” was “renowned”, repeat offender that had "straight razored" a municipal guard and besides a "pothead". This last information seemed to guarantee his "troublemaker" fame for the authorities. Paulo was not detained for the use or traffic of the narcotics, but the accusation of being a "pothead" in the middle of a case of bodily harm had one role: it served to justify, in part, his violent behaviour and the legitimacy of the imprisionment. It was frequent to refer to the marijuana as something malicious and devilish, such as "the devil's herb", "the devilish plant" and "the bad herb" or it was said that were it burned "it became hell", as was the case of the streets of Ajuda and Tesouro in the center of Salvador. (A Tarde, 1959, p. 4) So, Paulo being the "Satan", marijuana corresponded to him.

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  THE LICEU CINEMA AND "THE BIRDS" OF HITCHCOCK
  Ricardo de Benedictis
  2022

  It was in the year 1965 when the Liceu cinema accounced The Birds of the great director Alfred Hitchcock. My sisters Teresa and Stella, together with my then sister-in-law Terezinha, wanted to go and see the movie that was told to be a Hitchcock's great production. We agreed on a night session and went to Rio Vermelho to the Sé Square in Salvador, where the best cinema halls of the Bahian capital were situated at that time.

  Arriving at the destination, as there was no space to park near the cinema and by the fact that it was fogging, I stopped the Jeep and the girls got out to wait me in the cinema vestibule. Soon I found a parking spot and went to join them. At the entrance of the Liceu, I witnessed a grotesque scene. A rogue dressed in white was holding Terezinha by the "pony-tail" while she fought to get free. I gave the vagabond a push and he turned, I punched him in the nose, while the Police came and took care of the rest, taking the miscreant to the police station on the Misericórdia Street nearby. It was the famous Police Station of Cames and Customs. On of the policemen told me that I had assaulted a very dangerous guy: - Have you heard of Paulo Satanás? That moment I was undecided, although the nickname was not unknown to me. The policeman continued: - He is the bandit that cut some passengers on the Liberdade train when it passed by Queiroz Branch and I advise you to be careful when leaving the cinema, while we are here to protect you. He is vengeful, cold and have some deaths on his list! I got perplexed!

  I confess that I watched the movie feeling more cold than normal, although the cinema hall had a very strong central air conditioning.