This story is a follow on to the one about protesting the draft of several volunteers in the summer of 1968.

After having returned to Pernambuco from the press conference in Rio advising anyone who would listen of the stupidity of drafting PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS, I was called back to Rio to be read the riot act about public comments. I had to stay a couple of extra days because of the 5th Institutional Act (martial law). There were large protests against the government in downtown Rio. I went there the day before my meeting at PC Headquarters.

While taking pictures of the crowd from a good vantage point, me and several others were told not to take pictures of the action. One guy next to me said "no problem" and lead me to the seventh floor office of his dentist where we began taking pictures again. He was a reporter from O Globo and knew the ins and outs of downtown Rio. After about 20 minutes of taking pictures of the crowd, the demonstrations and the police arresting people by the truckload I became vaguely aware of other people in the room. They were the same plainclothesmen who had told us minutes before not to take pictures. They took this infraction very seriously and escorted us downstairs and took the cameras. I was (and still am) six feet tall with curly blonde hair and a beard. I stood out as a foreigner and was photographed several times by other reporters as I was escorted to a truck full of other people. We were held there for a good length of time before being driven to DOPS Headquarters. This is not the place you want to be in Rio. There were more than 1,000 arrested that day for protesting (among other things) Operation Kill Student...and most of those arrested were students.

It seems that the party in power (ARENA?) had been arresting student leaders and minor elected officials in the Northeast, hogtying them and flying them over the Atlantic ocean and pushing them out the plane. To be arrested while protesting this action was not a good thing.

After several hours locked up with hundreds of young protesters who soon began to recognize me as a foreigner I became quite uncomfortable. I was soon called before an official who held my camera and wanted an explanation of why I did no obey orders to stop taking pictures. They did not concern themselves with my obvious foreign status. They thought I was a spy (CIA or Peace Corps were the same in their opinion).

Do all of us remember the old saying about Portuguese being the most difficult language in the world, especially for Americans because of all the synonyms? You know, for example "manga" which can mean the fruit, the sleeve of a shirt or the third person singular of the verb "to bother." Of course manga in not a synonym.

As I stood there 14 months in country with an appointment the next day at Peace Corps Headquarters for protesting the Vietnam war and the drafting of in country PCV's, I had everything to loose and little to gain....so I let them have it.

I explained that as a foreigner I found it very difficult to fully comprehend Portuguese because of all the synonyms (sinônimos)...for example "manga"...At this point I could see they were enjoying the recognition of a cultural imperative as well as the problem it was causing a foreigner. I explained that I was an American and found Portuguese a particularly difficult language to learn. Especially the confusion over many similar sounding words...I pulled on my "manga" and recited the catechism of the synonyms...They all laughed at the obvious discomfort this had caused me. I further went on to explain that I thought the police has said not to take pictures "na rua" (in the street) instead of "da rua" (of the street)...A simple explanation that at once recognized their cultural pride in their language; and at the same time illustrating the difficulty foreigners (especially Americans) have with their language. Everyone laughed and accepted this as a reason for misunderstanding the directions (I knew full well that I should have put away my camera and stopped taking pictures of the demonstrations from anywhere).
There was a momentary silence and I took the opportunity to open the camera and expose all the film of that roll to light and said that now there was no difference between me and anyone just standing around and watching. They agreed and let me go (about 6 hours after having been picked up).

The next morning I went to the PC office in Rio to be scolded for having the press conference and bringing attention to the plight of the PCV's drafted that summer. There was a photo on the front page of O Globo showing me being arrested and put into the truck, but my face was mostly obscured and only my eyes were visible. The paper was sitting on the directors desk with my picture in full view...only he did not recognize me. I wouldn't be the first time a government official could not recognize what was looking right at him...