BSB 23/04/85 Tuesday
It’s a bit hard to imagine Sarney as the President. He doesn’t have Tancredo’s charisma. Is he going to be any good? There’s one person who has suffered more than anybody and who has moved everyone for being strong: Mrs Risoleta Neves, who is incredible, beautiful and serene in her suffering.(well she might be soaked in medication, but she looked dignified). Had no school again today and no school tomorrow either, probably.
Around 10:30 Alexandra and I went to Eixao on our bicycles. We went to the 16 and then back to, under a hot sun and struggling to go uphill. At around 11:20 Tancredo’s body drove past. There were 3 tanks around his car and his coffin was covered by the Brazilian flag. After his car there were lots of police cars and then after that a few cars with famous people in them, and around those cars lots of people in bikes and motorbikes, so off we went with them. The cars weren’t going that fast so we could just about follow them. I saw Mrs. Risoleta Neves and cycled next to her car for a little while. When we realised we were back at 16 (end of Eixao), then they stopped everyone following Tancredo to the airport and we had to find another way. Alexandra, 2 girls and I spent a while discussing whether we should go or not and decided not to go in the end. On the way back, we were near the zoo at that point, when we came across this near horizontal drop grass verge. Alexandra and one of the girls just threw their bikes. The other girl and I came down sitting and holding on to our bikes (which were lying flat and sliding down). It was a nightmare! I nearly died when I got home at 13:10. I went down in the afternoon and evening. A million people were in the streets of Belo Horizonte to say goodbye to Tancredo as his body drove past. Five people died in the madness. Bloody Hell!!!