Brazilian journalist who was jailed 7 times, tortured for speaking out against Vietnam War

Journalist Pedro de Oliveira, 77, recalling the secret film screenings he did more than 50 years ago, says: "The scenes were horrifying. We could not stay quiet."

The National Liberation Front of South Vietnam sent the footage abroad to expose the war the U.S. was waging in Vietnam.

Pedro and his friends used small cinemas to show the footage and expose U.S. military crimes to students across Brazil.

Journalist and historian Pedro de Oliveira has supported Vietnam for more than 50 years. Photo courtesy of Pedro de Oliveira

He was jailed seven times for his activism and never finished his studies. In 1968 police tackled and arrested him when he was a college freshman during a Labor Day protest in São Paulo.

Later, as president of the social sciences student union, he spent nearly two months in jail for screening Vietnam War footage. His third arrest came in mid-1974.

In prison, he was tortured with electric shocks. He says: "My body would convulse. My veins would feel like they would burst. I would pass out and then wake up to more torture."

He was arrested five more times for journalism linked to the communist movement. The then military regime considered protesting against the Vietnam War a threat to national security and allowed imprisonment without trial.

Many of Pedro’s comrades never returned after finishing their sentences. He survived, but years of imprisonment left permanent scars. After his seventh arrest in 1985 and release, he began looking into international movements. He turned to Vietnamese history in 2010.

He says with admiration: "From the wars against the Mongols and the French to the enduring fight against the U.S., I saw how a small nation’s resilience helped it defeat powerful empires."

Vietnam became his source of inspiration for journalism. Some of his published works focus on the time of Nguyen Ai Quoc (the name that President Ho Chi Minh called himself in his early revolutionary years) in Rio de Janeiro at age 21 during his journey to various countries overseas to liberate Vietnam.

In a 2021 article for Vermelho, he wrote that many fought to overthrow colonial rule, but Nguyen Ai Quoc’s journey stood out. He traveled through colonies in Africa and Latin America and met Jose Leandro da Silva, a black sailor who led the Revolt of the Lash in Brazil.

"Ho Chi Minh saw colonial exploitation and severe social inequality in Brazil firsthand," Pedro wrote. He thought these experiences shaped the ideas of national liberation President Ho Chi Minh followed throughout his life.

The book "Ho Chi Minh: Vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã" (Ho Chi Minh: The life and career of the leader of Vietnam’s national liberation) by journalist Pedro de Oliveira has been reprinted many times.

His 2022 book "Ho Chi Minh: Vida e obra do líder da libertação nacional do Vietnã" (Ho Chi Minh: The life and career of the leader of Vietnam’s national liberation) won first prize at the 8th National External Information Service Awards in Vietnam.

He said writing the book was difficult because there were few documents in Portuguese and he had to do his own research with his limited English and Spanish.

He studied President Ho Chi Minh’s works, former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara’s memoirs, and scholar Hans Morgenthau’s analyses of U.S. foreign policy failures.

During this time he worked at the National Library of Vietnam and met scholars at the Academy of Sciences in Hanoi and Da Nang. He also studied the Nhan Dan (People) newspaper.

Each literature was a "brick" for building the foundation of the book, he says. He was deeply moved to receive the award. "I dedicate this award to the soldiers of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, who sent me the footage that changed my life."

As secretary-general of the The Vietnam - Brazil Friendship and Cooperation Association, he introduced Ho Chi Minh’s ideals and Vietnam’s development experience to the people of Brazil and Latin America.

The association is now publishing a Spanish edition of the book to share this legacy with a wider audience. "I am also researching Ho Chi Minh’s time in Brazil in 1912, when he stayed in Rio de Janeiro for several months to recover from an illness.

"This was a key chapter that helped inspire movements against racial discrimination and to protect the rights of Brazil’s maritime workers."

The association helps build cultural, sporting, economic, and trade relations the two nations. It is working with Brazil’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation to strengthen cooperation in semiconductors and aerospace.

Pedro de Oliveira speaks about Ho Chi Minh’s ideals at the late Vietnamese leader’s 133rd birthday celebrations in Brasilia in 2023. Photo by Vietnam News Agency

He returned to Vietnam for the fourth time in early September. He was impressed by the sight of people camping along the streets of Hanoi to see for the National Day parade on Sept. 2.

Pedro and several other international friends of Vietnam were welcomed and honored by the Party and government.

He says he values every chance to return to a country he loves and learn more about its history, society, politics, and economy. "When preparing for the 16th Congress of the Communist Party of Brazil in October, we look to Vietnam’s experience as a model."