REUTERS: Neo-Nazi groups multiply in a more conservative Brazil →

Last November, just hours before a social gathering for Haitian immigrants in the town of Itajai in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, event organizer Andrea Muller received a chilling message.

"Cancel the Haiti exhibition or we will commit a massacre," read the subject line of the email, seen by Reuters. "Santa Catarina is a land of WHITE PEOPLE, FOR WHITE PEOPLE," the anonymous sender wrote, signing off with the Nazi salute "SIEG HEIL."

Police detective Arthur Lopes shows a flag seized from a neo-Nazi group who call themselves Crew 38 in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina state, Brazil April 24, 2023. REUTERS/Cristiano Estrela

A flag seized from a neo-Nazi group who call themselves Crew 38 is pictured in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina state, Brazil April 24, 2023. REUTERS/Cristiano Estrela

Items seized from a neo-Nazi group who call themselves Crew 38 are displayed in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina state, Brazil April 24, 2023. REUTERS/Cristiano Estrela

Community center organizer Andrea Muller speaks to Haitian migrant, 35-year-old plumber Gregory Desir, at her home in Itajai, in Santa Catarina state, Brazil April 25, 2023. REUTERS/Steven Grattan