Gangsters Kill 30 Overnight In Brazil

A group known as 'First Command of the Capital' have killed 30 people in an organised attack in Sao Paolo, Brazil. The dead are reported to include officials and law enforcement agents. The attack is possibly in response to a movement of prisoners on Friday.



Brazil is notorious for it's problems with violent crime but for a group to have the ability to mobilise and execute such an operation is quite astonishing, particularly when it is carried out in and urban setting.

These events, along with other negative images that sometimes comes across from Brazil, make me wonder just how endemic naked corruption must be in some societies. Organisations that are able to carry out such flagrant acts must be getting help from somewhere.

Could it be possible for such happenings to fuel a call for a return to military-style rule in Brazil, if it is perceived that law and order is breaking down?

[edit on 13-5-2006 by KhieuSamphan]

Organisations that are able to carry out such flagrant acts must be getting help from somewhere.

This stood out for me. Any thoughts on who may be aiding the PCC?

The machinations of foreign governments are beyond my scope of involvement unfortunately so I suppose that statement is a product of my suspicious and cynical mind.

Having said that, Brazil does have a bit of a reputation :

Corruption is back in the news in Brazil. As happens every few months, allegations have surfaced against a prominent figure in public life. This time it is Romero Jucá, the social security minister, accused of falsely obtaining subsidised loans and misappropriation of public funds. He is unruffled. "This doesn't bother me. I'm sleeping easy," he told reporters this week.

Nothing has been proved against Mr Jucá and his relaxed attitude may well reflect his innocence. But innocent or guilty, such allegations against Brazil's rich or powerful rarely cause them much concern. Corruption is a fact of daily life and the chances of being punished for it are close to zero.

Taken from ft.com

It also sounds like quite an operation, not the kind of thing that can be done without some involvement from someone who is 'connected' in some way or another.

Reading further regarding the current state of Brazils 'gang' problem reveals a situation akin to a war. It could be said the 'War On Drugs' is, quite literally, being fought on Brazillian streets.

In the early 1990s, Brazil was mainly a transit point for illicit drugs produced elsewhere in South America. Now it's the world's second-largest consumer of coc aine after the United States, and that trade is overseen by coc aine "commands" that have grown in wealth, power and sophistication. Today, they are equipped with automatic rifles, grenades and rocket launchers ‐ arms sometimes newer and better than those of some Latin American armies.

Gangs that were once confined to steep, hillside slums are extending their reach into Brazil's middle- and upper-class neighborhoods. People here talk of the "Colombianization"
of Brazilian cities.

"We should not have waited for them to come down from the [slums]. We should have gone in there before and stopped them before they became stronger," said Marcelo Z. Nogueira Itagiba, chief of the Federal Police in Rio de Janeiro State. "But there has been a lack of will to cooperate and really confront this issue. Now we are seeing the result."

Taken from here.

The above extracts were taken from an article describing a gun battle outside a zoo in a middle class suburb of Rio.

It would appear that Brazil is now suffering from a sophisticated restructuring of it's drug industry.

An apparent increase in the murder rate from 2890 to 3448 over a 12 month is period quoted via the link above (I couldn't find the date unfortunately) making it five times more likely that you will be murdered if you live in Rio when compared to Washington D.C..

The following sections are taken from BBC site dated November 2005 and highlight possible responses to the increased levels of crime -

Former police ombudsman Professor Julita Lemgruber has told BBC World Service's Assignment programme that, in the state of Rio alone, the police killed 983 people last year. The figure is similar for Sao Paulo.

In the past five years, the number of fatal police shootings has more than doubled. Based on her experience as a government official, Professor Lemgruber says she believes the police are free to act with impunity.

But executions by death squads appear to be a traditional feature of Rio policing. While the authorities no longer give them official backing, evidence from the city morgues suggests they continue.

All in all, the urban centres of Brazil seem to becoming more and more lawless as the drug gangs struggle to consolidate their positions against one another, presumably, and the police. For their part, the police seem perfectly willing to escalate an already chaotic situation, but then, what choice do they have?

All in all, I feel sorry for the normal Brazillians who just want to go about their daily lives, as the majority of us do, however, if the situation carries on like this over a prolonged period, particularly in middle class urban centres, people are going to demand change.

Here is a little snippet from the US State Department site -

Corruption. As a matter of government policy, Brazil does not condone, encourage, or facilitate production, shipment, or distribution of illicit drugs or laundering of drug money. The Federal Police have carried out a number of high profile investigations of public officials and state police involved in money laundering and/or narcotics trafficking. The fight against corruption remains a high priority for Brazilian law enforcement.

America actively seeks to aid overseas battles against drugs, however I imagine that $12 million, if that is the true total, may not go too far. The following sections, taken from the Washington Office On Latin America highlight the concerns held within the US. It is interesting to note that SENASP may appear to receive additional, sepaerately earmarked, funding -

US counternarcotics policy in Brazil is concerned mainly with preventing the country from being used increasingly as a drug transit zone. State Department (INL) funding for counternarcotics law enforcement assistance during FY 2001 and 2002 was about $6 million each year. For FY 2003 the Bush Administration is seeking to double that amount to $12 million. This increase in aid is largely for Operation Cobra, an ambitious surveillance/interdiction effort along the 1000 mile Colombia-Brazil Amazon border.

SENASP (National Secretariat of Public Security within the Ministry of Justice)—this body is staffed by by police from the Brazilian Federal Police as well as the state civilian and military police. In September 2001, the US signed a letter of agreement with the government of Brazil that included SENASP as a direct recipient of US counternarcotics funds.

Interestingly, although Wikipedia gives several different slants on the term 'terrorist', it include this paragraph -

The United States defines "international terrorism" as activities that:

1: involve violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State, or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or any State;

2: appear to be intended:
- to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
- to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
- to affect the conduct of a government by assassination or kidnapping; and

3: occur totally outside the United States, or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to coerce or intimidate, or the locale in which their perpetrators operate or seek asylum. (50 U.S.C. § 1801(c))

Judging by some of the goings-on in South America at the moment, I would have thought that some of these drug gangs could be seriously considered as having fulfilled the criteria mentioned.


[edit on 13-5-2006 by KhieuSamphan]

There is a Brazilian movie called City of God which depicts the lives of two boys growing up in the slums of Rio de Janiero. It is in fact based on a true story. The DVD also contains a documentary on the reality of the slums and the effects they have on the city. The police talk about how they are outgunned in many cases, and also show the sheer amount of weapons they have confiscated (which will never seem to end) in a part of the movie. That police forces in the cities of Brazil are some of the only police forces in the world to have some of the biggest guns they have (which amazingly are also in the hands of the people they have to fight).

Further disturbances have been reported from Brazil over the weekend:

www.bangkokpost.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink">Bangkok Post

At least 52 people were killed over the weekend in the largest organized attack yet by drug gangs against Brazilian police and security forces.

The apparent apparent offensive of violence by organized crime groups was launched Friday night and continued through Sunday in Brazil's commercial capital, Sao Paulo, and outlying regions of Sao Paulo state.

The drug gangs were also blamed Sunday for ongoing uprisings by prisoners in at least 64 correctional facilities. Hundreds of prison visitors were being held hostage by an estimated 30,000 inmates in the penitentiary system.

It is interesting to note that there may be some sort of political element to the gangs structure:

BBC Report

It (First Command of the Capital) was formed in Sao Paulo by prisoners who survived one of Brazil's worst jail massacre in the early 1990s, when the police killed 111 inmates to put down a riot.

...

BBC regional correspondent Tom Gibb says that during the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil until 1985, criminals learned the language and organising methods of left-wing revolutionaries with whom they shared prison cells.

...

The same merging of criminal and political activities has been observed in other Latin American countries.

Originally posted by DYepes
There is a Brazilian movie called City of God which depicts the lives of two boys growing up in the slums of Rio de Janiero.

That's a really good movie.

But yeah crime is really bad down in Brazil. Mostly in Rio and Sao Paulo I believe. It also doesn't help that there prison system seems to be really bad. A life sentence is about 30 years, but the chances of some one actually staying for the whole sentence seems to be very slim. Usually they are out after a few years. I don't have any links to support this though. I'm only going by memory from what my wife has told me (she's Brasilian).

I'm really not surprised that things like the story in the original post can happen down there. Their are so many slums which are controlled and run by gangs. Some slums are so big, they even have there own McDonalds in them.

Not to say all Brasilian cities are bad and full of crime. There are lots of nice cities, like Curitiba is supposed to be really nice from what i've heard. It's mostly just to two largest cities, that being Sao Paulo and Rio, which seem to have the most crime.

I'll be in Sao Paulo for a few months starting in mid July. I'm excited and nervous at the same time

It looks like things are getting worse.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Originally posted by jraI'll be in Sao Paulo for a few months starting in mid July. I'm excited and nervous at the same time

You have good reasons to be nervous.

All the Brasilians that I know are afraid of going to São Paulo.

4 years ago some Brasilian musicians came visit one of my sisters and after that they went to a tour across Europe in a rented van and after that hitchiking, and they said that worst part of the journey from Brasil to Lisbon was that they had to go trough São Paulo, because they are from a smaller city that does not have direct flights to Europe.

In Rio de Janeiro it is normal to see people only in shorts, not because of the hot weather but to show to the criminals that they have nothing that could be taken.

A photografer my brother knows needed a small army to get some photographs of an hotel's entrance just to protecet him from the criminals who may be attracted by the cameras.

And some people (Brasilians) say that São Paulo is worst than Rio de Janeiro, maybe because the way that the city is built, like a modern city and not along the coast like Rio de Janeiro, that makes a more natural looking city.

The crime is one of the reasons that makes so many Brasilians emigrate, my sister know the case of a woman that came to visit her daughter and was pleasantly surprised because she saw that the women could walk along the streets without having to hold to their purses with both hands, so that no one could grab them and run, and she could go shoping without the fear of being attacked at the shop's doors.

It is a shame that what could be a great country is still just a growing economy after so many years of being exploited by everyone.

Hi

Those guys are not simple criminals, they are leader of organized gangs related to arms traffic and drug traffic, also compared to the paramilitary. "São Paulo" is a city with 20 millions of people, the number 3 in the world cities.

Only around 3 millions of people are being afected by those riots.

Those guys had the capacity to start riots simultaneuosly in 52 prisons,
attack simultaneuosly 50 police stations, burn several banks, insurances companies, buses and now attacking/killing also the civilians. It's the chaos.


At this point there are 80 dead, 100 highjacked, and many wounded. Most of the dead are from the police.

Many prisons are still under gang control.


They are calling those riots the "Celular phone riots", because cell phones played and still are playing, a major role in this event.

Many more will die, assuming the knowledge of past(smaller) riots in brazil.


The mayor sent more 4000 police to action. Road blocks in many city streets.
No troops yet involved.

Let's see when it ends



Peace
Crustas

[edit on 15-5-2006 by crustas]

Today the riots ended.

Result:81 deads confirmed, 39 where from the police. More than 100 people wounded.
All the hostages, 200, where released with no harm.

80 buses and 13 banks burned.

Those riots ended because the "supreme chief" of the criminal organization, Marcos Camacho, with the nick name of "Marcola" ordered by cell phone to the others ranks of the criminial organization to end the riots.

Did criminals win? Forcing politics to agree with their demands? Probably yes, after all it's Brazil.

At least the killing is over. Until the next time.


Peace
Crustas

Could it be possible for such happenings to fuel a call for a return to military-style rule in Brazil, if it is perceived that law and order is breaking down?

with the upside down and back to front world we live in. it may very well be the opposite. maybe these 'bad guys' are removing certain problems within the society. These law enforcment agents are perhaps not so good especially when being controlled by not so good officials.

but then that could just be the otherside of the story.

[edit on 16-5-2006 by spearhead]

Here are some passages taken from Bloomberg.com reviewing the recent events in Brazil :

As has been mentioned above, the gang leaders appear to be able to communicate with the outside world via mobile phone technology -

Sao Paulo's state government denied holding talks with leaders of the gang, who allegedly gave the order by cell phone to gang members in Sao Paulo to halt attacks, Folha said, citing people familiar with the negotiations. Prison rioting ended late yesterday, the newspaper said.

The offer of the following level of force perhaps illustrates just how serious the situation in Brazil is at the moment is considered to be -

Sao Paulo's state government refused an offer from the federal government to deploy 4,000 national guardsmen to Sao Paulo, as well as army troops, Eliseu Eclair Borges, chief of Sao Paulo's military police, said in a news conference in Sao Paulo last night.

Events such as those witnessed over the weekend have the potential to affect Brazil's economy, and as has been shown many times before in the past, when economic stability is threatened certain forces can come into play -

``This doesn't change the vision investors have had of Brazil for the past 20 years or so that it is a relatively violent country,'' said Raphael Kassin, head of emerging markets fixed income at ABN Amro Asset Management in London, which manages about $3.5 billion in emerging-market debt. ``We need a good reaction from police and for them to calm the situation down to give investors a better impression.''

The use of mobile phone technology from within supposedly secure units highlights two main things. Firstly, there must be a certain level of collusion for such an act to occur, in my view, and secondly, that this is a nice example of how the world around us is evolving as we speak.

Additionally, the aforementioned threat to fiscal security may offer an opportunity to those of a right-wing nature to push for the implementation of the sorts of policies that many perceive to 'be in the pipeline', so to speak.

In this capacity, present day Brazil represents a society that should be monitored in order to track it response's to potentially extreme threats to it's internal social and economic security - New World Order watchers take note!