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Whats Going On in Brazil?

May 17th 2006 02:43
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Over the weekend there has been violent clashes in Brazil which has resulted in the death of over 50 people. Furthermore, there have been 36 prisoner revolts and over 100 people are held hostage. The attacks have been focused as civilian uprisings against police. In the most extreme attacks explosions have resulted in the doors of police stations being blown off. The uprising is the biggest occurrence of organized violence in Sao Paolo’s recorded history. The violence is linked to a criminal faction called the First Command of the Capital (PCC). It is believed that the entire incident was prompted by the relocation of 600 prisoners to a maximum security facility. So what is going on in Brazil that the relocation of 600 prisoners can spark such violent reprisals.


If we take the Brazilian police’s side of the story, the PCC is an organized crime syndicate who are responsible for many criminal activities including, drug and arms trafficking, kidnappings, bank robberies, prison breaks and numerous civil uprisings. The police maintain that they will not be intimidated by the recent round of attacks and will continue to stamp out the criminal activities of the PCC.

On the other side of the equation, its important to understand what factors may be motivating this recent spat of violence. Brazilian police are notoriously corrupt and brutal. They work hand in hand with criminal gangs and share the profits of crime. Like much of Latin America, the line between organized crime and the government tread a very blurry line. The local police authorities are charged with torturing and murdering with impunity. Infact, Amnesty International has an international campaign against police terror and murder in the slums of Rio. It would seem that the cause for the violent upsurge is the fruit of poverty and authoritarian corruption. Uprisings like this are occurring when disputes occur between the crime syndicates and the government. The paradox is that whilst both work for eachother, greed leads to a power struggle regarding which faction is actually running Brazilian affairs. Capitalist governments choose to continuously lecture populations how important wealth is. They are indoctrinating societies (including the poor) with a single goal in life; to increase personal wealth. When corruption and governmental gross mismanagement is evident to the community, it is little wonder that populations rebel.


To assume the naïve and assume there is no corruption within the law enforcement arm of the government, the Brazilian law enforcement system must cop at least a partial responsibility for these recent uprisings. It spends the bulk of its law enforcement efforts where it can extract money from its citizens (traffic fines, customs, taxes) and little where it is not profitable but much needed such as law enforcement in the inner cities. The paradox is that while the state is very authoritarian, it is incapable of dealing with violence, organized crime, or corrupt institutions. Criminal organizations in Brazil are embedded in communities of the "favelas". The urban chaos is a reflex to the contrast between rich and poor people, enhanced by the fact that these two poles interact closely with each other. Besides their low life quality conditions, people living in the favelas are forced to endure threats by these organizations. They have become so powerful that they may be considered a parallel authority, much more active in these areas than the government itself.
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