Bullet hole in the window of the UPP in Nova Brasília. Photo credit: Jornal do Brasil

On the night of Monday, July 23rd, residents of the Complexo do Alemão were alarmed to hear gunfire and an explosion near the Itararé gondola station. Police claim that twelve men armed with assault rifles attacked the Nova Brasília Police Pacification Unit (UPP); the subsequent firefight lasted forty minutes and left one resident wounded and one police officer dead. Fabiana Aparecida de Souza was shot while returning to the UPP after her break; a bullet pierced her bulletproof vest. She is the first UPP officer to be killed in the line of duty in a pacified favela.

Officer Fabiana Aparecida de Souza. Photo credit: Veja

On Tuesday the Special Police Operations Battalion and the Canine Unit patrolled Nova Brasília and the surrounding communities. Three suspects were arrested in connection with the attack, and a backpack containing drug paraphernalia and homemade grenade was confiscated.

Brigadier General Tomás Miguel Miné Paiva. Photo credit: Último Segundo

The UPP in Nova Brasília was inaugurated just two weeks earlier, on July 9th. Four pacification units have been installed in the Complexo this winter, as the Army handed over the territory to the Military Police. Skirmishes between soldiers and traffickers have been common since the invasion of the community in 2010. According to Brigadier General Tomás Miguel Miné Paiva, commander of the Army’s Pacification Force, early 2012 was an especially dangerous period; a fact he attributes to permanent police presence in the favela’s narrow alleyways. The General, who served in Haiti in 2007, has stated that the pacification of Alemão is far more complex and violent than the Army’s operations in Cité Soleil, a notorious slum in Port-Au-Prince.

However, most of the shots in the past two years were fired when criminals were cornered or on the run. Monday’s attack was notably well-planned and well-armed; according to calls to Disque-Denúncia, an anonymous tip hotline, the attackers carried twelve assault rifles.

Residents claim that the attackers threw a bomb at the UPP, though officials have yet to confirm or deny this information. On July 16th two men attacked officers from the UPP in Fazendinha, another community in the Complexo do Alemão, and threw a homemade bomb at the station. Reports conflict on whether or not the bomb detonated; regardless, no one was hurt. Police impounded four more similar bombs and four grenades. BOPE will remain in the Complexo for an indeterminate period, until the criminals responsible for de Souza’s death are apprehended.

Photo credit: Veja

Both Governor Sérgio Cabral and State Security Secretary José Mariano Beltrame have released statements expressing condolences to de Souza’s family and affirming the soundness of UPP strategy. However, a study conducted by the Centro de Estudos de Segurança e Cidadania (CESeC) last year found that UPP officers do not share officials’ confidence. Interviews with officers in nine UPPs revealed that 70.3% believe that “UPPs were created solely to guarantee tourists’ safety during the World Cup and the Olympics;” 68% believe that favelas are selected for pacification in order to “assuage middle class anxieties;” and 79.9% would prefer to work in different branches of the police.

One the other hand, a study conducted by Ignácio Cano, a professor and researcher at the Laboratório de Análise da Violência at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, found that each UPP saves on average six lives per year. Cano elaborated, “Per capita police presence is intense. Rio de Janeiro state has 2.3 officers for every 1,000 citizens; the ratio in pacified communities is eighteen for every 1,000. This massive investment of human capital is too expensive to be extended to all trafficker-controlled territories.”

UPDATE: RioRealBlog has more information on the alleged backstory to the shootout.

Abandoned building on the grounds of São Sebastião hospital occupied by displaced families. Photo credit: O Globo

São Sebastião Institute of Infectious Diseases was inaugurated in 1889 by Dom Pedro II, the last emperor of Brazil, just a few days before the Empire dissolved. It was the only medical facility in the city specializing in contagious diseases, as well as the first in Brazil to separate patients with different diseases. In 2002 the hospital handled a dengue outbreak, treating thousands of patients without a single fatality. It was shut down in 2008, partly due to violent conflicts in the area, and the research institute was moved to a smaller site.

The hospital located in Caju, a neighborhood in Rio’s Port Zone best known for São Francisco Xavier cemetery, the largest in the city. Caju is a peninsula cut off from the mainland by two major freeways, Avenida Brasil and Linha Vermelha. Like the rest of the Port Zone, it has been  neglected by the government and is fairly rundown. São Sebastião is near the favelas São Sebastião, Parque Alegria, Parque Ladeira dos Funcionários, and Chatuba, all allegedly controlled by Amigos dos Amigos, one of the largest gangs in Rio. As traffic-related violence increased in the early 2000s, patients and staff alike were frightened to enter the region.

Gates to Instituto São Sebastião. Photo credit: Jornal do Brasil

According to Jorge Darze, president of the Rio de Janeiro State Doctors’ Syndicate, the hospital’s closure represents an irreplaceable loss of scientific patrimony. “Even though they wasted more than R$1 million repairing the hospital before shutting it down,  and society opposed the move… [Governor Sérgio] Cabral treated the closure as a fait accompli.” O Globo reports that R$6 million was spent on unfinished repairs.

Houses constructed on hospital grounds. Photo credit: O Globo

Last year O Globo reported that residents of Parque Ladeira dos Funcionários were constructing houses on the hospital grounds and looting its buildings for materials. The State Health Secretariat installed security guards to prevent further invasions, at a cost of R$9,800 a month. A Jornal do Brasil piece from March 2012 stated that the squatters were homeless or displaced from other areas, and that no security guards were in evidence.

According to Fabio Bittencourt, an architect and preservationist, the hospital’s location sealed its fate:

“With the construction of São Francisco Xavier Cemetery, the vertiginous expansion of the favela Parque Alegria, and the isolation caused by Avenida Brasil  and Linha Vermelha, the hospital didn’t have a chance of survival. The neighborhood is no longer seen as valuable. Many factors converged to assure its degradation: death, symbolized by the cemetery; violence, caused by the drug traffic; and trash [there is a garbage dump in the area].”

Lt. Col. Ronal Langres Freitas de Santana, commander of the Military Police battalion in São Cristovão, has received anonymous tips that traffickers are using the hospital grounds as a hideout.

Garbage piles next to hospital buildings. Photo credit: Jornal do Brasil

The hospital was being transformed into a favela. In addition to building brick houses on the grounds, people moved into the buildings themselves, dividing the space into apartments, stringing clotheslines out the windows, and constructing additions. On Tuesday state authorities began demolishing the illegal constructions.

Satellite TV dish outside occupied section of hospital. Photo credit: Jornal do Brasil

The State Human Rights Secretariat found that 300 families were living on the land. They will receive “aluguel social,” or rent stipends, of R$500 per month to find new housing. Housing projects will be built nearby as part of the Minha Casa Minha Vida program, theoretically to house those evicted from the hospital; however, they will not be ready for a year and a half. Evicted residents have reason to distrust both offers: people evicted from other favelas in the past few years “have not received adequate compensation or suitable alternative housing,” according to Amnesty International.

Icaro Moreno, president of the State Public Works Department (Empresa de Obras Públicas do Estado, or EMOP) claims that the squatters have turned to real estate speculation, selling houses on the grounds for up to R$6,000. Authorities found bricks, construction tools, and markings for new foundations on the ground. According to Moreno, the houses can be constructed in five days, with work stopping only when BOPE carries out operations in the area.

The State Health Secretariat announced that the hospital will house a crack addiction treatment and research center, opening in 2013 to coincide with the Pope’s visit.

Sign reads "Notice: Selling crack is prohibited in the community of Jacarezinho." Photo credit: O Globo/Divulgação/Rio de Paz

Translation of article “Tráfico fixa cartazes no Jacarezinho priobindo vende de crack na favela.” From O Globo, published June 20, 2012.

As of Wednesday, June 20th, the sale of crack is prohibited in the favela Jacarezinho, in Jacaré, a suburb of Rio that is considered the largest cracolândia [gathering of crack addicts] in the city. The order comes from drug traffickers in the area, and is displayed on posters around the community, according to the social justice organization Rio de Paz.

The ban extends to the neighboring communities of Mandela and Manguinhos. According to Rio de Paz president Antônio Carlos Costa, crack addicts were creating serious disturbances in the community, due to the drug’s hallucinogenic and destructive properties.

National Security Force troops in Morro Santo Amaro. Photo credit: Último Segundo.

Police sources say traffickers are also concerned that the crack epidemic will spur an invasion by the National Security Force, as happened in Morro Santo Amaro, in Catete.

Considered the largest crack point of sale in the South Zone, Santo Amaro was invaded on May 18th as a part of the federal initiative “Crack can be defeated” and in preparation for the installation of a Polic Pacifying Unit (UPP).

Rio State Security Secretary José Mariano Beltrame stated on Tuesday the 19th that plans are underway to occupy Jacarezinho: “We intend to pacify these areas, to create a change in the communities, and we will do this in Jacarezinho.”

Warning to crack addicts

Antônio Carlos Costa of Rio de Paz supports the crack ban, but points out that crack addicts will simply relocate. “The government have to anticipate this problem, that addicts will go to other neighborhoods and communities. The authorities need to keep up,” said Costa, who will lead a protest on Saturday the 23rd in Jacarezinho. He will carry a banner stating “Crack migrants: who will take them in?”

“If this ban spreads throughout the city we will face another crisis, as addicts go through withdrawal,” Costa stated.

According to the Municipal Secretary of Public Assistance, 4,496 addicts (3,853 adults and 634 children and teenagers) having been removed from the city’s cracolândias since anti-crack operations began on March 31st, 2011.

Jacarezinhos had the highest number of removals, with 1,565, followed by Centro, with 1,180.

The city opened 178 spaces in chemical dependency treatment centers to crack addicts.

For more on crack addict removals and rehabilitation, check out this article on Global Post.

Colonel Mário Sérgio Duarte and Federal Deputy Benedita da Silva at Rio Para Todos debate. Photo credit: Rio Para Todos.

Last Thursday, May 31st, Military Police Commander Mário Sérgio Duarte participated in a debate hosted by Rio Para Todos alongside former governor and current Federal Deputy Benedita da Silva and filmmaker Rodrigo Felha. The debate’s open-ended theme “Favela or Community? Inequalities and Opportunities” generated lively discussions of favela urbanization, the changing perception of favelas in the media, and the failures and successes of the UPP program.

Col. Duarte, who resigned last September after a Military Police battalion commander was implicated in the murder of Judge Patrícia Acioli, fielded questions on all aspects of UPP policy, from the desperate need for more policing in Nova Iguaçu to the lack of recreation facilities for young people in pacified communities. He was careful to emphasize the difference between UPP and UPP Social, though he acknowledged the importance of both: “The police are no longer so naive as to think that their presence in the community is enough; it must be accompanied by social programs.”

At one point, Col. Duarte admitted that the police invaded the Complexo do Alemão before they were fully prepared, and were forced to lean heavily on the Army. The invasion was made possible by reinforcements sent from other states, and the Army remained in the area much longer than expected. Duarte stated that pacification must take place during a “window of opportunity”, and that the police seized such an opportunity in Alemão.

The UPP program’s dependence on the Army to secure the favelas in the North Zone drew closer to an end last week, as the Pacification Force in the Complexo da Penha ceded control of the area to BOPE and the Shock Battalion. Military Police officers replaced soldiers in the communities Morro da Fé, Chatuba, Caixa d’Água and Morro do Sereno. Vila Cruzeiro, the largest community in Penha, will remain under Army control until the second stage of the police operation.

From R7, published May 31, 2012:

“This process has been underway since March in the communities of Fazendinha, Nova Brasília, Alemão, and Pedra do Sapo, in the Complexo do Alemão. After the handoff, the Military Police will begin investigating the criminals remaining in the area, in preparation for the installation of new UPPs in the area.

The Military Police ask that residents collaborate with the pacification process by denouncing criminals, and revealing their hideouts and stockpiles of arms and drugs. All residents must carry identification. Motorcyclists will be asked to show their driver’s license and vehicle registrations, and wear helmets.”

BOPE’s headquarters for the first stage of the process will be in Chatuba, next to an area where Comando Vermelho traffickers were known to congregate before the invasion. In Caixa d’Agua, BOPE will be quartered in the mansion of trafficker Paulo Rogério de Souza Paz, aka Mica, who was arrested during Carnaval this year.

Since the police invasion began on May 28th, three people have been killed, thirty-nine arrested, and sixteen minors taken into custody. Police have confiscated arms and drugs, and are working to tear down concrete barricades left by traffickers to block access roads.

During the Rio Para Todos debate, Col. Duarte affirmed that both Maré and Madureira would receive UPPs very soon. A new UPP base, the fourth in the community, was inaugurated in Alemão on May 30th. The UPP in Rocinha will open after Penha has been pacified; by the end of the month, according to official estimates.

State Representative Marcelo Freixo. Photo by Arquivo Mandato/Flickr Creative Commons

Translation of article “Marcelo Freixo: ‘O PSOL não vai comandar uma revolução.’” From O Dia, published April 21, 2012. Edited for brevity.

RIO – In 2008, State Representative Marcelo Freixo (PSOL, Socialism and Liberty Party) presided over the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiries (CPI) of Militias of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Alerj). He has received numerous death threats, and only goes out accompanied by a security detail; a precaution that will complicate his latest endeavor: campaigning for mayor of Rio de Janeiro.

O Dia – You were born in São Gonçalo and lived in Niterói until 2010. Why not run for mayor of Niterói?

Marcelo Freixo – My dedication was never confined to one district, and neither was my mandate: 65% of the votes I received in the last election–this was a very expressive election, it had the second highest voter turnout in the state–were from Rio de Janeiro. This is an important fact to recognize. I was never a representative of local causes, I was always what they call a “representative of opinion.” Representatives of opinion debate big policy ideas. I have always been militantly devoted to human rights and public security. This debate was never confined to one city, neither Rio nor Niterói; it is a broad subject. Moreover, my party considers me a strong candidate, on account of the last election. So my candidacy is a strategic move for the party, because I am a strong contender in Rio.

OD - Some people are saying that because you chose Marcelo Yuka (a former member of the musical group O Rappa) to run for deputy mayor, that you are more interested in being a pop star than being mayor. Do you really want to win this election?

MF – Of course I do. I want to win a second term. This city is worth it. The path we are on now, becoming a city-as-business, is unnatural. The current relationship between public officials and private enterprises was a political choice. I do not agree with the PMDB’s conception of power. Public office in Rio de Janeiro has become a business bureau, and the city’s future is defined by the economic interests of corporations. But we have a different conception of how politics should work. We want to build an alliance with the public. Yuka expresses that alliance perfectly. Choosing Yuka as my running mate was a key strategic move. I’ve been discussing an alliance with the PT (Worker’s Party) for a long time. The more radical members of the PT interest me more than the core.

OD - If you are elected, what will your first priorities in office be?

MF – We will have to see when we get there. Can I tell you a story? All the money being wasted on Bus Rapid Transit [Eduardo Paes's public transit program] is public money. All the profit goes to private enterprise, and the public pays the price. Why doesn’t private enterprise shoulder some of the cost? And there’s no way out of it, because the government signed a contract. I am defending the interests of the people of Rio de Janeiro. Are we going to cooperate with private enterprise? Fine, but we can’t allow the government to put the interests of private capital first. Rio’s city government has become a business, where the mayor is a trustee looking our for corporations. The Public-Private Partnership is an example of this phenomenon. There are many businesses in Rio that can’t stand it, because they don’t want to participate in a fixed bidding war, they want to invest in the city, but they’re excluded… You have to be a friend of the king…

OD - So PSOL does not accept private enterprise playing a central role in the city, on principle?

MF – Let’s get one thing straight: PSOL is running a campaign, not starting a revolution. Businesses will invest in the city, regardless of our position. What is intolerable is that despite the money being poured into Rio de Janeiro, we have the worst public health in the country, the second-worst public education system, and public transit that doesn’t work. This is chaos. I’m talking about transportation, education, and health. These three points, and public security, the fourth, are the key issues in any city. UPP Social is nonexistent, it’s just a façade–look at the budget.

CPI of Militias, 2008. Photo by Arquivo Mandato/Flickr Creative Commons

OD – You were in charge of the Investigation of Militias in 2008. Is it problematic for a candidate to be linked to one issue, in your case public security?

MF – If you look at my record, I was never just focused on security. I’ve worked on cultural and educational issues as well, and I’m a professor. It’s true, I am very dedicated to public security. And in Rio de Janeiro this isn’t just any old issue. It’s not an abstract idea that doesn’t affect people’s lives. The next mayor needs to understand this.

OD - Campaign donations: are their donors you won’t accept money from?

MF – This is easy, because the donors I wouldn’t accept don’t want to give me their money anyway. I don’t want money from Delta, or Odebrecht [a construction and petrochemical corporation that frequently works with Rio's government]… I receive most of my donations from individuals on my website. I don’t want money from contractors that make deals with the government. I don’t need them, and they don’t do any good.

Marcelo Freixo presenting report on militias to Amnesty International. Photo by Arquivo Mandato/Flickr Creative Commons

OD - During your campaign in 2010, people were saying, “If he’s not elected, he will die,” because of the threats received after the militia investigation. If you don’t win this election, will your life be in danger?

MF – If I am not elected, I will be forced to leave Rio de Janeiro, and possibly leave Brazil. I am still receiving death threats. Since 2008, there have been more than thirty terrible threats… After the death of Judge Patrícia Acioli–last August in Niterói–that October I got one threat after another. Seven in one month.

OD - Were these threats sent directly to you?

MF – I never received the threats myself, which, incidentally, is very telling: 90% of the threats came through Disque-Denúncia [an anonymous tip hotline].  But the information they get is extremely detailed: “This militia will meet on this day, in this place, with police officers A, b, and C, they will plan to kill this state representative in this restaurant, where he eats lunch…”

OD – Couldn’t these be empty threats to let you know they’re watching you?

MF – If they wanted to give me a warning, they would do it some other way. I’ve already done what they were afraid I would do. Some guys went to jail, public opinion changed; that’s not why they’re threatening me. Most threats fit the same pattern: “Look, I want to make you stop doing what you’re doing.” This doesn’t make sense in my case, which makes me think that some of these threats might be fake. I meet with the intelligence unit regularly, and they tell me: “You can’t consider going out without security right now, because they could do something, they still want to get you.” Anyway, I got a lot of threats on October and November, and I asked why they weren’t being fully investigated. So they started investigating them and reinforced my security. If I don’t win this election, I will lose my protected status and be vulnerable; I would not be a public figure anymore, I wouldn’t have as much protection, and I would be afraid to stay here. So, I would leave.

OD – You went to Spain after receiving death threats, and you were criticized for this. Some people said this was a publicity stunt, that you weren’t really the target of death threats. What did you do in Europe, exactly, and how would you respond to these allegations?

MF – First, claiming I wasn’t really targeted is absurd because the threats were written. But you could still say I didn’t really have to leave, like, “Yeah, there were some threats, but it wasn’t a big deal.” That’s an opinion. I respect it, and I disagree with it. It’s not anyone else’s life in danger, it’s mine. These guys killed a judge with guns and ammunition that came from the police. A month later, I got threats detailing how they were going to kill me. Saying that I wasn’t really in danger–don’t do that. That’s not a political argument, it’s cowardly, and I won’t respond respectfully. I’ve had security since the CPI. I got a threat on the day I left the country. When I started to get a lot of them the police said, “They’re telling you what they’re going to try to do.” I asked, “You have to reinforce my security detail, clearly, I’m next on the list…” Tim Cahill, from Amnesty International, told me, “Marcelo, get out of there now, it doesn’t matter if it’s last minute. If you leave, it will bring attention to what’s going on there.” I was gone for fifteen days, enough time to create a commotion, to send a message that they were going to kill me and the threats were not being investigated. Then I came back and finished the CPI. After that, the police upped my security and opened a real investigation, and the threats stopped coming. So that’s why I left the country.

Mayor Eduardo Paes

OD – Can you tell me one good thing and one bad thing about Mayor Eduardo Paes?

MF – One good thing about him is he’s got a good work ethic. Not like the governor, for example. He’s a guy who wakes up early to go to work… One negative thing about him is that he represents a style of politics that makes public power nonexistent. In his style of government, the public good is subordinate to corporate interests. It’s not very democratic.

Nem da Rocinha, former chief of the gang Amigos dos Amigos, being arrested a few days before the invasion of the favela in November 2011. Photo credit: Terra.

By Zoë Roller, Contributing Editor

One of the principal critiques of the UPP program is that its objective is not to dismantle organized crime or address the causes of the drug trade, but to force gang activity out of pacified communities. This strategy has driven drug traffickers from the center of Rio to surrounding areas, including Niterói and the Baixada Fluminense, raising concerns that Rio’s increasing public safety comes at the expense of its suburbs. In other areas, gangs have simply returned to their own communities after the initial shock of pacification, either going underground or paying off UPP officers. A recent string of murders in Rocinha suggests that favela invasions can leave the community vulnerable to attacks from rival factions. It appears that another gang is taking advantage of the power vacuum left by the arrest of ex-chief trafficker Nem to recover lost territory.

Nem’s arrest, and the invasion of Rocinha a few days later, disrupted an internal power structure that had been in place for six years. Rocinha, along with neighboring favela Vidigal, was under the control of the trafficking gang Amigos dos Amigos (“Friends of Friends,” or ADA) since 2004; both were previously run by Comando Vermelho (“Red Command,” or CV). According to the Brazilian website Procurados, which provides information on wanted criminals, allegiance in Rocinha and Vidigal shifted to ADA after a conflict between two CV traffickers erupted in a week-long firefight that left more than ten dead. No other gang has challenged ADA’s control of Rocinha since 2004, sparing residents the turf wars and police shootouts that plague disputed territories like the Complexo da Maré.

The police invasion in November 2011 weakened ADA’s grip on the community: automatic weapons disappeared from the streets, drug points of sale retreated into back alleys, and the omnipotence of Nem’s regime waned. However, according to an anonymous resident who spoke with Rio Radar, CV has returned to Rocinha and taken over the upper half of the favela, while the remaining members of ADA control the bottom. This claim is substantiated by outside sources: Último Segundo confirms that CV has returned, adding that their presence could set off “a new war between rival gangs.” Procurados echoes this sentiment, stating that  “in the process of pacification, Rocinha is entering into another drug traffic war, as traffickers involved with CV attempt to claim the territory previously held by the faction ADA.”

Wanted poster for Inácio de Castro Silva, aka Canelão

According to Univisión, the murder of a community leader earlier this week was ordered by Inacio de Castro Silva, aka Canelão, a member of CV. The anonymous resident confirmed that Canelão is in charge of CV activity in Rocinha.

The return of factional conflicts to Rocinha does not bode well for the UPP’s ability to win residents’ trust. The gang war of 2004 traumatized the community, and the past six years of relative peace won ADA a reputation as a lesser evil, if not a benevolent protector. The gang’s zero-tolerance policy on petty crime, as well as its monolithic control of the favela, gave Rocinha’s residents a level of security unknown in many other parts of Rio.

In the weeks leading up to pacification, Rio Radar editor Zoë Roller spoke to many residents who expressed concern about the destabilizing effects of the invasion. They feared that the if government was not fully committed to policing the favela, crippling the existing power structure would simply create chaos. On the day of the police invasion, a resident discussed his view of the UPP program with Rio Radar. “This used to be a really good place to live,” he said. “In order to improve it, to supplant the old structure, they’re going to have to make it excellent. I don’t think they’re prepared to do that.”

The installation of the UPP, originally slated for March, has been moved to June, according to Réporter de Crime. If residents are not reassured that police can provide the same level of peace as ADA, they will have little reason to cooperate with security measures like Disque Denuncia, an anonymous tip hotline that offers rewards for turning in traffickers. The recent increase in the number of Military Police officers in Rocinha is promising, demonstrating that the government is responsive to the community’s concerns.

For more coverage of the return of traffic to Rocinha, O Globo’s Réporter de Crime has a long piece on the subject:

Presença da Policia não impede que tráfico volte a Rocinha

Vanderlan Barros de Oliveira, aka Feijão, Rocinha community leader. Photo credit: Correio do Brasil

Rocinha, one of the largest favelas in Rio, was invaded without a shot fired in November 2011, in preparation for the installation of a Police Pacification Unit (UPP). The newly pacified community remained nearly incident-free until recently, despite having been a major drug trafficking stronghold. The deaths of two known traffickers in February and three in March suggest that the remaining traffickers are struggling for control of Rocinha. Yesterday a sixth drug-related murder occurred: Vanderlan Barros de Oliveira, aka Feijão (“Bean”),  the president of one of Rocinha’s residents’ associations, was shot and killed yesterday morning on one of the favela’s main streets.

Police surround Feijão's body after shooting in Rocinha. Photo credit: O Globo

According to O Globo and Correio do Brasil, the murder was likely related to the rivalry between drug trafficking factions in Rocinha. Feijão was under investigation by the Federal Police for involvement with a money laundering ring controlled by Nem, the former chief trafficker in Rocinha. He was also accused of belonging to the gang that controlled Rocinha before it was pacified, Amigos dos Amigos.

Translation of article “Rocinha Residents’ Association President Murdered” below the jump. From O Dia, published March 26, 2012.

RIO – At approximately 3:40 PM Monday afternoon, Vanderlan Barros de Oliveira, aka Feijão (“Bean”), aged 41, was murdered. Feijão was the president of the Neighborhood of Barcelos Residents’ Association (Amabb) in Rocinha, located in Rio de Janeiro’s South Zone. The community leader was shot in the back five times in a drive-by shooting on Travessa Altemar, a side street near Via Ápia, one of Rocinha’s main roads. Feijão had just left the Amabb building and walked about 50 meters n the direction of Boiadeiros street when he was shot by a man on a passing motorcycle. Feijão died shortly thereafter, in front of a clothing store.

Feijão. Photo credit: O Dia

Before the incident occurred, the shooter asked the receptionist where he could find the community leader. When the receptionist told him that he was in a meeting, the shooter left. After his meeting, Feijão left Amabb, and was shot while getting on a motorcycle.

According to Feijão’s lawyer, Jaqueline Costa, the motorcycle Feijão used did not belong to him.

Feijão’s relatives were not available for comment. The body was removed from the site at 6:50 PM, and the Shock Battalion closed off the street. The Homicide Division is investigating the murder, as well as the provenance of the motorcycle Feijão was using. According to the chief investigator, Rivaldo Barbosa, Feijão was killed by at least one shot to the head. Witnesses are encouraged to give testimony related to the incident at the Homicide Division.

Money laundering accusations

On March 7, O Dia reported that Feijão would be taken to court to respond to charges of laundering money for the drug trafficker Antonio Francisco Bonfim Lopes, aka Nem, who is a defendant in the same case. Nem’s mother, Maria das Graças Rangel, and Feijão’s brother, taxi driver Telmo de Oliveira Barros, will be charged in the same trial, which will take place on 3 May.

The four are accused of laundering R$ 1.2 million over the course of the two-year investigation conducted by the Civil Police. According to the 29th Criminal Court, between car purchases and other business dealings, the actual amount is closer to R$2 million. Nem is the only one of the four individuals in prison.

According to the prosecution, Feijão used his own bank accounts to launder money from illicit sources and “pay off Nem’s personal expenses,” including the purchase of home appliances and electronics.

The group used 29 bank accounts in the money laundering scheme. Two companies have been investigated: V. Oliveira Barros Vehicle Accessories Company Ltd. and WC Ice Company Ltd. The companies were held by Feijão and Barros. A third business, held in Rangel’s name, is also under investigation.

Police patrol an alley in Rocinha. Photo credit: O Dia

Also according to the 29th Criminal Court, the capital of one company jumped from R$20,000 in 2008 to an income of R$344,000 in 2010, an increase of 1,600%. In addition to handling business transactions, Rangel also oversaw the purchase of a Ford EcoSport valued at R$50,000.

Feijão was also a defendant in another lawsuit in the 40th Criminal Court, where he was accused of conspiracy, laundering, and concealment of property along with five other people, not including Nem.

Community will receive 130 reinforcement police officers

Last Friday, an additional 130 police officers arrived in Rocinha. According to colonel Frederico Caldas, the public relations officer of the Military Police, the reinforcements, all recent graduates from the Policy Academy, will remain in the community for an indeterminant amount of time as part of their practical training.

Police troops at the entrance to Rocinha. Photo credit: O Dia

“The increase was prompted by a study conducted by the government which found an increase number of people moving through Rocinha. We saw the need to put more uniforms on the streets, in direct contact with the population,” said Caldas, who also attributed the reinforcements to the recent outbreaks of violence in Rocinha. “There are still many criminals in Rocinha,” he added.

The 130 officers, 46 of them women, will be supporting the Shock Battalion, the Forestry Battalion, and the 23rd division of Mounted Police (Leblon), all of which operate in Rocinha. 300 police officers are responsible for the security of the region.

Police have occupied Rocinha since November of 2011. There is still no definitive date set for the installation of a Police Pacification Unit (UPP) in the community.

Last week eight people were arrested and police seized seven pistols, three revolvers, and three grenades in a raid. Last Tuesday night an exchange of gunfire startled residents, and early Monday morning three men were shot during a confrontation between suspected traffickers in the community.

Arms and drugs confiscated during police operation, photo credit: O Dia

RIO – Three people were killed and one injured in a shootout between traffickers in Rocinha early yesterday morning. The community has been occupied by the Military Police for the past four months in preparation for the installation of a Police Pacification Unit (UPP). For many residents, the skirmish recalled similar moments of fear and apprehension in Rocinha’s past. Yesterday the police presence in the area was reinforced, and the atmosphere returned to normal.

The shootout may have been a conflict between remaining members of the gang run by Antônio Francisco Bonfim Lopes, aka Nem, the former chief of drug traffic in the community, who was arrested in November; or with rival traffickers attempting to gain control of the territory.

Arms and drugs

According to the police from the Tactical Motorcycle Unit (Grupamento Tático de Motociclistas, or GTM) and the Shock Battalion, which participated in the occupation of the community, the conflict began around 1AM in a neighborhood called Campina Macega. Two bodies were found on Rua 2 and one on Rua 3.

On Rua 2, police entered a house and confiscated five pistols–four 9mms and one .45 calibre–three grenades, 9mm ammunition, 1,505 bags of cocaine, drug packaging materials, a walkie-talkie, and two notebooks documenting drug transactions.

According to the police, the dead men were traffickers. They have been identified as Rafael Pacheco de Souza and Leandro Santos Braga; the third is known only as Girino. Another man who was wounded in the shootout is recovering in Miguel Couto Hospital, in Gávea. He has not yet been identified. He will serve as a witness for the Homicide Division’s investigation of the case.

One of the first documents WikiLeaks released was an email regarding Stratfor’s partnership with a major Brazilian newspaper. According to the email, the newspaper will connect Stratfor with reporters who can answer questions about four broad categories: Brazil’s economy, infrastructure, defense, and national politics. Subcategories include port modernization projects, preparations for the World Cup, and anti-trafficking border defense strategies.

A recent article in Correio do Brasil suggests that the unnamed newspaper in question is O Globo, which is owned by Brazil’s largest media conglomerate. Suspicions were raised by a column published on February 16th by columnist Merval Pereira, in which the columnist writes Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s poor health in detail, and predicts his death before the next election. A Stratfor email published on February 27th discusses Chávez’s health and lifespan in similar terms. As WikiLeaks continues to post emails, the identity of the newspaper and the nature of the partnership may become clearer.

Another Stratfor email casts suspicion on President Lula’s military defense spending at the end of his final term.

Morro de São Carlos

Translation of article “Beltrame via reforçar UPP no Morro de São Carlos.” From Repórter de Crime, O Globo, published February 21, 2012.

This morning Rio de Janeiro’s Security Secretary, José Mariano Beltrame, told the blog Repórter de Crime that he plans to send troops from the Military Police’s Shock Battalion and Special Operations Battalion (BOPE) to provide support to some Police Pacification Units (UPPs). Beltrame stated that UPPs in areas that have seen conflicts between police and residents, as well as armed clashes with drug traffickers, may receive reinforcements.

“This Thursday we will discuss the possibility of sending additional troops to support UPPs, to distribute pamphlets, and to encourage favela residents to turn in traffickers,” Beltrame stated. He acknowledged that there are obstacles to pacification in the favela Morro de São Carlos, in Estació, where the chief drug trafficker was arrested yesterday morning after a shootout between police and traffickers. Wendel Timóteo Rodrigues Nunes, 14, was shot in the back during the skirmish, and a Military Police car was burned by traffickers.  The shootout took place during the Carnaval street party “Boi sem chifre,” leaving almost a hundred people caught in the crossfire.

Military Police in São Carlos, photo credit: O Globo

Although the altercation ended in the arrest of chief trafficker Marcílio Cherú de Oliveira–who had left his hideout to attend the street party–Beltrame remained preoccupied with the episode, as it indicated that the pacification strategy in São Carlos is flawed and in need of revision. Beltrame did not address police corruption outright; however, it is clear that this is one of the main issues facing the UPP in São Carlos.  Just before Carnaval, several officers from the São Carlos UPP, including the former commander, were arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes from traffickers. A similar bribery scandal was discovered in the favelas of Coroa, Fallet, and Fogueteiro in September 2011.

UPP Internal Affairs must regain control of these units to salvage the program’s credibility, not only in the media, but within pacified communities. Beltrame staked the program’s reputation on the idea that young Military Police officers trained exclusively for UPPs would be less susceptible to corruption; so far, the theory doesn’t hold water. If it is to be successful, the pacification project will require constant monitoring and restructuring of policies while they are being implemented: a process comparable to changing a tire without stopping the car.

In Rocinha, for example, Repórter de Crime was told that the “law of silence” [an unwritten law forbidding residents to denounce traffickers to the police or the media] has returned to the community, which has been occupied by BOPE since November 2011. This is a strong indicator that traffickers are regaining control of the favela. In the past two weeks, two traffickers were killed in an internal conflict, and two more are missing.