Brazil’s PCC True Power Behind the Violence
Posted at 7:48 am | Filed Under brazil
The violence that paralyzed Sao Paulo from May 12 until May 19 revealed the raw power of the First Capital Command (P.C.C.), considered one of the most powerful organized criminal factions in Brazil. Prison riots that erupted in nearly 100 prisons led to over 150 murders, destroyed city buses, and terrorized millions of citizens, propelling Brazil onto the world stage. Yet a more deeply-rooted system run by the P.C.C. reveals how powerful this gang has become.
On May 10, just two days before the riots began, two members of the Sao Paulo Department of Investigation of Organized Crime, Godofredo Bittencourt Filho and Ruy Ferraz Fontes, testified before the Brazilian Government Inquiry Commission on the Traffic of Illegal Weapons about their understanding of the true power of the P.C.C.
Bittencourt and Ferraz testified that the P.C.C. is a very serious problem that is only growing. They blamed Sao Paulo authorities for separating and sending to other Brazilian states various leaders of the P.C.C. by pointing out that because of this separation, the P.C.C. now has a strong presence on a national level in Matto Grosso do Sul, Parana, Bahia, Rio Grande do Sul, and Brasilia.
According to Bittencourt and Ferraz, the P.C.C. controls over 140,000 prisoners in the state of Sao Paulo alone. Another 500,000 individuals support the organization outside the prison system. This group helps enforce some 100 cases of extortion organized by the P.C.C. on a daily basis, representing some 70 percent of kidnapping cases in Brazil’s financial capital of Sao Paulo.
Apart from a proven ability to organize simultaneous, widespread prison riots and destabilize public security, the organization has constructed a network of informants, lawyers, blue collar workers, gun and drug dealers, and bankers to do its bidding. This network is held together by a criminal financial system that finances education, facilitates crime and engages in killings. Bittencourt was quoted as saying, “to be [associated] with the P.C.C. is good business.”
Membership fees are the bread and butter of the P.C.C. For prisoners, a fee of 50 reales (US$25) is charged every month. Individuals on the outside pay a fee of 550 reales ($225). Given these fees and the high membership numbers both inside and outside the prison system, it is possible that the P.C.C. organization earns millions of dollars a month from fees alone.
Criminal finance is another revenue stream. If a group needs $10,000 to mount a bank robbery, they can go to the P.C.C. In this case, the P.C.C. acts as a black market bank to finance and facilitate criminal activities.
To distribute weapons, the P.C.C. uses Sedex, a Brazilian courier system known for reliability and timely delivery. Weapons as large as assault rifles have allegedly been delivered by Sedex to the waiting hands of criminals.
The P.C.C.’s weakest link is its legal team. Currently 18 lawyers serve the P.C.C. leadership, according to Bittencourt. They oversee dozens of legal cases against P.C.C. members and make regular visits to P.C.C. leaders imprisoned around the country. Brazilian law protects the lawyer-client relationship to extremes. Prison authorities are not allowed to search lawyers when they enter the prison to visit their clients. Many believe that the lawyers bring cell phones, two-way radios, laptops, and other critical tools the P.C.C. needs to keep its criminal system running.
Reaching beyond its current legal team, the P.C.C. supports law students, paying full tuition in exchange for services once they have a law degree. The P.C.C.’s educational funding extends to future politicians and other individuals who indicate an interest in entering Brazil’s political world. The group also facilitates the path for students who want to enter public security. These efforts and more act as a well-planned insurance policy to ensure the continued existence of the P.C.C. through the manipulation of Brazil’s judicial, political, and security systems.
It was the manipulation of Brazil’s political system that led to the purchase of the testimony Bittencourt and Ferraz prepared for their audience. For some $100, the PCC purchased the testimony from an employee of a company contracted to record and transcribe congressional hearings. The material was allegedly purchased by a P.C.C. lawyer, who delivered the information to the P.C.C. leadership.
Also documented in this material was Bittencourt’s decision to move on May 12 P.C.C. leaders to more secure prisons to prevent what they had learned would be widespread prison rioting on May 14. The P.C.C. once again proved their superior intelligence networks when they began the riots two days early, leading to a week long struggle to bring peace and rule of law back to Sao Paulo.
As a criminal enterprise, the P.C.C. took life inside a Sao Paulo prison in 1993 when prisoners grouped together to force the improvement of their living conditions. Since then, many prisoners, their family members, and other poor Brazilians idolize the P.C.C. as an armed faction of Brazil’s extreme left political flank, working to improve the rights and lives of impoverished Brazilians. For this reason, the P.C.C. draws many of its young recruits from the shantytowns surrounding Sao Paulo.
Many of the people in these communities believe the P.C.C. speaks for them when it fights against what they perceive as a deeply corrupt political organization, beleaguered by broken judicial and penitentiary systems that support an oppressive security structure.
A great irony is many Brazilians believe the P.C.C. fights for them against a government that they consider the true oppressor. At the same time, the P.C.C. has demonstrated a level of power that can only be achieved by taking advantage of the loopholes and cracks in various democratic institutions that today in Brazil appear to facilitate organized crime more than protect and serve Brazilian citizens. What happened in the second week of May 2006 is a minor showing of the true power the P.C.C. holds. It is a level of sophistication and organization that the international media have not been able to elucidate and that people in Brazil would rather not talk about.
Sam Logan (http://www.samuellogan.com) is an investigative journalist who has reported on security, energy, politics, economics, organized crime, terrorism, and black markets in Latin America since 1999. He is currently completing his work on Nice Guys Die First, a forthcoming non-fiction narrative about organized crime in Brazil.
Tags: brazil, drugs, lula, organized crime, police, politics, reform, sao Paulo, security, South AmericaOverview of Brazil for Travelers
Posted at 7:45 am | Filed Under brazil
The Federative Republic of Brazil is the largest country in South America. Following is an overview of fun loving Brazil for travelers.
Overview of Brazil for Travelers
Indigenous peoples have populated for a long, but undetermined, period. European influence began with Pedro Alvares Cabral when he claimed Brazil as a Portuguese colony in 1500. In a little known development, Brazil actually became the location of the Portuguese government in 1808 when Napoleon chased the royal family out of Portugal. While in Brazil, the family ruled from Rio de Janeiro until 1821 when it returned to Europe. This move was motivated by a declaration of independence by Brazil, led by Dom Pedro.
As with many South American countries, Brazil has seen its ups and downs from a political perspective. In 1989, it finally completed a transition to a popularly elected government when Collor de Mello won the popular vote. Less than three years later, he was forced to resign under the cloud of corruption charges.
In 2002, Luiz Inacio da Silva rose to the position of president. Lula, as he is known, represents a major change in Brazilian politics. He is the first leader from the working class.
Brazil covers just under 3.3 million square miles of South America. The climate in Brazil is mostly tropical, particularly in light of the Amazon River basin.
With a population exceeding 186 million, Brazil is the fifth most populous country in the world and largest in South America. Despite covering a vast area, most of the population lives in urban cities such as Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. If you think traffic is bad in your location, keep in mind over 18 million people live in greater Sao Paulo!
The people of Brazil are called “Brazilians.” The population is 186 million people and growing at a rate of .1 percent a year. 74 percent of Brazilians consider themselves Roman Catholics. The official language is Portuguese and the literacy rate is 86 percent. Average life expectancy is 71.3 years.
Brazil is one of the world’s leading producers of hydroelectric power. Over 75 percent of its electrical power is generated via dam projects.
If you are considering visiting Brazil, you should keep in mind that crime can be a problem in certain areas. Use common sense and you will have no problem. Brazil is a blast, very cheap and gets a big thumbs up as a travel destination.
Richard Monk is with FactsMonk.com - a site with facts about everything. Visit us to read more about country facts and more facts of Brazil.
Tags: brazil, Brazilians, hydropower, lula, rio, rio de janeiro, sao Paulo, South AmericaA Trip to Brazil
Posted at 2:14 am | Filed Under brazil
The culture of Brazil is rooted in the culture of Portugal. The Portuguese settlers & immigrants brought the Catholic faith, the Portuguese language and several traditions & customs that however determine the modern-day Brazilian culture.
As a multiracial country, its culture likewise absorbed extra determines. The Amerindian peoples shaped Brazil’s language & cuisine and the Africans, brought as slaves, largely acted upon Brazil’s music, dance, cuisine and language. Italian and German immigrants came in prominent numbers and their influences are felt closer to the South of Brazil.
The Brazilian Carnival is an annual celebration in Brazil took hold forty days prior to Easter & marking the start of Lent. During Lent, Roman Catholics, which one constitute the majority in Brazil, are to abstain caused by bodily pleasures. Carnival, which is celebrated as a profane festival, can thus be compared to a farewelling of the pleasures of the flesh.
In Brazil, Carnival as a all exhibits some disputes with its counterparts in Europe and other parts of the world, & within the country itself it is manifested in distinguishable ways in the diverse areas.
Rio de Janeiro
The contemporary Brazilian Carnival finds its roots in Rio de Janeiro in the 1830s, when the city’s bourgeoisie imported the done of holding balls & masquerade parties derived from Paris. It originally mimicked the European form of the festival, over time acquiring elements derived from African & Amerindian cultures.
In the last 19th century, the cordoes (literally laces in Portuguese) were presented in Rio de Janeiro. These were groups of people who would process through the streets playing music and dancing. In todays world they are have a go at it as blocos (blocks), consisting of a group of people who dress in costumes according to certain topics or to celebrate the Carnival in particular ways. Blocos are generally associated with particular neighbourhoods or suburbs and include both a percussion or music group & an entourage of revellers.
In the period of the Carnival, a fat man is elected to represent the role of Rei Momo, the “king” of Carnival.
Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is have a go at it worldwide for the elaborate parades presented by the city’s major samba schools in the Sambadrome & is one of the world’s huge tourist attractions.
Samba schools are very heavy, well-financed organizations that work through and through the year in preparation for Carnival. Parading in the Sambadrome runs over four total nights & is part of an functionary contest, split up into seven divisions, in which one a single samba school will be declared that year’s winner. Blocos deriving given by the samba schools also hold street parties in their various suburbs, through and through which they process along by owning their followers.
Religion
* 73.6% of the people is Catholic, causing Brazil the country sustaining the biggest Catholic population in the world.
* 7.4% of the population reckon themselves agnostics or atheists.
* Spiritism constitutes 1.3% of the population (about 2.3 million).
* 1.8% are members of other faiths. Some of These are Latter-day Saints Followers), Jehovah’s Witnesses Followers) Buddhism Seicho-No-Ie, Judaism , & Islam
* 0.3% are Following of African traditional religions such as Candomble, Macumba, and Umbanda.
* Some practice a intermixture of different faiths, such as Catholicism, Candomble, & indigenous American religion combined.
Sports
The most popular sport in Brazil is football (soccer), and the country is renowned for the character of its players, including Ronaldo, Pele, Ronaldinho, Jairzinho, Rivelino, Zico, Romario, Carlos Alberto, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos, Garrincha, & most recently, Kaka and one of the globe’s most acknowledged players and the current holder of the title of best football player in the world, Ronaldinho.
The Brazilian national football team has been victorious in the globe Cup tournament a record five times and after the 3rd time, Brazil kept the world Cup trophy permanently.
Brazil has likewise accomplished success in more international sports, mainly volleyball, basketball, tennis, gymnastics & auto racing.
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Tags: brazil, Brazilian Carnival, Pele, rio, rio de janeiro, Romario, samba, samba schools, sao Paulo