Brazil: State protection against drug gangs in Brazil, particularly in the State of Bahia (1994 to December 1999)

No specific reference to the State of Bahia could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

In July 1994, the Los Angeles Times reported that in almost all of Rio de Janeiro's shantytowns (favelas), "drug traffickers rule" and that all business related to the shantytown had to be approved by them (11 July 1994). While in some shantytowns, these drug gangs encouraged a culture of violence in their communities, in others, they offered protection and administered quick justice that established a sense of order "upon which many residents, including the middle class, have come to rely, however grudgingly" (ibid.). In Rio's shantytowns, if residents had problems, they would report them to the drug traffickers instead of to the police (ibid.). According to a Brazilian anthropologist, Alba Zaluar, "the emergence in recent decades of drug dealers as the protectors of the community reflects the general service vacuum in Brazil, particularly for poor people" (ibid.). She added that "'the police don't play the role that they should play…they don't protect the people in the favelas, because the people of the favelas are not considered citizens. If anything, they are afraid of being killed by the police" (ibid.).

The role of drug traffickers as protectors of residents in Rio's shantytowns and the difficulties faced by the Brazilian state in providing protection to its citizens are further elucidated in a 29 September 1999 article in O Estado de Sao Paulo, which states that:

The battle against drug trafficking in the poor communities has come in

conflict with the traffickers' close relations with the "normal"

residents, who have no direct involvement with crime, according to

policemen and experts on the subject. The basis for this relationship is

a complex social network for mutual assistance, of a paternalistic

nature, involving feelings of fear and protection. Based on its own codes

of justice, the principal rule of which is silence, the network is aimed

at obstructing police action in the battle against drug trafficking and

operates on the basis of an exchange of favors: the gangsters help the shanty town residents, who protect them from the police.

According to Civil Police official Spindola, the major difficulty in fighting

this type of crime in Rio lies in the lack of cooperation from the groups

directly affected by the traffic: the shanty town residents. He claimed:

"Unfortunately, the law of silence in the poor communities is stronger

than the Constitution itself, which states that it is the citizen's duty to contribute, with the government, to maintaining public security."

On the issue of Rio police, the Japan Economic Newswire reported in June 1996 that in some Rio's shantytowns, in Rocinha for example, the letters "CV," which stand for Commando Vermelho (Red Commando), are painted on the walls of areas belonging to that drug gang and that in these areas, according to a local tourist guide, "'police are hardly seen, fearing trouble with drug lords" (15 June 1996). In 1998, Latin American Regional Reports stated that the head of public security in Rio, General Nilton Cerqueira, had been criticized by the Organization of American States for using a harsh military approach to the drug problem by sending his officials to the shantytowns to kill suspects instead of arresting them (6 Jan. 1998). The report also stated that "public confidence in the police has never been high in Brazil" and substantiated this statement by reporting that, on average, three military police officers had been dismissed every week from January to October 1997 for various misconducts, such as murders, kidnapping, extortion and drug-trafficking. Also in terms of public confidence in police, a September 1999 Latin American Regional Reports article stated "the police are seen as largely ineffective, bureaucratic and weighed down by the cost of paying generous pensions to retired personnel" (14 Sept. 1999).

Information is limited on police actions against Red Commando members.

In June 1995, Latin America Weekly Report stated that the Rio police had recaptured in May 1995 Daniel Francisco da Silva, a leader of the Red Commando in Jacarezinho shantytown, after he had escaped from prison in October 1994 (8 June 1995). In March 1998, Arnaldo Pinto de Medeiros, another leader of Red Commando, was sentenced to 209 years in prison for his role in 11 murders (Latin American Regional Reports 28 Apr. 1998). The same report states that in order for the Rio military police to stop schools from being used as drug distribution centres, it would need, according to its commander, an increase in staff from 28,000 to 39,000 (ibid.). The only other report of authorities pursuing the Red Commando was found in The Boston Globe; it claims that the military police in Rio raided the Commando's warehouse in which were stored pirated copies of compact disks that were to be given away to CV customers as a Christmas gift (26 Nov. 1999).

The United States Department of State's International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 1998 on Brazil reported on the obstacles facing Brazil in curbing drug trafficking:

Staffing, resources, and coordination problems continue to significantly hamper the Federal Police and other law enforcement agencies [in carrying out investigations of counternarcotics]. The lack of a centralized arrest and seizure reporting system contributes to the appearance that interdiction efforts yield only limited results (Feb. 1999).

Further information on what the Brazilian government has done to combat drug trafficking in 1998 can be found on the Department of State Website at .

A law was passed in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies in April 1999 to create the Federal Assistance Program for Victims and Threatened Witnesses (IPS 26 Apr. 1999). According to the report, "the program aims to ensure complete protection of witnesses and qualified criminals who agree to collaborate with justice authorities by providing information that will help solve crimes" (ibid.). It is expected that the law will be passed in the Senate as the approval of the law in the Chamber of Deputies went across party lines, and that a presidential enactment will be done "before the end of this year's [1999] first legislative semester" (ibid.). Under the program, protection would be also available to the family of the victim or the witness (ibid.). A deputy who worked as a rapporteur on a drug trafficking commission believed that the program would increase the number of reported crimes to authorities (ibid.). No reports on the status of this law since April 1999 could be found among the sources consulted.

In a report released by the intelligence service of the Rio Military Police (PM2) in May 1999, the growth of drug trafficking was attributed to "'the absence of public power' in the shantytowns and poor areas…[and] the high profitability, and the slowness and inefficiency of the penal legislation in force" (Jornal da Tarde 25 June 1999).

In March 1999, the Chamber of Deputies set up a commission that would investigate drug trafficking activities (IPS 17 Nov. 1999; The Orlando Sentinel 27 Nov. 1999). According to The Orlando Sentinel, the commission has been successful in incarcerating at least 100 people, including some high-ranking officials, and has accused "high-level politicians, law professionals, executives and police officers of everything from dealing drugs to murder" (ibid.).

 This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. 

The Boston Globe. 26 November 1999. Nicole Veash. "Police Seize on Drug Gang's Gratitude." (NEXIS)

Japan Economic Newswire. 15 June 1996. Lenilson Ferreira. "Rio Shantytowns Becoming Tourist Attractions." (NEXIS)

Inter Press Service (IPS). 26 April 1999. Mario Osava. "Politics-Brazil: Anti-Corruption Investigations in Final Phase." (NEXIS)

_____. James Allen Paranayba. "Human Rights-Brazil: Witness Protection Law to Fight Impunity." (NEXIS0

Jornal da Tarde [Sao Paulo, in Portuguese]. 25 June 1999. "Rio Drug Mafia Operating in Sao Paulo." (FBIS-LAT-1999-0629 25 June 1999/WNC)

Latin American Regional Reports: Brazil Report [London]. 14 September 1999. "Big Cities Become Like War Zones; Authorities Seem Powerless to Stop the Bloodshed." (NEXIS)

_____. 28 April 1998. "Police Helpless." (NEXIS)

_____. 6 January 1998. "How to Survive in the Urban Jungle; Police Experts Sacked for Calling Citizens to Arms." (NEXIS)

Latin America Weekly Report [London]. 8 June 1995. "New Security Chief Named by Alencar; Campaign Against Violent Crime Moves into New Phase." (NEXIS)

Los Angeles Times. 11 July 1994. Ron Harris. "Some Brazilians Choose Slums to Escape Rio Crime." (NEXIS)

O Estado de Sao Paulo [in Portuguese]. 29 September 1999. "Rio Drug Trafficking Moves R25 Million Monthly." (FBIS-LAT-1999-0930 29 Sept. 1999/WNC)

The Orlando Sentinel. 27 November 1999. "Brazil's 'Untouchables' Crack Crime Network." (NEXIS)

United States Department of State. February 1999. International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998. < http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/ 1998_narc_report/ samer98_ part2.html>. [Accessed on 30 Nov. 1999]