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31/03/2007 | Brazil - Burgeoning Militia 'Governments' in the Slums of Rio

Stratfor Staff

Illegal militias control more than 80 of the approximate 600 slums, known as favelas, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Beginning in the 1980s, the militias ran out drug traffickers and criminal gangs in many favelas.

 

The militias, which have gained prominence in recent months, not only contribute to Rio's unstable security environment, but also could develop into shadow governments or even competitors to the real state and city governments.

The militias -- not the government -- provide social services, utilities and justice for the tens of thousands of people living in the favelas. They run off drug traffickers and criminal gangs and provide protection for a nominal "tax"; mototaxi operators, for example, pay approximately $10 a week, and merchants, depending on the size of their businesses, pay up to $25 a week. The militias even provide cable television, electricity, garbage pickup and water to the favelas by siphoning off local utilities -- again, for a fee.

In reality, the militias are not much different than the gangs they replace in the favelas; both operate outside the law, and both finance themselves through protection rackets and other "taxes." To the favela residents though, the militias are more benevolent. Because the militias provide services the city and state governments are unwilling or unable to, they are popular with favela residents. In many ways, they act as de facto governments, sometimes with constituencies of between 40,000 and 60,000, depending on the favela.

Some militia commanders are very powerful and, like the city's gangs, could make problems for city and state governments. Although the militias are illegal, the government cannot do much about them. They are often led by off-duty or retired police, security forces members, firemen and even local politicians. The leaders' status lets them avoid disciplinary action for their involvement in the militias and protect their militia members from such actions.

Militias are more prominent in Rio's favelas then they are in those of Sao Paulo, mainly because of the differences among the cities' police forces, favelas and criminal organizations. Police in Rio are not as well-paid as those in Sao Paulo, and more of them reside in favelas. Living in the favelas endangers policemen, who are often there alongside the very criminals they pursue; however, they have no choice because they are too poor to live elsewhere. This causes them to join together for mutual protection, becoming a de facto militia -- something the favela residents, who want protection from criminal gangs and drug traffickers, encourage. The Rio police also have a reputation for being more corrupt than the Sao Paulo police; thus, they have better mechanisms for participating in illegal militias without fear of disciplinary action.

In Rio, the favelas are scattered throughout the metropolitan area, whereas in Sao Paulo they are mainly on the city's periphery. The Rio favelas' locations make them ideal points of sale for narcotics -- many members of the city's middle class and elite go to the favelas for drugs. Therefore, the favelas are very valuable to gangs like Red Command (Comando Vermelho, or CV) and are constantly fought over. These turf wars give the militias something to protect the favela residents against.

In Sao Paulo, the criminal gang
First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC) controls much of the crime in the area. It is a well-organized gang that operates mainly in the state's prisons -- where its power and money come from, and where most of its leaders reside. PCC arranges drug supplies for small vendors that do the retail sales, and sponsors bank robbers and other criminals in exchange for a cut. Because of this, PCC is not as interested in controlling territory as are the gangs in Rio. The Rio gangs control favelas because they use them as fortresses, from within which they pursue their criminal activities.

The militias might make individual favelas more secure, but they make Rio's overall security climate more unstable. When a militia clashes with a gang or tries to take territory from a gang, repercussions can be felt outside the favela. Because many of the militias' leaders are police and local politicians, gangs often target them for assassination. These assassinations can then trigger massive police responses, with the gangs retaliating against police on the streets of Rio.

In the first half of March, CV engaged the Rio police in an undeclared war, killing more than a dozen police officers on and off duty in the space of a week. These attacks were in response to a raid in the favela Complexo do Alemao, where police seized a cache of CV weapons. The raid was part of a series of operations against the gangs in the favelas, which caused the CV to lose significant territory.

The militias are gaining prominence and power in Rio's slums. Eventually, they could be tempted to leave the favelas and exert their control over more affluent parts of Rio. To prevent their influence from spreading further, state and city governments would have to disband existing militias and prevent other favelas from being occupied. There also would need to be a system to effectively punish the police officers involved in the militias. However, given the economic realities in Rio, the climate of corruption within the security forces and the lack of government control in the favelas, this fix will be very hard to achieve.

Stratfor (Estados Unidos)

 


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