The horrific criminal violence that has just gripped the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo has left nearly 100 people dead, many of them policemen and prison guards. The violence was a blatant and evil demonstration of the power of a single part of Brazil’s increasingly dangerous mafia. The trouble appears to have begun when several hundred gang bosses were being moved to high security cells because the authorities had got wind of a coordinated insurrection being organized by the mafia leaders from their prison cells, using smuggled mobile phones.
As a result, there were riots, hostage taking and violence inside dozens of prisons throughout the state while gang members on the outside murdered police and prison guards and officials, then attacked banks and torched buses in a savage orgy of destruction. Yesterday it appeared that the state authorities had restored order. However, in the face of such well-orchestrated and widespread violence, it may well be wondered for how long. Confronted by disciplined and well-funded thugs, intent on gaining their ends by butchery and intimidation, the authorities are clearly feeling the strain. Indeed it may be that the mafia hoods have achieved what they set out to do, which was to demonstrate their power and coerce more policemen, prison guards and politicians into doing their bidding.
For such events to take place in the most prosperous state of one of the world’s largest economies is a cause for considerable concern. There is no comparing these criminals with the outlaws in the US Wild West or even with the sinister Russian mafias that have emerged since the fall of communism.
Brazil’s gangs spring out of poverty and ignorance, from a large underclass who are forced to live on the fringes of the great opulence of a few and the rising fortunes of a middle class. Kidnapping, most recently of close family members of famous footballers, is akin to a cottage industry among these dirt-poor people who live with little hope of bettering themselves. Their poverty in no way excuses their crimes but it is nevertheless a disgrace in such a fast-growing economy. Add to this the proven activity of police death squads which have murdered hundreds of abandoned or runaway children who haunt the streets, eking out a bare existence through robbery, prostitution and drug dealing and you have a society whose prosperity is being built upon very shaky foundations.
Brazil’s press and media have been demanding a tough response to the savagery of the last few days and clearly the perpetrators of this violence must be punished and punished severely. However President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, his country’s first left-wing president in modern times, must also strike at the roots of this lawlessness which is deprivation. In order to do this successfully, he must finally convince the business community and superrich oligarchs to stop opposing economic, agrarian and welfare reform. Perhaps after these latest outrages, his job has become easier.
