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### Viewing cable 06SAOPAULO532, SAO PAULO STREET WAR OVER, BUT WHO WON?

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
06SAOPAULO532 | 2006-05-16 18:58 | 2011-07-11 00:00 | UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY | Consulate Sao Paulo

`

    VZCZCXRO6775
    OO RUEHRG
    DE RUEHSO #0532/01 1361858
    ZNR UUUUU ZZH
    O 161858Z MAY 06
    FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5064
    INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 6202
    RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 2923
    RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 7105
    RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 2574
    RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 2237
    RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 1980
    RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 2798
    RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 1711
    RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
    RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
    RUMIAAA/USCINCSO MIAMI FL
    RUEAWJC/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
    RUEABND/DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMIN HQ WASHDC

` `

    UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 SAO PAULO 000532

    SIPDIS

    DEPARTMENT FOR DS/IP/WHA, DS/ICI/PII, DS/DSS/OSAC, WHA/BSC
    NSC FOR CRONIN
    DEA FOR OEL/DESANTIS AND NIRL/LEHRER
    DEPT ALSO FOR WHA/PDA, DRL/PHD, INL, DS/IP/WHA, DS/DSS/ITA
    BRASILIA FOR RSO AND LEGAT; RIO DE JANEIRO FOR RSO
    SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

    SENSITIVE
    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: N/A
    TAGS: PGOV PHUM KCRM SOCI SNAR ASEC BR
    SUBJECT: SAO PAULO STREET WAR OVER, BUT WHO WON?

    REF: (A) Sao Paulo 526; (B) Sao Paulo 319; (C) Sao Paulo 42; (D) 05
    Sao Paulo 975

    SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY.

    ¶1.  (U) SUMMARY:  The three-night assault on Sao Paulo police forces
    by the organized crime gang PCC seemed to have ended Monday evening
    (May 15) as suddenly as it started.  The daily newspaper Folha de
    Sao Paulo reported on Tuesday, May 16, that the PCC leadership
    called a truce after reaching an agreement with state government
    officials regarding the status of imprisoned gang leaders.  State
    officials deny making any deals with the gang.  Regardless, life all
    but returned to normal overnight in Sao Paulo.  Almost all of the
    state's penitentiaries were under control by midnight on Monday,
    and, after an evening rush "hour" declared to be the worst gridlock
    ever experienced in Sao Paulo, streets were largely quiet through
    the night.  By Tuesday morning police barricades were being
    dismantled, and government officials declared that at least 50
    percent of the cities buses would be running, after several
    terminals had been closed and bus services canceled on Monday out of
    fear of violent attacks.  Some schools remained closed, but in
    general, May 16 looked like any given Tuesday in Sao Paulo.  State
    government officials criticized media outlets and Internet surfers
    for spreading baseless rumors on Monday of erroneous government
    advisories and PCC threats.  These rumors, officials charge, fueled
    a low-level panic across the city that led to the early closure of
    businesses and schools, and ultimately resulted in the ensuing
    gridlock that tied up the city for hours.  END SUMMARY.

    -------------------------
    THE DAY SAO PAULO STOPPED
    -------------------------

    ¶2.  (U) Normalcy returned to Sao Paulo on Tuesday, May 16, as the
    war between the organized crime gang First Capital Command (PCC) and
    the Sao Paulo police (ref A) seemed to have come to an end by Monday
    evening.  Traffic on Monday remained snarled throughout much of the
    city until 9:00 p.m., and cellular telephone traffic periodically
    overloaded circuits as rumors spread throughout the afternoon that
    the government had advised residents to stay indoors or even decreed
    a curfew, and that the PCC had issued a threat that it would carry
    out random attacks on the general populace beginning at 8:00 p.m.
    Both rumors proved to have been false, leading government officials
    to decry the media and Internet surfers for spreading panic.
    Nonetheless, several buses were burned throughout the day and the
    police did engage suspects in several gun battles, resulting in some
    20 deaths, including three police officers. (NOTE: We erroneously
    reported that Congonhas Airport had suspended operations during the
    course of a bomb scare.  Apparently flights were not halted during
    the sweep, but rather, people were rushed through security
    checkpoints into boarding areas, and stores and other public access
    areas were cleared until it was determined that no bomb existed.  A
    few incoming flights may have been cancelled by airlines.  END
    NOTE.)

    ¶3.  (U)  The rumors, coupled with images of burning buses carried
    live on television, led many store owners, mall operators and other
    businesses to close early Monday afternoon, resulting in a mass
    exodus around 4:00 p.m. onto Sao Paulo's roadways, which can become
    overburdened with routine traffic on any given day.  Further, with
    five bus companies refusing to operate and several key bus terminals
    closed, an estimated three million people who rely on public
    transportation found themselves scrambling for rides or walking long
    distances in search of the few bus lines still running.  Within an
    hour the city became gridlocked in a manner worse than most
    Paulistanos (as the city's residents are called) can remember; for
    example, many Consulate staff simply returned to the compound to
    wait out the gridlock after having moved only a few blocks in 30
    minutes.  But as the traffic eased and nightfall descended, Sao
    Paulo remained relatively quiet, and it seemed that the bloody
    attacks of the previous three nights would not reappear for a
    fourth.

    SAO PAULO 00000532  002 OF 004

    ---------------------
    TRUCE OR CONSEQUENCES
    ---------------------

    ¶4. (U) The major daily newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported on
    Tuesday, May 16, that a truce was called by the PCC after its
    leaders negotiated acceptable terms for their confinement in the Sao
    Paulo prison system.  State government officials deny that it made
    any deals with the PCC, stating emphatically, "We do not negotiate
    with bandits."  Nonetheless, peace did come rather quickly to Sao
    Paulo streets.  Particularly noticeable was the sudden cessation of
    prison riots; on Monday morning, 46 of 144 prison facilities
    reported ongoing riots with hostage situations (after a peak of 71
    such riots on Sunday, May 14), and television stations showed
    footage of these throughout the day.  But by 8:00 p.m. the number of
    riots had dropped to six, and by midnight all but two prisons were
    under the control of state authorities.  Folha reported that PCC
    leaders gave an order of truce via cell phone that was to have taken
    effect at 4:00 p.m., and that the word quickly spread through the
    prison population, largely controlled by the PCC (ref B).

    ¶5.  (SBU) State police also appeared to have regrouped during the
    day on Monday, May 15.  The Commandant General held a mid-afternoon
    press conference to appeal for calm and assert that he would have
    sufficient forces out at night to combat the unprecedented violence
    in what he described as a "state of war."  In that vein, Poloff
    witnessed a group of four to six police officers detain two suspects
    in a tactical maneuver that took place in the street alongside a
    public bus and near a police station. The officers, dressed in
    plain-clothes and armed with both handguns and shotguns, appeared
    suddenly in the vehicle lanes among the commuters stuck in traffic
    on a six-lane boulevard.  While several officers surrounded the
    suspects with weapons drawn and aimed, others forced the two men to
    the ground and then brought them to their feet with their hands
    behind their heads.  It was unclear whether the men had been walking
    between the cars in traffic or were pulled from a vehicle near the
    bus, but the police officers acted swiftly and decisively, and the
    entire incident lasted less than two minutes during a period when
    traffic was at a complete standstill.  (NOTE:  RSO suggests this may
    have been the work of one of Sao Paulo's tactical anti-organized
    crime units, which may have been dispersed throughout the city in
    unmarked vehicles for the purpose of disrupting criminal attacks
    before or as they happen.  END NOTE.)   Television news footage and
    print photographs show that police presence had been beefed up at
    government facilities and on overpasses with sightlines to potential
    hotspots, and masked police with assault weapons and shotguns had
    been dispersed at the airports, although Consulate staff reported
    seeing no noticeable increase in security at Guarulhos International
    Airport on Monday evening.

    ----------------
    NORMALCY RETURNS
    ----------------

    ¶6.  (U) On Tuesday morning, May 16, state officials declared that at
    least 50 percent of the city's buses would be running, and police
    barricades around police stations had been removed in some areas.
    Public schools were mostly open, but many private schools and
    universities that announced on Monday afternoon that they would be
    closed on Tuesday remained so, mostly as parents and administrators
    assessed the security and transportation situation throughout the
    city.  Businesses seemed to open as usual, if a bit slowly.  While
    the Sao Paulo State Stock Exchange (BOVESPA) had terminated its
    after-hours trading session early on Monday, there is no indication
    that financial markets and banks would alter normal operations on
    Tuesday.  In short, life in Sao Paulo appears to have returned to
    normal.

    --------------------
    SO, WHO WON THE WAR?
    --------------------

    SAO PAULO 00000532  003 OF 004

    ¶7.  (U) The question remains, what was this incredible wave of
    violence really about, and what was the result?  Best estimates now
    put the total number of attacks against police and public security
    targets, public buses, banks and other properties at 274 over four
    days (Friday, May 12 through the end of Monday, May 15).  Almost 100
    deaths associated with the attacks and related prison rebellions
    were reported, 40 or more involving law enforcement officers and
    just under 40 involving suspects.  Four innocent civilians were
    killed, and a dozen or more inmates died in prison riots, either by
    police attempting to quell the violence or at the hands of other
    inmates.  Several other states experienced spill-over violence,
    primarily from prison uprisings coordinated with those in Sao Paulo
    or in solidarity with them.  One gruesome photo in Tuesday's Folha
    shows an inmate in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul holding up the
    severed head of a fellow inmate.  It is not clear why he was
    killed.

    ¶8.  (SBU) For the PCC, it may be that gang leaders simply wanted to
    demonstrate their power in the over-burdened, under-staffed state
    prison system, and throughout the favelas and working-poor districts
    that dot greater Sao Paulo.  Once unleashed by their leaders behind
    bars, PCC followers on the streets may have taken revenge on the
    police they knew, thus hitting targets primarily in the periphery of
    Sao Paulo proper, and often killing officers while off-duty and
    unarmed.  It seems there is a tacit understanding that a level of
    criminality behind bars will be tolerated, in no small part because
    the police and prison system are largely incapable of stopping it.
    The PCC may have demonstrated just how independently it believes it
    has a right to operate; in other words, the prison authority's
    decision to transfer 750 PCC leaders to isolated facilities and to
    lock up its titular head in maximum security (ref A) would not be
    tolerated without a flexing of muscle.  (NOTE: A case study of the
    precariousness of the prison system in Sao Paulo is the release of
    10,000 inmates last Friday on furlough for Mother's Day (ref A).
    RSO was told by one police source that the street battles would
    likely end by Tuesday, May 16, because those inmates, thought to be
    focal points in the weekend attacks, were due to return to their
    prisons by 2:00 p.m. Monday.  The re-incarceration of these inmates
    would be voluntary, but was fully expected by State officials.  We
    have no information regarding the rate of compliance.  END NOTE.)

    ¶9. (SBU)  From a public safety standpoint, the result of the
    violence is a battered police force that managed to persevere during
    what had to have been one of the most trying and debilitating
    weekends faced by almost any police force.  In a city where the
    public largely distrusts its police as being overwhelmed and
    underpaid at best, and inept and corrupt at worst, public confidence
    in law enforcement fell even further as it became obvious that just
    being near police posed a danger, since they were the targets of
    murderous attacks.  Comparisons to Baghdad were frequently made by
    Paulistanos of all stripes over the weekend, and experienced
    city-dwellers warned newcomers to avoid stopping next to squad cars
    or in front of police stations while in traffic, lest you get caught
    in the crossfire.

    ¶10. (SBU) However, this wave of brutality at the hands of highly
    organized criminal enterprises may give added impetus to efforts to
    revamp the criminal justice system and provide more resources.
    Government leaders from other states called upon the federal
    government to better coordinate efforts to combat organized crime
    and drug trafficking.  And there is renewed discussion of exploring
    methods to block cellular signals within prison facilities, in order
    to cut the key lines of communication of the PCC and other organized
    criminal operating from prison.  Such a technology option is
    necessary because prison administrators clearly cannot prevent
    corrupt guards from helping inmates acquire cell phones illicitly
    (ref B).  The State Secretary of Justice had convinced several
    cellular operators to shut down transmission towers near some
    prisons during the uprisings last weekend.  This may have disrupted
    some gang communications, but it also disrupted the communications
    of nearby residents.  The president of the Bar Association of Brazil

    SAO PAULO 00000532  004 OF 004

    criticized a proposal by Sao Paulo Governor Claudio Lembo to have
    police monitor the telephone conversations between prison inmates
    and their lawyers.  The Governor suggests that lawyers have been
    complicit in criminal activities conducted on inmates' behalf.  The
    Bar Association suggested that the government should instead present
    a list of lawyers known to be abetting crime so they can be
    disciplined and expelled from the Bar.

    ------------------------
    COMMENT: LESSONS LEARNED
    ------------------------

    ¶11.  (SBU) In the immediate term, life is returning to normal in Sao
    Paulo, albeit with some trepidation.  Paulistanos are now keenly
    aware just how powerful the organized crime gangs are in Sao Paulo
    State, and how fragile is their security.  The city is taking a hard
    look inward, as local media outlets review with a certain obsession
    the worldwide media coverage of the weekend's gang attacks - which
    were of a brutality previously more commonly associated with Rio de
    Janeiro than Sao Paulo -- and as commentators blame residents for
    spreading fear and panic, causing the city to come to a standstill.
    Comparisons abound: one commentator noted bitterly that London did
    not stop in the wake of bombings last year, and another pointed to
    New York City as an example of how zero tolerance can transform a
    crime-ridden city to a welcoming business and tourist destination.
    And there is talk of better investments in the lives of children, as
    President Lula noted over the weekend, in order to reduce the need
    for costly prisons.  But ultimately in a city of 18 million people
    and a state of about 40 million, large police forces and prison
    systems are necessary, costly, and hard to manage.  Changes will
    likely be made in the margins - which can be effective, as
    demonstrated by the downward trend over the last two years in Sao
    Paulo's murder and violent crime rates - and may begin with a busy
    signal for Sao Paulo's prisoners when they switch on their cell
    phones.  END COMMENT.

    ¶12.  (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Brasilia.

    WOLFE

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