DUST SETTLES IN SAO PAULO AFTER VIOLENT CRIME WAVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SAO PAULO 000573

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 CASC SOCI SNAR ASEC BR
SUBJECT: DUST SETTLES IN SAO PAULO AFTER VIOLENT CRIME WAVE

REF: (A) Sao Paulo 551; (B) Sao Paulo 532; (C) Sao Paulo 526

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY.


1. (U) SUMMARY: Criminal activities associated with last week's
violent crime wave orchestrated by the organized criminal gang the
First Capital Command (PCC) have all but ceased in and around Sao
Paulo. A few random incidents that appear related were reported
over the weekend, but in general, Sao Paulo crime has returned to
"normal" levels and nature. President Lula praised the Governor of
Sao Paulo for his handling of the crisis, while the Governor
admitted that some innocent bystanders may have been killed by
police during the street conflicts. Various government agencies and
human rights groups seek the identification records of those killed
as suspects, but the Governor insists that a list of dead will not
be made public to protect the privacy of grieving families. Prison
officials are striving to maintain control of their facilities.
Meanwhile, the questions of what caused the outbreak of violence and
what needs to be done to prevent its recurrence moved to the
forefront of the political debate. END SUMMARY.

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SAO PAULO ENJOYING THE RETURN TO ROUTINE CRIME
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2. (U) A week after a brutal wave of violence orchestrated by the
organized criminal gang the First Capital Command (PCC) wracked Sao
Paulo city and state and resulted in over 150 deaths (see reftels),
police reported only two new PCC-led attacks on police stations over
the weekend, both near the city of Ribeirao Preto in the
northwestern part of the state. A prison riot in the interior was
also quelled without injuries; meanwhile, a prison guard injured in
the riots last week died in the hospital. A smattering of other
somewhat "sensational" crimes were reported over the weekend, but it
is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate between
"routine" criminal acts and acts associated with what has become
known as the "Wave of Violence" that nearly crippled the city for a
day last week and left residents on edge every evening.

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IDENTIFYING THE INNOCENTS AND THE BAD GUYS
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3. (U) As of Monday, May 22, the number of attacks orchestrated by
the PCC in retaliation for the transfer of 765 of its leaders to
isolated and more secure prison facilities (see reftels) is reported
at 299. The number of deaths associated with street confrontations
reached 154, with an additional nine inmates killed in prison riots.
Of the dead, 41 were police officers, and only four have been
identified by state officials as innocent bystanders. The State
Secretary for Public Security reports that 109 suspects were killed

SIPDIS
in street confrontations with police, and approximately 125
arrested; 149 weapons were confiscated.


4. (U) Somewhat surprisingly, President Lula, during his first
visit to Sao Paulo since the disturbances, praised Governor Claudio
Lembo over the weekend for his handling of the crime wave. Lembo,
meanwhile, admitted, in the face of denials by the commander of the
state Military Police, that it is possible that innocent bystanders
were killed by police during confrontations last week. Several
governmental bodies and human rights groups are investigating, and
are seeking to obtain the identification records of the dead from
the Sao Paulo Coroner's office (Institute for Legal Medicine - IML).
The Brazilian Bar Association wants the list as well, but Governor
Lembo said the state will not release the names publicly for privacy
reasons. (NOTE: The names of police officers killed in action were
released last week. END NOTE.)


5. (U) Of the 109 suspects killed in the state, the IML has
identified 73 bodies. The IML is working to identify 11 more, and
last week it buried one without identification as a pauper because
under law, identification must be made within 72 hours of death.

SAO PAULO 00000573 002 OF 003


Another twenty-two bodies were processed by IMLs in other parts of
Sao Paulo state, and two were determined to be beyond recognition.
According to officials, the Sao Paulo Central morgue was not
over-burdened during the crisis; the IML has 24 refrigerated body
drawers, and six remained empty over the weekend, noted one
official.

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DON'T CALL US, AND WE CAN'T CALL YOU
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6. (U) Meanwhile, at least one community will likely appeal the
judicial order that cellular traffic be blocked near a prison within
its municipality (Ref A) because of the impact on local residents,
and telecommunications authorities report that they have not been
able to block all signals into the six prisons covered by the order.
Industry experts estimate that the cost of blocking cellular
signals to all 144 penal facilities in the state - an effort the
industry would likely resist if the government were to try to force
companies to provide this service - would be more than 100 million
reals (roughly USD 50 million).


7. (U) Prison officials also suspended visitation rights for the
weekend at prisons that were the sites of riots during last week's
melee across the state. Riots broke out in 71 of 144 facilities,
with hostages in each, mostly family members (ref C).

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SOCIAL ILLS BECOME THE NEW FOCUS ON CRIME
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8. (SBU) As government officials make the transition from
operational police action to post-operational fact-finding in the
wake of the PCC's crime spree, more attention is being paid to the
roots of crime in Sao Paulo and Brazil as a whole, and the social
ills that may spawn it. President Lula, standing in solidarity next
to Sao Paulo Governor Claudio Lembo -- whom the president said did
all he could to deal with the attacks -- said on Sunday said that
these acts of violence represent a societal problem. The president
said the problem of violent crime does not lie with the governor,
the presidency or the mayor, but with "Brazilian society" itself.
He said, "We are reaping what we sowed in this country, and if we
want to resolve this, we need to assume responsibility for the steps
we will take." Last week, Governor Lembo blasted what he called the
"white elite" for being "perverse" and "cruel" toward the less
fortunate in Brazilian society. Commentators also have been looking
at a larger societal problem as more days pass without major PCC
attacks, with one noting that "policemen died, but we were the
targets." There is a growing recognition the gang's newly-flexed
muscle places all citizens at risk.


9. (U) A new study released over the weekend shows a majority of
Sao Paulo's youth are "at risk" according to such indicators as
family income, proximity to homicides, level of education, and rates
of adolescent pregnancy. And last week, another study showed that
in 2004, 12.5 million Brazilians lived with hunger but received no
government aid. In that vein, presidential candidate Geraldo
Alckmin announced that he would continue President Lula's famous
Bolsa Familia cash aid program for the poorest Brazilians, which
currently benefits an estimated 8.8 million families and which the
Lula administration is seeking to expand further.


10. (SBU) COMMENT: Renewed attention to the root cause of
criminality in Brazil may be good and necessary for efforts at crime
prevention and social justice, but, as reported in the popular
weekly news magazine Veja, fighting today's criminals is an
ever-present and expensive reality for Brazilian communities like
Sao Paulo. The magazine reported that the state incarcerates on
average 652 new prisoners per month, and that at this rate, it
should be building a new prison every 30 days in order to house them
at acceptable capacity level. This data again illustrates the
double-edged sword over which Brazilian society teeters; Brazil

SAO PAULO 00000573 003 OF 003


needs to find a way to commit resources simultaneously toward fixing
its ailing education system and providing a safety net to the poor,
and toward maintaining and improving its criminal justice and prison
systems. END COMMENT.


11. (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Brasilia.

WOLFE