VIOLENCE CONTINUES TO DIMINISH IN SAO PAULO NIGHT OF JULY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SAO PAULO 000771

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

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KCRM SOCI SNAR ASEC BR
SUBJECT: VIOLENCE CONTINUES TO DIMINISH IN SAO PAULO NIGHT OF JULY
13, TRANSPORTATION NORMAL ON JULY 14

REF: Sao Paulo 765 and Previous


1. (U) Sao Paulo and neighboring cities suffered a third night of
attacks the evening of July 12/morning of July 13 from the organized
criminal gang First Capital Command (PCC),though the level of
violence continued to fall. There were only about 17 attacks (no
deaths) reported overnight: two injured (a bus driver severely
burned and a civil police office worker shot); four police stations
attacked; four buses burned; two garbage trucks burned (with the
subsequent suspension of service in the west and south of the city
leaving six million inhabitants without garbage pickup); and three
banks, two car dealerships, one supermarket, and a storefront of a
mall firebombed. Authorities announced on July 13 that police
officers dressed in civilian clothes would ride on buses traveling
20 main bus routes in Sao Paulo, a measure questioned by some
commentators as likely to endanger the public if shootouts on
crowded buses ensued. After the disruption in bus service caused by
fearful bus companies keeping most vehicles off the streets on July
13, bus and other transportation services operated normally the day
of July 14.

Views of Sao Paulo Governor
--------------


2. (SBU) Deputy Principal Officer, ARSO, and Political Assistant had
lunch July 13 with Sao Paulo State Governor Claudio Lembo and Deputy
International Affairs Advisor Carlos Garcete at the Governor's
invitation to discuss possible USG technical assistance to help the
state deal with the ongoing violence created by organized crime.
Lembo welcomed the August 1 arrival of a NAS-sponsored DOJ prison
advisor and a PAS-sponsored seminar on combating organized crime to
be held in August. Lembo made the following observations:

-- On the PCC and the Current Violence: The current round was
fueled by a false news report that 40 top imprisoned PCC leaders
would be transferred to a new federal prison. Lembo said there was
no reason to transfer them (and risk a new outbreak of violence)
from the controlled cells in state prisons where they are held now.
The Governor said procedures had been tightened and PCC leaders no
longer have easy access to cell phones. He blamed former Prisons
Secretary Nagashi Furukawa, whom Lembo fired after the May violence,

SIPDIS
for being too soft on the criminals and giving them too many
concessions. He likened the PCC attacks to urban guerrilla warfare.


-- On GOB Offers of Assistance: The GOB's main offer of members of
the "National Force" is meaningless. The National Force is made up
of members of each state's uniformed ("military") police, meant to
reinforce a state during an emergency. The Force would send a
battalion of 280 police, a drop in the bucket for a state with
147,000 police (87,000 of them military police). Lembo denied that
the GOB had offered to send the Brazilian military, an offer he said
he would accept if the situation greatly deteriorated. He noted he
would receive Justice Minister Thomaz Bastos the following day to
discuss cooperation. (Note: Lembo and President Lula and other GOB
figures continue to trade barbs, with Lula criticizing Lembo's
refusal to accept federal help, and Lembo attacking Lula for using
Sao Paulo's violence for electoral ends. End Note).

-- On the Bus Problems: Lembo asserted that some bus companies did
not provide service on July 13 as a tactic to force an increase in
bus fares. In addition, informal microbus services, which are said
to pay protection money to the PCC, benefited from the bus problems.
Lembo alleged that PT official Jilmar Tatto, a former
transportation secretary under the previous PT mayorship of Sao
Paulo, had ties to the PCC and was likely supportive of the bus
burnings. (Comment: Lembo offered no real proof of these
accusations. PSDB presidential candidate Geraldo Alckmin and
gubernatorial candidate Jose Serra also publicly questioned the ties
between the PT and PCC-influenced microbuses, which was vehemently
denied by President Lula himself. End Comment).

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-- On Human Rights Accusations: Lembo denied that police committed
human rights abuses during the May violence when a number of
suspected criminals were killed, and that all accusations will be
fully investigated. Regarding precarious overcrowding in several
prisons, he stated that the prisoners themselves had destroyed their
facilities and still lived in their cells without doors, and that
the state is moving to improve the situation.

Until the Next Time
--------------


3. Comment: This latest round of violence seems to be winding
down, with a total so far of 133 attacks over three days, eight
deaths, transportation problems, and new forms of attacking civilian
targets; however, it never approached the intensity of the mid-May
violence, with a reported 370 attacks, 138 deaths (42 security
forces, 4 civilians, at least 92 suspected criminals),and
simultaneous riots in 82 prisons. The underlying factors causing
these outbreaks of violence by the PCC are far from being resolved,
and many feel it is simply a matter of time before the current truce
is broken again. End Comment.

MCMULLEN