PRE-FATHER'S DAY ATTACKS IN SAO PAULO BY PCC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SAO PAULO 000865 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR DS/IP/WHA, DS/ICI/PII, DS/DSS/OSAC, WHA/BSC NSC FOR FEARS 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 KCRM CASC ASEC SNAR SOCI BR SUBJECT: PRE-FATHER'S DAY ATTACKS IN SAO PAULO BY PCC REF: (A) SAO PAULO 771; (B) SAO PAULO 573; (C) SAO PAULO 742 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Sao Paulo residents awoke Monday morning, August 7, to reports of yet another round of bus burnings and bomb and gun attacks against police targets orchestrated by the organized crime ring PCC. Twenty-seven attacks were reported in greater Sao Paulo by the office of the state Secretary of Public Security, with five more in the interior of the state. Officials also reported two suspects were killed and two others arrested. We also have an unconfirmed report on Monday afternoon that a riot has broken out at a prison near Guarulhos International Airport. These attacks may foretell a new wave of violence to coincide with the Brazilian Father's Day holiday weekend August 12-13, and may have been a reaction to rumors that the state government will try to prevent the normal release of thousands of prisoners for the holiday weekend. The state government of Sao Paulo recently began leasing helicopters from the Army, and the federal Ministry of Justice has again offered up federal troops to combat the PCC, which the governor of Sao Paulo continues to decline. Post will convene an Emergency Action Committee (EAC) meeting on Tuesday, August 8, to monitor and evaluate the situation. END SUMMARY. -------------- HERE WE GO AGAIN -------------- ¶2. (SBU) In the early morning hours of Monday, August 7, elements of the organized crime gang First Capital Command (PCC) launched another series of attacks against law enforcement facilities and other civilian targets. This is the third wave of violence since May (reftels),when what began as a series of Mother's Day prison revolts quickly engulfed the city in several days of urban warfare between the PCC and the law enforcement community. The attacks this morning were relatively restrained compared to the attacks in May and July. The most serious was a home-made bomb that destroyed a doorway to a state government office building located in the city's center, and which also shattered windows of several buildings nearby. A similar bomb damaged the office of the state revenue service. Passengers in a car shot at a police station in the southern zone of Sao Paulo, and two cars used by detectives were torched at the headquarters of the police division that investigates organized crime (DEIC). ¶3. (SBU) In addition to the attacks on law enforcement targets, fifteen buses were torched in several areas of the greater Sao Paulo metropolitan area, and several businesses were attacked, including banks and ATM machines, a supermarket and two gas stations in the affluent neighborhood of Higienopolis, which lies less than two miles from the Jardins neighborhood where approximately half of the Consulate's American employees and their families live. At mid-morning the state Secretariat for Public Security (SSP) reported 27 attacks throughout greater Sao Paulo, and five more in the interior of the state. Officials also said that police killed two suspects associated with the attacks and arrested two others. ¶4. (SBU) Also, as of Monday afternoon, we have received an unconfirmed report that a riot has broken out at a prison near Guarulhos International Airport. We will report on this further as warranted. -------------- ANOTHER MASS PRISON FURLOUGH PENDING -------------- ¶5. (SBU) We have reason to suspect that Monday's attacks may be a reaction to rumors that the state government may try to block the release of prisoners for the upcoming Father's Day holiday weekend, August 12-13. State Prison Administration officials recently told Poloff that, by national law, prisons must release certain inmates incarcerated in "semi-open" facilities for weekend furloughs SAO PAULO 00000865 002 OF 002 coinciding with five holidays each year. "Semi-open" facilities are those that are essentially "minimum security" and which do not have security features such as outside walls with catwalks and guard towers, and that are not guarded or patrolled by special units of the Military Police (PM). The release of 12,000 inmates -- many of them PCC members -- on furlough for Mother's Day contributed greatly to the spread of violence against police in May. It is still unclear if or how any government office would attempt to revoke prison releases for this Father's Day. Prison officials told Poloff that press reports suggesting that police had received intelligence that the PCC was planning "super rebellions" in the state's prisons were false, and that, as of July 28, the Prison Administration had no information that any disturbance was being planned for Father's Day. -------------- FEDS INDIMIDATED TOO -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Even Brazil's federal Minister of Justice, Marcio Thomaz Bastos, admitted on Monday that "like any citizen," he was frightened by Monday's attacks, and that he is "intimidated" by the strength of the PCC. Speaking to reporters at a public event, he again offered the use of Brazilian armed forces to help the state of Sao Paulo combat the PCC. He elaborated that the force would not be just troops, but also equipment such as aircraft and specially "prepared contingency plans." He also suggested that some of Sao Paulo's prisoners could be transferred to the new federal prison in Catanduvas, Parana State, and that the governor should create a position in the state government for a federal overseer of a joint task force for public security. While insisting that Sao Paulo's governor, Claudio Lembo of the opposition Liberal Front Party (PFL) was "absolutely loyal" to the people of Sao Paulo, Bastos also emphasized that, in the face of a grave threat to public security, it is important that officials avoid "electoral warfare" to the benefit of criminals. He added that officials need to work in an "impersonal, republican" manner, and not dispute their differences of opinion regarding security matters on television. ¶7. (SBU) Sao Paulo State has received a boost in its crime-fighting capacity from the federal government, first in the form of two Army helicopters that will be used to ferry elite police units to hotspots and prison riots. Also, the federal government will give Sao Paulo State nearly $500,000 to study the way in which the state processes prisoners. The study is intended to take one year, and may be duplicated in other states. -------------- COMMENT: ANTICIPATING FATHER'S DAY -------------- ¶8. (SBU) COMMENT: Monday's violence may have been meant to be a harbinger of things to come this weekend if state security agencies try to block the customary prisoner release for Father's Day. Or, it may have been the opening salvo in a new wave of violence, or even a reaction to the killing of drug trafficker Jose Renato da Silva Ferreira, aka "Batata," in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, August ¶5. Regardless, we continue to monitor this situation, and are seeking clearer indications as to what, if any, violence is likely to occur in the coming week and through Brazil's Father's Day weekend. As Monday morning's PCC attacks prove once again, the organization is capable of moving quickly and forcefully, but luckily for most Sao Paulo residents, also with relatively measured results. Post will convene an EAC meeting on Tuesday, August 8, to monitor and evaluate the situation. END COMMENT. MCMULLEN