COMMANDER OF CARANDIRU MASSACRE FOUND MURDERED

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SAO PAULO 000988

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR DS/IP/WHA, WHA/BSC, INR
NSC FOR FEARS
DEPT ALSO FOR WHA/PDA, DRL/PHD, DS/IP/WHA
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KCRM PHUM PINR SOCI BR
SUBJECT: COMMANDER OF CARANDIRU MASSACRE FOUND MURDERED

REF: (A) SAO PAULO 215; (B) BRASILIA 496; (C) 05 SAO PAULO 975;

(D) SAO PAULO 742

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY.


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The police commander who was in charge of
operations during the infamous 1992 police massacre of inmates at
Sao Paulo's Carandiru Prison was found dead in his apartment on
Sunday night, September 10. Early reports indicate that Ubiratan
Guimaraes, who retired from the police force and had became a state
legislator, was shot once through the chest by someone who seemed to
have fairly easy access to his home in an upscale neighborhood of
Sao Paulo. While police officials say they cannot rule out any
possible motive for the crime, the governor dismissed the notion
that the murder was linked to organized crime, an implied reference
to the prison gang PCC, which is thought to have carried out the
assassination last October of the man who was warden at Carandiru at
the time of the massacre. The murder could have been a crime of
passion or even a random act of violence, but regardless, it has
forced to the surface of Brazilian consciousness yet again the
massacre for which no one has ever truly been held accountable. END
SUMMARY.

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CONTROVERSIAL COP AVOIDED PRISON, DIES MYSTERIOUSLY
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2. (U) Sao Paulo state legislator Ubiratan Guimaraes was found dead
with a single gunshot wound to the chest late Sunday night,
September 10, in his apartment in the upscale neighborhood of
Jardins Paulista (several blocks from the former site of the
Consulate). Guimaraes was well known in Brazil as the Military
Police colonel who was in charge of the operation to quell a prison
riot in Sao Paulo's Carandiru Prison in October 1992 (reftels). To
end the standoff in the prison, 362 Military Police "shock troops"
entered the prison and fired at inmates practically
indiscriminately, even at those cowering in cells. 111 prisoners
were killed. Subsequent police attempts to hide or alter evidence,
downplay the incident and to mislead the public regarding the actual
number of inmates killed, led to worldwide condemnation of the
operation as a human rights violation. The massacre at Carandiru
also became a rallying cry for prisoners decrying conditions in Sao
Paulo state prisons, and was the catalyst for the formation of the
state's notorious prison-based organized crime gang, the First
Capital Command (PCC) (ref C).


3. (SBU) The state closed and eventually imploded Carandiru Prison,
but no one has ever been held truly accountable for the massacre.
In 2001, Guimaraes was found responsible for 102 deaths and was
sentenced to 632 years in prison. However, he was released from
custody pending an appeal, and in February 2006 a state high court
reversed the conviction and absolved him of any wrongdoing (ref A),
which drew the wrath of the international human rights community
once again. In a twist on conventional logic, Guimaraes' lawyer
told Embassy Poloff that it would have been a human rights violation
had the courts condemned Guimaraes, because he had simply followed
orders from state and municipal leaders in launching the assault on
the prison, and because he had been injured by an exploding gas
canister in the opening minutes of the operation and was essentially
incapacitated -- and thus not in direct command -- during the
ensuing melee (ref B). Guimaraes' lawyer insisted that her client
had been a scapegoat of the government and of the press for 14
years.


4. (U) After retiring from the Military Police, Guimaraes
successfully ran for state legislature, ironically using the
electoral number 111, which coincided with the number of prisoners
killed at Carandiru Prison during the massacre for which he claimed
no responsibility (NOTE: Brazilian candidates are identified on the
ballot by a series of numbers representing their party affiliation
and their personal identification. Campaign pamphlets, posters and
television ads usually include the candidate's face, name and
electoral numbers. END NOTE.) Guimaraes insisted that he chose the
numbers not to associate himself with Carandiru, but because 111 was
the number of the horse he rode while part of a police cavalry unit

SAO PAULO 00000988 002 OF 003


earlier in his 34-year police career.


5. (U) At the time of his death, Guimaraes was in the midst of a
re-election campaign and had attended a political event on Saturday
afternoon, September 9. At least one local commentator has opined
that he would have retained his seat easily. Police believe he was
killed late Saturday or early Sunday based on "informal" testimony
from Guimaraes' girlfriend, a Sao Paulo attorney and the last person
to see him alive, as well as from initial interviews with neighbors
and building employees, and evidence at the crime scene. Police say
there were no signs of struggle in the apartment, but the back door
was left ajar. Guimaraes appears to have been in his living room
when he was shot once in the chest from approximately a meter away.
He was found wearing only a bath towel wrapped around his waist. By
Monday evening, September 11, police said they had not yet
determined the caliber of bullet that killed Guimaraes, but admitted
that a .38 revolver belonging to him was missing from the apartment,
even as they found several other firearms that he owned. As is
customary in Brazil, Guimaraes was buried by his family on Monday,
September 11, within 24 hours of the discovery of his death. Police
say their investigation is ongoing, and they will conduct further
witness interviews.

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RETRIBUTION, OR PASSION?
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6. (U) Investigating police commanders said on Monday that they
could not rule out any possible motive or scenario behind the
murder, including an act of revenge for Guimaraes' role in the
Carandiru massacre, or an act of passion. Guimaraes' girlfriend
apparently admitted to the police that the couple had argued just
before she left his apartment Saturday evening. The fight
reportedly started after he received a telephone call from another
woman.


7. (SBU) Sao Paulo Governor Claudio Lembo publicly dismissed the
theory that the murder was connected to organized crime. A link to
the PCC is easy to surmise because the gang is thought to have
assassinated Jose Ismael Pedrosa -- the warden at Carandiru at the
time of the massacre -- in October 2005. The PCC is known to carry
out murders as acts of retribution. For example, the PCC
orchestrated the systematic killings of six prison guards on their
own doorsteps over the course of a week this past June (ref D),in
part as retribution for police and prison crack-downs. It is also a
PCC modus operandi to commit acts of violence, including
assassinations, on or near dates of importance to the organization.
The massacre at Carandiru occurred on October 2, 1992, which likely
explains the timing of Pedrosa's murder last year.

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ALWAYS UNDER THREAT, ALWAYS THREATENING
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8. (U) Guimaraes was said to have lived with near-constant death
threats throughout the 14 years since Carandiru. Yet he never hired
security for his personal protection. Instead, he was known to have
carried a .38 revolver at most times, including during legislative
sessions. He was a strong opponent of various efforts to restrict
gun ownership in Brazil, and was associated with the "Bench of
Bullets," a group of state legislators committed to strong
anti-crime measures.


9. (SBU) COMMENT: To the bitter end, Guimaraes claimed he had a
clear conscience in regard to the events at Carandiru in 1992. And
even though he chafed against the moniker "the Colonel of Carandiru"
and its implication for his legacy, in some ways his political
persona seemed tied to that identity, and he maintained that a
majority of Brazilians considered him a hero for his police service.
During the recent PCC attacks (ref D),he noted ironically and
somewhat bitterly that the human rights organizations that vilified
him seemed to fall silent once police officers, prison guards and
public spaces like city buses became targets of the gang's violence.
If his death is linked to the PCC, it will once again demonstrate
the reach and resolve of that criminal organization. But regardless

SAO PAULO 00000988 003 OF 003


of who committed the murder and why, the legacy of Carindiru will
not be buried with Guimaraes; no government official has ever been
held accountable for the massacre, even as more than 80 police
officers still face charges stemming from the now 14-year old
infamous event. END COMMENT.


10. (U) This cable was coordinated/cleared by Embassy Brasilia.

MCMULLEN