ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSONQS VISIT TO SAO

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 SAO PAULO 000447

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/FO, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INL
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR DS/IP/WHA, DS/IP/ITA, DS/T/ATA
NSC FOR FEARS
TREASURY FOR JHOEK
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
USAID FOR LAC/AA
PARIS FOR ECON - TOM WHITE

C O R R E C T E D C O P Y - REFORMATED MARGINS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR PGOV PREL KJUS ASEC BR
SUBJECT: ASSISTANT SECRETARY PATTERSONQS VISIT TO SAO
PAULO, MAY 15, 2007

REF: (A) SAO PAULO 58; (B) SAO PAULO 36
(C) 06 SAO PAULO 887 AND PREVIOUS
(D) 06 SAO PAULO 573 AND PREVIOUS

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY

SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) During her May 15 visit to Sao Paulo, INL
A/S Anne Patterson participated in a roundtable with
police, prosecutors, and other experts, who discussed
the First Capital Command (PCC) criminal organization
(see refs C-D) and the different experiences of Sao Paulo
and Rio de Janeiro with gang violence and drug trafficking.
She lunched with a prominent academic who shared the
knowledge gained in years of research in crime and violence
issues and insights into how to change law enforcement
culture. Following a visit to the DEA wire room, she met
with Sao Paulo Governor Jose Serra and senior members of
his public security cabinet. The visit highlighted both the
seriousness of the challenge posed by drug-trafficking gangs
and the determination of Sao Paulo authorities to confront it.
NAS is developing a response to a number of specific training
and equipment requests from the State Secretariat of Public
Security.
End Summary.

GANGS OF SAO PAULO
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2. (U) A/S Patterson participated in a roundtable with
police, prosecutors, and other crime and violence experts.
Her visit coincided with the first anniversary of the
outburst of violence (ref D) orchestrated by the First
Capital Command (PCC),which paralyzed Sao Paulo for
several days in mid-May 2006. The current capabilities of
the PCC, and of law enforcement authorities to combat it,
were the focus of the discussion. Jose Vicente da Silva,
a retired military police colonel who is currently a
private security consultant, stated that organized crime
grew in Sao Paulo partly because of the police's weak
intelligence-gathering capabilities. The police were
incapable of identifying the growth of drug trafficking,
how criminal groups' weapons enter Brazil and who were
the criminal organizations' leaders. A major additional
reason for the growth of crime in recent years is that
gangs use Sao Paulo's advantageous economic situation and
better public infrastructure to their benefit. About half
the drugs trafficked from Bolivia are consumed domestically,
he estimated, with the other half exported to Europe.
Silva added that another factor leading to the strength of
the PCC criminal organization is the state's inability to
control the prison system. The number of prison inmates
in the State of Sao Paulo has increased dramatically from
60,000 to 150,000 and today's state prisons are seriously
overcrowded. Gangs like the PCC take advantage of the
failing prison system to increase their strength. Only
after the May 2006 period of PCC-instigated looting and
destruction, when police were targeted indiscriminately,
did military-civil police cooperation improve and serious
information-sharing begin, Silva commented.


3. (U) State Civil Police Organized Crime Division Chief

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Gaetano Vergine stated that the authorities have
successfully prosecuted several PCC leaders, including
some PCC bosses who live in Sao Paulo's periphery.
Security consultant Silva noted that while Sao Paulo
police technology and training has developed significantly,
Rio de Janeiro's police is corrupt, has limited training,
and hesitates to arrest offenders or push for their
prosecution.


4. (U) Marcio Sergio Christino, a state public prosecutor
with the Special Action Group for Repression of Organized
Crime (GAECO),said the PCC has a monopoly over the prison
system. PCC leaders are constantly perfecting their
capabilities and efficiency, and the group is beginning to
focus not just on immediate action but medium- and
longer-terms goals, he warned. He dismissed the idea that
the PCC is involved with international criminal groups such
as the FARC in Colombia, though he acknowledged that the
PCC does have contacts in other parts of Brazil. Christino
noted that even though crime lords are dispersed throughout
the Sao Paulo prison system instead of being concentrated
in jails affiliated with particular neighborhoods, as is
the case in Rio de Janeiro, the PCC is still extremely
effective in spreading violence. During the May 2006
uprising, the PCC issued a command to stage attacks all
over town rather than focus on certain points in the city
as the gangs in Rio tend to do, he said. Christino also
noted that Sao Paulo's favelas (urban slums) are not
impenetrable fortresses to police as are the favelas in
Rio.

SAO PAULO VERSUS RIO GANGS: WHO IS THE BEST NEIGHBOR?
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5. (U) Christino stated that in Rio de Janeiro, since
the government has completely abandoned the favelas,
criminal gangs move in to fill the social services
vacuum left behind. While Sao Paulo's PCC is effective
in building community support by supporting inmatesQ
families, including providing them with transportation
to visit incarcerated relatives, the PCC is primarily
focused on drug trafficking and has yet to provide social
services like its counterparts do in Rio. Bruno Paes Manso,
a journalist who writes frequently about crime and public
security issues for large circulation daily "Estado de Sao
Paulo", disagreed, stating that PCC leaders are attached to
the neighborhoods in which they grew up and now operate.
They support popular soccer teams and sales of home-made
items in neighborhood churches, and even sponsor concerts
for young Brazilians. According to Manso, although the PCC
primarily uses the drug trade and the profits it generates
to increase its strength, it has actually begun establishing
order in previously unsafe neighborhoods through
consolidation of criminal activities in these areas. "In the
1990s we had disorganized crimeQ characterized by killings
involving small-time drug dealers, but since Marcos Willians
Camacho, aka Marcola, took over the PCC some years back, drug
trafficking and related crimes are organized and controlled.
He mused that the PCC and other gangs actually operate like
many businesses, even maintaining marketing departments.

FURTHER CHALLENGES
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6. (U) When A/S Patterson asked about prisoners' use of
cell phones to conduct illicit activity, Civil Police Division
Chief Vergine responded that restricting cell phones in prisons
is the principal means of curbing the PCCQs strength. GAECO
prosecutor Christino noted that the PCC could not have
orchestrated last yearQs violence without extensive cell phone
use and that eliminating such use would lead to a significant
reduction in overall criminal activity. He noted, however,
that experts want to know who would block cell phone signals:
the state or private cell phone companies? Another challenge
in reducing crime is that Brazilian law only allows one year
of "special regime" (solitary confinement combined with other
restrictions) for even the most problematic prisoners. The
state prisons also suffer from weak administration and poor
management practices, he added, with guards often doing only
what they are specifically ordered to do rather than taking
initiative to identify and address potential problems.
Security expert Silva lamented the fact that prison officials
are not police officers and therefore lack proper training.
The excess number of prisoners is a further problem, he added.
He called for more prison administration courses and
complained that an initiative to modernize BrazilQs prison
system has sat idle in Congress of five years. Based on
Brazil's history under a dictatorship, prisoners are still
widely viewed as victims rather than criminals, he concluded.

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ASSESSING LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT NEEDS
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7. (SBU) Nancy Cardia, a leading academic who heads the
Unviersity of Sao PauloQs Center for the Study of Violence,
outlined some ways in which USG assistance might help Sao
Paulo authorities in dealing with organized crime and drug
trafficking. Cardia noted that both the police and prisons
required serious reforms, although she acknowledged that
this would be a costly and lengthy undertaking. She suggested
that USG assistance centered on modernizing the police's
anti-narcotics unit might be more realistic and effective in
the short to medium term. Likewise, she touted community
policing as a key area where the U.S. had considerable
experience that might be shared with local law enforcement
authorities and civic leaders. Similarly, Cardia said the
police needed access to up-to-date periodicals, which they
currently lack. She added that this would be a relatively
low-cost item that the USG could provide in a timely way.


8. (SBU) DEA arranged a visit to the Federal Police's "wire
room" (telephone intercept center) in Sao Paulo, which
underscored the exemplary dedication as well as the impressive
capabilities of these agents, who collectively are able to
monitor seven different languages as well as different
dialects. The Federal Police also provide critical
cooperation in key DEA cases involving third-country nationals
involved in narcotics trafficking activities. Federal Police
officials have identified a new facility that would improve
the current capabilities of this wire room, an initiative that
would advance USG interests.

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MEETING WITH GOVERNOR
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9. (SBU) A/S Patterson met with Sao Paulo Governor Jose

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Serra, who was accompanied by the State Secretaries of Public
Security and Justice as well as the heads of the state
military, civil, and technical police. A/S Patterson addressed
the difficulties involved in working with the Government of
Bolivia on drug issues, especially since the GoB lifted limits
on coca cultivation. All affected nations are trying to
convince Bolivia to resume eradication, she said. Governor
Serra stressed that drugs coming from Bolivia constitute a
major problem for Sao Paulo state.


10. (SBU) The Governor pointed out that the state, with its
population of 40 million, is almost as large as Colombia,
South AmericaQs second-largest country. It has a combined
total of some 120,000 civil and military police, the largest
police force in the nation, as compared with only 11,000
federal police. In distributing resources, the federal
government tends to treat all states as equals instead of
directing more attention and resources towards the largest
states or the ones that have the most serious crime problems.
Because the federal police force is spread so thin, the state
police must also take some responsibility for interdiction,
even though they lack training in this area. The state's law
enforcement capabilities must be upgraded to help it meet the
serious challenges it faces with drugs, weapons and contraband
coming across the borders. For example, Justice Secretary
Luiz Antonio Guimaraes Marrey indicated that there are now
cocaine refining facilities in the state and that some
homemade explosives are found here as well. Governor Serra,
reiterating that the state is carrying much of the burden,
asked USG to persuade the federal government of the merits of
direct U.S.-Sao Paulo cooperation.

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REQUEST FOR TRAINING AND OTHER COOPERATION
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11. (SBU) Secretary of Public Security Ronaldo Bretas
Marzagao listed a number of areas where the state is
interested in increased cooperation. These are encapsulated
in a document that Post has shared with WHA/BSC, INL, DS, and
DHS. Per refs A-B, state authorities are concerned about
security in the metropolitan public transportation system; a
TSA representative visited and assessed transit security

SIPDIS
practices, and Post is in the process of organizing a
Voluntary Visitors program for transit officials to meet with
their counterparts in U.S. cities. In February, RSO sent five
military and civil police candidates recommended by Marzagao's
office to a DSS/ATA-sponsored Explosive Ordnance Management
course in Rio de Janeiro.


12. (SBU) The military police wants training on detecting and
neutralizing explosive devices, negotiating hostage crises and
related public emergencies, and use of dogs to interdict
weapons, explosive, and drugs. The civil police wants to
improve its intelligence and investigation capability in the
areas of organized crime, drug trafficking, money-laundering,
and intellectual property crime. The scientific-technical
police - a division of the civil police - wants crime scene
training, techniques for analyzing drug materials, and
training and expertise on DNA analysis and autopsies. Cyber-
crime is also an area of increasing concern where they would
like to improve their capabilities.


13. (SBU) A/S Patterson noted that Brazil has sophisticated

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capabilities in a number of areas, such as combating money-
laundering, but that it needs more expertise in the area of
complex financial crimes. She also addressed the question
of demand reduction, noting that an INL demand reduction
expert had visited Sao Paulo the previous week. INL is in
the process of establishing new law enforcement positions in
Brazil that will enhance our ability to address Sao Paulo's
priorities. She acknowledged that the phenomenon of inmates
operating criminal enterprises from prisons is a hemisphere-
wide problem. Other countries in the region have made
progress in gaining better control of the prisons, only to
lose ground again. Justice Secretary Marrey said Sao Paulo
has achieved some success in this area but that gangs
continue to operate in state prisons and juvenile
corrections facilities.


14. (SBU) In closing, Governor Serra noted that he strongly
favors proposed federal legislation that would allow for
supervised release of some prisoners, which he said would
greatly help ease the overcrowding in the state prison system.
Sao Paulo wants to develop a supervised release program and is
interested in the U.S. experience with prisoner monitoring
procedures and devices, he said. A/S Patterson indicated
that there is some very effective albeit expensive technology
on the market. Serra said he would appreciate guidance on the
costs and benefits of available technology.

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COMMENT
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15. (SBU) Following the PCC-led wave of violence last
May, there were brief surges in the battle between the
gang and the police in July and August, but things have
been generally quiet in Sao Paulo since then. Nevertheless,
most experts believe it is only a matter of time, and of
some precipitating incident, before the PCC again shows
its strength in the city and the prisons. While Governor
Serra appears serious about addressing the issue, the
challenges remain large. This visit served to highlight
those challenges and the stateQs response to them, and to
help identify areas where the USG can make a cost-effective
contribution.


16. (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Brasilia
and ConGen Rio de Janeiro, and cleared by A/S Patterson
and Ambassador Sobel.

MCMULLEN