The way in which the Pacification Police Units (UPPs) were implemented in Rio de Janeiro were the “spark” that resulted in the expansion of the criminal faction Comando Vermelho (CV) to other states.
This finding was presented by the General Coordinator of National Situational Analysis of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin), Pedro de Souza Mesquita, to the Joint Commission for the Control of Intelligence Activities, this Thursday (6).
According to the Abin agent, the arrival of the UPPs in these locations forced CV leaders to flee Rio de Janeiro, resulting in a geographic expansion of the criminal faction across the country.
“The spark of this process is a negative externality of the UPP project itself,” said Mesquita during the commission hearing.
New areas of activity
“And, from the moment these leaders are forced to leave Rio de Janeiro, they inevitably look, on the northern borders, for other places to act, organize and be able to return to Rio. This process has been going on since 2013 and reached its peak last year”, he added.
According to the coordinator of the country’s central intelligence agency, the mapping of this process was conducted with the aim of understanding more precisely the security situation in the state, and its possible implications for other units of the Federation.
“This has been going on since 2013, and it certainly peaked last year”said Mesquita when informing that, that year, the CV operated in Tocantins, Pará, Rondônia and Santa Catarina, in addition to Rio de Janeiro.
Over the course of a decade, the expansion was significant. “Today, in the North, we just don’t have Comando Vermelho as the main group in Roraima and Amapá,” he said, informing that the faction has a “relevant presence” in the states of São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul, but that they also operate in other states.
He explained that the expansion was enhanced by the alignment with criminal groups that, at the time, were facing the advance of another criminal faction in their states, the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), originating in São Paulo.
“The CV then began to offer these groups a network of logistical access to weapons and drugs, through a much more decentralized chain of command than that of the São Paulo faction. From this point on, the criminal organization began to proliferate”, he added.
PCC
During the Senate hearing, Mesquita explained that, if on the one hand, the CV is expanding its field of action nationally, on the other hand, the PCC has expanded its operations to other countries.
“When we talk about transnationality today, we need to look at this actor known as the First Command of the Capital. This is the biggest case we have in the country, and it is without a shadow of a doubt today the group that most affects our stability as a country, before the international community”, he said.
According to the Abin coordinator, investigations into the PCC’s actions show that this international advance has been implemented since 2016.
“In 2018 we had access to a statement from them calling for members who spoke Spanish, to be able to spread to other countries,” he said. That year, the faction was in 11 countries, with around a thousand members.
“Today, 28 countries have the presence of this criminal organization, with more than 2 thousand members. This is a process that has been occurring over the last 15 years”, he added.
Government of RJ
Contacted by Brazil Agencythe government of Rio de Janeiro reported that the nationalization of Comando Vermelho “cannot be attributed exclusively” to UPPS.
The State Department of Public Security confirmed that, in fact, the project, at the time, focused on territorial occupation, without due monitoring of integrated public policies, which would have made its long-term sustainability unfeasible.
“At that time, the wide publicity of the actions and the pressure on territories controlled by drug trafficking led many criminals to move to other municipalities and states, which contributed to the expansion process of Comando Vermelho”, he added.
The Secretariat reinforced that “this movement had several factors” and, subsequently, reaffirmed the need for federal, state and municipal governments to unite in the fight against drug trafficking.
