Thread: Brazilian Gang Members at 'War' With Prison Officials

Is this coming our way?

http://www.townhall.com/news/ext_wire.html?rowid=47102

Brazilian Gang Members at 'War' With Prison Officials
By Howard Williams

May 16, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - The governor of Sao Paulo, Brazil, insists that his administration is in control of the city and we will stay in control, but violence in the streets and in prisons holding gang members is responsible for more than 80 deaths, including about 40 police officers and prison guards.

The Brazilian cabinet met in emergency session Monday and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva offered to send thousands of federal troops to Sao Paulo to quell the riots and street violence, but Sao Paulo state Gov. Claudio Lembo said the assistance was not needed.

The rioting started in a series of coordinated uprisings in more than 40 prisons after authorities had ordered the transfer of about 700 members of the so-called First Command of the Capital (PCC) criminal organization to high-security facilities.

The rioting over the weekend and into Monday led to the collapse of the whole of Sao Paulo's transit system after several buses were torched and gang members targeted local banks and police stations.

The well-organized PCC, whose command structure is based in the prisons according to local authorities, has virtually crippled the economy of Brazil's most heavily populated province and threatens what had been an encouraging improvement in the overall national economic picture.

The violence, according to international observers, could help escalate law-and-order problems in other countries throughout the region.

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, in its World Factbook report updated on May 2, warned of problems in what it called the "unruly region at convergence of Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay borders." This region, the Factbook states, is the center of "money laundering, smuggling, arms and illegal narcotics trafficking and fundraising for extremist organizations."

The PCC is believed to be a key element in those activities.

Brazil also borders Bolivia, Peru and Colombia, countries that are waging their own battles with drugs traffickers and civil disorder, but are far from the Sao Paulo riots.

Local media are already describing the escalating violence as "a war," with early signs showing that the PCC may have the upper hand.

Prisoners have taken control of more than 40 jails. The prison riots started in the greater Sao Paulo city area and quickly spread to other towns in the province and by Friday the violence had spread to city streets.

Unconfirmed reports from the different prisons indicated that there were at least 200 hostages - mainly prison guards - being held by the inmates and an unknown number of deaths in those institutions.

The PCC is believed to have started in 1993 with the merger of several violent street gangs involved in drugs and arms-trafficking, bank robberies and extortion. Police say the group has been able to coordinate its activities thanks to the use of cellular phones, including many that have been smuggled into the prisons where the PCC command structure is based.

It was partly an effort by the authorities to break down the command structure that led to the plans to transfer the gang's ringleaders to high-security institutions.

Although the PCC is considered a "domestic" crime organization, police believe it has links with Colombia's FARC guerilla movement and Peru's Shining Path leadership.

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Note, I also found this on www.ABC.com

Maybe we should send the National Guard.