#red command

Message was delivered by the Ministry of Justice during meeting with U.S. diplomat

The Brazilian government told a representative of Donald Trump's (U.S.) administration that it disagrees with the American government's pressure for Brazil to classify criminal factions such as PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital) and CV (Comando Vermelho) as terrorist organizations.

The message was delivered during a visit by U.S. diplomat David Gamble, head of the sanctions division at the U.S. Department of State. He attended meetings on Tuesday (6) with officials from Brazil’s Ministry of Justice.

"We do not consider the factions to be terrorist organizations. First of all, because that doesn’t align with our legal system, as our factions do not act in defense of a cause or ideology. They seek profit through various illegal activities," said Mário Sarrubbo, Brazil’s National Secretary of Public Security, who did not attend the meeting.

Unprecedented survey indicates the existence of 70 factions within Brazil's prison system

The contamination of the Brazilian prison system by criminal factions has grown and is present in all states, with emphasis on the PCC (First Capital Command) and the CV (Red Command), born in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, respectively.

An unprecedented survey conducted by the Ministry of Justice and obtained by Folha shows that the two largest factions in the country have operated in 24 states and the Federal District, with a more pronounced growth of the Red Command.

According to the data, the Red Command is present in prisons in 21 states, six more than the previous year. The PCC is in 23, two more than in 2022.

Police officials and human rights activists called Thursday’s operation in a district controlled by drug traffickers the deadliest in the city’s history.

A police operation targeting drug dealers in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday morning left at least 25 people dead, including a police officer, in an operation that officials and human rights activists called the deadliest in the city’s history.

The gun battle in Jacarezinho, a poor and working-class district controlled by the drug gang known as Comando Vermelho, or Red Command, also wounded at least two subway passengers who were struck as their train was caught in the crossfire.

Residents and human rights activists accused the police of using excessive force and questioned why the operation was launched at all, given a Supreme Court ban on law enforcement raids in the city during the pandemic.

Nadine Borges, vice president of the human rights commission at Brazil’s bar association, said a team of lawyers gathering facts had heard chilling preliminary accounts.

“There were executions of people who had already surrendered,” she said. “It was absolute barbarism.

Prison Riot In Northern Brazil Leaves At Least 57 Inmates Dead

At least 57 prisoners were killed by fellow inmates during a prison riot in northern Brazil in what authorities have described as a "targeted act" by gang members directed at a rival group.

The riot at Altamira prison began early Monday and lasted throughout the morning, according to authorities. Two prison officials were reportedly taken hostage, but later released after negotiations.

In a statement put out by Pará state, where the prison is located, officials said that the riot was triggered when members of the Comando Class A gang set fire to a cell where rival gang members from Comando Vermelho (Red Command) were kept.

Most of the inmates that died were killed in the fire, officials said, but at least 16 of them were decapitated.

Urban gangs are a fixture of Brazil's prisons and favelas (slums). And the operations of such criminal groups in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo are illustrative of their competition among themselves and with the state. Two major organizations — First Capital Command, or Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) in Portuguese, and Red Command, or Comando Vermelho (CV) in Portuguese — dominate this hyperviolent contest for control. The core of their power lies in the connections between prison gangs and street gangs. From prison, these groups consolidate control over criminal enterprises, shape strategies, ruthlessly attack competitors and exert internal discipline over their members. The conflicts often reach the streets.

In Brazil, the situation is particularly acute. In 2018, it had 14 of the world's most violent cities. Though the number of homicides dropped 13 percent from 2017 to 2018, the death toll was still high at 51,589, and police killed at least 6,100 people last year. In Rio de Janeiro, official data show that police killings rose from 368 in the first three months of 2018 to 434 for the same period in 2019 — an 18 percent increase. At 8.9 per 100,000, the 2018 rate of police killings in Rio is the highest it has been in 20 years, accounting for 1,534 deaths. The violent competition between the police and gangs leads to increasingly frequent gunbattles and increases the risk of bystanders, tourists and corporate employees getting caught in the crossfire.

Rio de Janeiro has become emblematic of the consequences of gang violence. With gang murders, random shootings and police killings, the state of Rio de Janeiro has a homicide rate of 39 per 100,000, topping the national average of 27 per 100,000. In contrast, Sao Paulo is an example of urban stability with the country's lowest homicide rate at 9.5 per 100,000, which has fallen almost 90 percent since 2001.

The difference in gang violence rates between Rio and Sao Paulo is a contemporary tale of two cities. The CV and a number of competing gangs (gangues) and militias control Rio's favelas and criminal markets. In Sao Paulo, a single gang — PCC — dominates the criminal landscape.