Vermelho Comando
The Comando Vermelho ( de : "Red Command" ) is a criminal organization that is mainly active in the illegal drug trade in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro . According to estimates by the Brazilian police, the Comando Vermelho (CV) in Rio is made up of around 5,000 criminals, some of whom are armed with war weapons. It controls approximately 40% of the local illicit drug market.
Emergence
The Comando Vermelho originated in Brazilian prisons from the late 1970s, namely in the prison of the Ilha Grande ( state of Rio de Janeiro ), where political prisoners of the military dictatorship in Brazil and common criminals had to live together under problematic conditions. In this situation, the political prisoners tried to spread political thinking and the idea of active solidarity between their cellmates.
The organization originally fulfilled the function of a resistance group and protection community for prisoners against attacks by guards and fellow prisoners. The motto of the command “Paz, Justiça e Liberdade” (“Peace, Justice and Freedom”), which is still used today and which is distributed, for example, through the graffiti intended as territorial markings at drug sales points in Rio de Janeiro , refers to this early period, which was partly ideological .
More recently, within the Comando, but also in hostile groups, there has been an adoption of evangelically shaped, Christian fundamentalist thought, which, among other things , turns against the Afro-Brazilian Umbanda religion. Former gangsters either act as representatives of larger free churches such as B. Edir Macedo's Pentecostal sect Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus or as independent lay pastors and call on its members and the favela residents to adhere to a strictly Christian way of life.
The Comando Vermelho rules Rio's favelas
The Comando Vermelho achieved maximum visibility in the Baixada Fluminense and the favelas Cidade de Deus , Complexo do Alemão , Cantagalo and Pavão-Pavãozinho , where it is striving for territorial rule and defending it with armed force against the police and other drug gangs.
The residents of the slums keep getting caught between the fronts, but ultimately have to recognize the drug traffickers as the authority in their neighborhood and come to terms with them.
The co-operation between residents and drug traffickers in slums in large Brazilian cities, which often develops in this way, is also promoted by the fact that the latter enforce a kind of monopoly on violence , which in some cases guarantees more effective protection against crime and some forms of violence than that provided by the Brazilian state, and in in some cases assume certain otherwise non-existent social and charitable functions.
This development is reinforced by the corruption within the Brazilian police, which has reached the highest ranks, and their brutal and illegal actions in the slums. On the other hand, groups (“Milícias”) have already been founded in some slums of Rio de Janeiro, which, like the Policia Mineira in the favela Rio das Pedras, fight drug trafficking through armed violence. The territorial struggles of the drug organization are waged with extreme brutality. The favela Pavão-Pavãozinho in a row of hills around the Copacabana, for example, is popularly known as “Sarajevo” because of grenade impacts on house walls . Gun fights between rival gangs are fought at any time of the day.
The victims of the drug wars in Rio de Janeiro are called “presunto” (de: “ham”) or “queima de arquivo” (de: “archive combustion”). In some cases, tires are placed around the victims' bodies and set on fire to deter them. The faces of the victims are partially chopped up with machetes to make them unrecognizable. In 1992, at the height of the drug wars in Rio de Janeiro, Stern magazine reported on the numbness of the population involved in the drug war: After a man killed a rival and went back to a bar with a blood-smeared T-shirt, the bar lady’s only concern was the Getting blood stains out of clothes again.
Acceptance of the Comando Vermelhos
For many young people from poor families, the illegal drug trade appears to be an attractive source of income that not only ensures them a comparatively high income, but also increases their self-esteem and social prestige. In view of the miserable living conditions of a large number of children and young people in Brazil who grow up without economic prospects, this attractiveness is not diminished by the short life expectancy of a drug dealer in the ranks of the Comando Vermelho or a comparable organization: the majority of those involved in drug trafficking Those involved in Rio find death in confrontations with rivals or the police before they have reached the age of 25.
The youthful members of the CV call themselves “soldados do morro” (German “soldiers of the hills”, meaning “ghetto soldiers”), wear their fully automatic rapid-fire rifles publicly as insignia of their power, and determine the “Baile Funk” parties in their neighborhoods. The CV is in direct rivalry with the “Terceiro Comando” (TC - “third command”) and the “Amigos dos Amigos” (ADA - “Friends of Friends”). The Favela Complexo da Maré , for example, is ruled in the north by the killers of the Comando Vermelho and in the south by the Terceiro Comando, wearing the wrong colors (such as red for Comando Vermelho) there can result in torture and murder.
Fernandinho Beira-Mar and Elias Maluco
Notorious leaders of the CV are Fernandinho Beira-Mar and Elias Maluco.
Fernandinho Beira-Mar alias Luiz Fernando da Costa was born in Duque de Caxias / Baixada Fluminense. His mother was killed in a car accident in 1992. Beira-Mar began trading stolen arms from the army at an early age and was sentenced to imprisonment. When he was released at the age of 20, he came to head the Comando Vermelhos in his favela Beira Mar.
In the years 1990–1995 Beira-Mar opened new distribution channels for cocaine from Colombia in the favelas Borel, Rocinha , Chapéu Mangueira and Vidigal . Much of the cocaine and weapons were cleared by ship in the port of Rio de Janeiro. In 1996, Beira-Mar was arrested again and held in a prison in Belo Horizonte . In 1997 he escaped and lived in Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia. Beira-Mar established business relationships with the Colombian FARC and also carried out large-scale cocaine transports to Brazil by land . In 2001 he was arrested in a concerted action by the Colombian army and the US drug agency DEA and extradited to Brazil. Beira-Mar is currently in the maximum security prison in Rio de Janeiro, "Bangu I", and controls the drug trade from his mobile phone.
Elias Maluco, real name Elias Pereira da Silva, was Beira-Mar's right-hand man and controlled drug trafficking in the favelas of Ramos ( Complexo do Alemão ) and Penha ( Vila Cruzeiro , one of the most dangerous areas in Brazil). He was considered one of the cruelest and most ruthless leaders of the Comando Vermelho. For example, Globo reporter Tim Lopes is said to have been kidnapped by a killer squad during his research work on baile funk parties, prostitution and the sexual abuse of minors in the favelas of the Complexo do Alemão and beheaded by Elias Maluco himself with the samurai sword there who saw drug deals disrupted by investigative journalism. Elias Maluco was tracked down in his Favela da Grota and taken to preventive detention in Bangu I prison.
Territories of the Comando Vermelho in Rio de Janeiro
Complexo do Alemão, Mangueira, Jacarezinho, Complexo da Maré, Vidigal, Pavão-Pavãozinho, Cidade de Deus , Vigário Geral, Salgueiro, Nova Holanda, Parque União
Warring factions
Terceiro Comando (TC)
Splinter group of the CV. Originated in the 1990s and is active in Northwest Rio (Baixada Fluminense) and in the periphery. During the 2002 prison revolts in Bangu I Detention Center, the leader Uê was murdered. The Terceiro Comando and the Amigos dos Amigos fought brutal gang wars with the CV in the Favela Rocinha . Another splinter group, the Terceiro Comando Puro (TCP - “pure [true] third command”) under the leaders Robinho, Pinga and Facão broke away from the TC. The TC controls the following favelas: Acari, Dendê, Baixa do Sapateiro, Timbau, Roquete Pinto and partly Complexo da Maré.
Amigos dos Amigos (ADA)
Another faction arose in the northwest of Rio: the Amigos dos Amigos under the leaders Celsinho da Vintém, Sassá and Linho. The ADA partly dominate streets in Rocinha and in the Complexo da Maré, as well as in the favelas Morro dos Macacos, Vila dos Pinheiros, Vila do João, Conjunto Esperança and Salsa e Merengue. In the spring of 2004, the ADA initially succeeded in taking over the Vidigal favela, which is directly adjacent to the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro, the Favela Rocinha. Immediately afterwards, this served as a bridgehead to be able to take control of the Rocinha itself.
One of the most important leaders of the ADA in the late 1990s was "Gangan" alias Irapuan David Lopes. His story shows, like no other, the amalgamation of politics and organized crime: In order to master the almost overpowering Comando Vermelho, the then head of the civil police, Álvaro Lins, sponsored the ADA and supported it in taking over favelas. After the expansion of the ADA escaped Lins' control, the latter, only accompanied by eight other high-ranking police officers, caught him in the favela where his girlfriend lived and shot Gangan.
Current developments
The massacre on March 31, 2005 in Nova Iguaçu and Queimados became known when masked military police killed 30 people in Operation Navalha na Carne (“Razor in the Flesh”). The operation was intended as an act of revenge against the CV, but mostly affected bystanders.
2006
According to the Brazilian daily Folha de São Paulo on December 29, 2006, a series of attacks against police stations and other civilian facilities took place in Rio de Janeiro, killing over 18 people. The series of attacks was preceded by a massive police presence shortly before the New Year holidays, with 10 favelas being occupied by the military police . There were numerous shootings in the favela of Vila Cruzeiro and even in a well-known shopping center. These actions were presumably controlled by the Comando Vermelho, with imprisoned leaders feared stricter detention regulations in the new year.
In the poor areas of Rio de Janeiro, which are controlled by drug trafficking, attacks by so-called “milícias”, who attack and drive away the members of the drug gangs, are increasing. Several dozen favelas are said to be ruled by these militias. It is believed that the militias are controlled or even formed by plainclothes police officers. They reportedly demand some sort of security levy from residents of the neighborhoods they control. Cases of attacks against residents who are not willing to pay have become known.
2009
On October 18, 2009, the violence escalated again in Rio de Janeiro. In rivalries between opposing factions, starting in the Favela dos Macacos, twelve people were killed in firefights and a police helicopter was shot down.
2010
In November / December 2010 the decisive blow was to be carried out by the military , military police and special units such as the BOPE ( Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais ) against the Comando Vermelho and other drug cartels in Rio de Janeiro. It is the declared goal of the Brazilian government to break the power of organized crime and to ensure orderly conditions before the start of the 2014 World Cup and to bring the poor areas back under state police control. When the favela Vila Cruzeiro was stormed with helicopters and armored cars, around 30 people were killed, and numerous buses and cars were set on fire in the violent civil war-like riots. Some drug gang leaders were captured during the operation. They were taken to maximum security prisons in the country under the highest level of secrecy .
Press releases after conquering the 14 favelas:
“ Vila Cruzeiro belongs to the state again. "
“ We have conquered the territory that served as a refuge for them (the drug gangs), the place secured with weapons of war, to which they always fled like cowards after committing their crimes. "
The economic damage after storming the favelas amounts to several million.
In order to improve the situation in the slums in the long term, the mayor Eduardo Paes promised a permanent pacification through increased police presence on site and investments of the equivalent of 170 million euros, which should be used primarily for the education system of the disadvantaged districts. Under the strong pressure and the military presence that is exerted on several favelas at the same time, the Comando Vermelho forms alliances and alliances with previously hostile factions such as the ADA. It is to be feared that even larger and more powerful criminal organizations based on the model of the Colombian Medellín cartel from the 1980s could emerge.
2012
At the end of the year, 28 favelas had been stormed by the police and then provided with permanently stationed units of the Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora (UPP). Among the now (largely) pacified favelas are large and well-known ones such as the Rocinha with around 120,000 inhabitants, Cantagalo in Ipanema , Pavão / Pavãozinha in Copacabana , the Providência at the main train station ( Central do Brasil ), which was made famous by the film “ Cidade de Deus ” , the eponymous favela in Jacarepaguá, the Mangueira located in the vicinity of the Maracanã Stadium , and the Manguinhos, which has come to dubious fame as 'Cracolândia'. Based on the results achieved so far, around 1,000,000 people live in pacified favelas. Plans call for 12,000 UPP police officers to be stationed in 40 favelas by 2014, the year of the soccer World Cup.
But the pacification program also has its critics. On the one hand, it has now become apparent that favelas are almost exclusively occupied in the city center, the traditionally tourist Zona Sul ( Copacabana , Leme and Ipanema ), as well as in the vicinity of the Olympic Games venues ( Barra da Tijuca and Méier ). This has already led to speculation with the real estate that has now become accessible, as well as to a general increase in the cost of living. On the other hand, the pacified favelas controlled by the UPP open up new opportunities for some residents, especially in the tourism, hotel and catering trade, as an interim balance sheet for Rocinha, which has been occupied for a year, shows. Another point of criticism is that (drug) crime is now increasingly shifting to the northern districts of Rio de Janeiro and the neighboring city of Niterói .
2013
On February 3, 2013, 27 prisoners sentenced to long sentences managed to escape from the Vicente Piragibe prison in the Complexo de Gericinó in Rio de Janeiro 's Bangu district . All of them were members of the Comando Vermelho, including Claudinho dos Santos Coelho, also known as 'Xuxa' or 'Russão', who was convicted of participating in the murder of journalist Tim Lopes .
filming
400 contra 1 - A história do Comando Vermelho is a Brazilian film from 2010 by the director Caco Sousa, which describes the genesis of Comando Vermelho. The film is based on the autobiographical story “Quatrocentos contra um - A história do Comando Vermelho” by William da Silva Lima and was released in Brazilian cinemas in August 2010.
José Padilha’s film “ Tropa de Elite ” from 2007 also addresses the drug wars in Rio de Janeiro.
Footnotes
- ↑ http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/cotidiano/ult95u22714.shtml
- ↑ http://www.hart-brasilientexte.de/2008/02/11/tourismus-in-brasilien1/
- ↑ http://www.midiaindependente.org/pt/blue/2005/05/316564.shtml
- ↑ http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/cotidiano/ult95u22584.shtml
- ↑ https://www.tagesspiegel.de/themen/reportage/favela-gangster-haben-radISCHE-christen-brasilianischer-deal-mit-jesus/12311086.html
- ↑ http : // latein Amerika-nachrichten.de/?aaartikel=kommandos-freunde-und-drogenhandel
- ↑ http://www.sueddeutsche.de/thema/Comando ( Memento from November 19, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from June 30, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://riobailefunk.blogspot.com/2007/01/baile-funk-at-cantagalo-favela.html
- ↑ http://www.sueddeutsche.de/thema/Favela ( Memento from August 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://noticias.terra.com.br/brasil/noticias/0,,OI4133892-EI5030,00.html
- ↑ http://pbrasil.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/milicias-ocupam-mais-favelas-que-faccao/
- ↑ http://br.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071224150716AA3URo8
- ↑ http://www.hart-brasilientexte.de/2008/02/16/tropa-de-elite-gewann-goldenen-baren-der-berlinale-politisch-korrekte-mainstream-kritiken-blieben-auf-jury-ohne -effect/
- ↑ http://www.infopartisan.net/trend/trd0602/t240602.html
- ↑ http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/especial/2004/traficonorio/faccoes.shtml
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated February 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.alertatotal.net/2007/05/polticos-se-apavoram-com-lista-negra-da.html
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Noticias.terra.com.br on March 31, 2005: Chacina deixa 30 mortos na Baixada Fluminense
- ^ Report of the online edition of the daily Folha de Sao Paulo from January 4, 2007.
- ↑ http://extra.globo.com/geral/casodepolicia/posts/2009/10/18/na-vila-olimpica-um-helicoptero-abatido-pelo-trafico-233185.asp
- ↑ http://www.n-tv.de/panorama/Brasiliens-Polizei-erobert-Slum-article2012521.html
- ↑ a b http://www.mz-web.de/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=ksta/page&atype=ksArtikel&aid=1290754145807
- ↑ http://latina-press.com/news/58793-brasilien-favela-vila-cruzeiro-unter-kontrolle-mindest-34-tote/
- Jump up ↑ The Rio Drug War: "We Are The One Who Suffer". In: Spiegel Online . December 17, 2010, accessed June 9, 2018 .
- ↑ União do Trafégo on archived copy ( Memento of the original dated December 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ GLOBO.com G1: Tahiane Stochero e Marcelo Ahmed, October 14, 2012, "Sem confronto, polícia do Rio domina favelas de Jacarezinho e Manguinhos"
- ↑ http://inside-favela.com/rio-de-janeiro-manguinhos-gefahrlichste-favela-durch-polizei-eingenommen/
- ↑ a b http://inside-favela.com/upp-ein-rettungsschirm-fur-rio/
- ↑ http : // latein America-nachrichten.de/?aaartikel=der-markt-gracht-nach-dem-morro
- ↑ extra-globo.com:Artikelserie, EXTRA, February 7, 2013, p. 14.
- ↑ extra-globo.com, January 27, 2013, p. 18.
- ↑ extra-globo.com, February 5, 2013, p. 10: "Falhas por trás da fuga de presos"
- ↑ [1] ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
