VZCZCXRO3253
PP RUEHRG
DE RUEHSO #0573/01 1421843
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 221843Z MAY 06
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5121
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 6252
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 2945
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 7132
RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 2588
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 2261
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 1998
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 2816
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 1725
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUMIAAA/USCINCSO MIAMI FL
RUEAWJC/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEABND/DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMIN HQ WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SAO PAULO 000573 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR DS/IP/WHA, DS/ICI/PII, DS/DSS/OSAC, WHA/BSC 
NSC FOR CRONIN 
DEA FOR OEL/DESANTIS AND NIRL/LEHRER 
DEPT ALSO FOR WHA/PDA, DRL/PHD, INL, DS/IP/WHA, DS/DSS/ITA 
BRASILIA FOR RSO AND LEGAT; RIO DE JANEIRO FOR RSO 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KCRM CASC SOCI SNAR ASEC BR
SUBJECT: DUST SETTLES IN SAO PAULO AFTER VIOLENT CRIME WAVE 
 
REF: (A) Sao Paulo 551; (B) Sao Paulo 532; (C) Sao Paulo 526 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
¶1.  (U) SUMMARY:  Criminal activities associated with last week's 
violent crime wave orchestrated by the organized criminal gang the 
First Capital Command (PCC) have all but ceased in and around Sao 
Paulo.  A few random incidents that appear related were reported 
over the weekend, but in general, Sao Paulo crime has returned to 
"normal" levels and nature.  President Lula praised the Governor of 
Sao Paulo for his handling of the crisis, while the Governor 
admitted that some innocent bystanders may have been killed by 
police during the street conflicts.  Various government agencies and 
human rights groups seek the identification records of those killed 
as suspects, but the Governor insists that a list of dead will not 
be made public to protect the privacy of grieving families.  Prison 
officials are striving to maintain control of their facilities. 
Meanwhile, the questions of what caused the outbreak of violence and 
what needs to be done to prevent its recurrence moved to the 
forefront of the political debate.  END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
SAO PAULO ENJOYING THE RETURN TO ROUTINE CRIME 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶2.  (U) A week after a brutal wave of violence orchestrated by the 
organized criminal gang the First Capital Command (PCC) wracked Sao 
Paulo city and state and resulted in over 150 deaths (see reftels), 
police reported only two new PCC-led attacks on police stations over 
the weekend, both near the city of Ribeirao Preto in the 
northwestern part of the state.  A prison riot in the interior was 
also quelled without injuries; meanwhile, a prison guard injured in 
the riots last week died in the hospital.  A smattering of other 
somewhat "sensational" crimes were reported over the weekend, but it 
is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate between 
"routine" criminal acts and acts associated with what has become 
known as the "Wave of Violence" that nearly crippled the city for a 
day last week and left residents on edge every evening. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
IDENTIFYING THE INNOCENTS AND THE BAD GUYS 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶3.  (U)  As of Monday, May 22, the number of attacks orchestrated by 
the PCC in retaliation for the transfer of 765 of its leaders to 
isolated and more secure prison facilities (see reftels) is reported 
at 299.  The number of deaths associated with street confrontations 
reached 154, with an additional nine inmates killed in prison riots. 
 Of the dead, 41 were police officers, and only four have been 
identified by state officials as innocent bystanders.  The State 
Secretary for Public Security reports that 109 suspects were killed 
 
SIPDIS 
in street confrontations with police, and approximately 125 
arrested; 149 weapons were confiscated. 
 
¶4.  (U)  Somewhat surprisingly, President Lula, during his first 
visit to Sao Paulo since the disturbances, praised Governor Claudio 
Lembo over the weekend for his handling of the crime wave.   Lembo, 
meanwhile, admitted, in the face of denials by the commander of the 
state Military Police, that it is possible that innocent bystanders 
were killed by police during confrontations last week.  Several 
governmental bodies and human rights groups are investigating, and 
are seeking to obtain the identification records of the dead from 
the Sao Paulo Coroner's office (Institute for Legal Medicine - IML). 
 The Brazilian Bar Association wants the list as well, but Governor 
Lembo said the state will not release the names publicly for privacy 
reasons.  (NOTE: The names of police officers killed in action were 
released last week.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶5.  (U) Of the 109 suspects killed in the state, the IML has 
identified 73 bodies.  The IML is working to identify 11 more, and 
last week it buried one without identification as a pauper because 
under law, identification must be made within 72 hours of death. 
 
SAO PAULO 00000573  002 OF 003 
 
 
Another twenty-two bodies were processed by IMLs in other parts of 
Sao Paulo state, and two were determined to be beyond recognition. 
According to officials, the Sao Paulo Central morgue was not 
over-burdened during the crisis; the IML has 24 refrigerated body 
drawers, and six remained empty over the weekend, noted one 
official. 
 
------------------------------------ 
DON'T CALL US, AND WE CAN'T CALL YOU 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶6.  (U) Meanwhile, at least one community will likely appeal the 
judicial order that cellular traffic be blocked near a prison within 
its municipality (Ref A) because of the impact on local residents, 
and telecommunications authorities report that they have not been 
able to block all signals into the six prisons covered by the order. 
 Industry experts estimate that the cost of blocking cellular 
signals to all 144 penal facilities in the state - an effort the 
industry would likely resist if the government were to try to force 
companies to provide this service - would be more than 100 million 
reals (roughly USD 50 million). 
 
¶7.  (U) Prison officials also suspended visitation rights for the 
weekend at prisons that were the sites of riots during last week's 
melee across the state.  Riots broke out in 71 of 144 facilities, 
with hostages in each, mostly family members (ref C). 
 
----------------------------------------- 
SOCIAL ILLS BECOME THE NEW FOCUS ON CRIME 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) As government officials make the transition from 
operational police action to post-operational fact-finding in the 
wake of the PCC's crime spree, more attention is being paid to the 
roots of crime in Sao Paulo and Brazil as a whole, and the social 
ills that may spawn it.  President Lula, standing in solidarity next 
to Sao Paulo Governor Claudio Lembo -- whom the president said did 
all he could to deal with the attacks -- said on Sunday said that 
these acts of violence represent a societal problem.  The president 
said the problem of violent crime does not lie with the governor, 
the presidency or the mayor, but with "Brazilian society" itself. 
He said, "We are reaping what we sowed in this country, and if we 
want to resolve this, we need to assume responsibility for the steps 
we will take."  Last week, Governor Lembo blasted what he called the 
"white elite" for being "perverse" and "cruel" toward the less 
fortunate in Brazilian society.  Commentators also have been looking 
at a larger societal problem as more days pass without major PCC 
attacks, with one noting that "policemen died, but we were the 
targets."  There is a growing recognition the gang's newly-flexed 
muscle places all citizens at risk. 
 
¶9.  (U)  A new study released over the weekend shows a majority of 
Sao Paulo's youth are "at risk" according to such indicators as 
family income, proximity to homicides, level of education, and rates 
of adolescent pregnancy.  And last week, another study showed that 
in 2004, 12.5 million Brazilians lived with hunger but received no 
government aid.  In that vein, presidential candidate Geraldo 
Alckmin announced that he would continue President Lula's famous 
Bolsa Familia cash aid program for the poorest Brazilians, which 
currently benefits an estimated 8.8 million families and which the 
Lula administration is seeking to expand further. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) COMMENT:  Renewed attention to the root cause of 
criminality in Brazil may be good and necessary for efforts at crime 
prevention and social justice, but, as reported in the popular 
weekly news magazine Veja, fighting today's criminals is an 
ever-present and expensive reality for Brazilian communities like 
Sao Paulo.  The magazine reported that the state incarcerates on 
average 652 new prisoners per month, and that at this rate, it 
should be building a new prison every 30 days in order to house them 
at acceptable capacity level.  This data again illustrates the 
double-edged sword over which Brazilian society teeters; Brazil 
 
SAO PAULO 00000573  003 OF 003 
 
 
needs to find a way to commit resources simultaneously toward fixing 
its ailing education system and providing a safety net to the poor, 
and toward maintaining and improving its criminal justice and prison 
systems.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶11.  (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Brasilia. 
 
WOLFE