VZCZCXRO9553
OO RUEHRG
DE RUEHSO #0771/01 1951832
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 141832Z JUL 06
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5413
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 6498
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 3046
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 7273
RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 2682
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 2355
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 1807
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 2080
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 2918
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 02 SAO PAULO 000771 
 
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 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KCRM SOCI SNAR ASEC BR
SUBJECT: VIOLENCE CONTINUES TO DIMINISH IN SAO PAULO NIGHT OF JULY 
13, TRANSPORTATION NORMAL ON JULY 14 
 
REF:  Sao Paulo 765 and Previous 
 
¶1. (U) Sao Paulo and neighboring cities suffered a third night of 
attacks the evening of July 12/morning of July 13 from the organized 
criminal gang First Capital Command (PCC), though the level of 
violence continued to fall.  There were only about 17 attacks (no 
deaths) reported overnight: two injured (a bus driver severely 
burned and a civil police office worker shot); four police stations 
attacked; four buses burned; two garbage trucks burned (with the 
subsequent suspension of service in the west and south of the city 
leaving six million inhabitants without garbage pickup); and three 
banks, two car dealerships, one supermarket, and a storefront of a 
mall firebombed.  Authorities announced on July 13 that police 
officers dressed in civilian clothes would ride on buses traveling 
20 main bus routes in Sao Paulo, a measure questioned by some 
commentators as likely to endanger the public if shootouts on 
crowded buses ensued.  After the disruption in bus service caused by 
fearful bus companies keeping most vehicles off the streets on July 
13, bus and other transportation services operated normally the day 
of July 14. 
 
Views of Sao Paulo Governor 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Deputy Principal Officer, ARSO, and Political Assistant had 
lunch July 13 with Sao Paulo State Governor Claudio Lembo and Deputy 
International Affairs Advisor Carlos Garcete at the Governor's 
invitation to discuss possible USG technical assistance to help the 
state deal with the ongoing violence created by organized crime. 
Lembo welcomed the August 1 arrival of a NAS-sponsored DOJ prison 
advisor and a PAS-sponsored seminar on combating organized crime to 
be held in August. Lembo made the following observations: 
 
--  On the PCC and the Current Violence:  The current round was 
fueled by a false news report that 40 top imprisoned PCC leaders 
would be transferred to a new federal prison.  Lembo said there was 
no reason to transfer them (and risk a new outbreak of violence) 
from the controlled cells in state prisons where they are held now. 
The Governor said procedures had been tightened and PCC leaders no 
longer have easy access to cell phones.  He blamed former Prisons 
Secretary Nagashi Furukawa, whom Lembo fired after the May violence, 
 
SIPDIS 
for being too soft on the criminals and giving them too many 
concessions.  He likened the PCC attacks to urban guerrilla warfare. 
 
 
--  On GOB Offers of Assistance:  The GOB's main offer of members of 
the "National Force" is meaningless.  The National Force is made up 
of members of each state's uniformed ("military") police, meant to 
reinforce a state during an emergency.  The Force would send a 
battalion of 280 police, a drop in the bucket for a state with 
147,000 police (87,000 of them military police).  Lembo denied that 
the GOB had offered to send the Brazilian military, an offer he said 
he would accept if the situation greatly deteriorated.  He noted he 
would receive Justice Minister Thomaz Bastos the following day to 
discuss cooperation.  (Note:  Lembo and President Lula and other GOB 
figures continue to trade barbs, with Lula criticizing Lembo's 
refusal to accept federal help, and Lembo attacking Lula for using 
Sao Paulo's violence for electoral ends.  End Note). 
 
-- On the Bus Problems:  Lembo asserted that some bus companies did 
not provide service on July 13 as a tactic to force an increase in 
bus fares.  In addition, informal microbus services, which are said 
to pay protection money to the PCC, benefited from the bus problems. 
 Lembo alleged that PT official Jilmar Tatto, a former 
transportation secretary under the previous PT mayorship of Sao 
Paulo, had ties to the PCC and was likely supportive of the bus 
burnings.  (Comment:  Lembo offered no real proof of these 
accusations.  PSDB presidential candidate Geraldo Alckmin and 
gubernatorial candidate Jose Serra also publicly questioned the ties 
between the PT and PCC-influenced microbuses, which was vehemently 
denied by President Lula himself.  End Comment). 
 
SAO PAULO 00000771  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
-- On Human Rights Accusations:  Lembo denied that police committed 
human rights abuses during the May violence when a number of 
suspected criminals were killed, and that all accusations will be 
fully investigated.  Regarding precarious overcrowding in several 
prisons, he stated that the prisoners themselves had destroyed their 
facilities and still lived in their cells without doors, and that 
the state is moving to improve the situation. 
 
Until the Next Time 
------------------- 
 
¶3.  Comment:  This latest round of violence seems to be winding 
down, with a total so far of 133 attacks over three days, eight 
deaths, transportation problems, and new forms of attacking civilian 
targets; however, it never approached the intensity of the mid-May 
violence, with a reported 370 attacks, 138 deaths (42 security 
forces, 4 civilians, at least 92 suspected criminals), and 
simultaneous riots in 82 prisons.  The underlying factors causing 
these outbreaks of violence by the PCC are far from being resolved, 
and many feel it is simply a matter of time before the current truce 
is broken again.   End Comment. 
 
MCMULLEN