VZCZCXRO3124
OO RUEHRG
DE RUEHSO #0865/01 2191942
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 071942Z AUG 06
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5561
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 6636
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 3062
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 7338
RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 2701
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 2379
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 2092
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 2945
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 1817
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 000865 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR DS/IP/WHA, DS/ICI/PII, DS/DSS/OSAC, WHA/BSC 
NSC FOR FEARS 
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 KCRM CASC ASEC SNAR SOCI BR
SUBJECT: PRE-FATHER'S DAY ATTACKS IN SAO PAULO BY PCC 
 
REF: (A) SAO PAULO 771; (B) SAO PAULO 573; (C) SAO PAULO 742 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:   Sao Paulo residents awoke Monday morning, 
August 7, to reports of yet another round of bus burnings and bomb 
and gun attacks against police targets orchestrated by the organized 
crime ring PCC.  Twenty-seven attacks were reported in greater Sao 
Paulo by the office of the state Secretary of Public Security, with 
five more in the interior of the state.  Officials also reported two 
suspects were killed and two others arrested.  We also have an 
unconfirmed report on Monday afternoon that a riot has broken out at 
a prison near Guarulhos International Airport. These attacks may 
foretell a new wave of violence to coincide with the Brazilian 
Father's Day holiday weekend August 12-13, and may have been a 
reaction to rumors that the state government will try to prevent the 
normal release of thousands of prisoners for the holiday weekend. 
The state government of Sao Paulo recently began leasing helicopters 
from the Army, and the federal Ministry of Justice has again offered 
up federal troops to combat the PCC, which the governor of Sao Paulo 
continues to decline.  Post will convene an Emergency Action 
Committee (EAC) meeting on Tuesday, August 8, to monitor and 
evaluate the situation. END SUMMARY. 
 
---------------- 
HERE WE GO AGAIN 
---------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  In the early morning hours of Monday, August 7, elements 
of the organized crime gang First Capital Command (PCC) launched 
another series of attacks against law enforcement facilities and 
other civilian targets.  This is the third wave of violence since 
May (reftels), when what began as a series of Mother's Day prison 
revolts quickly engulfed the city in several days of urban warfare 
between the PCC and the law enforcement community.  The attacks this 
morning were relatively restrained compared to the attacks in May 
and July.  The most serious was a home-made bomb that destroyed a 
doorway to a state government office building located in the city's 
center, and which also shattered windows of several buildings 
nearby. A similar bomb damaged the office of the state revenue 
service.  Passengers in a car shot at a police station in the 
southern zone of Sao Paulo, and two cars used by detectives were 
torched at the headquarters of the police division that investigates 
organized crime (DEIC). 
 
¶3.  (SBU) In addition to the attacks on law enforcement targets, 
fifteen buses were torched in several areas of the greater Sao Paulo 
metropolitan area, and several businesses were attacked, including 
banks and ATM machines, a supermarket and two gas stations in the 
affluent neighborhood of Higienopolis, which lies less than two 
miles from the Jardins neighborhood where approximately half of the 
Consulate's American employees and their families live.  At 
mid-morning the state Secretariat for Public Security (SSP) reported 
27 attacks throughout greater Sao Paulo, and five more in the 
interior of the state.  Officials also said that police killed two 
suspects associated with the attacks and arrested two others. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Also, as of Monday afternoon, we have received an 
unconfirmed report that a riot has broken out at a prison near 
Guarulhos International Airport.  We will report on this further as 
warranted. 
 
------------------------------------ 
ANOTHER MASS PRISON FURLOUGH PENDING 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  We have reason to suspect that Monday's attacks may be a 
reaction to rumors that the state government may try to block the 
release of prisoners for the upcoming Father's Day holiday weekend, 
August 12-13.  State Prison Administration officials recently told 
Poloff that, by national law, prisons must release certain inmates 
incarcerated in "semi-open" facilities for weekend furloughs 
 
SAO PAULO 00000865  002 OF 002 
 
 
coinciding with five holidays each year.  "Semi-open" facilities are 
those that are essentially "minimum security" and which do not have 
security features such as outside walls with catwalks and guard 
towers, and that are not guarded or patrolled by special units of 
the Military Police (PM).  The release of 12,000 inmates -- many of 
them PCC members -- on furlough for Mother's Day contributed greatly 
to the spread of violence against police in May.  It is still 
unclear if or how any government office would attempt to revoke 
prison releases for this Father's Day.  Prison officials told Poloff 
that press reports suggesting that police had received intelligence 
that the PCC was planning "super rebellions" in the state's prisons 
were false, and that, as of July 28, the Prison Administration had 
no information that any disturbance was being planned for Father's 
Day. 
 
-------------------- 
FEDS INDIMIDATED TOO 
-------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Even Brazil's federal Minister of Justice, Marcio Thomaz 
Bastos, admitted on Monday that "like any citizen," he was 
frightened by Monday's attacks, and that he is "intimidated" by the 
strength of the PCC.  Speaking to reporters at a public event, he 
again offered the use of Brazilian armed forces to help the state of 
Sao Paulo combat the PCC.  He elaborated that the force would not be 
just troops, but also equipment such as aircraft and specially 
"prepared contingency plans."  He also suggested that some of Sao 
Paulo's prisoners could be transferred to the new federal prison in 
Catanduvas, Parana State, and that the governor should create a 
position in the state government for a federal overseer of a joint 
task force for public security.  While insisting that Sao Paulo's 
governor, Claudio Lembo of the opposition Liberal Front Party (PFL) 
was "absolutely loyal" to the people of Sao Paulo, Bastos also 
emphasized that, in the face of a grave threat to public security, 
it is important that officials avoid "electoral warfare" to the 
benefit of criminals.  He added that officials need to work in an 
"impersonal, republican" manner, and not dispute their differences 
of opinion regarding security matters on television. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Sao Paulo State has received a boost in its crime-fighting 
capacity from the federal government, first in the form of two Army 
helicopters that will be used to ferry elite police units to 
hotspots and prison riots.  Also, the federal government will give 
Sao Paulo State nearly $500,000 to study the way in which the state 
processes prisoners.  The study is intended to take one year, and 
may be duplicated in other states. 
 
---------------------------------- 
COMMENT: ANTICIPATING FATHER'S DAY 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) COMMENT:  Monday's violence may have been meant to be a 
harbinger of things to come this weekend if state security agencies 
try to block the customary prisoner release for Father's Day.  Or, 
it may have been the opening salvo in a new wave of violence, or 
even a reaction to the killing of drug trafficker Jose Renato da 
Silva Ferreira, aka "Batata," in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, August 
¶5.  Regardless, we continue to monitor this situation, and are 
seeking clearer indications as to what, if any, violence is likely 
to occur in the coming week and through Brazil's Father's Day 
weekend.  As Monday morning's PCC attacks prove once again, the 
organization is capable of moving quickly and forcefully, but 
luckily for most Sao Paulo residents, also with relatively measured 
results.  Post will convene an EAC meeting on Tuesday, August 8, to 
monitor and evaluate the situation.  END COMMENT. 
 
MCMULLEN