

Currently released so far... 12553 / 251,287
Browse latest releases
2010/12/01
2010/12/02
2010/12/03
2010/12/04
2010/12/05
2010/12/06
2010/12/07
2010/12/08
2010/12/09
2010/12/10
2010/12/11
2010/12/12
2010/12/13
2010/12/14
2010/12/15
2010/12/16
2010/12/17
2010/12/18
2010/12/19
2010/12/20
2010/12/21
2010/12/22
2010/12/23
2010/12/24
2010/12/25
2010/12/26
2010/12/27
2010/12/28
2010/12/29
2010/12/30
2011/01/01
2011/01/02
2011/01/04
2011/01/05
2011/01/07
2011/01/09
2011/01/10
2011/01/11
2011/01/12
2011/01/13
2011/01/14
2011/01/15
2011/01/16
2011/01/17
2011/01/18
2011/01/19
2011/01/20
2011/01/21
2011/01/22
2011/01/23
2011/01/24
2011/01/25
2011/01/26
2011/01/27
2011/01/28
2011/01/29
2011/01/30
2011/01/31
2011/02/01
2011/02/02
2011/02/03
2011/02/04
2011/02/05
2011/02/06
2011/02/07
2011/02/08
2011/02/09
2011/02/10
2011/02/11
2011/02/12
2011/02/13
2011/02/14
2011/02/15
2011/02/16
2011/02/17
2011/02/18
2011/02/19
2011/02/20
2011/02/21
2011/02/22
2011/02/23
2011/02/24
2011/02/25
2011/02/26
2011/02/27
2011/02/28
2011/03/01
2011/03/02
2011/03/03
2011/03/04
2011/03/05
2011/03/06
2011/03/07
2011/03/08
2011/03/09
2011/03/10
2011/03/11
2011/03/13
2011/03/14
2011/03/15
2011/03/16
2011/03/17
2011/03/18
2011/03/19
2011/03/20
2011/03/21
2011/03/22
2011/03/23
2011/03/24
2011/03/25
2011/03/26
2011/03/27
2011/03/28
2011/03/29
2011/03/30
2011/03/31
2011/04/01
2011/04/02
2011/04/03
2011/04/04
2011/04/05
2011/04/06
2011/04/07
2011/04/08
2011/04/09
2011/04/10
2011/04/11
2011/04/12
2011/04/13
2011/04/14
2011/04/15
2011/04/16
2011/04/17
2011/04/18
2011/04/19
2011/04/20
2011/04/21
2011/04/22
2011/04/23
2011/04/24
2011/04/25
2011/04/26
2011/04/27
2011/04/28
2011/04/29
2011/04/30
2011/05/01
2011/05/02
2011/05/03
2011/05/04
2011/05/05
2011/05/06
2011/05/07
2011/05/08
2011/05/09
2011/05/10
2011/05/11
2011/05/12
Browse by creation date
Browse by origin
Embassy Athens
Embassy Asuncion
Embassy Astana
Embassy Asmara
Embassy Ashgabat
Embassy Apia
Embassy Ankara
Embassy Amman
Embassy Algiers
Embassy Addis Ababa
Embassy Accra
Embassy Abuja
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Embassy Abidjan
Consulate Auckland
Consulate Amsterdam
Consulate Adana
American Institute Taiwan, Taipei
Embassy Bujumbura
Embassy Buenos Aires
Embassy Budapest
Embassy Bucharest
Embassy Brussels
Embassy Bridgetown
Embassy Bratislava
Embassy Brasilia
Embassy Bogota
Embassy Bishkek
Embassy Bern
Embassy Berlin
Embassy Belmopan
Embassy Belgrade
Embassy Beirut
Embassy Beijing
Embassy Banjul
Embassy Bangkok
Embassy Bandar Seri Begawan
Embassy Bamako
Embassy Baku
Embassy Baghdad
Consulate Barcelona
Embassy Copenhagen
Embassy Conakry
Embassy Colombo
Embassy Chisinau
Embassy Caracas
Embassy Canberra
Embassy Cairo
Consulate Curacao
Consulate Ciudad Juarez
Consulate Chennai
Consulate Casablanca
Consulate Cape Town
Consulate Calgary
Embassy Dushanbe
Embassy Dublin
Embassy Doha
Embassy Djibouti
Embassy Dili
Embassy Dhaka
Embassy Dar Es Salaam
Embassy Damascus
Embassy Dakar
Consulate Dubai
Embassy Helsinki
Embassy Harare
Embassy Hanoi
Consulate Ho Chi Minh City
Consulate Hermosillo
Consulate Hamilton
Consulate Hamburg
Consulate Halifax
Embassy Kyiv
Embassy Kuwait
Embassy Kuala Lumpur
Embassy Kinshasa
Embassy Kingston
Embassy Kigali
Embassy Khartoum
Embassy Kathmandu
Embassy Kampala
Embassy Kabul
Consulate Kolkata
Embassy Luxembourg
Embassy Luanda
Embassy London
Embassy Ljubljana
Embassy Lisbon
Embassy Lima
Embassy Lilongwe
Embassy La Paz
Consulate Lahore
Consulate Lagos
Mission USOSCE
Mission USNATO
Mission UNESCO
Embassy Muscat
Embassy Moscow
Embassy Montevideo
Embassy Monrovia
Embassy Minsk
Embassy Mexico
Embassy Mbabane
Embassy Maputo
Embassy Manila
Embassy Manama
Embassy Managua
Embassy Malabo
Embassy Madrid
Consulate Munich
Consulate Mumbai
Consulate Montreal
Consulate Monterrey
Consulate Milan
Consulate Melbourne
Embassy Nicosia
Embassy Niamey
Embassy New Delhi
Embassy Ndjamena
Embassy Nassau
Embassy Nairobi
Consulate Naples
Consulate Naha
Embassy Pristina
Embassy Pretoria
Embassy Prague
Embassy Port Of Spain
Embassy Port Louis
Embassy Port Au Prince
Embassy Phnom Penh
Embassy Paris
Embassy Paramaribo
Embassy Panama
Consulate Peshawar
REO Basrah
Embassy Rome
Embassy Riyadh
Embassy Riga
Embassy Reykjavik
Embassy Rangoon
Embassy Rabat
Consulate Rio De Janeiro
Consulate Recife
Secretary of State
Embassy Suva
Embassy Stockholm
Embassy Sofia
Embassy Skopje
Embassy Singapore
Embassy Seoul
Embassy Sarajevo
Embassy Santo Domingo
Embassy Santiago
Embassy Sanaa
Embassy San Salvador
Embassy San Jose
Consulate Strasbourg
Consulate St Petersburg
Consulate Shenyang
Consulate Shanghai
Consulate Sapporo
Consulate Sao Paulo
Embassy Tunis
Embassy Tripoli
Embassy Tokyo
Embassy The Hague
Embassy Tel Aviv
Embassy Tehran
Embassy Tegucigalpa
Embassy Tbilisi
Embassy Tashkent
Embassy Tallinn
Consulate Toronto
Consulate Tijuana
USUN New York
USEU Brussels
US Office Almaty
US Mission Geneva
US Interests Section Havana
US Delegation, Secretary
UNVIE
Embassy Ulaanbaatar
Embassy Vilnius
Embassy Vienna
Embassy Vatican
Embassy Valletta
Consulate Vladivostok
Consulate Vancouver
Browse by tag
APECO
ASEC
AMGT
AFIN
APER
ACABQ
AORC
AEMR
AF
AE
AR
AGMT
AU
AY
ABLD
AS
AG
AJ
APCS
AX
AM
AMEX
ATRN
ADM
AMED
AFGHANISTAN
AZ
AL
ASUP
AND
ARM
ASEAN
AFFAIRS
AQ
ATFN
AMBASSADOR
AODE
APEC
ACBAQ
AFSI
AFSN
AO
ABUD
AC
ADPM
ADCO
ASIG
ARF
AUC
ASEX
AGAO
AA
AER
AVERY
AGRICULTURE
AIT
AADP
ASCH
AORL
AROC
ACOA
ANET
AID
AMCHAMS
AINF
AMG
AFU
AN
ALOW
ASECKFRDCVISKIRFPHUMSMIGEG
ACS
ADANA
AECL
ACAO
AORG
AGR
BEXP
BR
BM
BG
BL
BA
BTIO
BO
BP
BC
BILAT
BK
BU
BD
BRUSSELS
BB
BF
BBSR
BIDEN
BX
BE
BH
BT
BY
BMGT
BWC
BTIU
BN
CA
CASC
CFED
CO
CH
CS
CU
CE
CI
CM
CMGT
CJAN
COM
CG
CIS
CVIS
CR
CKGR
CHR
CVR
COUNTER
CIA
CLINTON
CY
CPAS
CD
CBW
COUNTERTERRORISM
CITEL
CDG
CW
CODEL
COUNTRY
CLEARANCE
COE
CN
CARICOM
CB
CONDOLEEZZA
CWC
CACS
CSW
CIDA
CIC
CITT
CONS
CL
CACM
CDB
CDC
CAN
CF
CJUS
CTM
CBSA
CARSON
CT
CLMT
CBC
CEUDA
CV
COPUOS
CTR
CROS
CAPC
CAC
CNARC
CICTE
CBE
ECON
ETRD
EIND
ENRG
EC
ELAB
EAGR
EAID
EFIS
EFIN
EINV
EUN
EG
EPET
EAIR
EU
ELTN
EWWT
ECIN
ERD
EI
ETTC
EUR
EN
EZ
ETC
ENVI
EMIN
ET
ENVR
ER
ECPS
EINT
EAP
ES
ENIV
ECONOMY
EXTERNAL
EINN
EFTA
ECONOMIC
EPA
EXBS
ECA
ELN
ETRDEINVECINPGOVCS
ENGR
ECUN
ENGY
ECONOMICS
ELECTIONS
EIAR
EINDETRD
EREL
EUC
ECONEFIN
EURN
EDU
ETRDEINVTINTCS
ECIP
ENERG
EFIM
EAIDS
EK
ETRDECONWTOCS
EINVETC
ECONCS
EUNCH
ESA
ECINECONCS
EUREM
ESENV
EFINECONCS
ETRC
ENNP
EAIG
EXIM
EEPET
EINVECONSENVCSJA
EUMEM
ETRA
ERNG
ETRO
ETRN
EINVEFIN
ICTY
IN
IS
IR
IC
IZ
IA
INTERPOL
IAEA
IT
IMO
IO
IV
ID
IRAQI
IEA
INRB
IL
IWC
ITU
ICAO
ISRAELI
ICRC
IIP
IMF
IBRD
ISLAMISTS
ITALY
ITALIAN
ILO
IPR
IQ
IRS
IAHRC
IZPREL
IRAJ
IDP
ILC
ITF
ICJ
IF
ITPHUM
INMARSAT
ISRAEL
IACI
IBET
ITRA
INR
IRC
IDA
ICTR
IGAD
INRA
INRO
IEFIN
INTELSAT
INTERNAL
INDO
ITPGOV
KWMN
KSCA
KDEM
KTFN
KIPR
KCRM
KPAL
KE
KPAO
KPKO
KS
KN
KISL
KFRD
KJUS
KIRF
KFLO
KG
KTIP
KTER
KRCM
KTIA
KGHG
KIRC
KU
KPRP
KMCA
KMPI
KSEO
KNNP
KZ
KNEI
KCOR
KOMC
KCFC
KSTC
KMDR
KFLU
KSAF
KSEP
KSAC
KR
KGIC
KSUM
KWBG
KCIP
KDRG
KOLY
KAWC
KCHG
KHDP
KRVC
KBIO
KAWK
KGCC
KHLS
KBCT
KPLS
KREL
KCFE
KMFO
KV
KFRDKIRFCVISCMGTKOCIASECPHUMSMIGEG
KFTFN
KVPR
KTDB
KSPR
KIDE
KVRP
KTEX
KBTR
KTRD
KICC
KCOM
KO
KLIG
KDEMAF
KMRS
KRAD
KOCI
KSTH
KUNR
KNSD
KGIT
KFSC
KHIV
KPAI
KICA
KACT
KHUM
KREC
KSEC
KFRDCVISCMGTCASCKOCIASECPHUMSMIGEG
KCMR
KPIN
KESS
KDEV
KNAR
KNUC
KPWR
KENV
KWWMN
KWMNCS
KPRV
KOM
KBTS
KCRS
KNPP
KWNM
KRFD
KVIR
KTBT
KAID
KRIM
KDDG
KRGY
KHSA
KWMM
KMOC
KSCI
KPAK
KX
KPAONZ
KCGC
KID
KPOA
KIFR
KFIN
KWAC
KOMS
KCRCM
KNUP
KMIG
KNNPMNUC
KERG
KTLA
KCSY
KJUST
MOPS
MARR
MASS
MNUC
MX
MCAP
MO
MR
MI
MD
MK
MA
MP
MY
MTCRE
MOPPS
MASC
MIL
MTS
MLS
MILI
MAR
MU
MEPN
MAPP
MTCR
MEPI
MZ
MEETINGS
MG
MW
MAS
MT
MCC
MIK
ML
MARAD
MV
MERCOSUR
MTRE
MPOS
MEPP
MILITARY
MDC
MQADHAFI
MUCN
MRCRE
MAPS
MEDIA
MASSMNUC
MC
NZ
NZUS
NL
NU
NATO
NP
NO
NIPP
NE
NH
NR
NA
NPT
NI
NSF
NG
NSG
NAFTA
NC
NDP
NEW
NRR
NATIONAL
NT
NS
NASA
NAR
NV
NORAD
NSSP
NK
NPA
NGO
NSC
NATOPREL
NW
NPG
NSFO
OPDC
OTRA
OIIP
OREP
OVIP
OSCE
OEXC
OIE
OPRC
OAS
OPIC
OTR
OMIG
OSAC
OFFICIALS
OECD
OSCI
OBSP
OFDA
OPCW
ODIP
OFDP
OES
OPAD
OCII
OHUM
OVP
ON
OIC
OCS
PHUM
PREL
PGOV
PINR
PTER
PARM
PREF
PM
PE
PINS
PK
PHSA
PBTS
PRGOV
PA
PORG
PP
PS
PGOF
PL
PO
PARMS
PKFK
PSOE
PEPR
PAK
POL
PPA
PINT
PMAR
PRELP
PREFA
PALESTINIAN
PBIO
PINF
PNG
PMIL
PFOR
PUNE
PGOVLO
PAO
POLITICS
PHUMBA
PSEPC
PTBS
PCUL
PROP
PNAT
PNR
POLINT
PGOVE
PROG
PHALANAGE
PARTY
PDEM
PECON
PROV
PHUMPREL
PGOC
PY
PCI
PLN
PDOV
PREO
PGIV
PHUH
PAS
PU
POGOV
PF
PINL
POV
PAHO
PRL
PG
PRAM
POLITICAL
PARTIES
POLICY
PGOVSMIGKCRMKWMNPHUMCVISKFRDCA
PGGV
PHUS
PSA
PHUMPGOV
PEL
PSI
PAIGH
POSTS
PBT
PTERE
RS
RU
RW
RM
RO
RP
REGION
RSP
RF
RICE
RCMP
RFE
RIGHTS
RIGHTSPOLMIL
ROBERT
RUPREL
RELATIONS
ROOD
REACTION
RSO
REPORT
SENV
SNAR
SCUL
SR
SC
SOCI
SMIG
SI
SP
SU
SO
SW
SY
SA
SZ
SAN
SF
SN
STEINBERG
SG
ST
SIPDIS
SNARIZ
SNARN
SSA
SK
SPCVIS
SOFA
SAARC
SL
SEVN
SARS
SIPRS
SHUM
SANC
SWE
SHI
SYR
SNARCS
SPCE
SYRIA
SEN
SH
SCRS
SENVKGHG
TRGY
TSPL
TPHY
TSPA
TBIO
TI
TW
THPY
TX
TU
TS
TZ
TC
TH
TT
TIP
TO
TERRORISM
TRSY
TINT
TN
TURKEY
TBID
TL
TV
TNGD
TD
TF
TP
TFIN
TAGS
TK
TR
UNSC
UK
UNGA
UN
US
UNHRC
UG
UP
UNMIK
UNHCR
UE
USTR
UNVIE
UAE
UZ
UY
UNO
UNESCO
USEU
USOAS
UV
UNODC
UNCHS
UNFICYP
UNEP
UNIDROIT
UNDESCO
UNDP
UNPUOS
UNC
UNAUS
USUN
UNCHC
UNCHR
UNCND
UNICEF
UNCSD
UNDC
USNC
USPS
USAID
Browse by classification
Community resources
courage is contagious
Viewing cable 06SAOPAULO887, QUIET IN SAO PAULO, BUT JOURNALISTS' KIDNAPPING MARKS NEW PCC TACTIC
If you are new to these pages, please read an introduction on the structure of a cable as well as how to discuss them with others. See also the FAQs
Understanding cables
Every cable message consists of three parts:
- The top box shows each cables unique reference number, when and by whom it originally was sent, and what its initial classification was.
- The middle box contains the header information that is associated with the cable. It includes information about the receiver(s) as well as a general subject.
- The bottom box presents the body of the cable. The opening can contain a more specific subject, references to other cables (browse by origin to find them) or additional comment. This is followed by the main contents of the cable: a summary, a collection of specific topics and a comment section.
Discussing cables
If you find meaningful or important information in a cable, please link directly to its unique reference number. Linking to a specific paragraph in the body of a cable is also possible by copying the appropriate link (to be found at theparagraph symbol). Please mark messages for social networking services like Twitter with the hash tags #cablegate and a hash containing the reference ID e.g. #06SAOPAULO887.
Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin |
---|---|---|---|---|
06SAOPAULO887 | 2006-08-14 13:59 | 2011-02-11 00:00 | UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY | Consulate Sao Paulo |
VZCZCXRO9837
RR RUEHRG
DE RUEHSO #0887/01 2261359
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141359Z AUG 06
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5606
INFO RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 6681
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 3082
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 7359
RUEHAC/AMEMBASSY ASUNCION 2720
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 2398
RUEHMN/AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO 2111
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ 2964
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 1835
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 000887
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 INL ALSO FOR SGARCIA AND AMARTIN SENSITIVE SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KCRM CASC ASEC SNAR SOCI BR
SUBJECT: QUIET IN SAO PAULO, BUT JOURNALISTS' KIDNAPPING MARKS NEW PCC TACTIC
REF: (A) SAO PAULO 873;
(B) SAO PAULO 869;
(C) SAO PAULO 865;
(D) SAO PAULO 771;
(E) SAO PAULO 742;
(F) SAO PAULO 573
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY.
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Sao Paulo residents enjoyed a relatively quiet Father's Day weekend, as a feared repeat of the widespread violence that occurred on Mother's Day three months ago failed to materialize (ref B). Some 13,000 inmates were given weekend furloughs for the holiday, but only scattered incidents reminiscent of previous PCC attacks were reported, and there appears to have been no orchestrated wave of attacks of the kind that the state has experienced on three separate occasions since May (refs C, D, F). Police were out in force over the weekend, including in fashionable neighborhoods where businesses were hoping for a burst of holiday sales. But while the city and state escaped a surge in violence, a two-person television crew was kidnapped on Saturday morning and their network was given a PCC manifesto to air that complained of conditions in the state's prisons. Meanwhile, one of the founding leaders of the PCC was assassinated in prison, most likely on orders from the gang's current leadership, and President Lula and Sao Paulo Governor Lembo reached an accord regarding the availability of federal troops and intelligence services to combat organized crime in Brazil's most populous state (ref A). END SUMMARY.
---------------------------------------- FATHER'S DAY PASSES QUIETLY IN SAO PAULO ----------------------------------------
¶2. (SBU) Sao Paulo residents breathed a collective sigh of relief on Monday, August 14, as Brazil's Father's Day weekend passed without a significant spike in violence, even with the release of 13,000 prisoners on holiday furlough. Prior to the weekend there was concern that the organized criminal gang First Capital Command (PCC) would use the statutorily-mandated prison furlough (refs B, C) as a means to launch another wave of violent confrontations against the state's police forces akin to the Mother's Day rampage that left 44 police officers and some 100 suspects dead over the course of one week in May (ref E). This concern was heightened after a "third wave" of violence hit Sao Paulo state last week in the run-up to Father's Day (refs A, B). Weekend leave was cancelled for all officers of the Military Police (PM) within metropolitan Sao Paulo. Police were out in greater-than-usual numbers on Saturday, and were noticeable standing in groups on street corners and conducting walking and driving patrols in the fashionable shopping districts of Jardim Paulista and Itaim Bibi, where store owners hoped for a surge in sales for Father's Day.
¶3. (SBU) Police reported drive-by shooting attacks against the buildings of a bank, a police station and Brazil's Bar Association (OAB) in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday, August 12. The police did not specifically link the attacks to the PCC, but stated that the attacks seemed to have been perpetrated by the same group. Also on Friday night, police killed two men in a shootout, and afterwards found a letter on one that purportedly carried death threats against a list of area judges. By Sunday night, police arrested at least 32 of the prisoners out on furlough for new crimes, and killed four in confrontations. Four buses of the same company were lit afire in a garage on Sunday evening.
------------------------------------------ TV CREW KIDNAPPED; PCC MESSAGE BROADCASTED ------------------------------------------
¶4. (SBU) On Saturday morning, August 12, a television reporter and cameraman working for one of Brazil's major television and news conglomerates, Rede Globo, were kidnapped from a bakery near the network's studios. The cameraman was released late Saturday night near the same spot, with a DVD containing a recorded message from the purported kidnappers. He was told that the reporter would be
SAO PAULO 00000887 002 OF 003
killed if the network did not air the recording immediately. The three-minute message, which Rede Globo began broadcasting early Sunday morning, was made by a self-proclaimed PCC member who lamented conditions within Sao Paulo state's prison system, particularly in regard to the disciplinary system known as the Differentiated Discipline Regime (RDD) used to isolate inmates considered to be gang leaders or otherwise problematic. The reporter was released in the Morumbi neighborhood just after midnight Monday, August 14, after being held for 40 hours.
¶5. (SBU) In a press release, Rede Globo executives said they consulted with the International News Safety Institute (INSI) and the Atlanta and Beirut offices of the international security consulting firm AKE Group before airing the tape. Rede Globo executives are quoted as saying they were advised by both organizations that they had no real choice but to air the PCC message, given the circumstances and the short deadline set by the kidnappers.
¶6. (SBU) A police commander was quoted as saying this was the first time in 30 years on the job that he had seen a news crew and network used by kidnappers in this manner. Kidnappings for money occur relatively frequently throughout Brazil, so much so that a particular modus operandi known as "lightning" or "express" kidnappings, wherein a person is held captive at gunpoint usually in his or her own car for several hours for the purpose of withdrawing cash from multiple ATM machines before and after midnight to circumvent daily withdrawal limits, are no longer considered kidnappings by the Sao Paulo state agency for public security, but are instead categorized as robberies. An editor of the widely circulated daily newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo ran a column Sunday entitled "We Live Colombia," in which he likened the current climate of threats against police, judges, politicians and now journalists made by "extremely organized drug traffickers" in Sao Paulo to the infamous narco-terrorist situation in Colombia.
-------------------- OLD GUARD ELIMINATED --------------------
¶7. (SBU) In what appears to be a bit of "housecleaning," one of the two original founders of the PCC, Cesar Augusto Roriz da Silva, known as Cesinha, was killed by another inmate in the maximum security prison at Avere in an apparent PCC assassination. Cesinha and Jos Mrcio Felcio dos Santos, aka Geleiao, are considered to have founded the PCC in 1993 in reaction to the infamous riot at Carandiru Prison during which 111 inmates were gunned down by Military Police shock troops. They also gave the PCC its moniker, which was the name of their prison soccer team.
¶8. (SBU) The two formed the PCC as an inmate-based protectorate, ostensibly to "combat the oppression within the Sao Paulo prison system," and had a grand plan of uniting with the Rio-based Red Command to create a pan-Brazilian prison movement. In 2002 the two were pushed out of the organization for being too "radical," and the PCC's current leader, Marcos Wilians Herbas Camacho, known as Marcola, consolidated power and focused the organization on criminal activity - both inside and outside of the prisons - rather than political movement. But the PCC continues to rail against poor prison conditions (see discussion above regarding the kidnapping of a journalist) and stages periodic riots that ultimately destroy the facilities they claim are deficient. Both Cesinha and Geleiao have long been marked for death by the PCC, and they in turn formed a new gang they called the Third Capital Command, or TCC. PCC and TCC elements have fought periodically for control of Sao Paulo's prisons, and assassinations have been stepped-up in recent months as the PCC has been flexing its muscle throughout the state of Sao Paulo (reftels). Cesinha was killed at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, August 13, with a wooden knife wielded by another inmate, who was immediately brought under control by prison authorities.
SAO PAULO 00000887 003 OF 003
-------------------------- NO FEDERAL TROOPS, FOR NOW --------------------------
¶9. (SBU) Meanwhile, President Lula and Sao Paulo Governor Claudio Lembo reached an accord of sorts on Friday, August 11, regarding the mobilization of federal troops in Sao Paulo to combat organized crime (ref A). During a forty-minute meeting at Congonhas Airport in Sao Paulo, Lula told the governor that 10,000 troops of the Brazilian Army stood ready to deploy across the state to help fight the PCC; the governor simply need ask. Governor Lembo assured the president that the troops would not be necessary. Instead, the two executives agreed that the Army would provide additional intelligence and logistical support to the state's security apparatus, and the governor told reporters after the meeting that residents can expect better integration between Army and state intelligence functions within a week.
¶10. (SBU) In particular, the Army will help train agents of the state Secretariat for Penitentiary Administration (SAP), which has been struggling to establish its own intelligence infrastructure leading to difficulties in information-sharing between it and other state and federal intelligence agencies. In that vein, on Friday the federal government also made available to the SAP approximately $20 million of a promised $50 million public security grant to purchase intelligence and security equipment for the state's prisons. Also, it was reported that as a result of the meeting between President Lula and Governor Lembo, the Army may provide satellite imagery to the state's Military Police to assist in the planning of operations against criminal factions.
------------------------ THE NEXT "NEW BIG THING" ------------------------
¶11. (SBU) COMMENT: While a new crime wave did not sweep across Sao Paulo over Father's Day weekend as many expected, the PCC and its activities were never very far from the thoughts of state's residents or its political leaders. The agreement on federal troops will lessen the pressure on Governor Lembo to accept the offer made by the President and the Minister of Justice (ref A) (NOTE: Last week, even members of Lembo's own political party and its chief coalition partner publicly questioned his intransigence to accepting a role for the Army to play in state security. END NOTE.), and the intelligence sharing plan may actually afford the state a new effectiveness in its ongoing battle with the PCC. But the PCC's repeated assaults on public life in Sao Paulo, together with its latest shocking tactics -- the kidnapping of a television crew to ensure that its message was broadcast to the public, the discovery of the judicial hit-list and the expanded use of homemade bombs against soft targets last week (ref A) -- indicate the PCC may be adopting urban terrorist tactics not usually expected from a prison-based gang thought to be concerned only with running drugs, guns, cigarettes and unlicensed transport businesses. Sao Paulo's elite may have more to fear from the PCC in the future, and the state government may be forced to wage war against the gang on yet another front. END COMMENT.
¶12. (U) This cable was coordinated/cleared by Embassy Brasilia.
MCMULLEN