Is São Paulo, Brazil experiencing a war of revenge between police and a prominent gang? This year alone, over 90 police officers have been killed in the city– twice the number of those killed in 2011.
Amnesty International attributes the spike in violence to Primeiro Comando da Capital’s (“First Command of the Capital”), or PCC, retaliation against the police for their aggressive, and at times, lethal methods in dealing with organised crime. Most of the murders are taking place at the doorsteps of off-duty officers, raising fears of the resurgence of the PCC, which engaged in a deadly four-day street war with police in 2006. The surge in violence left hundreds of people dead and shut down the city’s financial district.
While most experts agree that it is highly unlikely for the 2006 scenario to repeat itself, they do, however, acknowledge that socio-economic problems deeply ingrained in the current crisis make it extremely challenging to come up with viable solutions.
What is at the root of this blood feud between the police and the PCC? And what will it take for the violence to subside? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
