Brazil: Military Police in Pernambuco Death Squad Case

Boa Viagem, Recife, Pernambuco. That beach has a serious, serious shark problem, I happen to know.

[For an update, see Homicídios, SA: 1,000+ Corporate Actions From Brazilian Murder, Inc.. For a parallel case, see Rio: “Militia Leader Is Suspect in More Than 100 Deaths.” Examples can be multiplied.]

Gravações da Polícia Federal serão usadas para investigar matadores em Pernambuco (Agência Brasil, Brazilian government news service): Some 1,000 murders in the Northeastern state of Pernambuco — home to one of Brazil’s most violent cities, Recife, with a homicide rate of some 60 per 100,000, as I believe I read — are attributed to death squads run by professional assassins and military police.

Recife also has the highest concentration of gambling parlors that I have seen in Brazil — one on every corner, it seems like, all with the same branding, like some kind of Kentucky Fried Chicken of vice.

Rio receives all the international press attention — the international press corps never leaves the Zona Sul, after all, and cribs all their coverage from “local press sources” — but Recife is (1) at least as stunningly beautiful and culturally dynamic, and (2) much, much more violent and corrupt.

I love Recife. Recife deserves to prosper as a tourist destination and a major cultural and business capital of the Northeast. But Recife scares the living snot out of me.

Recife – Uma força tarefa da Polícia Civil de Pernambuco inicia hoje (24), em Caruaru (PE), reuniões para definir o método de investigação dos mais de mil homicídios ocorridos nos últimos cinco anos no Agreste do estado. Os crimes eram encomendados a um grupo de extermínio formado por assassinos profissionais, empresários, policiais militares e comerciantes por preços que chegavam a R$ 5 mil.

Recife — a task force of the Pernambuco state police will commence meetings today in Caruaru to define a method for investigating more than 1,000 murders that occurred in the state in the last 5 years. The crimes were commissioned from a death squad formed by professional assassins, business owners, military police and merchants at prices of up to R$5,000 (US$2,500).

This is not a shocking and novel case. Groups like this have operated all over the place for decades, including — especially — in Sâo Paulo. One reads. Homeless bums driving away your business? Call the exterminator. Having the federal police busting them is a positive trend, however.

Caruaru is about 135 km inland from the port city of Recife and bills itself as “the capital of forró,” a popular country music form. Its mayor is a certain Tony Gel of the PFL. Which, I am sorry to say — the party has recently renamed itself the Democratic party — tends to makes you tend to think immediately of Carlismo.

Vinte e nove envolvidos permanecem presos na capital pernambucana desde o último dia 12, quando a Polícia Federal deflagrou a Operação Aveloz. No entanto, outras pessoas suspeitas ainda estão sendo procuradas.

29 suspects have been in jail in Recife since April 12, when the Federal Police unleashed Operation Aveloz. But other suspects are still being sought.

Aveloz, a plant characteristic of the Northeastern caatinga ecosystem, is also the name of a forró band.

De acordo com o delegado Joel Venâncio, do Departamento de Homicídios e Proteção a Pessoa, os primeiros casos investigados estarão relacionados às escutas telefônicas da quadrilha, realizadas pela Polícia Federal com autorização da Justiça. Foram gravados 900 minutos de ligações telefônicas durante as investigações, que tiveram início em janeiro.

According to state police official Joel Venâncio of the Homicide Department, the first cases to be investigating will be based on phone taps of the gang carried out by the Federal Police under a judicial warrant. Some 900 minutes of phone calls were recorded during the investigation, which began in January.

A cada 30 dias será elaborado um relatório, informando o andamento das investigações. “Vamos contar com apoio de juízes e promotores de Caruaru para que possamos fazer um esforço no sentido de concluir os inquéritos abertos nas delegacias da região, onde o grupo é apontado como autor de homicídios”, disse Venâncio.

A progress report will be issued every 30 days. “We will rely on the support of judges and prosecutors in Caruaru in order to make an effort to conclude the investigations begun by police precincts in the area, where the group is pointed to as the author of homicides,” said Venâncio.

A força tarefa é composta por três delegados dos municípios de Timbaúba, Bom Jardim e Palmerina, além de três escrivãs e nove agentes. As reuniões serão realizadas na sede da Delegacia Regional de Caruaru e no Ministério Público.

The task force is make up of three precinct commanders from the townships of Timbaúba, Bom Jardim and Palmerina, as well as three police notaries and nine agents. The meetins will be held at the regional headquarters of the state police and the public prosecutor.

The PF’s terse report on the operation:

RECIFE/PE – Na manhã de hoje, 12 de abril, 350 policias federais, em parceria com policias civis e militares do estado de Pernambuco, prenderam 20 integrantes de um grupo de extermínio que atuava na região de Caruaru. Os presos foram encaminhados para a Superintendência da PF em Pernambuco, onde foram ouvidos, e levados aos presídios da capital.

On the morning of April 12, 350 federal police, in partnership with Pernambuco civil and military police, arrested 20 members of a death squad that operated in the region of Caruaru. The prisoners were taken to the HQ of the PF Superintendent in Pernambuco, where their statements were taken, then taken to prisons in the state capital.

Foram cumpridos 60 mandados de busca e apreensão, sendo apreendidos documentos, agendas, celulares, armas, drogas, dinheiro, entre outros.

Sixty search and seizure warrants were served, and documents, datebooks, cell phones, weapons, drugs and money, among other things, were apprehended.

Os bens dos presos foram seqüestrados e ficarão à disposição da Justiça.

The prisoners’ belongings were confiscated and are available as evidence.

Pernambuco, by the way, is a ridiculously lovely place.

We visited the very first synagogue in the new world, in the old town of Recife, and attended an astonishingly groovy forró festival, off the tourist trail, while vacationing there once. Among other great things we did there. Someday, I hope you will go there, too.

Caruaru served as the setting for a popular law enforcement “reality” show, which became something of a mania on YouTube, called Sem Meias Palavras. A sample: