SUMMARY
Brazil's most powerful criminal organizations Comando Vermelho and PCC dominated the drug trade in the country and peaceful relations were maintained by a truce. Although the groups originated in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo respectively, their power reached nationwide. In late 2016, after 20 years of coexistence the truce was broken, which led to an eruption of violence between the factions and their allies.
With the end of the truce, both factions expanded throughout the national territory, aiming at dominating the international drug routes. As Comando Vermelho expanded into the state of Pará, located in the Northern region of Brazil, the local faction Comando Classe A got concerned.
Originally from the city of Altamira, this faction sought control of the so-called ‘Rio Solimões route’, which was a route used to transport cocaine produced in Andean countries like Bolivia, Colombia, through rivers such as Solimões and Negro to cities in the northern region of Brazil. From these cities, the cocaine was taken to the capitals of the southeast region or exported to Europe. The Solimões Route was an alternative Andean cocaine trafficking option to the main route that passed through Brazil on the border with Paraguay.
Besides these groups, the Amazon also had the presence of the FDN faction, which controlled the Amazon drug traffic, and the PCC, which tried to transport drugs coming from the Midwest through the region. Thus, in order to stop the advance of the Comando Vermelho, there were indications that Comando Classe A had tried a rapprochement with the PCC — an enemy of both Comando Vermelho and FDN.
These disputes then culminated in a prison massacre orchestrated by Comando Classe A over Comando Vermelho members. As a way of challenging the latter, on 27 July 2019 a prison riot broke out in an Altamira prison located in the state of Pará. This event resulted in the killing of 62 inmates allegedly belonging to Comando Vermelho.
The non-state conflict between Comando Classe A and Comando Vermelho was first included in UCDP data in 2019, as the prison riot resulted in more than 25 battle-related deaths.
