SUMMARY

With the rise of the Bala na Cara gang in neighborhoods of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, the Anti-Bala gang emerged in 2012 as a counterforce to its expansion. Bala na Cara, who was notorious for its brutality, would invade local drug sales points and either eliminate or order small traffickers to work for them. Local gangs united under the Anti-Bala coalition to stop Bala na Cara's expansion, and adopted the same violent methods as their rival.

Attacks between the gangs were characterized by shootouts and execution-style killings, as they battled each other for control of drug trafficking in the city of Porto Alegre. The conflict grew increasingly intense in 2016, when a Bala na Cara member was kidnapped and beheaded by Anti-Bala, which escalated the conflict. After a couple of years of decrease in gang-related killings, attributed to measures taken by the police, the conflict erupted again in 2021.

The non-state conflict between the Anti-Bala and the Bala na Cara was first included in UCDP data in 2015, when clashes between the groups surpassed the 25 battle-related deaths threshold.