SUMMARY
Brazil’s proximity to the cocaine-producing countries Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, has created the perfect conditions for distribution and transition of drugs. Starting in the 1980s Rio de Janeiro gangs started capitalizing upon this opportunity, thus rivalry between them arose. These gangs gained control in the many favelas of Rio de Janeiro, areas that often were neglected by the state, which became bases for their criminal activities. The leadership of these gangs are typically of a decentralized form, every favela led by a drug boss, yet the organization within the favelas is strictly hierarchical.
Every now and then, the gangs seek to expand their territory and invade the “boca do fumo”, the point of sales, in favelas controlled by other gangs. This rivalry has led to deeply entrenched animosity between gangs and the creation of several factions fighting to make a profit from drug trafficking. In order to consolidate their power in the favelas, the gangs often replaced the state by providing security and economic support for the inhabitants. In addition to this, the gangs often got support from corrupt police, who were paid to ignore their activities.
The rival criminal rings Comando Vermelho (Red Command) and Terceiro Comando (Third Command) have a long history of enmity. The groups that have dominated Rio de Janeiro’s drug trade have repeatedly clashed over the control of various shantytowns of the city. Regularly, the respective rival group has tried to take over control of a favela (shantytown), when the leader of the criminal ring ruling that favela had died or had been captured by the police. Control means that one group sells drugs (to residents and people coming from outside the shantytown), brings order to the community in the absence of effective governmental services, recruits members and provides some social benefits to the community. Both groups have also frequently clashed with the police that have killed or arrested a number of drug traffickers.
The turf war between the Comando Vermelho and Terceiro Comando has also spread into the prisons as members of opposing factions were sometimes put into the same penitentiaries provoking an explosive situation. Prison riots and fighting between inmates belonging to rival criminal rings have occurred. In this context, decapitations, mutilations and the burning of bodies have taken place.
The non-state conflict between the Comando Vermelho and the Terceiro Comando is first included in UCDP data in 1994. In February, 14 people were killed in the fighting which led the conflict to exceed the 25 battle-related deaths threshold.
