A firefighter this Tuesday in Parnamirim, next to the remains of a bus that burned down in the wave of attacks on about twenty towns in Rio Grande do Norte. Ney Douglas (EFE)
The Brazilian city of Natal and twenty other cities in Rio Grande do Norte state have suffered two nights of coordinated attacks on courts, police stations, shops and public buses in what authorities say is a fight by a criminal organization called the Crime Syndicate. . . The gang that controls some prisons appears to be protesting recent police operations. All who have been able to remain locked at home. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government dispatched and deployed federal security forces in support of local police. The alleged leader of the wave of violence was killed on Tuesday night in the neighboring state of Paraíba, and around 40 people were arrested.
At least two other people have died in the incidents. State authorities initially said the spate of violence was in response to several recent arrests and seizures of weapons and drugs. They later added that the criminal gang also wants to bring back to the prisons intimate visits, televisions and light bulbs in the cells that were eliminated six years ago after a riot that left thirty dead. Only the prison corridors have lights to prevent prisoners from using the electricity grid to charge clandestine cell phones.
Rio Grande do Norte Governor Fatima Bezerra has said violence has decreased but is still ongoing. Attacks were carried out in 14 cities on Monday night, in 18 cities on Tuesday night and on Wednesday there were incidents in four communities. This reduction “is due to police operations on the streets, which include arrests. We work 24 hours as is our duty. But we still can’t guarantee full normalcy, but violence is decreasing,” the governor said, reports O Globo newspaper. In the afternoon, Bezerra said that “the situation is still worrying”.
Some public services such as bus lines, clinics, schools, universities and garbage collection have been suspended in both the state capital Natal and Mossoró. Only school transport, tourist buses and taxis operate in Natal.
Last night, 29-year-old José Wilson da Silva Filho, nicknamed Argentino, believed to be the head of the Crime Syndicate and alleged mastermind of the attacks, died in a confrontation with police in the city of João Pessoa, where he was staying, reports CNN Brazil. Authorities have also transferred a relevant prisoner to a federal prison from a state prison, where living and security conditions are often precarious.
The first hundred members of the National Force sent to Natal in a military plane last night by the federal government are already deployed. Another 120 soldiers are expected, but the justice minister, former judge and governor Flávio Dino, has already pledged that “if the climate of confrontation persists” there will be more reinforcements.
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