Rio Grande do Norte, a state in northeastern Brazil, experienced its fourth consecutive night of terror in the capital Natal and 39 other cities following attacks by a local criminal organization called Sindicato do Crime.
The criminals set fire to buses and other vehicles, destroyed public buildings, supermarkets, drug depots and killed at least one person in protest against the transfer of their leaders to prison and conditions in state prisons. The Brazilian government sent 100 National Force men on Wednesday (the 15th), but even then it was unable to contain the violence.
Bus fleets have already gathered vehicles, fearing more attacks, and businesses in Natal and elsewhere in the state have closed amid the wave of fear and uncertainty.
From Monday (14) to 6:30 am on Friday (17), police seized 17 weapons, 50 explosives and 22 liters of fuel used in the attacks, in addition to arresting 72 suspects.
However, the leader of the crime syndicate is already in prison and is leading the attacks from Mossoró prison, where he was transferred from Alcaçuz: José Kemps Pereira de Araújo, known as Alicate, is 45 years old and is accused of drug trafficking drugs, assaults , murders and attempted murders against four public security officers in the past five years.
The crime syndicate, led by Alicate, is a state division of the First Command of the Capital, the largest criminal organization in Latin America, based in the state of São Paulo, although according to the police in these attacks the two factions, rivals for the intention to to control the cocaine route in the region, act in concert.
Both criticize the conditions of the prison system in Rio Grande do Norte, which, according to the state body Mecanismo Nacional de Aprendizagem e Combate à Tortura, provides for torture during inspections in November 2022.
Food so spoiled that the smell caused nausea, prisoners undergoing initial treatment for tuberculosis were used as a contagion vector to punish other healthy prisoners, imprisonment of more than 30 days in punishment cells, and physical and psychological torture are mentioned in the report.
Source: DN
