Comando Vermelho
Comando Vermelho, also known as CV, is a Brazilian criminal organization engaged in drug trafficking, arms trafficking, truckjacking, and turf wars. The group, originally known as Falange Vermelha, was formed in 1979 as an alliance between ordinary convicts and left-wing urban guerrillas who were imprisoned together during the 1964-1985 military dictatorship. They created codes of conduct and hierarchy, and employed urban guerrilla tactics for bank robbing; with their leaders controlling the organisation from inside the prison. In the early 1980s, the group changed its name to Comando Vermelho, and veered towards drug trafficking and territory control.
The Comando controls parts of Rio de Janeiro and has expanded to other states and into neighbouring countries. It has fought in several small-scale conflicts with rival gangs such as Primeiro Comando da Capital, Amigos dos Amigos and Terceiro Comando, the latter itself the result of a power struggle between Comando Vermelho leaders in the mid-1980s.
Overview
The gang formed in the 1970s out of a prison alliance between common criminals and leftist guerrillas imprisoned together at Cândido Mendes Penal Institute, a maximum-security prison on the island of Ilha Grande. The prisoners formed the alliance to protect themselves from prison violence and guard-inflicted brutality. As the group coalesced, the common criminals were infused with leftist social justice ideals by the guerrillas. In 1979, prison officials labeled the alliance "Comando Vermelho", which the prisoners co-opted as their own. In the 1980s, the gang expanded beyond Ilha Grande into other prisons and the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and became involved in cocaine. Brazil's shift towards democracy and the end of the military dictatorship in 1985, allowed the leftist guerrillas to re-enter society; thus, the CV largely abandoned its left-wing ideology.Cocaine brought the CV massive profits and growth; by 1986 the gang controlled 70% of the cocaine trade in Rio's favelas. The CV established trading relationships with Colombian cartels. The group's decentralized leadership structure and disputes over profits prompted infighting, causing splinter groups such as the Terceiro Comando and Amigos dos Amigos to emerge. Conflicts with these splinters, as well as fierce resistance to state crackdowns on their operations, drove an uptick in violence throughout Brazil in the late 1980s, and into the 2000s. Violence escalated until 2008, when the state government implemented a policy called Pacification, which used permanent proximity-policing units to "maintain state control and provide social order" in favelas. A sharp decline in violence between the state and CV followed implementation. In 2013, Pacification efforts eroded, and conflict between the CV and state forces returned. In 2016, a 20-year truce between the Primeiro Comando da Capital, a rival organization based in São Paulo, and the CV broke down, sparking violent clashes.
While not as powerful as its peak, the CV remains significant throughout Brazil; estimated as the second-largest criminal organization behind the PCC. The CV may boast as many as 30,000 members. The gang continues to traffic drugs, arms, and fight turf wars with rival gangs. A struggle has intensified between the CV, the PCC, and other rival gangs over control of trade routes and territory in the Amazon region.
History
Origins (1971–1979)
The exact year that the Comando Vermelho was founded remains disputed, but sources agree the gang formed out of a prison alliance between leftist guerrillas and common criminals housed together during the 1970s by Brazil's military dictatorship at Cândido Mendes, a maximum security Brazilian prison.Soon after their regime began in 1964, Brazil's military dictatorship faced a persistent challenge from leftist guerrilla rebels, made up largely of "middle-class intellectuals". In hopes of delegitimizing the rebels, in the early 1970s the Brazilian government began placing those they captured in prison alongside common criminals. One such prison, Candido Mendes, located on Ilha Grande, housed a mix of violent criminals and guerrillas in its notoriously brutal "Block B", or "The Pit". Inmates there were subject to frequent abuse at the hands of both their peers and the guards. The inmates banded together for mutual protection, shielding themselves from guard beatings and establishing a code of conduct for prisoners. Additionally, the guerrillas began to spread ideas about resistance, revolution, and social justice among the common criminals. As the alliance cemented, members introduced a common code of prison rules, designed to promote loyalty among members, reduce violence within the prison, and advance the common cause of the prisoners, while still maintaining a degree of autonomy for individual members to act as they desired.
In attempts to break up the alliance, prison officials moved inmate leaders to different wings and prisons, but this instead helped the group spread throughout the prison system. During this period prison officials gave the group its name: one official called the group "Comando Vermelho" in a memo to his colleagues. The name was adopted first by the press and then later by the group itself.
Split with the guerrillas and the cocaine boom (1979late 1980s)
In 1979, sensing an impending democratization movement, newly-installed President João Figueiredo and his military regime began to fear that they and members of their armed forces could face trial for human rights violations in a democratic system. To protect themselves, Figueiredo "manipulated a grassroots movement demanding amnesty for thousands of political prisoners and exiles to insulate himself and his colleagues from potential indictments," and passed the sweeping 1979 Amnesty Law, protecting political prisoners and their government captors from prosecution. As a result, the leftist guerrilla elements of the CV were released from prison, weakening the group's ideological bent.Meanwhile, the CV began to spread beyond prison gates. While many of its original members were bank robbers, the group quickly became involved in the burgeoning cocaine market. CV members helped traffic drugs overseas for Colombian cartels and distributed cocaine into the local Rio de Janeiro market. The cocaine trade proved incredibly lucrative and the CV grew rapidly: "by the end of 1985, the gang already controlled 70% of the drug market in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro."
During this period, the CV became increasingly involved in the provision of social services and administration of justice for the favela communities which it controlled. In exchange for the cooperation of favela residents, the CV prohibited theft, robbery, and rape, and provided public goods like school supplies, medical equipment, and food distribution for the poor.
The official end of the military dictatorship in 1985 marked the end of all remaining ties between the leftist guerrillas and the CV. Many of the guerrillas re-entered society and "rose inside political parties;" some would go on to hold elected office.
Infighting and growing cartel-state violence (late 1980s2008)
Massive profits created incentives for different CV factions to splinter off as local leaders sought larger profit shares. Notable break-away groups which emerged during this period include Terceiro Comando and Amigos dos Amigos. As these groups clashed over territory in Rio, violence rapidly increased throughout the city.After Pablo Escobar's death, the CV established a working relationship with the FARC, a Colombian guerrilla group which moved into the cocaine trade. Led by Luiz Fernando da Costa the CV procured arms and ammunition, which they delivered to the FARC in exchange for their supply of cocaine.
Pacification (2008–2013)
Beginning in 2008, in an effort to combat the widespread gang-related violence, Rio state police forces implemented a new "Pacification" strategy, "inspired by notions of community-oriented policing." The strategy, which proceeds in stages, begins with state occupation of a target favela using overwhelming military force, followed by the installation of a proximity-policing unit, which remains in the favela after military withdrawal. Rather than eliminating the drug trade, the UPPs were primarily tasked with securing the favela communities from gang-related violence.The early period of Pacification saw 40 UPP battalions installed across 200 communities, and was largely successful for the state. The CV, which suddenly ceased their violent confrontation with state forces, ceded significant territory to the state; one UPP effort left "the CV's principal stronghold firmly in the hand of the state for the first time in more than a generation."
Resurgence in violence (2013–present)
Despite its initial success for the state, corruption and over-expansion caused erosion of the Pacification system, and by 2013 the program began to break down. Since then, violent clashes between the CV and state forces have surged. In 2016, following the collapse of a 20-year truce between the CV and the PCC, violence surged further. In 2023, sources consistently reported frequent violent clashes between the CV and the PCC as well as other rival gang groups.Additionally, an emerging struggle for control of the Amazon region has intensified between rival gangs including the CV. Seeking access to the valuable trafficking routes in the Colombia-Brazil-Peru tri-border region, the CV, PCC, Familia do Norte, and Colombian militia groups including the Border Command and the Carolina Ramirez Front have violently fought, contributing to a significant uptick in regional fatalities.
Armed militia groups in Rio represent another growing challenge for the CV. Militia groups, formed by former and current police officers purporting to fight crime, have grown to control substantial territory throughout Rio. In recent years, violence between militias and gangs has intensified; in 2020 and 2021, "clashes between gangs and militias were responsible for 28% of reported fatalities" in Rio. For example, in July and August 2022, the CV clashed frequently with the Campinho police militia for "control of the Morro do Fuba community in the North Zone."