Carolina Pimentel
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - On Friday, May 12, following the transfer of 765 inmates, many of them important members of a powerful criminal group known as the First Capital Command - PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital) from cells in prisons in the city of São Paulo to a maximum security penitentiary in the city of Presidente Venceslau, 600 kilometers away, the state erupted in a series of simultaneous attacks on the police and rebellions in prisons.

According to the president of the national Bar Association (Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil) (OAB), Roberto Busato, there are two important things to keep in mind. First, the uprising shows the "scandalous degree of fragility and disorder" in the security system. Second, the authorities must not back down. "The state cannot, under any circumstances, retreat in its decision to isolate the leaders of the PCC in maximum security cells. And not only that. The state has to be strong and firm; no timidity or weakness. It must accept the challenge. It has to mobilize its intelligence sector, the courts for a quick victory in this dark tragedy that civil society is being forced to watch."

Translation: Allen Bennett