Brasília - The recent spate of attacks on urban buses in Vitoria, Espirito Santo, has put the region's history of violence in the spotlight. The whole country is shocked and trying to understand what is happening.

For starters, it seems that Espirito Santo has always been a violent place. According to a Unesco survey in 2002, Espirito Santo has the third highest homicide rate in Brazil, behind Rio de Janeiro and Pernambuco. It is second in the number of violent deaths of youths between the ages of 15 and 24.

The state secretary of Public Security, Rodney Miranda, has commented on the issue in a document entitled, "Organized Crime in Espirito Santo." The first point Miranda makes is that violence in the state is not something new. The current problems began in the 1980s when people involved in an illegal numbers game (jogo do bicho) branched out into drugs, money laundering, prostitution and other illegal activities. A natural consequence of the expansion of their activities was a series of conflicts with union leaders, human rights activists and government authorities.

So, although organized crime thrived in Espirito Santo, it did not do so entirely without violent conflicts: over the years the state Bar Association was bombed and a few politicians, journalists and witnesses had to be killed. Although public opinion was angered by what was happening, few of these cases were ever solved.

The violence came to a climax in March 2002, when a judge, Alexandre Martins de Castro Filho, who was investigating organized crime activities in the state, was assassinated as he left a gym academy. No one was ever indicted for the crime. The murder of the judge was so shocking that the National Bar Association requested federal intervention in the state. However the request was denied by the then Chief Federal Prosecutor, Geraldo Brindeiro, and ex-president Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

Only a month later, a whistleblower lawyer, Marcelo Denadai, was also assassinated. Although indictments have been handed down in this case, no one has ever gone to jail for the crime.

According to the state Bar Association president, Agesandro da Costa Pereira, the problem is that some state officials connived with the criminals, permitting them to thrive. "The Ministry of Justice's Human Rights Commission took action on various fronts but without any effective results because organized crime elements had infiltrated the government to such an extent," he explained.

"Things reached the point where people connected with organized crime groups held office in the government. We had a case where a criminal became a sheriff and led the investigation into his own crimes. They practically took over the business sector and civil society," concluded Costa Pereira.

Agencia Brasil
Translator: Allen Bennett
11/25/2004