Environmental Crime and Organised Crime Go Hand in Hand in the Amazon, Says Researcher

[Judi Lynn]

Aiala Colares, coordinator of a study on violence in the North of Brazil, argues that public security and forest conservation should share the same agenda

Jan.18.2023 12:39PM

Cristiane Fontes
OXFORD
The alliances and overlaps between organised crime and environmental crime are at the core of the studies developed by Aiala Colares, a professor and researcher at the State University of Pará (UEPA). Between 2019 and 2021, he coordinated a study on this topic in partnership with the Brazilian Public Security Forum.

His work highlights criminal groups' expansion into the North region, including traditional communities' territories.

‘Both Comando Vermelho [Red Command] and Primeiro Comando da Capital [First Capital Command, or PCC] have operations in the states of Pará, Amazonas, and others in the region. We have also identified the emergence of local and regional factions with some sort of link with these groups from the Southeast', says Colares, who is also a militant in the Quilombola and Black movement.

Colares’s study was released in June as part of the Brazilian Public Security Yearbook, and was further publicised and discussed during COP27 (UN Climate Change Conference held in Egypt in November). It links this [expanded presence of criminal organisations] to the unbridled increase in homicide rates in the Amazon.

More:
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/scienceandhealth/2023/01/environmental-crime-and-organised-crime-go-hand-in-hand-in-the-amazon-says-researcher.shtml

[Ricard Wagner Rizzi]

1. Who cares about this truth?

I ask you to look, when reading the texts about the participation of the criminal organization "Primeiro Comando da Capital", for information on the arrest of members or facts that can be proven.

In all the reports I've read so far, they state that the criminal group operates in the region of the villages, however, there are two statements by indigenous people.

It is very common for criminals to claim to be from the criminal faction to scare the victims, even though they do not belong to the gang.

This may or may not be the case, however, the way of acting and the cases of effective arrests, as well as the flow of money, indicate that police forces and policies supported by militiamen have dominance in that region.

The question is: who is really interested in maintaining the smokescreen?


Article in Portuguese BR
https://faccaopcc1533primeirocomandodacapital.org/2023/02/03/a-faccao-pcc-e-uma-ameaca-aos-povos-indigenas/