A couple of interesting commentaries on recent events in Brazil, specifically the revolt staged within and without the prison system by the First Capital Command (PCC). From DNI net:
The PCC emerges from the Post account and from its uprising in Sao Paulo as almost a model Fourth Generation organization, operating a network of structures parallel to those of the state that work more effectively than the state’s institutions. As the state retreats into ever-greater corruption and incapacity, the PCC has advanced by filling in the widening gaps. It has now reached the point where it can confront the state directly, while I think it is safe to say that the state cannot defeat much less destroy the PCC.
From Power and Interest:
Reaching beyond its current legal team, the P.C.C. supports law students, paying full tuition in exchange for services once they have a law degree. The P.C.C.'s educational funding extends to future politicians and other individuals who indicate an interest in entering Brazil's political world. The group also facilitates the path for students who want to enter public security. These efforts and more act as a well-planned insurance policy to ensure the continued existence of the P.C.C. through the manipulation of Brazil's judicial, political, and security systems… …As a criminal enterprise, the P.C.C. took life inside a Sao Paulo prison in 1993 when prisoners grouped together to force the improvement of their living conditions. Since then, many prisoners, their family members, and other poor Brazilians idolize the P.C.C. as an armed faction of Brazil's extreme left political flank, working to improve the rights and lives of impoverished Brazilians. For this reason, the P.C.C. draws many of its young recruits from the shantytowns surrounding Sao Paulo.Many of the people in these communities believe the P.C.C. speaks for them when it fights against what they perceive as a deeply corrupt political organization, beleaguered by broken judicial and penitentiary systems that support an oppressive security structure.
Makes old Hugo look like a pussycat, doesn't it? This is the problem with the idea that there's a nice left and a nasty left in latin America; it's founded on the idea that a leftwing party can represent it's actual constituents and satisfy the economically orthodox. Maybe that's true to some extent in Argentina and Chile, but clearly not in Brazil.
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