Extreme violence and the presence of criminal factions are the biggest problems in the legal amazon, shows a study by the Brazilian public security forum. The rate of violent deaths in the legal amazon is 45% higher than the national average; murders grew by 7.3% in rural cities in the region between 2021 and 2022. At least 22 criminal factions act in 178 municipalities, which home 57.9% of the entire population of the region comprised of nine Brazilian states The study called “Cartography of Violence in the Amazon” was presented at COP 28, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is the latest edition of a series of works prepared by the Brazilian Public Security Forum (FBSP) in partnership with the Instituto Mãe Crioula (IMC), based in Belém, Pará.
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Violent Deaths Above the National Average
According to the publication released on Thursday (30/11), the region presented rates of intentional violent deaths 45% higher than the national average, in a total of 9,011 homicides in 2022. The rate of intentional violent deaths (intentional homicides, robberies, resulting from police intervention and deaths of police officers) in the Legal Amazon was 33.8 deaths for each group of 100 thousand inhabitants in 2022, against 23.3 in the rest of Brazil; that is, 45% higher in comparison.
This difference is largely due to a process of internalization of violence in the Legal Amazon: the number of murders grew 7.3% in rural cities, while there was a drop in the same indicator in urban (0.8%) and in intermediate (0.6%) cities in the region.
All states in the region had rates of lethal violence above the national average in 2022:
- Amapá – 50.6 deaths per 100 thousand inhabitants
- Amazon – 38.8
- Pará – 36.9
- Rondônia – 34.3
- Roraima and Tocantins – 30.5
- Mato Grosso – 29.3
- Acre – 28.6
- Maranhão – 28.5
Rates by Municipalities
The research also analyzed occurrences in the 772 municipalities that make up the Legal Amazon, of which 15 had violent death rates above 80 for each group of 100 thousand inhabitants between the years 2020 and 2022: Floresta do Araguaia-PA (128.6 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants), Cumaru do Norte-PA (128.5), Aripuanã-MT (121.8), Alto Paraguai-MT (110.0), Mocajuba-PA (108.0), Anapu-PA (100.0), Novo Progresso-PA (99.9), São José do Rio Claro-MT (99,5), Abel Figueiredo-PA (95.2), Nova Maringá-MT (90.3), Ourilândia do Norte-PA (89.4), Iranduba-AM (89.2), Junco do Maranhão-MA (86,4), Colniza-MT (82.7) and Curionópolis-PA (80.7).
Organized crime
According to the publication, organized crime continues to expand in the region, amid a dispute between criminal groups for the interior of the Amazon, a strategic area for criminal business, both for the flow of drugs and other illicit activities. such as mining and logging.
Through field research, the researchers also drew maps that indicate a strong presence of at least 22 criminal factions in 178 municipalities, which today are home to 57.9% of the inhabitants of the Legal Amazon. There are national and foreign groups.
Mining and Cocaine Seizure Grow
Legal and illegal mining activities grew exponentially in the region between 2018 and 2022. The growth of the legal market could be observed in the numbers resulting from the collection of the Mining Extraction Tax (CFEM), which grew 294.7% in the Amazon.
Between 2019 and 2022, the seizure of cocaine by state police in the 9 Federative Units of the Amazon grew by 194.1%. At the same time, the volume seized by the Federal Police grew 184.4%.
More Guns, More Prisoners and More Environmental Crimes
The National Weapons System (SINARM), now controlled by the Federal Police, reveals that the number of active firearms registrations grew by 91% between 2019 and 2022, reaching a total of 219,802.
The prison population is also growing more in the region. In Brazil, the numbers increased by 43.3%, in the Amazon the growth was 67.3% in the same period.
Environmental crimes are also on the rise in the Legal Amazon. Between 2018 and 2022, deforestation grew by 85.3% in the region, and arson increased by 51.3%.
Law Enforcement
Given the increase in violence in the Legal Amazon, it is important to observe the institutional capacity of the Security and Justice bodies, starting with the number of security forces in the region. In the case of the Civil Police, 1,249 police stations were mapped in the Legal Amazon, 946 of which were non-specialized and 303 specialized.
In relation to the number of military police officers, there are just over 60,000 active employees throughout the Legal Amazon.
The study also found that the number of police officers in the region in insufficient. It calculated the average perimeter over which each PM in the region is responsible for patrolling. The average in Brazil is that 1 Military Police Officer is responsible for around 21 km², in the Amazon a PM is responsible for 83km².
The study also provides data on the Public Security Secretariats of the nine states, which together have 19 aircraft and 24 helicopters. In relation to existing land vehicles, there are only 760 vehicles of this type for the entire Legal Amazon. There are 143 vessels available to security departments, in addition to 30 for the Civil Police and 143 for the Military Police.
Despite the Legal Amazon region being 20 times larger than the state of São Paulo, the São Paulo Military Police alone has 29 helicopters, 4 aircraft and 636 vessels in 2022.
Analysis:
The presence of organized crime and extreme violence are today the main threats to the sovereignty of the Brazilian Amazon. Factions increasingly occupy the spaces left by the State, through legal activities, such as mining and logging, financed by the gigantic resources generated by transcontinental drug trafficking. Criminal groups already existed in the region, but they were strengthened with the arrival of factions from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro interested in occupying territories or making new alliances to operate in the drug trade that flows across borders, which gives a little dimension of the strategy relevance of the region for the geopolitics of drug trafficking. Illegal mining and logging were also already common in the region, but the arrival of the factions allowed new connections and relationships, with drug trafficking starting to use part of this structure to expand its business.
