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News > Latin America

Brazil Eyes War on Drug Gangs After Prison Riot Massacre

  • A general view of the cemetery of Taruma during a funeral of one of the inmates who died after a prison riot, in Manaus.

    A general view of the cemetery of Taruma during a funeral of one of the inmates who died after a prison riot, in Manaus. | Photo: Reuters

Published 4 January 2017
Opinion

Local authorities are now seeking to blame each other for the deadly riot that killed 56 prisoners in Manaus, Brazil.

A Brazilian state governor called on authorities Wednesday to fight drug trafficking, which he blames for a wave of violence in the country including Sunday's grisly prison massacre, the bloodiest in decades.

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Three days after a clash between gangs left at least 56 dead at the jail in the Amazon jungle city of Manaus, Amazonas Governor Jose Melo proposed creating a national fund to finance the relocation of 10 percent of the armed forces to the border to stop cocaine from flowing into Brazil.

"Over the last two years our prison population has doubled because of drug trafficking," said Melo to a local radio station. "We need the armed forces to prevent drugs from entering our country and reach our cities."

Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes, on the other hand, questioned the security measures of the Amazonas state government, which he says had intelligence reports warning of a prison break during the holidays.

"There are reports that the security secretary (of Amazonas) had information of a possible escape plan between Christmas and New Year's," Moraes told reporters in Brasilia. "The federal government was not informed and there was no request for help."

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The brutal killing spree, in which many of the victims were decapitated and burned beyond recognition, shocked the Brazilian public and cast new light on the horrors of overcrowded and understaffed prisons.

The jail, the largest in the Amazon region, was reportedly three times over capacity at the time of the riot. The country's incarcerated population has doubled in the past decade, fueled at least in part by a war on drugs that imposes harsh sentences for drug-related crimes. 

Some 223 inmates from prisons in Amazonas state have been relocated to an abandoned jail in Manaus to protect them from rival gangs following the riot. Melo said the state plans to build new prisons to move minor drug offenders away from the most dangerous criminals.

"This conflict between criminal factions is happening in all the states of the north and now it hit the Amazon," Melo said.

A new clash between rivals gangs at a prison in the northeastern state of Paraiba on Wednesday left two inmates dead and two injured, television channel Globo News reported.

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