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In Brazil, crime has become a political party that runs not
for elections, but for power. As opposed
to the FARC, in
Colombia, our narcoterrorists do not aspire to regional autonomy.
They want the
entire country and they chose Rio to flaunt their
power when the city is at the center of the world's attention.
By
Alberto Dines
The problem is not Luís Fernando da Costa, alias "Beira-Mar" (Seaside). The officers are mistaken in their
contentment with the fact that the most dangerous criminal in our history is now behind bars and under maximum isolation. The
second biggest city in Brazil, Rio, is under siege, but this is not the work of one thug, or even one hundred thugs. This is not
only a law enforcement issue, or a detention issue. It is not only a court issue, either, or limited to one state within the country.
We are facing a threat to the nation of Brazil as a whole—a politically organized and sovereign country, represented
by a legitimately-elected government and internationally recognized as such. "Beira-Mar" and his broad network of
accomplices constitute a political problem. What we have is an institutional issue. Crime has become a political party that runs not
for elections, but for power.
As opposed to the FARC, in Colombia, our narcoterrorists do not aspire to regional autonomy. They want the entire
country and they chose Rio de Janeiro, their megaphone city, to flaunt their power in the exact moment when the city is at the
center of the world's attention. And if our experienced diplomats, with their capable advisors, refuse to admit that the
Colombian tragedy is a fruit of politicized terror, they may soon be called to serve as mediators between São Paulo's PCC (Primeiro
Comando da Capital—Capital's First Command) and Rio's Comando Vermelho (Red Command).
If the newspapers sneak this catastrophe, which is prostrating the country, into the local news pages or in the
"cities" section, it will mean that our media has lost the ability to assess reality and prioritize the subjects it covers. Two months
after the Executive Power's swearing-in celebrations and two weeks since the Legislative Power took office, the Republic is
being challenged and intimidated in its essence and in its core, which is its integrity.
What is in danger is not the parade at
Sambódromo. It is not Carnaval that is suffering indelible harm. There is no
use in positioning a machine gun besides each samba dancer or elite snipers next to each Luma de Oliveira. Federal presence
in Rio should not be restricted to the King
Momo trio or to the persuasive participation of the Armed Forces.
Governability itself has been shaken, and not because the opposition has obstructed reforms or because the
Judiciary has put brakes on all attempts for change. Actually, all this is happening as responsible and firm action on the part of
the central government, through their new finance team, succeeds in promoting a rise in investor trust. Our C-Bond has
increased in value at almost 7 percent a month and the Brazil risk is falling to the levels of June 2002, when markets and merchants
started speculating on the future of the electoral campaign.
The fundamentals of our economy have not changed. The record surplus was expected and there were no
spectacular jumps in exports or dizzy falls in unemployment or inflation figures. Investors changed because they felt solidity and
perceived investments in a cohesive, organized decision system, able to resist all demagogical temptations, as a worthwhile strategy.
The same rigor and the same trust must irradiate to the adjoining spheres, so as to form a broad panel of
competence, rigor, alertness and public spirit. If the government were to pact with the craftiness and shady style of Senate president
José Sarney, the case involving his friend ACM would be rendered empty by the Carnaval recess. PT was fast and efficient: it
summoned the Ethics Council of the Higher House and activated a reviewing machine which will be hard to emasculate with
collusions and favoritism.
The `'Bahia of all Grampos" [telephone tapping] has nothing to do with the "Rio of all Drugs". Throughout his
reign, ACM became guilty of much illicit activity, infractions, prevarication, misdemeanors and truculence, but his relationship
with organized crime is improbable. The scandal involving the current Rio de Janeiro State government and its partly
predecessor administration cannot be seen as an isolated phenomenon. A corrupt controller and a corrupt police officer are exactly
the same thing. Neither color nor absence of collars can distinguish between them.
Impunity obeys the textbook principle of communicating vessels. A little complacency here, another concession
there, and what we get is a corrupt and corrupting dynamic that legitimizes all transgressions, consecrates improbity and
exalts confusion and disorder. There is a real interactivity between the telephone interceptions in Bahia and the successive
cell phone deposits in the maximum security prison in Bangu. Both are the result of an elementary fragmentation which puts
under suspicion those who should be above suspicion. Investors are attracted by the bottom lines in public accounts. All bookkeeping activity aims at balance. Specially in
moral accounts. A society can command respect with measurable figures; much more telling, though, are the immeasurable
figures. The rigor of a justice system and the credibility of a security apparatus are not measured by econometrics.
The risk of any country topples when the country commits to face every risk. Including the risk of leniency with
gangsterism.
Alberto Dines, the author, is a journalist, founder and researcher at LABJOR—Laboratório de Estudos Avançados
em Jornalismo (Laboratory for Advanced Studies in Journalism) at UNICAMP (University of Campinas) and editor of
the Observatório da Imprensa. He also writes a column on cultural issues for the Rio daily
Jornal do Brasil. You can reach him by email at
obsimp@ig.com.br
Translated by Tereza Braga, email: tbragaling@cs.com
This article was originally published March 1, 2003, in the
Jornal do Brasil — www.jb.com.br
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