Word: paulo
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...Hardliners are arguing for a crackdown, while liberals counter that nothing will change unless the government attacks the country's epic social and economic inequality. But the question is not just what to do but how. Roughly a third of all Brazil's prisoners are locked up in Sao Paulo state; between 800 and 1,000 more prisoners are jailed each month and the system is stretched to the breaking point. "We'd need to build a new prison each 15 days to hold these new inmates," Mazina said. "And then we'd need to hire and train people...
...Brazil - especially its second-largest city, Rio de Janeiro - has seen gang rampages before. But the mayhem in Sao Paulo set an astonishing new benchmark. It erupted last week after authorities transferred 756 gang-affiliated prisoners in an attempt to thwart what they believed would be a state-wide prison rebellion on the eve of Mother's Day, when family visits often provoke unrest. The PCC's reaction was swift. On Thursday night, bandits armed with grenades and machine guns attacked police stations and left five officers dead. Over the weekend they stepped up their attacks with a series...
...carefully choreographed violence paralyzed Sao Paulo state and especially the state capital of the same name, a city of 19 million people that is Brazil's financial and industrial center. With hysterical rumors of more attacks spreading via the Internet on Monday, schools, offices and businesses sent people home early and the megalopolis was brought to a standstill by traffic jams on Monday afternoon as frightened citizens rushed home. By evening, the city streets were eerily empty as people cowered in their houses. "This was a landmark event for Sao Paulo in particular and for Brazil as a whole," said...
...Since taking office in 2003, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has pledged to tackle both Brazil's security malaise and the inexcusable social conditions that have bred the gang violence. His opponent in the upcoming October election, former Sao Paulo governor Geraldo Alckmin, has boasted the state had triumphed over organized crime. The Sao Paulo crisis is likely to shine the spotlight on both their records."You can't say the PCC want to benefit one candidate or another, but there 's no doubt that they are smart and well-informed and that they know authorities are more vulnerable...
...Whatever action is taken, it is unlikely that the PCC will quietly fade away. The group runs most of Sao Paulo's 109 jails and will continue to challenge the state unless they are allowed to retain some control over an empire that includes drug trafficking, armed robbery and kidnapping, said Renato Simoes, a human rights expert who has followed the rise of the group. "I think it's a power struggle," said Simoes, a Sao Paulo state congressman who serves on the state's Human Rights Commission. Whatever happens, Paulistas are afraid, and with good reason. Marcola, Macaroni...