https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2407-363X
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ABSTRACT
In recent years, scholars and practitioners alike have acknowledged the threat posed by Military-Trained Gang Members (MTGMs). These individuals have the training, know-how, and expertise necessary to significantly increase the effectiveness and lethality of the armed group they belong to. Even though this threat is present in several criminal insurgencies, usage of the MTGM concept is limited to studies regarding the United States. This paper broadens this scope by assessing the presence and characters of the MTGM phenomenon in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Through a review of media output on the topic, spanning over more than 21 years, the paper exposes the roots and extent of this trend, as well as the roles played by MTGMs.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Correa-Cabrera, Los Zetas Inc.
2. Sullivan and Bunker, “Third Generation Gang Studies.”
3. Smith and Harms, “The Threat of Street.”
4. Smith, Gangs and the Military.
5. Notice that another type of armed group operates in the city of Rio: these are paramilitary groups, or ‘militias’ (milícias in Portuguese). Militias make money through private protection rackets and illegal monopolies. In this piece, however, I will focus on drug dealing groups, as these follow more closely the standard definition of gangs and feature the oldest cases of MTGMs. Militias have former or active members of the Armed Forces in their ranks as well. Their roles, however, are quite different and may become the subject of a future paper. For more on militias, see Arias, ‘The Impacts of Differential …’.
6. The data on population is based upon the 2018 estimates produced by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). They are available atftp://ftp.ibge.gov.br/Estimativas_de_Populacao/Estimativas_2018/estimativa_dou_2018.pdf(last access: 30 September 2018). The list of cities composing the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro is included in ‘Rio Bonito e Cachoeiras de Macacu agora fazem parte da Região Metropolitana’, O Globo, 27 December 2013, https://oglobo.globo.com/rio/rio-bonito-cachoeiras-de-macacu-agora-fazem-parte-da-regiao-metropolitana-11164744.
7.. “Maiores Jornais do Brasil,” ANJ – Associação Nacional de Jornais, accessed 28 August 2018, http://www.anj.org.br/maiores-jornais-do-brasil/.
8. Available at http://memoria.bn.br/hdb/periodico.aspx.
9. Almeida da Silva, Notícias da Violência Urbana.
10. Almeida da Silva, “Jornalismo e Construção Social.”
11. See Instituto de Segurança Pública. “Taxas de Letalidade Violenta (1991 a 2017),” March 2020. http://www.ispdados.rj.gov.br/Arquivos/SeriesHistoricasLetalidadeViolenta.pdf. Compare especially the lethal crime rate in Rio city and in the peripheral area of Baixada Fluminense (pp. 4–5).
12. “Jovens Nascidos No Ano.”
13. “Alistamento militar é obrigatório.”
14. Between 1991 and 2002, military expenditure as a share of GDP has fluctuated between 1.5% and 2%; in the 2003–2017 period, it oscillated between 1.3% and 1.5%. Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, “Military Expenditure by Country.”
15. Godoy, “No Rio, Ex-Militares.”
16. “Ex-Militares a Serviço do.”
17. Souza, “Crime organizado alicia até.”
18. Instances of this ‘weaker cooperation’ are present and well-attested in media reports over the last 25 years. They will not be treated here, though, as they fall outside the scope and length of the present paper.
19. “Um Salto Para O.”
20. “As Forças Armadas Do”; and “Militares Foram Desligados Das.”
21. Monken, “Ex-Militares Tentam Evitar Adesão.”
22. “As Forças Armadas do.”
23. “Ex-militares viram “armeiros” para” In Brazil, desertion is defined as abandoning one’s military unit for more than eight days without justification. Source: Soares, “Militares desertores ou da.”
24. Junior, “Exército Vai Tirar Batalhão.”
25. Godoy, “Ex-Soldados de Elite Entre.”
26. See note 15 above.
27. Reported in “Um Salto Para O.”
28. Soares, “Militares desertores ou da.”
29. Monken, “Ex-Militares Tentam Evitar Adesão”; Otávio, “Penetramos Na Disputada Brigada”; and Junior, “Exército Vai Tirar Batalhão.”
30. “Depois Do Tráfico”; and “Um Salto Para O.”
31. Monken, “Ex-Militares Tentam Evitar Adesão”; “Violência Urbana – Ex-Militar Faz”; and Godoy, “Ex-Soldados de Elite Entre.”
32. “As Forças Armadas Do”; Monken, “Ex-Militares Tentam Evitar Adesão.”
33. See note 16 above.
34. Thomé, “Sonhou Ser Pára-Quedista. Virou”; Bastos and Monken, “Tráfico conta com estrutura”; Fraga and Benites, “Salários de Jovens No”.
35. “Um Salto Para O”; Godoy, “Ex-Soldados de Elite Entre”.
36. See note 19 above.
37. See note 17 above.
38. See note 15 above.
39. “Mulheres de Militares Vão”.
40. See note 24 above.
41. “Aceno Do Tráfico.”
42. “A Guerra DO Rio”; and Monken, “Ex-Militares Tentam Evitar Adesão.”
43. Monken, “Processos Mostram Ajuda”; Martins, “Três Ex-Militares Integram”; and “De Arma Em Punho.”
44. Xavier, “Traficantes Cariocas Começam A”; and Monken, “Polícia Encontra Mais Uma.”
45. See note 19 above.
46. “Sargento do Exército é.”
47. See note 15 above.
48. Monken, “Polícia Encontra Mais Uma.”
49. “As Forças Armadas Do”; “Testemunhas Abandonadas”; Monken, “Ex-Militares Tentam Evitar Adesão”; “A GUERRA DO RIO”; “Um Salto Para O”; “De Arma Em Punho”; and Ramalho, “Marcelinho Niterói Estava Refugiado.”
50. “De Arma Em Punho”; and Godoy, “Ex-Soldados de Elite Entre.”
51. See note 21 above.
52. In Portuguese, ‘Comando Verde’. Rather than meaning ‘commando’, as the word may seem to indicate, this name follows the pattern of gang alliances’ names, such as ‘Comando Vermelho’ (Red Command) and ‘Terceiro Comando’ (Third Command).
53. Thomé, “Sonhou Ser Pára-Quedista. Virou.”
54. Dantas, “Ex-Paraquedistas Do Exército.”
55. Brasil, “Ex-Militares de Elite Treinavam.”
56. D’Angelo, “Ex-Paraquedista Preso Recrutaria Militares”; Araújo, “Paraquedistas Se Tornam Desertores.”
57. Godoy, “Ex-Soldados de Elite Entre”; and Werneck, “Ex-traficantes do Alemão.”
58. ““Miltinho” Diz a Juiz.”
59. See note 22 above.
60. “Manual de Traficantes É.”
61. Monken, “Processos Mostram Ajuda.”
62. “PM Descobre Acampamento De.”
63. See note 22 above.
64. Ramalho and Araújo, “Campos de Treinamento.”
65. Fantti, “Aulas táticas para traficantes.”
66. For example, police reported the use of ‘guerrilla tactics’ by gang members in Jacarezinho, a favela where there have been no instances of MTGM instructors. ‘Polícia diz que traficantes.”
67. Macedo, “Bandidos fogem da Babilônia.”
68. For an early outline of gang hierarchy in English, see Dowdney, Children of the Drug Trade, 46–51.
69. As the oldest and most central favelas in Rio are built on hills, the term morro (hill) has turned into a synonym for favela. This expression also highlights the strong identification between the gang and the territory it controls.
70. “Tráfico Deixou a Tijuca.”
71. Monken, “Violência: PM Investiga Atuação”; and Monken, “Processos Mostram Ajuda.”
72. de Souza and Lau, “Tráfico Em Guerra Na Tijuca.”
73. “Morre Chefe Do Tráfico Do.”
74. “Preso Chefão Do Tráfico”; ““Miltinho” Diz a Juiz.”
75. “Marcelo PQD é Preso.”
76. “Polícia Do Rio Descobre.”
77. “Bandido Libertado Tinha Pedido.”
78. See note 55 above.
79. “Marcelo PQD atuava como.”
80. “Polícia Prende Traficante E.”
81. Serra and Soares, “Polícia Federal Prende Chefe.”
82. Resende et al., “Central Do Tráfico.”
83. See note 61 above.
84. Like the already cited Monken; see also “Ex-militar lidera tráfico.”
85. See, for example, “Traficante da Providência é.”
86. Costa, Werneck, and Alencar, “Militares de Tropas Federais.”
87. See note 4 above.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Andrea Varsori
Andrea Varsori is a co-coordinator of the Urban Violence Research Network. He has successfully defended his PhD thesis in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. His doctoral research seeks to explain the extraordinary resilience of Rio de Janeiro’s drug-dealing gangs by correlating changes over time with increased survival chances. You can follow him on Twitter at @Andrea_Varsori.