Comando Vermelho

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Comando Vermelho (Portuguese: [koˈmɐ̃du veʁˈmeʎu], Red Command or Red Commando), also known as CV, is a Brazilian criminal organization engaged primarily in drug trafficking, arms trafficking, protection racketeering, kidnapping-for-ransom, hijacking of armored trucks, loansharking, irregular warfare, narco-terrorism, and turf wars against rival criminal organizations, such as Primeiro Comando da Capital and Terceiro Comando Puro.^[2] The gang formed in the early 1970s out of a prison alliance between common criminals and leftist guerrillas who were imprisoned together at Cândido Mendes, a maximum-security prison on the island of Ilha Grande.^[4] The prisoners formed the alliance to protect themselves from prison violence and guard-inflicted brutality; as the group coalesced, the common criminals were infused with leftist social justice ideals by the guerrillas.^[4] In 1979, prison officials labeled the alliance "Comando Vermelho", a name which the prisoners eventually co-opted as their own.^[4] In the 1980s, the gang expanded beyond Ilha Grande into other prisons and the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and became involved in the rapidly growing cocaine industry. Meanwhile, Brazil's shift towards democracy and the eventual end of the military dictatorship in 1985 allowed the leftist guerrillas to re-enter society; thus, the CV largely abandoned its left-wing ideology.^[4]

The cocaine trade brought the CV massive profits and growth; by the end of 1985 the gang controlled as much as 70% of the drug trade in Rio de Janeiro's favelas.^[5] During this period, the CV established trading relationships with Colombian cartels. However, the group's decentralized leadership structure and disputes over profits prompted infighting, causing splinter groups such as the Terceiro Comando and Amigos dos Amigos to emerge. Conflicts with these splinter groups, as well as fierce resistance to state crackdowns on their operations, drove a sharp uptick in violence in Rio and throughout Brazil throughout the late 1980s and into the 2000s.^[6]

Violence continued to escalate until 2008, when the state government implemented a new policy to mitigate violent crime, called Pacification, which used new permanent proximity-policing units (Unidade de Policia Pacificadora, or UPPs) to "maintain state control and provide social order" in favelas. Pacification proved initially successful; a sharp decline in violence between the state and the CV followed after implementation.^[7]

However, in 2013, Pacification efforts eroded, and widespread violent conflict between the CV and state forces quickly returned.^[7] Additionally, in 2016, a 20-year-old truce between the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), a rival criminal organization based in São Paulo, and the CV broke down, sparking an outbreak in violent clashes between the two groups.^[8]

Today, while not as powerful as at its peak, the CV remains a significant presence in Rio and throughout Brazil; recent estimates suggest the group is the second-largest criminal organization in Brazil behind the PCC.^[9] InSight Crime reports the CV may boast as many as 30,000 members throughout Brazil.^[10] The gang continues to engage in drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and turf wars with rival gangs. Notably, in recent years a struggle has intensified between the CV, the PCC, and other rival gangs over control of trade routes and territory in the Amazon region.^[11]