Criminal gangs have expanded their presence to over a third of municipalities in Brazil's Amazon rainforest, driving a surge in violence, according to a report published Wednesday by the Brazilian Forum of Public Security.
In 2024, gangs were active in 260 of 772 municipalities in the region, up from 178 the previous year. The report highlights the entrenchment of mafia-like organisations, particularly the Red Command and First Capital Command (PCC), which view the Amazon as a strategic territory for transnational trafficking.
Renato Sérgio de Lima, president of the nonprofit, told the Associated Press that Red Command now controls half of the 260 municipalities where organised crime is present, up from a quarter last year. The expansion followed PCC's takeover of a key drug trafficking route via Ponta Pora on the Paraguay border.
While violent deaths across the region dropped by 6.2% from 2021 to 2023, the report notes that violence has shifted to rural and forest areas, making small, quiet municipalities some of the most violent in the country. The 2022 killings of Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips highlighted this trend.
Federal Police detective Alexandre Saraiva, who led police in three Amazon states, said organised crime has increased in recent years alongside illegal mining, which surged under former President Jair Bolsonaro. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has struggled to curb gang expansion despite reducing deforestation.
The report calls for coordinated public policies and local development projects to tackle drug trafficking, environmental crimes, and land-grabbing, which pose obstacles to sustainable preservation efforts in the region.
