How Brazil's Gangs Took Their War to Santa Cruz, Bolivia

[Judi Lynn]

BOLIVIA
/10 FEB 2022 BY ALESSANDRO FORD

The gunning down of two Brazilian traffickers in a Bolivian border department is the latest example of spillover violence wrought by Brazil's two most powerful gangs in their effort to control trafficking routes.

The suspected traffickers, who allegedly belonged to Brazil's First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital – PCC), were shot dead within days of each other in late January. The first was killed by two gunmen on a motorcycle in the Bolivian border town of San Matías. The second was shot 11 times on a busy street in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the capital of the Santa Cruz department.

The killings were part of a long-running conflict between the PCC and its main rival, the Red Command (Comando Vermelho – CV), according to an official with Bolivia's special anti-drug trafficking military unit (Fuerza Especial de Lucha Contra el Narcotráfico - FELCN). Bolivian authorities have recently maintained a heavy police presence in the eastern department of Santa Cruz, particularly the border town of San Matías.

With a population of 15,000, the town has become a hunting ground in the escalating PCC-CV war, a Bolivian anti-narcotics agent told El Deber. For example, in October 2021, authorities found the body of a CV member buried on a property in San Matías.

More:
https://insightcrime.org/news/brazil-gangs-took-their-war-santa-cruz-bolivia/