Having worked in the health sector at the Public Ministry in São Paulo for 13 years, Attorney General Arthur Pinto Filho says he knows the scenario well. As election years approached, violent attacks against drug users intensified in the center of the capital, São Paulo. With drug addicts dispersed and large gatherings evacuated, government officials declared the end of so-called “Cracolandia.” Six months after the last attack of this kind, the state government repeats history and announces the supposed end of the so-called “influx”.
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However, according to Filho, Cracolandia has only spread. In his assessment, users followed three paths: they settled in other parts of the centre, after being approached by the Guardia Civil of the Metropolis (GCM); They went to therapeutic communities and psychiatric hospitals, sometimes for short-term hospitalization, and then returned to the streets after about 15 days; And finally, to prison, they may have been described as drug dealers.
Other governments have already decreed the end of Cracolandia. Is this time really over?
The flow did not end, it only spread throughout the center. If you walk there, along the Marechal Deodoro, below Minhocão, you will see that the people are there. The spread occurred for several reasons. The first is that there was very strong violence in the area throughout the year, but it intensified from March onwards. People who were in the traditional flow couldn’t stand it and left. I don’t know who organized the exit. But on a certain day, everyone left. The second reason is that this time they sent him not only to therapeutic communities, but to a psychiatric hospital as well. Most acceptances are voluntary: the user comes and goes as he pleases. What happens with this type of hospital treatment? The 2019 law states that its sole purpose is to eliminate the outbreak. The maximum you can stay is 90 days. We went to Cantarera Hospital to check how long they would stay: between 15 and 20 days. Third, many users who are considered drug dealers have been arrested. People who have a small amount of drugs. But he ends up being convicted because the law doesn’t specify the exact amount (which ranges from being possession for consumption to being considered trafficking). What matters is the word of the GCM who made the arrest.
Did the state provide satisfactory social and health assistance?
No, what the state and the municipality did was make the situation in the center increasingly chaotic and brutal. All aid and health services were removed from there. They, for example, removed Caps (the psychosocial care centre) which was working very well. They have put an end to tents, those places where people can have coffee, wash clothes or go to the bathroom. Something terrible. It was an expression that, on the one hand, encouraged violence. On the other hand, it removed the structure ensuring the minimum civility that existed in this area.
Which government do you mean?
To the current government. These two governments: state and municipal, working together in harmony, like never before.
What is the main problem with the current program to reintegrate users into society?
In the first month that the government took office, a very good plan for Cracolandia was presented, but it was not carried out. The project was expected, for example, to build two thousand homes in Villa Rincontro (a city council program that provides temporary housing to homeless people and families). They even built some, but none of these houses were used by the people of Cracklandia. Because to get a house like this, they ask the person to abstain from sex. But you can’t take someone from Cracklandia and leave them abstinent overnight. Harm reduction process is needed until then.
What are the consequences of these actions?
Why is this all a hoax? There is no exit door at all. The person goes into the therapeutic community or into a psychiatric hospital, and stays there for 15, 20 days, 30 days, whatever. When he leaves, he has no job or housing. There is nothing: the person exits as he entered. Then we called all these people to explain. They replied that people are referred to hats. We went to check by sampling what happened to them. But nothing happened. Without a qualified exit door, it’s a mess of ice.
The state government claims that the police operation in the favela do Moinho was necessary for the end of Cracklandia. What do you think of this evaluation?
Drug smuggling did not end in the center or anywhere else in the capital. Cracolandia did not spread due to a lack of medicine. This does not exist. It has spread because of these reasons I mentioned to you.
Is this the first time that the Civil Guard in the capital has participated in these operations in this leadership role?
exactly. In 2012, the Prime Minister implemented Operation Pain and Suffering. Latecomers too. There has always been a GCM in the area. But she was never on the front line. When I went to sweep the streets and take a shower, the guard was doing something or other. But it was not something as systemic as it is today. Now, this is a general policy of violence, not something isolated to the soldier, the guard. We heard the Secretary (Urban Security of the Municipality of São Paulo, Orlando Morando), who completely denied that he had given the order… But I always think: How can it be an individual thing if it is organized and in every garrison? The garrison does not act against the express order of the commander.
In your experience, do these processes always precede an election year?
always. It’s not necessarily in an election year, but governments use it, in fact, to deceive. Now, as in other times, the battle for Cricolandia was not over. It’s a fluid thing in the capital, and it hasn’t spread due to drug shortages.
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