HomeNewsAnalysisCopa America Beefs Up Security in Brazil To Prevent Soccer Gang Violence
ANALYSIS

Copa America Beefs Up Security in Brazil To Prevent Soccer Gang Violence

ARGENTINA / 23 MAY 2019 BY JOSEFINA SALOMÓN AND YURI NEVES EN

With the Copa America soccer tournament nearing kickoff, authorities in Brazil have employed a number of tactics to ensure infamous fan-run gangs don’t spoil it. The measures may provide fans protection in the short term but won’t challenge these groups' criminal power and influence.

South America's biggest international soccer tournament begins in July, and authorities in Argentina have already sent to its Brazilian counterparts a list of 3,000 individuals believed to be part of these violent gangs. All of them will be barred from the stadiums, reported IG.

In order to guarantee security during the much anticipated Copa America, which will be played between June 14 and July 7, facial recognition technology has also been installed in stadiums.

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Soccer Crime

“Barras bravas” are fan-run gangs that have turned into complex criminal enterprises in Argentina and to a lesser extent in other countries in the Americas, including in Brazil and in Uruguay.

In Argentina, they are known to be particularly violent and have strong links with powerful soccer club owners, politicians, businessmen and even trade unionists.

They control illegal economies associated with soccer matches, such as ticket reselling and car parking near stadiums. In some cases, they have been involved in drug trafficking and extortion.

In Brazil, fan organizations are known to have been infiltrated by powerful criminal organizations that, at times, use these groups to sell drugs and arms.

InSight Crime Analysis

Although Brazil’s attempts to restrict the entry of potentially troublesome soccer fans might help prevent violence in the short term, it will have next to no effect on these organizations’ power, influence and reach.

Measures aimed at limiting these organizations’ power, such as banning visiting supporters’ access to high-profile matches, have been in place in Argentina since 2013. But a violent clash between fans and the discovery of a drug haul in the home of a top gang leader led to the cancellation of the final of 2018 Copa Libertadores in Buenos Aires. This was not only shameful for Argentine authorities but painful proof that these gangs are entrenched.

Argentina's congress is currently debating a bill backed by Security Minister Patricia Bullrich to increase punishments for those accused of committing or instigating violence during sporting events but a law is far from being passed.

"These measures are neither sufficient nor effective," sociologist José Garriga told InSight Crime. "In the past 30 years, there have been no effective public policies to prevent soccer violence or tackle the barras bravas."

Important steps have been taken to prosecute the leaders of some of these groups, he said. But the groups have eager youths waiting in the wings.

"The authorities have not managed to take back the space they have, the illegal activities they control, which is the root of the problem,” Garriga said.

In Argentina, the power of these groups derives in part from the sway they control over voting members in club elections.

SEE ALSO: Why Can’t Argentina Control Its ‘Barras Bravas’?

Authorities in Brazil have also taken steps to tackle the influence of criminal organizations in fan groups, and have banned violent fans from matches.

But prosecution of such fans has proven difficult. In 2014 and 2015, only 3 percent of perpetrators were effectively punished.

Sociologist Mauricio Murad told AFP that policing of these groups is ineffective and that the biggest challenge in Brazil is that criminal organizations infiltrate soccer fan groups because they see them as a vehicle to sell drugs and guns.

“There’s no prevention plan. There’s no police training to learn how to deal with large crowds, or any policy to involve clubs and to focus on punishing the mafias that infiltrate the mostly peaceful fan groups,” Murad said.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BRAZIL / 6 SEP 2022

Brazil’s anti-contraband operations on the Paraguay border are upsetting Paraguayans and doing little to stop smuggling.

ARGENTINA / 23 NOV 2021

A criminal borrowed the surname of the imprisoned Monos gang boss to receive extortion payments from businesses in the Argentine…

ARGENTINA / 3 AUG 2022

Floodlights from Chinese fishing boats illuminate the darkness off Argentina’s Atlantic Coast, where the armada harvests tons of squid.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…