Sketchy Connections

In which country in the world does a woman known as the “Drug Queenpin” married to the leader of a criminal faction, walk through the front door of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, and is received twice by direct aides of the minister? The answer is “Brazil”.

This week, a series of reports from the newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo introduced the country to a character from the criminal world named Luciane Barbosa Farias, 37, the “Drug Queenpin”. She got this nickname because she has been married for a decade to Clemilson dos Santos Farias, known as “Uncle Scrooge”, leader of the Red Command (CV) in the state of Amazonas (AM). He is imprisoned in Tefé (AM), serving a 30-year sentence. A convict herself, she is appealing a ten-year sentence in prison – determined by the court of second instance – for criminal association and money laundering, while remaining free.

Luciane has been to Brasília several times and had unrestricted access to ministries, the National Congress, and the National Council of Justice (CNJ) – as she posted on her Instagram . A law student, she claims to be the director of an NGO – an NGO, no less, named the Institute for Freedom in Amazonas (ILA)/Amazonas Freedom Institute (ILA), whose “interest” is to advocate for the human rights of prisoners. However, documents from the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Civil Police of Amazonas show that her role is different: she is a money launderer for the Red Command. The police state that the NGO is just a front for criminal activity.

• “Tráfico do bem”

If Brazil were not governed by the Workers’ Party (PT), and the Minister of Justice were not Flávio Dino, an enthusiast of mass decarcerating, the mere presence of a person with such a criminal record would be reason enough for a thorough investigation. How did she manage to schedule this tour of such strategic offices? Hundreds of state lawmakers, mayors, and lawyers cannot manage to get this kind of access.

One question is inevitable: how did Luciane move freely through the Palace of Justice without anyone asking who she was and what she was doing there? There were two meetings, with four ministerial aides: Rafael Velasco (National Secretary of Penal Policies), Sandro Abel Sousa Barradas (Director of Penitentiary Intelligence), Paula Cristina da Silva Godoy (National Ombudsman for Penitentiary Services), and Elias Vaz (National Secretary for Legislative Affairs).

The official “excuse” given by the Ministry of Justice was that Luciane’s name does not appear in the official schedules, which is also suspicious. Two of the four secretaries keep their schedules secret, which is illegal according to the Conflict of Interest Law (Law No. 12,813/2013). “The public agents mentioned in paragraphs I to IV of article 2 shall also disclose, daily, through the worldwide web — the internet, their schedule of public commitments.”

Dino’s office said that “the intelligence sector did not detect the presence” of the drug trafficker’s wife. Any citizen who has been to the Esplanade of Ministries knows that identification through photo ID is mandatory at the entrance – the visitor receives a badge to be returned on exit or a sticker whose color identifies the department to be visited. This information is also available on the Ministry’s website. No employee, especially those who participated in the meetings, bothered to Google her name.

Another crucial point in this story is that meetings on matters of national interest, with the participation of high-ranking officials like the four mentioned above, are listed in schedules and must be recorded in a minute initialed by these officials. This is because they usually generate an internal process, precisely to address the requests from visitors. O Estado de S.Paulo reported, on November 15, that opposite to what the government said, there was progress on the request made by the NGO of the drug trafficker’s wife. In other words, everything is documented.

“In the case of the request from the NGO chaired by Luciane Barbosa Farias, there is a description ‘Penitentiary System: Complaints and Reports to the Ombudsman of the Penitentiary System,’ followed by the process number. The header also lists the name of the NGO as ‘interested,’ and the address of the NGO on Curaçao Avenue, in the Nova Cidade neighborhood, in the North Zone of Manaus. Luciane’s name also appears in the progress records of the request,” the newspaper said.

The government paid for the trip

The already far-fetched allegation that no member of the government knew who they were conversing with has become increasingly serious over this week.

The name listed in the schedules of official meetings is that of the lawyer Janira Rocha, a former congresswoman from the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL) in Rio de Janeiro. Luciane would, therefore, be an accompanying guest. Investigators from Amazonas found that a few days before the meetings in Brasília, Janira received R$ 23,000 from the Red Command. The connection between the former parliamentarian and the criminal faction was established. Nevertheless, she denies any link between the payments and the conversations in Brasília.

In addition to her activism for PSOL, Janira became famous for advocating for former congresswoman Flordelis, sentenced to 50 years in prison for her husband’s murder, and for working alongside lawyer Flávia Fróes in the defense of drug trafficker Fernandinho Beira-Mar.

To dissociate itself from criminals, PSOL stated that Janira disd from the party in 2020. Elias Vaz, one of minister Dino’s secretaries who attended the meetings, was also an d member of PSOL and has known Janira for years.

• “Trapezistas sem rede”

The “Drug Queenpin” also posted on Instagram photos alongside Daiana Santos – member of the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) in the state of Rio Grande do Sul) – and the main leader of PSOL, in the state of São Paulo, deputy Guilherme Boulos, with whom there is also a video recorded in May this year in the Chamber of Deputies. Boulos wants to run for mayor of São Paulo in 2024. He its to the meeting but also claims not to have known who Luciane was until then. The same was alleged by congressman André Janones, member of the party Avante (“forward”) in the state of Minas Gerais, also photographed with Luciane and notorious for leading the “virtual guerrilla” team during Lula’s campaign.

Guided tour

As if this connections between the leader of the Red Command’s wife, the government, and left-wing politicians wasn’t bad enough, taxpayers were surprised by the following information: they sponsored at least one of her trips to Brasília – there are records of such trips in March, May, and November.

In a conversation with journalists through a video app, Luciane said that air tickets and hotel stays were covered by the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship, headed by Silvio Almeida. The Ministry’s office confirmed the information but did not disclose the cost of the trip. The argument is that she represented the state of Amazonas in the “Committee for the Prevention and Fight against Torture.” The “Drug Queenpin” complains about mistreatment of prisoners.

Now, another political component thickens the plot: Dino and his secretaries claim that it is the Workers’ Party who leads the attack against him in the press.

Instead of taking responsibility for funding the trip, minister Silvio Almeida said that the blame lay with those who disseminated the information. “The figureheads of Brazilian fascism have no commitment to the truth or to Brazil; they resort to distortions to besmirch, slander, and demolish the accomplishments of people.”

Dino against the ropes

In the political realm, the series of news reports had the impact of a bomb on Flávio Dino’s plans to take Rosa Weber’s seat in the Supreme Court. All this adds to the escalation of violence in Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, the lack of a national public security program, and the vanishing of images from the Ministry of Justice during the acts of vandalism on January 8. In the Senate, the assessment is that minister Dino’s nomination represents a high risk for the government: his name may be rejected by the senators. In other words, Lula would have to take responsibility for the weakening of his relations with Congress and PT itself.

“Homens comuns, crimes bárbaros”

The Workers’ Party wants to appoint the Attorney General of the Union, Jorge Messias, a.k.a. “Bessias”, to the Supreme Court. In the Senate, however, the favorite would be Bruno Dantas, minister and president of the Federal Court of s (TCU), who made a career as a Senate official and is sponsored by Renan Calheiros, member of the party Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB) in the state of Alagoas.

Yet another political component emerges: minister Dino and his secretaries claim that it is PT that has been leading the press in the mission to take him down. A concrete case is PT deputies walking out on Dino in Chamber’s committees. Gone were the days of backslaps and lines of congresspeople ready to greet the minister at the door.

Dino has been bringing his own personal security detail to public hearings in Congress: Federal Police chief, Andrei Rodrigues; head of the Federal Highway Police, Antônio Fernando Oliveira; and his number two in the Ministry, Ricardo Cappelli. In these hearings, a recurring question seems to fret Dino: how did he enter the Maré Favela, a stronghold of organized crime in Rio, without police escort? His sarcastic expression then changes into a serious one, accompanied by a remark he usually makes to end the debate: “You ‘pro-Bolsonaro’ people don’t like the poor.”

It was by no means the first time that names of left-wing politicians and parties linked to criminal factions emerged. The disclosure of these connections by the press or on social media, in fact, was one of the topics forbidden by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) in last year’s presidential campaign – there were orders to remove content and impose fines.

So far, no government official has been fired or formally investigated. There is not a single istrative process opened on the case of the “Drug Queenpin”. Lula waited three days to comment on the scandal. With nothing to say, the leftist resorted to the old excuse: “it’s all just fake news.” None of the Supreme Court justices has spoken out or demanded explanations – it is quite likely that no official investigation will take place. Nevertheless, this time, no one can deny that the Lula government sat at the table with the Red Command.