Organized crime gangs expanded into a third of cities in Brazil’s Amazon, report finds

Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Criminal gangs are operating in over a third of municipalities in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest driving a boom in violence, according to a report published by the Brazilian Forum of Public Security. The prominent nonprofit organization said Wednesday that gangs were present in 260 of 772 municipalities in the region in 2024, compared with 178 last year. The entrenchment of mafia-like organizations aggravates the situation in the Legal Amazon, which is now seen as a very strategic territory for transnational trafficking with the circulation of different illicit goods, the report said. The Legal Amazon is an area in nine states of Brazil that’s home to the largest hydrographic basin in the world.