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Brazil's famous samba schools hit by drug trafficking revelations

"The symbol of a [samba] school is its president and when he goes to the party of a mega-trafficker it reveals that there is a certain intimacy."

Marcio Caldas, police officer

Founded in 1928 by a legendary group of samba composers, Mangueira is one of the great symbols of Brazilian music. Each year the school attracts thousands of followers, including tourists and celebrities, to its annual carnival processions. This year, however, its preparations have been disrupted by a police investigation into its relationship with Brazilian drug traffickers, who control the neighborhood where Mangueira is located.

"We are seeing, with increasing clarity, the growing proximity of drug traffickers with the samba schools," police chief Gilberto Ribeiro told Brazilian TV recently.

The scandals began last year when the federal police seized an amateur video containing images of the school's then president, Percival Pires, at the wedding reception of Brazil's most notorious drug lord, Luiz Fernando da Costa.

Better known by his nickname Fernandinho Beira-Mar, or Seaside Freddy, Da Costa is currently serving a sentence in a high security prison. In 2001 he was seized in a remote part of the Colombian jungle by the country's army and accused of negotiating arms sales with the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia.

The video featured a group of Mangueira musicians playing at the wedding party. The school's president was caught on camera telling the drug trafficker's wife: "Today is a happy day for the entire Mangueira nation."

"The police are worried," said Marcio Caldas, the police officer heading the investigation. "The symbol of a [samba] school is its president and when he goes to the party of a mega-trafficker it reveals that there is a certain intimacy."

He added that such links could lead to the samba school being used to "launder money or legitimize criminal activities."

Soon after the video became public further allegations appeared in the Brazilian press, claiming that the samba school's headquarters, located at the foot of the sprawling shantytown from which it takes its name, contained a secret passageway that was possibly used by the local drug gang to escape from the police.

The controversy grew when it emerged that one of the composers of this year's Mangueira samba theme-tune was wanted on drug trafficking charges. Francisco Monteiro, known by his nickname Tuchinha, was released last year after 17 years in prison. Police claim that he has returned to his position as leader of the local branch of the Red Command, the drug faction that patrols Mangueira's streets with assault rifles. This month nearly 300 police poured into the shantytown in an attempt to capture the trafficker-turned-composer, who writes songs under the pseudonym Francisco do Pagode.

Mangueira's new administration has distanced itself from the drug gangs.

"Drug traffickers are a problem for the police. The school has nothing to do with this," said Eli Goncalves, the school's president, who was questioned last week. "We have gone through other difficulties but not a moral crisis like this. It is out of our control when we most need to work."

She denied that Mangueira's choice of composer had been inappropriate.

"The composers' group is open to anyone who wants to compose," she said.

The scandals are not the first to affect the world of samba. In 2004 Mangueira hit the headlines after Robson Roque, the 43-year-old president of the percussion section, was shot, decapitated and burned by local traffickers. This month the president of Viradouro, another big samba school, was shot dead in a city near Rio.

Worried about the reputation of the country's most famous export, Brazilian authorities have started to act. Last month Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced a 12 million real (US$6.7 million) investment for the top samba schools -- reportedly as a way of protecting them from corruption.

Meanwhile Tuchinha recently wrote a track for Alcione, one of Brazil's most famous female voices. The samba's opening line contains curious parallels with reality.

"I'm searching for you in every corner of the city," read the lyrics written by Rio's most wanted composer, who is said to have fled to a neighboring state.

Last week Brazilian police were doing exactly that.
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