Turning on the Motoboys

The number of attacks on motorists in São Paulo by armed assailants on motorcycles has become somewhat legend not only around Brazil, but elsewhere. I've spoken to many foreigners on business travel in and out of this city, and to a person every one of them came with guidance from their company that they should only travel the city in armored cars and/or with armed security personnel. It might seem to be overkill, but your average commuter in São Paulo might disagree.

"Motoboys" are ubiquitous in this city. They race around, weaving through gridlocked car traffic, to deliver packages, documents, money and food orders all over town throughout the day and night. They are highly integrated into the city's economic fabric, and much of our commerce would grind to a halt without them. (They also, sadly, account for 2/3 of the traffic accident deaths in São Paulo, since they drive so frenetically and often far too fast.)

However, according to a recent report, as much as 60% of all armed attacks on motorists here are perpetrated by criminals on motorcycles - often a pair on one bike working in tandem, with one driving the vehicle while the other pulls out the gun. It's logical, since motorists in stopped traffic are sitting ducks, and the cyclists can easily escape the scene.

One recent case has drawn the polemical line on the issue. An assistant prosecutor shot and killed a motorcyclist on January 5, after he said the dead man and a second assailant rode up on a motorcycle, pulled a gun on him in his car and demanded money. He produced his own weapon and opened fire. He said the second man took the dead man's gun and fled. The dead man's family claims he was not a criminal. Police found several stolen watches on his person, and multiple automobile documents. The assistant prosecutor, it turns out, was using an unregistered gun. The dead man's angry and poor family said the alleged victim should "not be able to keep earning R$10,000 a month and should go to jail."

The story is a messy symbol of all sides of this issue, and yet commuters I talk to, many of whom support gun bans, have confessed to me they got a perverse joy out of hearing of someone fighting back and killing a moto-assailant.

I can attest to their fears personally -- before we got a bulletproofed car last year, it was very nerve-wracking to think of Vini commuting on the freeway to Berrini, the often-gridlocked freeway exit for which is also home to a violent favela. He witnessed an assault on a taxi one afternoon, and it was the deciding factor for us. But not everyone can afford blindagem. And no level of fear can ever justify celebrating a man's death, no matter what he is guilty of.

Political leaders in Rio and São Paulo can sense the level of anger, fear and frustration among commuting motorists in the face of the rise in this type of crime, as well as the level of violence and death being wrought on victims. The Rio and São Paulo state and local governments are moving to ban multiple passengers on motorcycles, limiting them to one-person/one bike. This, some argue, with vastly reduce the level of such crimes but not eliminate them. São Paulo is moving to limit motorcycles on freeways to their own box along the right side of the road, rather than allow them to weave around cars in the middle of lanes, astride the driver-side windows where assaults take place.

Of course, taking out these crimes on the honest, law-abiding motoboys will hurt a segment of the cities' working classes, and build more class resentment. The motoboys, in their reaction, are not doing themselves any favors. They have organized protests where they block traffic on main commuter routes, only further enraging the political forces arraying against them. They've started to claim that the "real agression" is by panicky motorists against them. They are sorely in need of good counsel -- the messenger companies and trade unions should be mobilizing to cooperate with investigations against the criminals who perpetrate these crimes. And they should be crowing about such cooperation, once it begins. It's unclear to me whether they have some kind of cultural honor code to not take on the criminals more aggressively, especially in defense of their own industry. Some on the motorist side of the argument whisper that it's because most of the criminals are from the ranks of the motoboys themselves, and that organized crime syndicates have infiltrated the industry. It wouldn't surprise me if true, but it can't be true of all of them.

So we'll see what comes of this. It is another issue that will rise to the fore in next year's mayoral elections here.