Local and national criminal networks that fight on the roads and drug markets have transformed the northeast state of Brazil of Ceará into one of the main epicenters of violence in the country.
Ceará had the third highest homicide rate in Brazil last year, after having recorded three consecutive years of uprising murders, according to data Released in July from the Brazilian public security forum (Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública – FBSP). Three of the state municipalities were among the most violent ten in the country, including Maranguape, who was the most violent in Brazil with a homicide rate of 79.9 per 100,000 people.
Up to 90% of all state homicides Due to gang conflictsAccording to the Governor of the State of Ceará.
“Our perception based on all evidence is that organized crime plays a very important role in this lethality,” Roberto Sá, Secretary of Public Security and Social Defense of Ceará told Insight.
These fights affect young people disproportionately. While the Homicide rate on the level of the state of Ceará in 2024 was around 35 per 100,000 people, it was 73 per 100,000 for those under 29 years of age. The number of people under the age of 18 who were killed in Ceará increased from 18% from 2023 to 2024, according to data the Secretariat of Public Security and Social Defense of the State.
Key traffic territory
Much of the violence in Ceará can be attributed to competition on local criminal economies and international drug trafficking.
Ceará is located along cocaine trafficking paths It starts in Colombia and crosses the Amazon to the Atlantic coast of Brazil. It also offers a shipping infrastructure via the state -owned shipping ports, which include the Enjoyment complexwhich is managed by the Government of Ceará in partnership with the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and is one of the main entry points for cocaine in Europe.
There is evidence that traffic through these ports is increasing. In only two ports seizures In 2025, customs seized more than half a cocaine-tonne, more than they seized in all 2024 combined.
The local cocaine market is also lucrative. The capital of the State of Ceará, Fortaleza, is the fourth City of Brazil and has a consumption of cocaine per capita higher than big cities like Brasilia and São Paulo, according to Wastewater analysis.
A fragmented criminal landscape
The fight to control these illegal economies led to an increasingly fragmented criminal landscape characterized by alliances and brilliance groups. This chaos and this instability have further fueled the conflicts that accumulate the state.
The first major criminal organization to make breakthroughs in Ceará was probably the Red Command (Comando Vermelho – Resume), which followed their opera modus to settle first in the overcrowded and violent prisons of the State. In the early 2000s, the CV accumulated its presence in northeast Brazil while forging alliances with other traffic networks such as the North Family (Família Do Norte – FDN).
See also: Descending peace, ascending war: the collapse of the alliance of the gangs of Brazil
However, local rivals have also started to emerge. The most important of these groups was the state -of -the -art guards (Guardões de Estado – GDE), who has become notable for the young age of its members. The gang then took control of the municipalities surrounding Fortaleza, like Caucaia and Maranguape, according to to an academic assessment of state criminal groups. When the GDE struck an alliance with the main rivals of the CV, the first command of the capital (Primeiro Comando da Capital – CCP), a new criminal conflict broke out.
While violence has become out of control, a CV faction in Ceará divide of the group in 2020 to form a new gang called Masses Prison (Massa Carcerária). The initial gang objective of staying outside the criminal wars led them to be also known as All neutral (Neutro Tudo). However, the prison masses did not stay on the sidelines for a long time, and as the landscape of the gangs fractured, more violence followed.
“When (the groups fracture), there is a very high peak in fatal violence,” Sá told Insight Crime. “People who have worked together have suddenly become enemies.”
Fill the state gaps
Despite its high levels of high -quality development and education system, Ceará has not been able to avoid recruiting young people by gangs aimed at increasing their membership.
Compared to a large part of Brazil, Ceará's education system strongly marks both in attendance and academic markers such as literacy levels. However, young people left counters form an important recruitment swimming pool for gangs. This inequality is reflected in statistics on violence: of the 3,272 victims killed in the State in 2024, only 15% had completed their secondary studies, according to data from the Secretariat of Public Security and Social Defense of Ceará.
In addition, improving education possibilities is not always translated into better job prospects. Currently, almost 50% of the state labor is employed in the informal sector, according to data of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística – Ibge). The revenues offered rarely compete with the instantaneous profits offered by organized crime.
“The attraction of crime is very immediate. Profits often exceed a minimum wage and the income of the teenager's parents. Schools are unable to compete, “said Ricardo Moura, a member of the Federal University Study Laboratory of Ceará (Laborató de Estudos da Violia Da Universidade Federal Doá – Lev -EUFC), said Insight Crime.
In addition to the promise of rapid economic gains, organized crime also uses adolescents as a means of obtaining status in marginalized districts.
“Joining a gang implies various symbolic elements for these vulnerable young people, who are suddenly confronted with the opportunity to acquire social recognition,” said Artur Pires, also from Lev-Abc, to Insight Crime.
Characteristic image: Child looks at Wall in Ceará with graffiti of criminal organizations marking their territory. Credit: o POVO
