Abin saw PM errors when monitoring 2013 protests – 08/06/2023 – Politics

Abin (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) monitored the rise of the June 2013 protests, pointed out errors by the Military Police and authorities and warned that the demonstrations would become a generalized revolt, breaking with the original agenda — the reduction of bus fares.

“The unprecedented nature of this type of protest in Brazil, in view of the way they have been organized, makes it difficult to measure future demonstrations, including by the groups that convene them,” said the agency on June 18 of that year.

A Sheet received part of the reports on the acts prepared by the agency following a request based on the LAI (Law on Access to Information). It is possible that other documents remain confidential and have not been released.

In the same report, the oldest within the lot opened by Abin, the intelligence agents said that authorities made a mistake when trying to seek out the leaders of the demonstrations.

“The government’s lack of strategy to deal with a group without legitimate representatives or defined leadership is seen as an obstacle to managing the situation”, states the document.

Reports point out that measures taken by then President Dilma Rousseff (PT), among other authorities, were insufficient to deflate the demonstrations.

“The official speech of the President of the Republic, on June 21, 2013, in general terms, was not approved on social networks. Thus, the mobilizations for the next few days in several cities of the Country were confirmed”, states a document of the 24th of June.

In the speech cited by Abin, Dilma said she would receive demonstrators, promised debates on transport and health and countered criticisms about spending on the 2014 World Cup. The former president also criticized violent acts.

Intelligence agents also said that the violence of the PM of São Paulo against demonstrators on June 13 was a reflection of the authorities’ misreading of the demonstrations.

For Abin, the police repressed “demonstrators, popular and reporters” for considering that the change of route of the protest had broken an agreement between the MPL (Movimento Passe Livre) and the São Paulo government.

“This fact [a reação da PM] reflects the misconception, on the part of state authorities, that MPL interlocutors represent the majority of individuals who have taken to the streets in recent public events. Such a perception is not true, as militants of this movement have already publicly stated that they have no control over the participants,” said the agency on June 18 of that year.

Days later, the agency stated that the “strong repression unleashed” by the PM from São Paulo “worked as a catalyst” for the national protests.

“The police action, which was aimed at discouraging new demonstrations, had the opposite effect, given the degree of dissuasive force used, generating strong popular support for the demonstrators,” Abin said in a June 21 report.

The documents show that Abin considered the manifestations a “mark of the new way of expression of these groups in favor of more citizenship and improvements in living conditions”.

In the documents delivered to the reporter, the agency started using the term “black bloc” from August 2013 to refer to violent demonstrators.

“The identity does not derive from formal entry into an established group, but from participation in actions with a characteristic and specific modus operandi”, said the agency on the 28th of that month.

“Therefore, black bloc actions are carried out and their executors are called demonstrators, or, simply, black bloc individuals, who share the understanding that peaceful or orderly protests, within the limits recognized by the rule of law, are insufficient to promote effective social changes,” he also stated to Abin.

Abin also noticed the division of agendas and the entry of groups opposed to political parties in the demonstrations. In a report on June 21, the agency said that the protesters themselves had fought in the demonstration held the day before.

“Some of the participants who carried flags of political parties were harassed by activists, who preached the apolitical character and were against the attempt to capitalize the movement by these entities”, said the agency, mentioning similar episodes in Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizon and Fortress.

“The phenomenon of these demonstrations has been shown to consist of a movement of
mass due to the expressive amount of adhesions; anonymous because there are no constituted leaderships;
non-partisan due to its aversion to any appropriation of the activists’ discourse by political parties;
dynamic due to the versatility of the compositions that result in protests; and diffused by the varied
agenda of claims that has been included in the various mobilizations”, assessed Abin.

In the same report, the agency presented suggestions for measures to empty the acts: “Specific actions, in the sense of greater public transparency and accountability tend to act towards the cooling of the protests”.

In the reading of the intelligence organ, young people from outside the periphery and who were not being impacted by the increase in tariffs were the majority in the first protests. “The absence of representatives of the poor population is flagrant,” the agency said on June 18.

Abin also noted the “frustrations” of workers who had their journey home interrupted by the demonstrations. For the agency, this scenario favored groups opposed to more left-wing agendas to turn against the acts.

“No organized groups were identified that publicly manifest and/or defend this discontent. However, a scenario in which interest groups may co-opt part of this needy population against the movement called for by the MPL cannot be ruled out”, said the body.

Abin’s main activity is to supply the top of the federal government with information that may impact national security.

The reports opened by the body do not allow us to state that there were intelligence agents infiltrated in the protests. In 2013, an Abin employee was arrested during an act in Rio, but the agency said at the time that he was on vacation.

In a June 26 report on “National Demonstrations—Developments,” the agency said the protests had gone inland and shrunk. “There was a reduction in the number of demonstrations and in the number of participants in public events. However, this fact cannot yet be considered a trend.”

The documents obtained by Sheet show that the agency monitored the planning and implementation of acts against the government in the following months.

Abin considered that the protests had lost steam, but that there was a permanent risk of new mobilizations. “The dynamics of these social movements are still not sufficiently understood to allow for anticipating behaviors”, stated the intelligence agents in September 2013.