Mulheres no tráfico de drogas: um estudo sobre a participação feminina em mercados ilícitos no Submédio São Francisco, nordeste brasileiro

Abstract

In Brazil, between 2000 and 2016, the number of women prisoners grew by 656%, and in June 2016, 62% of them were involved in drug trafficking. These numbers highlight the upward trajectory of incarceration of delinquent women. In view of this, and considering that in Brazil there is still a certain lack of studies on female participation in illicit drug markets, especially in cities in the interior of northeastern Brazil, the objective of this work is to understand the dynamics of female participation in the drug trade and cannabis planting in the São Francisco River Valey region, in municipalities of the states of Pernambuco and Bahia. The research also intends to contribute to the theoretical discussion about the relationship between the gender condition and the mechanisms, practices and actors of illicit drug markets in the region, as well as the identification of individual motivations and structural elements related to insertion and trajectories of women in these practices. In order to reach its

objectives, the research employed varied qualitative methodologies, with emphasis on the in- depth interviews to trace the biographical trajectories of the women subject of the research

and to the collection and analysis of the content of documents inserted in criminal processes to understand the treatment received by them in police and judicial institutions. Were interviewed women who have been involved in illicit plantations in seven cities that occupy a prominent position in the production and disposal of cannabis in the region so-called “Polygon of Marijuana”. To contextualize the operation of illicit crops, were also interviewed

farmers who worked on the activity and a federal police agent in Salgueiro, Pernambuco. In- depth interviews were also conducted with women serving sentences for drug trafficking in

women's prisons in the cities of Juazeiro in Bahia and Petrolina in Pernambuco, which receive women arrested and prosecuted in cities in the region. Among the results of the research, we observed: 1) that the profile of the interviewees women involved in planting and trafficking is similar, that is, predominantly young women with low schooling, black women, unmarried or in informal relationships, with children and in situations of socioeconomic vulnerability; 2) that women's participation in illicit plantings is less than participation in drug trafficking, largely because of the way these activities are structured; 3) that women who are former cannabis planters acted on specific tasks that required more attention and care or are linked to gender roles, that provide to them with greater protection against the risks of activity (imprisonment and violence); while women prisoners for trafficking generally work in subaltern roles, also because of gender inequality, make them more visible and subject to police repression and imprisonment; 4) that the entry of women into illicit drug markets is still predominantly mediated by male figures, which does not exclude entry more autonomously, whether in planting or trafficking; 5) that although most of the women interviewees state financial motivations to enter the illicit activity, only the former planters report the acquisition of properties and improvements in living conditions with the resources obtained in the illicit plantations, while women arrested for trafficking report that the resources obtained were wasted rapidly, in general, with the payment of lawyers after the arrest. And we also have seen that the differences between the participation of women in illicit plantations and in the drug trafficking are related to distinctions on the conformation and management of these illegalities by the institutions and actors involved.