The Federal Public Ministry (MPF) has filed a structured civil lawsuit to guarantee the right to community security for the Renascer community in Cabedelo (PB), in the João Pessoa metropolitan region, in the face of a continuous situation of violence and territorial control exercised by criminal organizations. According to the MPF, the insufficiency of measures adopted by the public authorities has compromised the protection of families and the exercise of fundamental rights, such as free movement, housing, and work.
The lawsuit was filed against the Union, the State of Paraíba, the Municipality of Cabedelo, the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), and the Brazilian Urban Railways Company (CBTU). The MPF argues that the violations do not stem from isolated incidents, but from a structural problem that requires coordinated action by public bodies. Security, territorial and environmental protection, housing, mobility, infrastructure, social assistance, and the preservation of traditional activities are interconnected.
The formation of the community is historically related to the river, the mangrove, the estuary, and traditional activities such as artisanal fishing and shellfish harvesting, developed in the territory over generations. With the expansion of urban areas, other families began to occupy the region, forming the broader population that currently lives in Renascer.
Fear within the territory -The reports and documents collected by the MPF describe a reality in which criminal control interferes in basic aspects of daily life. There are records of families being expelled from their homes, the appropriation of properties, threats, restrictions on movement, and clandestine monitoring of public spaces.
According to information gathered in the action, violence imposes limits even on who can circulate between certain areas. Residents have come to live with borders established by criminal groups and the associated risk of simply moving around the territory. Fear also affects hours and locations of circulation and interferes in the coexistence between families and communities.
Territorial control also extends to spaces related to traditional activities. As the action states, violence has interfered with access to the river, mangrove, estuary, and other historically used locations by the community. Activities carried out at certain times have been reduced or abandoned due to the risk, with consequences for work, income, and subsistence.
There are also reports that criminal organizations, through threats, force residents to cede assets used in traditional activities. This means that the tools and means of subsistence of the community are used for purposes determined by the criminal groups.
For the Public Prosecutor's Office, the problem goes beyond fear or the feeling of insecurity, because when a person stops circulating, working, accessing traditional spaces, or staying in their own home because the State cannot protect them from violence, other fundamental rights are also directly affected.
Families forced to leave their homes -One of the most serious effects pointed out in the lawsuit is the eviction of residents from their homes. Reports collected during the investigation indicate that families had to leave the area under threat, losing their homes, property, sources of income, and community ties.
In the lawsuit, the Public Ministry (MPF) points out that the forced removal of families produces an effect that goes beyond the housing issue. In the traditional community, the permanence in the area is also related to family networks, forms of work, spaces for socializing, and activities historically developed in the river and mangrove.
The lawsuit itself characterizes this process as forced disterritorialization, a situation in which violence no longer only affects individuals but threatens the continuity of the community: families are removed from the spaces where they live and work, while those who remain exercise their rights under restrictions imposed by the criminal domain.
The Public Ministry (MPF) requests that the evicted or threatened families be identified in a protected manner and receive adequate housing and social assistance, without exposing information that could increase their personal risk.
Persistent violence -Official data also demonstrate the severity of the situation. A police report counted nine intentional violent crimes with lethal consequences (CVLIs) in the neighborhood over a 12-month period, in addition to repeated incidents involving the use of firearms and illegal possession of weapons.
The documentation collected by the Ministério Público Federal (MPF) also points to the existence of clandestine surveillance mechanisms used by organized crime to monitor movement in the territory. Restrictions on movement and monitoring of entries and exits also make it difficult for public services to access the area regularly.
Furthermore, the urban characteristics of Renascer exacerbate vulnerability. The community has limited access, narrow sections, and areas with insufficient lighting, in addition to spaces where it is difficult for police vehicles, ambulances, and other public service vehicles to circulate. For the MPF, these urban characteristics are not the cause of crime. The action argues that deficiencies in urban and infrastructure, combined with the lack of state presence, create conditions that favor the maintenance of territorial control by criminal organizations.
Security is a right -The Federal Constitution establishes security as a social right and stipulates that public safety is the duty of the State, a right, and the responsibility of all. In the action, the MPF argues that this duty extends beyond police reaction after crimes, but also includes ensuring conditions for people to exercise their fundamental rights without being subject to the control of criminal organizations.
Based on the identified violations in Renascer, the Public Ministry argues that the guarantee of the right to security presupposes conditions for families to remain in their homes, circulate within the territory, access public services, work, and use spaces historically related to the community's life without restrictions imposed by criminal organizations.
The action also relates security to the protection of the traditional community itself. According to the Public Ministry, restrictions on access to the territory, the expulsion of families, the disruption of traditional activities, and the weakening of community ties contribute to the process of deterritorialization and affect the conditions necessary for the continuity of the community's way of life.
Public Ministry requests immediate protection -Faced with the current risk, the Public Ministry requests the Federal Justice to take urgent measures to stabilize the situation and restore minimum protection conditions. Among the requests is the determination that the State of Paraíba present and begin to implement, within 30 days, an Emergency Security Plan, prepared with the participation of the Municipality of Cabedelo, aimed at ensuring effective state presence, safe circulation for residents, regular access to public services, and confronting the territorial control exercised by criminal organizations.
The action also requires continuous and appropriate police presence, identification and removal of clandestine video surveillance mechanisms, expansion of public video surveillance, and correction of lighting deficiencies.
The measures do not restrict themselves to police action. The Public Prosecutor's Office requests environmental and urban planning oversight, protection of public areas, assistance to families evicted or threatened, strengthening of traditional activities, infrastructure improvement, and measures to allow public services to regularly access the territory.
The state must regain its capacity to protect -The action was filed after almost two years of extrajudicial monitoring. Since 2024, the Public Prosecutor's Office has gathered information from the community, official documents, police reports, anthropological analysis, and public agency statements. According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the measures adopted in isolation were not sufficient to stop the violations. The continuation of reports of family evictions, restrictions on the exercise of traditional activities, and episodes of violence led the agency to seek a structured and coordinated response to the situation.
Therefore, in addition to urgent measures, the action requests the elaboration of an Integrated Community Renascer Structural Plan, with actions in six areas: public safety and state presence; environmental protection and recovery; traditional activities and subsistence; urbanism, mobility, housing, and infrastructure; social development, health, education, sports, and leisure; and governance, budget, indicators, and monitoring.
The plan should indicate problems, expected results, responsible agencies, deadlines, costs, funding sources, and indicators of compliance. The community should participate in decisions that directly affect its territory, with mechanisms for listening that preserve the safety of those involved.
As outlined in the lawsuit, the objectives of the measures requested by the judiciary are not to transfer control of security forces to the judiciary or to replace managers in the definition of operational strategies. The Public Prosecutor's Office seeks that the public authority be required to produce concrete results in the protection of fundamental rights, with the responsible bodies choosing the appropriate technical means to achieve them.
Lawsuit results from technical cooperation –The lawsuit filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office is also the result of the work developed by researchers affiliated with Protocol Term No. 0001/2025, signed between the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Government of Paraíba, through the Secretariat of State for Science, Technology, Innovation and Higher Education (Secties), the Secretariat of State for Women and Human Diversity (SEMDH) and the State of Paraíba Research Support Foundation (Fapesq).
The partnership provides for the development of applied research, practical training in human rights and the development of solutions for concrete cases monitored by the Public Prosecutor's Office. One of its initiatives was the creation of the Laboratory for Research and Legal Practices in Human Rights (LABDH), which seeks to integrate academic production with institutional action, contributing to the fight against human rights violations and the improvement of public policies.
Civil Lawsuit No. 0053569-64.2026.4.05.8200