Brazil bike messengers want respect, threaten chaos

By Mauricio Savarese

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Fast, furious but vital.

That's Sao Paulo's "motoboys," the army of motorcycle messengers who deliver the documents that keep Brazil's financial capital ticking, even if it means terrorizing other road-users.

Reviled for kicking cars, breaking rear-view mirrors and beating up drivers who cross them, the motoboys are nonetheless essential for companies that need paperwork or other items transported quickly across traffic-clogged Sao Paulo.

Now they are up in arms against planned measures to regulate their trade.

Last Friday, a protest blocked streets in Sao Paulo and more actions are planned in coming days and weeks, threatening to bring commuter chaos to the world's third largest city.

"This is a historic moment for our profession. We want to stop being just a bunch of people and to be recognized," said Aldemir Martins de Freitas, president of the Sindimoto union.

In all, there are about 650,000 motoboys, mostly poorly educated lads from the slums surrounding Sao Paulo.

Their anger is centered on government plans for higher mandatory insurance and to ban them from the express lane of Sao Paulo's main urban highways, the notorious Marginal Pinheiros and Marginal Tiete. They will also make protective gear compulsory.