The Fort Worth Press - Police deploy in Rio to retake gang-controlled favelas

USD -
AED 3.673006
AFN 67.000311
ALL 92.449862
AMD 387.650577
ANG 1.803609
AOA 912.000072
ARS 998.1981
AUD 1.540618
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.706465
BAM 1.839835
BBD 2.020546
BDT 119.582702
BGN 1.851502
BHD 0.376887
BIF 2898
BMD 1
BND 1.337466
BOB 6.915139
BRL 5.806962
BSD 1.000762
BTN 84.395861
BWP 13.578807
BYN 3.274884
BYR 19600
BZD 2.01714
CAD 1.39948
CDF 2865.000212
CHF 0.885795
CLF 0.035513
CLP 979.90972
CNY 7.2244
CNH 7.244355
COP 4479
CRC 511.011392
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 104.849946
CZK 23.9373
DJF 177.719992
DKK 7.06055
DOP 60.375024
DZD 133.998993
EGP 49.3251
ERN 15
ETB 122.049964
EUR 0.94655
FJD 2.27125
FKP 0.786951
GBP 0.78699
GEL 2.730338
GGP 0.786951
GHS 16.093319
GIP 0.786951
GMD 71.000122
GNF 8629.999871
GTQ 7.732613
GYD 209.3638
HKD 7.781365
HNL 25.060257
HRK 7.133507
HTG 131.582908
HUF 386.059763
IDR 15845.9
ILS 3.754225
IMP 0.786951
INR 84.42365
IQD 1310.5
IRR 42092.500584
ISK 139.430268
JEP 0.786951
JMD 158.431955
JOD 0.7091
JPY 155.550045
KES 129.495865
KGS 86.200902
KHR 4049.999849
KMF 466.350132
KPW 899.999851
KRW 1402.789736
KWD 0.30764
KYD 0.833937
KZT 493.231612
LAK 21944.999787
LBP 89550.000237
LKR 292.48469
LRD 183.999896
LSL 18.249631
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.869392
MAD 9.95797
MDL 18.032417
MGA 4655.000074
MKD 58.249992
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3397.999858
MOP 8.017648
MRU 39.875002
MUR 46.889881
MVR 15.450612
MWK 1735.999923
MXN 20.534202
MYR 4.459733
MZN 63.899729
NAD 18.250197
NGN 1677.460255
NIO 36.78002
NOK 11.139895
NPR 135.035137
NZD 1.70113
OMR 0.384979
PAB 1.000724
PEN 3.80195
PGK 3.93475
PHP 58.837965
PKR 278.049733
PLN 4.10935
PYG 7810.118723
QAR 3.64055
RON 4.7105
RSD 110.736994
RUB 98.498646
RWF 1365
SAR 3.75755
SBD 8.383555
SCR 13.638838
SDG 601.502988
SEK 10.984375
SGD 1.343089
SHP 0.786951
SLE 22.814981
SLL 20969.507172
SOS 571.500104
SRD 35.279997
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.756103
SYP 2512.530016
SZL 18.249869
THB 34.941496
TJS 10.662352
TMT 3.51
TND 3.147501
TOP 2.3421
TRY 34.35113
TTD 6.800373
TWD 32.450501
TZS 2659.999506
UAH 41.343769
UGX 3672.521001
UYU 42.190719
UZS 12825.000122
VES 44.996698
VND 25345
VUV 118.721975
WST 2.812855
XAF 617.092513
XAG 0.033008
XAU 0.000389
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.753908
XOF 616.50203
XPF 113.349685
YER 249.80406
ZAR 18.240398
ZMK 9001.201813
ZMW 27.374927
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    -0.8500

    59.34

    -1.43%

  • CMSC

    0.0700

    24.61

    +0.28%

  • CMSD

    -0.0200

    24.73

    -0.08%

  • SCS

    -0.3000

    13.37

    -2.24%

  • NGG

    -0.7800

    62.12

    -1.26%

  • AZN

    0.1000

    65.29

    +0.15%

  • RIO

    -0.5800

    60.62

    -0.96%

  • GSK

    -0.4100

    35.11

    -1.17%

  • RELX

    -0.4700

    46.12

    -1.02%

  • BP

    0.4100

    28.57

    +1.44%

  • BTI

    0.1800

    35.42

    +0.51%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0500

    7.11

    -0.7%

  • BCC

    1.4200

    142.55

    +1%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.24

    +0.15%

  • BCE

    -0.4800

    27.21

    -1.76%

  • VOD

    0.2800

    8.75

    +3.2%

Police deploy in Rio to retake gang-controlled favelas
Police deploy in Rio to retake gang-controlled favelas

Police deploy in Rio to retake gang-controlled favelas

Some 1,200 heavily armed military police launched an operation Wednesday to wrench control of Rio de Janeiro's slums from drug gangs, starting with the notorious Jacarezinho favela where residents took cover.

Text size:

Jacarezinho was the scene last May of reportedly the deadliest police operation in Rio's history. It left 28 people dead, prompting the UN to call for an "impartial" investigation into claims of summary executions.

The shantytown of some 90,000 inhabitants, according to community leaders, is considered a stronghold of the Comando Vermelho (Red Commando) criminal group.

"The (Rio) state government began a territorial recovery in the Jacarezinho community. Surrounding communities will also be occupied," the military police said on Twitter, with photos of black-clad officers patrolling the streets.

According to AFP journalists on the ground, the streets of Jacarezinho were all but deserted, with shop shutters lowered as police patrolled with assault rifles amid palpable tension.

Residents declined to be interviewed on the operation.

Military police spokesman Ivan Blaz said the situation was calm, with no reports of shoot-outs.

- 'Integrated city' -

The operation is part of a government program -- Integrated City -- aimed at transforming Rio communities at the mercy of criminal gangs and drug-traffickers, Governor Claudio Castro said on Twitter.

"It took months to design a program that would change the lives of the people, giving them dignity and opportunity. The operations are just the beginning of this transformation that goes far beyond security," said Castro.

Added Blaz: "This is an intervention in a conflict zone so that we can implement a project of the Rio state government. Security is the first step.

"It is the next steps that will make the difference: the arrival of social, health and education services, job creation", he told AFP.

Similar operations will be conducted in other neighborhoods in the coming months in Rio city, where about a quarter of the population of 6.7 million live in crime- and poverty-ridden favelas.

Security and violence experts have questioned the efficacy of the anti-gang operations, as well as the large number of deaths that often occur.

Inhabitants fall victim both to clashes between gangs and the police, and between gangs themselves.

- 'Occupation without dialogue' -

The timing of the latest deployment, in an election year, has come in for criticism.

"Clinics are closed, vaccination and anti-Covid tests are suspended in Jacarezinho where this military occupation is taking place at a critical time of the pandemic," tweeted Renata Souza, a leftist state legislator.

"This logic of occupying a territory militarily to integrate it is wrong! It totally violates the rights of the inhabitants!" she added.

For its part, the Network of Public Security Observatories, a grouping of universities and NGOs, slammed "a military occupation without dialogue with the inhabitants."

May's raid sparked outraged protests after streets in the favela were left strewn with bodies and pools of blood.

Police had said the operation targeted a drug gang that was recruiting children and teenagers.

Rights groups claimed it was the most deadly police operation in the history of a city all-too-used to violence and police killings -- particularly in the majority-black favelas.

Two police officers have been prosecuted for murder.

Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who was elected on a promise to be tough on crime, has expressed support for the two officers.

S.Palmer--TFWP