At least 21 people have been killed and 153 arrested in four days of clashes as Brazilian security forces crack down on drug gangs in Rio’s violent slums, police said on Wednesday.
The escalating violence casts more doubt on the ability of Rio authorities to get a grip on security ahead of its hosting of two of the planet’s largest sporting events, the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics two years later.
Thirteen suspected drug traffickers were killed on Wednesday and two police were wounded, while 25 people were arrested, colonel Lima Castro, from the military police, told journalists.
“We’ll continue our operations tomorrow. We’ll patrol and carry out checks. They’ll be more aggressive,” he said, as hundreds of police, using armored tanks backed by helicopters, took part in a massive crackdown on gangs and drug trafficking in 20 slums, known as favelas.
The latest victims were killed in shootouts with agents who stormed the favelas that roiled with unrest overnight in the wake of the crackdown.
Gang members vented their rage on civilian targets, torching at least 29 vehicles, including several public buses and shooting up local police stations, police said.
Images of buses engulfed in flames were broadcast throughout the Brazilian media, which showed police and special forces with guns in the air controlling entry and exit points at certain slums.
A series of attacks have created panic in the city, where according to authorities two factions of drug dealers have joined forces seeking to disrupt a two-year favela pacification program aimed at wresting the densely populated areas from the gangs’ control.
The factions dominate Rocinha and Alemao Complex, the two largest of Rio’s roughly 100 favelas that in total are home to about 2 million people.
Security forces are keen to show some signs of progress on urban unrest ahead of the hosting of the 2014 soccer World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games.
“We will do whatever it takes, so that the good guys defeat those who prefer to live lives of crime,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Tuesday.
Brazilian Justice Minister Luiz Paulo Barreto also offered federal troops, including elite police, as backup forces for the crackdown.
The massive roll-out expanded on Wednesday as about 1,200 troops were made available to Rio Governor Sergio Cabral, who had asked for federal backup amid deteriorating conditions.
“These acts aren’t a threat, but a desperate act from criminals,” Cabral told local radio on Wednesday, calling for calm.
Sociologist Claudio Beato told the O Globo newspaper that the traffickers’ goal was to terrorize the population.
“They are losing their old turf to the government and they are losing ground to the militia,” he said, referring to the paramilitary police groups made up largely of off-duty firefighters, police and prison guards.
The militias have been tightening their own grip over much of the city, emerging as a new mafia to seize control of many of Rio de Janeiro’s shantytowns.
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