2RHPZ
06-29-2004, 07:53 AM
I think that not many people (from Europe) pay attention to current events in Brasil. I remember that there was a strong 4 day battle in the Rio De Janiero in February or March ... I am not sure. More then 4,000 policemen and 2,000 SOF soldiers were involved. I can´t find the web with photos (there were dozens of them, some very nice and rare). Here are two articles about what happend there ...
Brazil faces drugs ‘civil war’
Special report: rio de janeiro In a real-life re-enactment of the movie City Of God, the security forces are struggling as armed gangs regroup and the death toll rises
By Tom Phillips
HIGH above Rio de Janeiro’s Complexo do Alemão slum, a police helicopter jitters in a brilliant blue sky, circling, hovering and occasionally descending when it spies something of interest. On the ground, a 350-strong, heavily-armed police unit fights off the dizzying effects of another sweltering day to continue hunting for this city’s most wanted man.
The police are looking for Eduíno Eustáquio de Araújo, a 31-year-old drug trafficker also known as “Dudu”, who is blamed by the authorities for triggering a recent turf war in Rio’s largest slum, Rocinha, in which at least 12 people died.
Police believe he is hiding somewhere in Alemão, a sprawling labyrinth of some 19 favelas, or shantytowns, in the city’s northern section. More than a quarter of a million Brazilians live here in conditions far removed from the luxury beach-front hotels that flank them.
As the teams scour Rio’s chaotic suburban landscape, 4000 federal troops are preparing to maintain a virtual occupation of Rocinha and Vidigal – two favelas in the south zone. Brazil’s President Lula da Sila authorised the deployment on Wednesday to quell fears that the area is on the brink of civil war.
The threat is real. A deadly re-enactment of Fernando Meirelles’ cinematic marvel, City Of God, based on the rival drugs gangs of another Rio favela, began in earnest on Good Friday.
A three-way battle broke out between police and rival drug traffickers when a faction in Rio’s largest drug gang – Dudu’s Comando Vermelho (CV) or Red Command – tried to dethrone another CV drug lord in Rocinha.
Rocinha’s 150,000 residents have been on high alert since Dudu escaped from prison in February. Looking to reclaim his R$50 million-a-month (£10 million) drugs trade from newcomer boss 26-year-old Luciano Barbosa da Silva, or “Lulu”, Dudu began recruiting a private army in Rio’s north zone.
In the early hours of Good Friday, with the apparent go-ahead from the RC’s top man, Fernandinho Beira-Mar or “Seaside Freddy”, a mob of about 60 people tried in vain to capture Rocinha’s numerous “bocas” – or drug dens. Three civilians were killed, including Telma Veloso Pinto, a 38-year-old mother. She was driving her family home when Dudu’s soldiers tried to hijack her car for use in the invasion.
More than 1000 police officers moved in and, on day six of the conflict, Lulu – and his accomplice Ronaldo Araújo Silva – were both killed at his luxury hilltop home by police special forces. Rumours quickly spread that police elements had actually allowed the battle to take place – a claim Rio’s mayor, César Maia, has since verified.
“A group of police thought the takeover [by Dudu] would be profitable and they helped,” he admitted this week.
Rocinha residents’ association spokesman Petrônio Alves said there were no police on guard when Dudu mounted the invasion attempt.
There were violent scenes at Lulu’s burial on 15 April, attended by about 400 people. “If you print my photo, you’re dead!” one of Lulu’s girlfriends could be heard screaming after a reporter was struck on the head by a rock outside the cemetery.
Lulu had enjoyed a favourable reputation within his community, set in the mountains overlooking Rio’s glitzy beach districts. Since he became “dono” – meaning “boss” – in 1999, the favela had witnessed a period of relative calm.
“Lulu had a sense of morality,” said a 51-year-old taxi driver. “He respected everybody, and he didn’t let the gang mess with residents, or attack or rob them.”
One former Red Command foot soldier went further: “Lulu wasn’t a drugs baron,” he said. “He was a guy who was in a **** situation. He came to Rio and gave money to people who didn’t have a penny and had the support of everybody here.”
The 21-year-old fondly recalled Lulu’s robbing of a television delivery van, and his subsequent distribution of the contents to the favela’s residents.
Traffickers in Rocinha have been quick to appoint Lulu’s successor: André da Costa Brito, or “Zazur”. But his promotion could be short-lived. Residents fear an imminent takeover by the former police informant, Dudu. Some believe he is laying in wait in a safe house guarded by corrupt police.
“He’s a nasty piece of work,” one resident said. “One day he saw this 14-year-old girl, so he picked her up and raped her. He doesn’t have scruples. Lulu was different,” she added.
One story here has it that Dudu feeds his enemies to his pet alligator. While Lulu’s fate was well-known, Rocinha’s prospects are less certain.
Police sources indicate Rio’s second largest drugs gang – The Terceiro Comando or Third Command – might now also be able to take control.
“If successful,” one police source said, “the group would most likely invade the neighbouring favela, Vidigal, previously used as a base by Dudu.”
“It doesn’t matter if you get rid of Dudu and Lulu, because these people are disposable,” said Marcelo Freixo of human rights group Global Justice. “They will die and others will spring up straight away.”
Rocinha, founded in 1929, is mainly made up of immigrants from the impoverished northeast who work for the city’s wealthy. Early risers and nighthawks can witness the human tide of maids and porters on the favela’s steep alleyways.
According to a recent study, Rocinha’s residents have the fourth-lowest income in Rio, at R$434 (£90) per month, and just 2% of its residents completed secondary school.
The police – all too wary of heavily-armed traffickers – man just two small posts on the Estrada da Gávea. It is the road that slices Rochinha’s central patchwork of concrete shacks in two, before snaking to the upper reaches of the favela and onto the mansions and swimming pools of the wealthy Gávea district.
Cocaine is sold freely in designated areas and it is common to see teenagers toting rifles and machine guns just yards from the police posts.
Despite the absence of the city’s authorities, crime here is rare. For decades drugs traffickers have imposed their own brutal set of laws. First-time offences like robbery are punished with beatings. For rapists and murderers the so-called “movimento” (movement) operates a deadly ‘one-strike and you’re out’ zero-tolerance style of policing.
“You have to forget your morals,” said social worker and activist Yvonne Bezerra de Melo. “When the government is not there, if a girl is raped what are you going to do? Solve it inside, because they have armed justice,” she said.
Rocinha’s previous period of calm had allowed it to enjoy a brief renaissance as a tourist trap. Until the recent trouble, hundreds of overseas visitors visited regularly. Now the largest travel operator in the area, Favela Tour, has been forced to cancel its trips. “There is no way I’m going to take tourists up there into a ‘bang-bang’,” said organiser, Marcelo Armstrong.
Meanwhile, the conflict’s proximity to Rio’s upper echelons – Gávea and São Conrado – has sent shockwaves through wealthy Brazilian society. Social worker Bezerra de Melo says this is what has given the violence here its political and media prominence. “It’s only such a big deal because Rocinha is in the south of the city. People only care about this kind of violence when it affects the rich,” she said.
Elsewhere, it is as commonplace as it is ignored. De Melo described shootouts she has witnessed in the Baixa do Sapateiro slum where she works as “close to war”.
“It’s not exactly war like in Iraq but there is a kind of civil war inside the slums,” she explained. “Many of the buildings in streets around the projects are pockmarked by machine gun fire.”
Violence is endemic here, as government figures released last week show.
Rio – a city where 10% of the population live in favelas – has the highest rate of gun-related deaths anywhere in the country. Between 1980 and 2000, there were 600,000 murders in Brazil, compared to 350,000 during Angola’s 27-year civil war.
Police recently uncovered a stash of eight landmines and 161 hand-grenades in one of Rio’s 600 favelas. Last week, traffickers invaded an air force depot in the north zone and stole 22 HK-33 rifles.
Many people here are convinced the worst is yet to come. “Who knows what’s going to happen?” community leader Paulo César Martins Vieira said. “Things are very tense and it seems like just a matter of time before [Dudu] comes back.
“I keep telling the police not to go, because if they do we’re in trouble.”
Others, like residents’ association president William de Oliveira, are more blunt: “Rocinha’s future is now in the hands of God.”
09 May 2004
http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/WORLD/americas/02/27/crime.brazil.reut/story.brazil.police.ap.jpg
Brazilian military police take positions in a Rio de Janeiro slum
Brazil faces drugs ‘civil war’
Special report: rio de janeiro In a real-life re-enactment of the movie City Of God, the security forces are struggling as armed gangs regroup and the death toll rises
By Tom Phillips
HIGH above Rio de Janeiro’s Complexo do Alemão slum, a police helicopter jitters in a brilliant blue sky, circling, hovering and occasionally descending when it spies something of interest. On the ground, a 350-strong, heavily-armed police unit fights off the dizzying effects of another sweltering day to continue hunting for this city’s most wanted man.
The police are looking for Eduíno Eustáquio de Araújo, a 31-year-old drug trafficker also known as “Dudu”, who is blamed by the authorities for triggering a recent turf war in Rio’s largest slum, Rocinha, in which at least 12 people died.
Police believe he is hiding somewhere in Alemão, a sprawling labyrinth of some 19 favelas, or shantytowns, in the city’s northern section. More than a quarter of a million Brazilians live here in conditions far removed from the luxury beach-front hotels that flank them.
As the teams scour Rio’s chaotic suburban landscape, 4000 federal troops are preparing to maintain a virtual occupation of Rocinha and Vidigal – two favelas in the south zone. Brazil’s President Lula da Sila authorised the deployment on Wednesday to quell fears that the area is on the brink of civil war.
The threat is real. A deadly re-enactment of Fernando Meirelles’ cinematic marvel, City Of God, based on the rival drugs gangs of another Rio favela, began in earnest on Good Friday.
A three-way battle broke out between police and rival drug traffickers when a faction in Rio’s largest drug gang – Dudu’s Comando Vermelho (CV) or Red Command – tried to dethrone another CV drug lord in Rocinha.
Rocinha’s 150,000 residents have been on high alert since Dudu escaped from prison in February. Looking to reclaim his R$50 million-a-month (£10 million) drugs trade from newcomer boss 26-year-old Luciano Barbosa da Silva, or “Lulu”, Dudu began recruiting a private army in Rio’s north zone.
In the early hours of Good Friday, with the apparent go-ahead from the RC’s top man, Fernandinho Beira-Mar or “Seaside Freddy”, a mob of about 60 people tried in vain to capture Rocinha’s numerous “bocas” – or drug dens. Three civilians were killed, including Telma Veloso Pinto, a 38-year-old mother. She was driving her family home when Dudu’s soldiers tried to hijack her car for use in the invasion.
More than 1000 police officers moved in and, on day six of the conflict, Lulu – and his accomplice Ronaldo Araújo Silva – were both killed at his luxury hilltop home by police special forces. Rumours quickly spread that police elements had actually allowed the battle to take place – a claim Rio’s mayor, César Maia, has since verified.
“A group of police thought the takeover [by Dudu] would be profitable and they helped,” he admitted this week.
Rocinha residents’ association spokesman Petrônio Alves said there were no police on guard when Dudu mounted the invasion attempt.
There were violent scenes at Lulu’s burial on 15 April, attended by about 400 people. “If you print my photo, you’re dead!” one of Lulu’s girlfriends could be heard screaming after a reporter was struck on the head by a rock outside the cemetery.
Lulu had enjoyed a favourable reputation within his community, set in the mountains overlooking Rio’s glitzy beach districts. Since he became “dono” – meaning “boss” – in 1999, the favela had witnessed a period of relative calm.
“Lulu had a sense of morality,” said a 51-year-old taxi driver. “He respected everybody, and he didn’t let the gang mess with residents, or attack or rob them.”
One former Red Command foot soldier went further: “Lulu wasn’t a drugs baron,” he said. “He was a guy who was in a **** situation. He came to Rio and gave money to people who didn’t have a penny and had the support of everybody here.”
The 21-year-old fondly recalled Lulu’s robbing of a television delivery van, and his subsequent distribution of the contents to the favela’s residents.
Traffickers in Rocinha have been quick to appoint Lulu’s successor: André da Costa Brito, or “Zazur”. But his promotion could be short-lived. Residents fear an imminent takeover by the former police informant, Dudu. Some believe he is laying in wait in a safe house guarded by corrupt police.
“He’s a nasty piece of work,” one resident said. “One day he saw this 14-year-old girl, so he picked her up and raped her. He doesn’t have scruples. Lulu was different,” she added.
One story here has it that Dudu feeds his enemies to his pet alligator. While Lulu’s fate was well-known, Rocinha’s prospects are less certain.
Police sources indicate Rio’s second largest drugs gang – The Terceiro Comando or Third Command – might now also be able to take control.
“If successful,” one police source said, “the group would most likely invade the neighbouring favela, Vidigal, previously used as a base by Dudu.”
“It doesn’t matter if you get rid of Dudu and Lulu, because these people are disposable,” said Marcelo Freixo of human rights group Global Justice. “They will die and others will spring up straight away.”
Rocinha, founded in 1929, is mainly made up of immigrants from the impoverished northeast who work for the city’s wealthy. Early risers and nighthawks can witness the human tide of maids and porters on the favela’s steep alleyways.
According to a recent study, Rocinha’s residents have the fourth-lowest income in Rio, at R$434 (£90) per month, and just 2% of its residents completed secondary school.
The police – all too wary of heavily-armed traffickers – man just two small posts on the Estrada da Gávea. It is the road that slices Rochinha’s central patchwork of concrete shacks in two, before snaking to the upper reaches of the favela and onto the mansions and swimming pools of the wealthy Gávea district.
Cocaine is sold freely in designated areas and it is common to see teenagers toting rifles and machine guns just yards from the police posts.
Despite the absence of the city’s authorities, crime here is rare. For decades drugs traffickers have imposed their own brutal set of laws. First-time offences like robbery are punished with beatings. For rapists and murderers the so-called “movimento” (movement) operates a deadly ‘one-strike and you’re out’ zero-tolerance style of policing.
“You have to forget your morals,” said social worker and activist Yvonne Bezerra de Melo. “When the government is not there, if a girl is raped what are you going to do? Solve it inside, because they have armed justice,” she said.
Rocinha’s previous period of calm had allowed it to enjoy a brief renaissance as a tourist trap. Until the recent trouble, hundreds of overseas visitors visited regularly. Now the largest travel operator in the area, Favela Tour, has been forced to cancel its trips. “There is no way I’m going to take tourists up there into a ‘bang-bang’,” said organiser, Marcelo Armstrong.
Meanwhile, the conflict’s proximity to Rio’s upper echelons – Gávea and São Conrado – has sent shockwaves through wealthy Brazilian society. Social worker Bezerra de Melo says this is what has given the violence here its political and media prominence. “It’s only such a big deal because Rocinha is in the south of the city. People only care about this kind of violence when it affects the rich,” she said.
Elsewhere, it is as commonplace as it is ignored. De Melo described shootouts she has witnessed in the Baixa do Sapateiro slum where she works as “close to war”.
“It’s not exactly war like in Iraq but there is a kind of civil war inside the slums,” she explained. “Many of the buildings in streets around the projects are pockmarked by machine gun fire.”
Violence is endemic here, as government figures released last week show.
Rio – a city where 10% of the population live in favelas – has the highest rate of gun-related deaths anywhere in the country. Between 1980 and 2000, there were 600,000 murders in Brazil, compared to 350,000 during Angola’s 27-year civil war.
Police recently uncovered a stash of eight landmines and 161 hand-grenades in one of Rio’s 600 favelas. Last week, traffickers invaded an air force depot in the north zone and stole 22 HK-33 rifles.
Many people here are convinced the worst is yet to come. “Who knows what’s going to happen?” community leader Paulo César Martins Vieira said. “Things are very tense and it seems like just a matter of time before [Dudu] comes back.
“I keep telling the police not to go, because if they do we’re in trouble.”
Others, like residents’ association president William de Oliveira, are more blunt: “Rocinha’s future is now in the hands of God.”
09 May 2004
http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/WORLD/americas/02/27/crime.brazil.reut/story.brazil.police.ap.jpg
Brazilian military police take positions in a Rio de Janeiro slum