INGLATERRA: THE GARDIAN.
Twelve dead and helicopter downed as Rio de Janeiro drug gangs go to war.
Host city of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics shaken by violence as warlords battle for control of the cocaine trade.
Host city of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics shaken by violence as warlords battle for control of the cocaine trade.
A police helicopter was shot down by the gangs when it tried to intervene in a battle in Rio. Photograph: Ricardo Moraes/Reuters
Two weeks after Rio de Janeiro celebrated winning the 2016 Olympic Games, the Brazilian city was tonight bracing itself for a further night of violence after an intense gun battle erupted in one of the city's favelas and a police helicopter was shot down, killing two officers.
The violence, intense even by Rio's standards, began in the Morro dos Macacos, a hillside area in northern Rio. The shanty town, controlled by the Amigos dos Amigos (Friends of Friends) drug faction, one of three heavily-armed cocaine gangs that control many of Rio's 1,000-odd slums, was reportedly invaded in the early hours of Saturday morning by members of a rival gang, the Red Command. Police say traffickers from the Red Command were attempting to seize control of the local cocaine trade.
Deafening volleys of automatic gunfire were captured on amateur video, filmed from apartment blocks surrounding the slum. One local newspaper declared it a "War in Rio" on its website.
"We were terrified," Cristina Soares, a 17-year-old resident, told the Rio tabloid newspaper Extra as she fled the area yesterday. "The children were so scared they wanted to leave the house in the middle of all the shooting. Later on things are going to get even worse."
Mario Vilson, another resident of the Morro dos Macacos, told the news website Terra that he had been woken up by the sound of shooting. "This war has been going on for 20 years and will never end," he said. "It's very sad. I just don't know when we will have peace."
Hundreds of police officers descended on the area following the invasion. By Saturday night the death toll, including the two dead police officers, stood at 12 according to Rio's security secretary José Mariano Beltrame. Five other officers had been shot and two slum residents injured, police said.
Favela residents were gathering their belongings and fleeing their homes while at least 10 buses were set on fire across town, causing close to £1m in damage according to one company.
"I saw two bodies lying in the street, surrounded by people," said Douglas Engle, a photographer who was at the Morro dos Macacos. "Then a third body was brought down from the slum by police, wrapped in a hammock. People were standing around crying."
In the most high-profile incident, the pilot of a military police helicopter was shot in the leg as he flew over the favela and the helicopter exploded in flames as it crash-landed on a nearby football pitch. Two of those on board were killed. It was the first time a police helicopter had been shot down in Rio.
Rio's mayor, Eduardo Paes, said it was "inadmissible that Rio be confronted by delinquents in this way" and threw his weight behind police attempts to control the violence.
The head of the military police, Mario Sérgio Duarte, said the drug traffickers would "be the victims of their own choices". "We have lost two professionals who dedicated themselves to the defence of the population. But we will not be motivated by revenge," he added.
Oderlei Santos, spokesman for Rio's military police, said: "Our operations will only cease when these criminals are captured, arrested or are killed in combat."
Authorities cancelled all police leave and members of Rio's civil police gathered at the police HQ in central Rio this afternoon. They were expected to occupy a number of favelas around the city. Tonight, military police were seen entering at least one slum controlled by the Red Command in Rio's southern beach district.
The latest round of violence underlines the challenges local authorities face as they attempt to improve security before the city hosts the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. Rio's government has spent the past year expelling drug gangs and vigilantes from four slums and setting up "pacification" projects by which the slums are permanently occupied by police.
But the majority of the city's favelas are still controlled by members of three drug factions, which possess an increasingly sophisticated arsenal, including anti-aircraft guns and automatic rifles, often sourced from inventory intended for the Bolivian and Argentinian armies and smuggled into Rio.
Faced with an increasingly well-armed enemy, Rio's police are also investing heavily in military equipment. They now have a bulletproof helicopter, while local journalists wear bulletproof vests when working in the slums. Each year, Rio's police kill around 1,000 people "resisting arrest". Nearly 90 officers have been killed this year.
Santos promised that things would improve before the Olympics. "We have a lot of time before the World Cup and the Olympics, and before then we will certainly arrest a lot of criminals," he said.
The violence, intense even by Rio's standards, began in the Morro dos Macacos, a hillside area in northern Rio. The shanty town, controlled by the Amigos dos Amigos (Friends of Friends) drug faction, one of three heavily-armed cocaine gangs that control many of Rio's 1,000-odd slums, was reportedly invaded in the early hours of Saturday morning by members of a rival gang, the Red Command. Police say traffickers from the Red Command were attempting to seize control of the local cocaine trade.
Deafening volleys of automatic gunfire were captured on amateur video, filmed from apartment blocks surrounding the slum. One local newspaper declared it a "War in Rio" on its website.
"We were terrified," Cristina Soares, a 17-year-old resident, told the Rio tabloid newspaper Extra as she fled the area yesterday. "The children were so scared they wanted to leave the house in the middle of all the shooting. Later on things are going to get even worse."
Mario Vilson, another resident of the Morro dos Macacos, told the news website Terra that he had been woken up by the sound of shooting. "This war has been going on for 20 years and will never end," he said. "It's very sad. I just don't know when we will have peace."
Hundreds of police officers descended on the area following the invasion. By Saturday night the death toll, including the two dead police officers, stood at 12 according to Rio's security secretary José Mariano Beltrame. Five other officers had been shot and two slum residents injured, police said.
Favela residents were gathering their belongings and fleeing their homes while at least 10 buses were set on fire across town, causing close to £1m in damage according to one company.
"I saw two bodies lying in the street, surrounded by people," said Douglas Engle, a photographer who was at the Morro dos Macacos. "Then a third body was brought down from the slum by police, wrapped in a hammock. People were standing around crying."
In the most high-profile incident, the pilot of a military police helicopter was shot in the leg as he flew over the favela and the helicopter exploded in flames as it crash-landed on a nearby football pitch. Two of those on board were killed. It was the first time a police helicopter had been shot down in Rio.
Rio's mayor, Eduardo Paes, said it was "inadmissible that Rio be confronted by delinquents in this way" and threw his weight behind police attempts to control the violence.
The head of the military police, Mario Sérgio Duarte, said the drug traffickers would "be the victims of their own choices". "We have lost two professionals who dedicated themselves to the defence of the population. But we will not be motivated by revenge," he added.
Oderlei Santos, spokesman for Rio's military police, said: "Our operations will only cease when these criminals are captured, arrested or are killed in combat."
Authorities cancelled all police leave and members of Rio's civil police gathered at the police HQ in central Rio this afternoon. They were expected to occupy a number of favelas around the city. Tonight, military police were seen entering at least one slum controlled by the Red Command in Rio's southern beach district.
The latest round of violence underlines the challenges local authorities face as they attempt to improve security before the city hosts the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. Rio's government has spent the past year expelling drug gangs and vigilantes from four slums and setting up "pacification" projects by which the slums are permanently occupied by police.
But the majority of the city's favelas are still controlled by members of three drug factions, which possess an increasingly sophisticated arsenal, including anti-aircraft guns and automatic rifles, often sourced from inventory intended for the Bolivian and Argentinian armies and smuggled into Rio.
Faced with an increasingly well-armed enemy, Rio's police are also investing heavily in military equipment. They now have a bulletproof helicopter, while local journalists wear bulletproof vests when working in the slums. Each year, Rio's police kill around 1,000 people "resisting arrest". Nearly 90 officers have been killed this year.
Santos promised that things would improve before the Olympics. "We have a lot of time before the World Cup and the Olympics, and before then we will certainly arrest a lot of criminals," he said.
RIO 2016 OLYMPIC GAMES UNSAFE!
JUNTOS SOMOS FORTES!PAULO RICARDO PAÚL
CORONEL DE POLÍCIA
Ex-CORREGEDOR INTERNO
3 comentários:
Que tristeza. Heróis sociais morreram, mais uma vez, por conta de ações canhestras e desviadas da real missão da Gloriosa Policia Militar do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.
O governante vem com aquele discurso demagógico de sempre, reativo e rancoroso, cerceando direitos dos servidores a folga e ao convívio familiar; nunca diz que vai pagar horas extra e que vai aumentar o salário, só o trabalho aumenta.
DIA TERRÍVEL!
Hoje não só a cidade do Rio de Janeiro, nem o Estado do Rio, nem Só a PMERJ, mas milhões de pessoas de vários locais do mundo tomaram conhecimento do fato trágico ocorrido com nossos amigos do GAM. Desde que fiquei sabendo, dez e pouco da manhã sai de casa e fui pro GAM com meu marido, acompanhar os fatos de perto, e vê se eu poderia ser útil em alguma coisa. Graças a Deus pude ajudar a Ten. Roberta, e a Ten. Rhaddour receber as famílias dos POLICIAIS MORTOS E FERIDOS no doloroso episódio. É impressionante como achamos força na hora certa pra tentar acalmar, acalentar, amenizar o sofrimento das famílias e amigos, se como amigos, conhecidos ou não, a gente sofre, e tem vontade de gritar o nosso sofrimento, a nossa dor. Perdemos dois POLICIAIS, dois jovens policiais, um era recém casado, o outro deixou uma filhinha que vai completar um aninho, e já sem pai. É doido, toca na alma, você olhar aquela criança apontar com o dedinho para aquela aeronave em que seu pai HERÓI, deu a vida por nós. É inexplicável escutar daquela criança, que não pronuncia quase palavra alguma, a palavra ACABOU. Pode parecer loucura, devaneio, mas escutei isso. Me arrepia até agora lembrar disso. Talvez pelo fato d aquela menininha frágil ta agarrada a mãe todo o tempo, e escutando os adultos por perto pronunciar tal palavra, também o fez “ACABOU”. E na verdade vidas foram interrompidas, como a do cabo Patrício que se encontra até agora vivo, e que só por um milagre pode ser salvo. Acabei de falar com a esposa dele a cinco minutos atrás, pois ela com sua família que mora em Santa Cruz, foi até o hospital no fundão, e voltaram pra casa com aquele pingo de esperança, que pode ter alguém, em uma circunstancia como essa!
É triste ver homens fardados, que dão a vida por nós, chorarem como crianças precisando de colo, ao verem chegar na sua UNIDADE os destroços daquela aeronave, em que vidas se perderam, onde combatentes foram abatidos, metralhados, e onde eles por um salário miserável arriscam suas vidas. É triste saber que podemos ter uma melhor qualidade de vida, mas que os que deveriam nos ignoram. É triste ver que nos mesmo nos ignoramos, pois nos calamos, e aceitamos os nossos direitos em não ter direitos. É TRISTE SERMOS COVARDES E NÃO LUTARMOS POR NOSSA OMBRIDADE E DECÊNCIA!
Até quando vamos ficar de braços cruzados esperando que alguém faça por nós, o que deveríamos fazer, REIVINDICAR? Bom, por hoje fiz a minha parte, tentei dar um ombro a quem precisava, tentei ser solidária, tentei não deixar as lagrimas rolarem, pois precisava ser forte. Passei 7horas e pouco dentro do GAM, até ver ir embora o ultimo familiar daqueles POLICIAIS, amados e queridos por muitos. Muitos esses seus colegas, companheiros ou não de escala, que ao saberem do fato, se dirigiram para a Unidade para ser serem solidários uns com os outros. Obrigada amigos pelo apoio que oferecem a seus companheiros, as famílias, pois é de pessoas como vocês que a PMERJ precisa, HOMENS DE MORAL, HOMENS DE BRIO!! Agora após fazer um pouquinho, gostaria de dormir, pois seu que vem outros compromissos amanhã, mas não o farei, pois meu marido aquele que também foi muito útil nas horas difíceis, saiu pra SEGURANÇA, e só voltara depois que seu patrão liberar, após a festa acabar. Não é quem o contratou para fazer a segurança que é o culpado disso, e sim quem não nos oferece a SEGURANÇA QUE PRECISAMOS.
A MINHA ALMA NÃO FICARA LAVADA COM ESSE DESABAFO!!
NOSSOS SENTIMENTOS AS FAMILIAS DE NOSSOS GUERREIROS.
Uma tragédia.
Mais um resultado terrível de um governo péssimo.
Juntos Somos Fortes!
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