Río de Janeiro pide ayuda contra los narcos

Por AP dom, 30 mar 2014 11:13

Río de Janeiro. Más de mil 400 policías e infantes de la marina de Brasil entraron a un enorme complejo de favelas cerca del aeropuerto internacional de Río de Janeiro la madrugada del domingo, en la más reciente operación de seguridad antes del Mundial de Fútbol.

No se realizó un solo disparo mientras el complejo Mare, donde hay 15 favelas, se volvió la más reciente área empobrecida en presenciar una invasión de las fuerzas de seguridad, en un intento por expulsar a las pandillas fuertemente armadas que han controlado durante décadas estos barrios pobres de Río.

En los próximos días, soldados de la armada comenzarán a patrullar esta área plana y casi sin árboles de unos 5 kilómetros cuadrados (2 millas cuadradas) en el norte de la ciudad, que abraza el principal camino al aeropuerto y donde viven unas 130 mil personas.

Al final, las fuerzas de seguridad instalarán puestos permanentes en Mare como parte del programa de "pacificación" que comenzó en 2008 y que busca garantizar la seguridad de Río de Janeiro antes de la realización en el país de la Copa del Mundo este año y los Juegos Olímpicos en 2016.

En años recientes, las autoridades han instalado 37 puestos de "pacificación" en un área que cubre a unas 1. 5 millones de personas.

El operativo del domingo es determinante en un momento crítico para la campaña de seguridad.

En meses recientes, las pandillas han atacado descaradamente puestos policiales en otras favelas bajo las órdenes de líderes de bandas presos que quieren evitar que más barrios sean "pacificados". Con cada área que la policía ocupa, los delincuentes pierden terreno valioso para la elaboración y venta de droga.

Hilda Guimares, una anciana que se dirigía a paso lento a la iglesia mientras la policía de élite avanzaba rápidamente por una calle de la favela, dijo que "esto tenía que pasar. Ya era hora".

"Necesitábamos que limpiaran este vecindario desde hace mucho, pero siempre nos habían ignorado. Por muchos años estas bandas han gobernado este lugar".

Otros residentes, muchos de ellos temerosos de la policía y las pandillas para dar sus nombres, tienen sentimientos encontrados.

A cinco años de que comenzó el programa de "pacificación", sin duda han disminuido las balaceras en las favelas afectadas, pero muchos cariocas se quejan de la fuerza excesiva de la autoridad.

Más de 20 policías que vigilan Rocinha, la favela más grande de Río, enfrentan acusaciones de tortura, desaparición y presunto asesinato de un hombre a quien estaban interrogando sobre armas y droga en la comunidad.

In Pictures: Crackdown in Brazil's favelas

The Brazilian government's 'pacification' initiative has led to drug busts and shootouts in Rio's favelas.

Sebestiano Tomada Last updated: 03 Apr 2014 17:11

Just a few months before Rio de Janeiro welcomes visitors for the World Cup, and two years before it hosts the Olympics, security within the city remains a major issue.

The government currently promotes the policy of "pacification", where security forces engage in raids, drug busts, and even gunfights with suspected gang members. This pacification policy is supposed to pave the way for the development of long-neglected favelas in Rio, Brazil's second-biggest city and home to 11 million people.

Rio's government has established the Pacifying Police Unit, a military police team with the intent of establishing security and diminishing criminality with force.

These police units stand at the centre of Rio Governor Sergio Cabral Filho's security strategy. They have set up permanent stations in the working class areas or favelas in order to conduct routine patrols and to be able to quickly respond to gang activity, such as Comando Vermelho and Amigos dos Amigos (ADA), two large and often violent criminal organisations. There are now approximately 34 Pacifying Police Units in Rio, controlling more than 100 favelas where hundreds of thousands reside.

However, many of the favelas remain in the hands of an army of drug dealers and criminals who are not willing to step down or be pacified.


Members of the Pacifying Police Unit (UPP) stand guard while children play on top of the Macaco favela in northern Rio de Janeiro.


Marx and Chaves, two UPP patrol leaders, talk to locals about criminial activity in the favelas.


While on patrol, each member of the unit is trained to look for suspicious activity and to provide cover for the other members.


A child watches an UPP unit as they patrol a favela.


Patrol leaders Damaso and Marx observe suspicious activity from a distance. UPP aggresively responds to suspected gang activity, which have led to shootouts.


A gang member, also known as a 'trafficante', poses with his weapons in one of the many non-pacified favelas of Rio de Janeiro.


A drug dealer with the ADA gang counts money from a drug transaction. Cocaine and crack are the most popular drugs within the favelas.


Chaves, a member of the police unit, pats down a suspect for drugs.


UPP members frisk suspected drug dealers and gang members in the Macaco favela.


Members of a family relax outside their home in Rocinha, a favela that's home to the ADA gang.


A desolated street in a favela. UPP operates in favelas that have not paid for public utilities. These favelas instead, give money to the controlling criminal organisations, leading to widespread tax evasion.


A view of the Rochinha favela - one of the few pacified communities in Rio de Janeiro.

Por: Redacción / Sinembargo - abril 11 de 2014 - 14:14


Río de Janeiro, 11 abr (dpa) – Al menos siete personas resultaron heridas hoy en Río de Janeiro, en enfrentamientos entre policías y habitantes de una favela ubicada a menos de seis kilómetros del famoso estadio Maracaná, que dentro de tres meses recibirá la final del Mundial de fútbol de Brasil 2014.

Una residente de la barriada llegó a denunciar que tres niños habían muerto durante la operación, pero esta información fue desmentida por el portavoz de la policía militarizada, el teniente coronel Claudio Costa: “No tenemos esta información. No la confirmamos”.

Según el oficial, cinco agentes resultaron heridos, y dos niños recibieron atención médica por haber inhalado humo de los incendios provocados por grupos de habitantes de la favela, que “nació” hace menos de dos semanas, cuando unas 6.000 familias invadieron un terreno baldío, perteneciente a la compañía telefónica Oi.

Hace una semana, la Justicia ordenó la retirada de los invasores y la devolución del terreno a sus propietarios, y el dictamen fue cumplido hoy, en una operación criticada por juristas y habitantes de la barriada, que acusaron la policía de exceso de violencia, al atacar la comunidad con bombas de gas lacrimógeno y balas de goma.

Los ocupantes del terreno, a su vez, lanzaron cócteles molotov contra los agentes e incendiaron un automóvil de la policía, cuatro autobuses y dos camiones, según informó el Cuerpo de Bomberos.

La acción policial fue criticada por un representante de la Orden de Abogados de Brasil (OAB), Humberto Cairo, quien buscaba negociar con la comunidad una salida pacífica del terreno ocupado el 31 de marzo pasado.

“Todo lo que temíamos está ocurriendo, y en forma aún peor”, dijo Cairo, quien aseguró que la OAB no apoya “vandalismo ni irregularidades”, pero “tampoco podemos aceptar violencia y la exposición de estas personas a situaciones de riesgo”.

Brazil Slum-Dwellers Burn Buses in Second Night of Protests
The protests in Alemao, a complex of shantytowns, were sparked by Sunday’s fatal shooting of an elderly woman amid a gunbattle between police and drug gangs

RIO DE JANEIRO – One person was hit by a bullet and nine buses were burned in a second night of protests by residents of slums in Brazil’s second-largest city, authorities said on Tuesday.

Carlos Alberto de Souza Marcolino, 20, was taken to a Rio de Janeiro hospital with a bullet wound in the chest following a shootout involving police.

The protests in Alemao, a complex of shantytowns, were sparked by Sunday’s fatal shooting of an elderly woman amid a gunbattle between police and drug gangs.

The toll from Monday night’s disturbances in Alemao included four buses burned and damages to a municipal medical center.

Police arrested six people, two of them minors, for their suspected part in the medical center attack.

Other destructive incidents occurred in the “favela,” or shantytown, of Chapadao, where five buses were set ablaze in a protest by locals for the death of a 17-year-old man during a police operation.

Violent protests also broke out last week in the tourist district of Copacabana for the death of a 26-year-old dancer who was gunned down during a police raid on the favela of Pavao-Pavaozinho.

Posibles, atentados en Mundial por crisis en seguridad: periodista

Bruno Paez Manzo advirtió que no hay una buena inteligencia en seguridad en Río, al participar en “El papel de los medios en la prevención social de la violencia”



07/05/2014 15:26 David Vicenteño



CIUDAD DE MÉXICO, 7 de mayo.- El crimen organizado podría aprovechar el desarrollo de la Copa del Mundo Brasil 2014 y el ambiente electoral en el país sede para cometer atentados, advirtió el periodista brasileño Bruno Paez Manzo.

A 35 días de que inicie la justa deportiva, la población en su país se mantiene crítica ante su gobierno, ante otros problemas.

Tenemos los movimientos sociales de junio pasado, que están articulando algunas manifestaciones. El peligro mayor viene del crimen organizado, que está aprovechando el momento político de la Copa y las elecciones para hacer atentados contra la policía en Río de Janerio”, señaló Bruno Paez Manzo.

“No hay una buena inteligencia en seguridad del gobierno, lo que habla de que pueden aprovechar la oportunidad de la Copa para hacer manifestaciones violentas, el gobierno está trabajando pero para nosotros los periodistas es imposible prever el futuro, es una incognita”, dijo Paez Manzo.

El periodista brasileño participó en la mesa “El papel de los medios en la prevención social de la violencia”, durante la Semana de la Prevención Social de la Violencia y la Delincuencia, organizada por la Secretaría de Gobernación (Segob) y el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID).

Paez Manzo dijo que el Programa de Policías Pacificadoras en Río de Janeiro, para mantener el control en las favelas de la ciudad está pasando por un momento de crisis.

En este momento está en crisis, algunos traficantes empezaron a matar policías en las favelas, entonces (las autoridades) comenzaron a discutir la cualidad de este proyecto social, la calidad de la policía que está trabajando.

“La situación está más tensa, no solamente son los movimientos sociales, que se van a manifestar yo pienso que de manera constructiva y democrática, pero hay la posibilidad que el crimen organizado aproveche la situación”, comentó.

Paez Manzo agregó que debido a la afición y a lo que representa el futbol para Brasil, una vez que inicie el torneo, el próximo 12 de junio, la sociedad pueda dejar a un lado la posibilidad de manifestarse.

Gozamos mucho del futbol, las entradas no son fácil de conseguir, entonces no hay mucha participación de la población, gastamos mucho dinero en los estadios, tenemos serios problemas sociales.

“Más de 50 por ciento de población no quiere en este momento el Mundial, tenemos un momento crítico, pero cuando empiece va a ser diferente y si gana Brasil el primer encuentro nos vamos para arriba, pero en este momento no estamos animados”, dijo.

Ya en materia deportiva, Paez Manso dijo que México ha logrado ganarle a Brasil, como en la final de los Juegos Olímpicos de Londres, por lo que la historia se podría repetir el próximo 17 de junio cuando ambas selecciones se enfrenten en Fortaleza.

Drug wars and police killings in Brazil
Rio's 'pacification' programme in the spotlight as police killings continue during the World Cup.
Elizabeth Gorman Last updated: 26 Jun 2014 06:57

Pacification Unit officers patrol next to a mural of slain dancer Douglas Rafael da Silva Pereira [Getty Images]

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - An elite Brazilian military police unit opened fire on criminal suspects in Mare district, scattering the favela's bystanders after one of their colleagues was allegedly gunned down. When the dust settled, 10 victims lay dead.

"The police shot the place up and didn't care who lived there, who was in the drug business, or who was a kid," recounted a young resident named Rachel in I died in the Maré, a recent documentary about the incident. "They were squeezing off shots all around us saying that after midnight nobody leaves or enters the favela."

A day after the shooting, June 25, 2013, residents took to the streets demanding that the military police known as BOPE get out of the area, and calling for an end to unauthorised and violent police operations in their communities.

Officials in Rio deployed the military police officers in 2008 to curb escalating gang violence among drug traffickers through the "pacification" of the city's favelas, or shantytown areas. The programme dramatically drove down homicide rates by nearly half. Police killings also plummeted from 1,330 cases in 2007 to 405 in 2013, according to government figures.

The UPPs were meant to not only pacify the favelas, but also pacify the police from within. New training, recruiting new members not involved in corruption or abuse - that's had a huge impact.

- Nicholas Barnes , University of Wisconsin-Madison

In July, Mare district will transition from military occupation to "pacifying police units" known as UPPs, like dozens of other favelas throughout Brazil.

"The UPPs were meant to not only pacify the favelas, but also pacify the police from within," said Nicholas Barnes, a public security researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who is based in Rio. "New training, recruiting new members not involved in corruption or abuse - that's had a huge impact."

Street violence returns

However, for the first time in years, shootouts among gangs and police have picked up in areas determined as "pacified". On Monday, three people were shot - including one police officer and two teenagers - in what police said was an attack by drug traffickers in Complexo do Alemao, according to local reports.

"For the first few years [of pacifying police units], traffickers didn't know what was going on, their trade was falling, falling, falling so much now that they're starting to react," said Michel Misse, an expert on urban violence at the Rio de Janeiro Federal University.

"So part of this rise [in volence] is a reaction against the UPPs."

So far nobody knows how the uptick in violence is going to play out in the city. Researchers are closely watching government reports that cite a spike in violence for the first few months of 2014, including killings by police, of nearly 60 percent. Violence against police officers is also on the rise.

Misse said more than 10,000 people were killed "under suspicion of confrontation" with Rio de Janeiro police between 2001-2011, a period when the number of deaths from street violence was at its highest.

As long as a victim is killed by a police officer during a confrontation, or killed while resisting arrest, the murder is considered legal and rarely ever questioned by investigators.

According to Misse, the level of violence is nowhere near what it was a few years ago, but he warned that could change.

"We have to keep worrying about this otherwise it will come back. The factors are the same - a very violent corrupt police force, and a very lucrative drug trade that continues to attract young poor people," said Misse.

War on drugs

Al Jazeera spent a day in one of the model pacification areas with a UPP unit stationed there.

Officers said they rarely receive calls related to drug operations anymore. Today it's mostly domestic violence and neighbour complaints, a sign that pacification has been effective. Instead of battling the drug trade, they regulated vehicle traffic.

"The exceptions are the places that give us problems. Most people accept us," said Paulo Ten Barbat, a young UPP sub-commander in Santa Marta district. He didn't want to comment about problems the pacification programme has experienced, saying it was an overly politicised issue.

"There are problems in the UPP, but they are blown out of proportion," said Barbat.
Brazilian riot police [Elizabeth Gorman/Al Jazeera]

Other UPP police officers didn't want their names published for fear of losing their jobs or retaliation from gang members. Police feel overworked and underpaid for the job they do, earning less than $20,000 per year, according to one officer.

He showed Al Jazeera video of children armed with automatic weapons, dancing and laughing to music. "They're only kids," he said.

He lamented with another officer about the number of friends and colleagues he's lost to the war on drugs.

"They have nothing to lose. But if I miss a shot, I lose everything - my job, my life. It's an unjust war," he said. "Sometimes it makes you so angry you want to kill them all, but you can't because you'd be the same as them."

Torture

On July 14, 2013, an investigation concluded that a local bricklayer - Amarildo Dias de Souza, 43 - died of torture suffered inside a Police Pacifying Unit in Rocinha district after he had been detained by UPP officers. De Souza was given electric shocks and asphyxiated with a plastic bag, according to an official investigation.

Then his body was hidden. The gruesome story went viral, and 10 officers were charged with his murder, including an indictment of the UPP commander.

The case was a flashpoint for the UPP programme across Rio de Janeiro, according to José Martins de Oliveira of the community group Rocinha without Borders.

Mistrust has grown among residents and police as shootouts have again picked up. The drug traffickers have returned, and now dozens of armed men stand in Rocinha's alleys, said de Oliveira.

"You always had policeman walking in all places, but now that's changed. If you go into the alleys you're going to find armed traffickers," he said. "So today, the people don't know who to believe in … Are the police here to kill, or to defend? So there is doubt and a lack of confidence."

Single gunshot

Just before midnight on April 22, residents of the Pavao-Pavaozinho neighbourhood, an area that saw one of the earliest pacifications, heard a single gunshot. They began seeing gloved policemen coming in and out of a barricaded school. A cleaner later found a body crammed into a closet with a bullet in the back, according to the victim's mother.

The rise in police presence on the streets and communities of Rio brings a rise in productivity and activity - and also in clashes.

- Priscilla Piffer, police spokeswoman

Hours later, the doorman of an apartment near the upscale tourist area of Copacabana knocked on Maria de Fatima Silva's door to tell her something had happened to her son.

"I still can't believe it," said Silva, dressed in black and sitting in front of a computer displaying her son's Facebook page. Douglas Rafael da Silva Pereira, 26 - known as DG - was a well-known hip-hop dancer on national Brazilian TV.

Police claimed he died from a fall, but it's widely believed he was shot after being mistaken for a drug trafficker during a police operation. His mother has accused police of torturing Pereira before shooting him in the back.

"They're doing everything to transform him into a criminal. They're doing everything they can because they need to prove that he was a criminal to justify his death," she said.

Violent street riots broke out by angry residents blaming police for his death. In the chaos, one of Pereira's dance students was killed by a gunshot. It remains unclear who fired the weapon.

"My son is gone but there are other DGs," said Silva. "My son's case is not unique."

Police told Al Jazeera investigations into both killings are currently under way. "The deaths due to police intervention are investigated by the Civil Police and the goal is always to preserve the scene," police spokeswoman Priscilla Piffer wrote in an email response about the recent uptick in police killings.

"The rise in police presence on the streets and communities of Rio brings a rise in productivity and activity - and also in clashes," she said, adding that arrests and the number of pacification operations have increased across the city.

But according to Misse, police impunity persists, and the justice system must be reformed. He said statistics from several years ago indicate only about three percent of police-killing cases ever go to court. Asked if today's figures are similar, Misse agreed. "It's like this," he said.