Arrest of Rio drug kingpin brings fear of power grab
BRAZIL - The high-profile arrest this week of Rio drug lord Rogério da Silva – known as Rogério 157 – was not celebrated in Rocinha, the favela he once fought to dominate.
Triumphant police officers posed with Da Silva for selfies after he was caught in an operation involving 3,000 troops and police. But in Rocinha the mood was of uncertainty, not celebration. Many expressed concern that more violence would rock a community that has barely known peace since being taken over by security forces in 2011 in a “pacification” programme which has since fallen apart. “Everyone is apprehensive,” said a small business owner, one of a number of residents who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. “Everybody is waiting for something and nobody knows what will come.” Da Silva – who was found hiding under a duvet on Wednesday morning – was wanted for homicide, extortion and drug trafficking, and a $15,000 reward had been offered for his arrest. Police say that he was responsible for a gang war that exploded in the favela earlier this year when he broke ranks with his former boss.
With an official population of 69,000 – and some estimates more than double that –Rocinha is Brazil’s biggest favela, a warren of steep alleys and winding streets sprawling across a hillside near more prosperous beachside neighbourhoods such as Leblon. The day after Da Silva’s arrest, shops and market stalls were open. Motorbike taxis beeped incessantly and people thronging the streets ignored heavily armed police. But tension swirled below the surface.
And one business owner said takings had halved since strife broke out in September. “With this whole war, business dropped off,” he said. Across the street, a police officer took a selfie. The violence continued even on the night of Da Silva’s arrest. Two men were shot during a shootout with police and later died in hospital. Police said they found a guns, ammunition and 34kg of marijuana with them. A third man died in the early hours of Thursday morning. Shots were fired at police on Friday morning who later said they arrested “one of the criminals” with a radio transmitter. Rogério 157 was named after the penal code for the street robberies he carried out before becoming a lieutenant to Antônio Bonfim Lopes, aka Nem, a charismatic drug lord from the Amigos dos Amigos (ADA, or Friends of Friends) gang. Nem was jailed in 2011 after Brazilian military took over the favela as part of a pre-Olympic policy to install police bases in communities controlled by armed drug gangs.
(theguardian)