Violence plagues Rio as it preps for World Cup
RIO DE JANEIRO — Security forces dispatched reinforcements to Rio de Janeiro’s biggest shanty towns over Christmas to try to contain an outbreak of violence that threatens to derail the city’s pacification campaign ahead of the 2014 World Cup.
Extra police were drafted in to Rocinha, one of Latin America’s most notorious favelas — ghettos — after an officer and a resident were injured on Christmas Day, amid intensifying gun fights with drug traffickers.
The confrontations flared in the wake of the alleged torture and murder of a resident by police, and come amid a growing backlash against the landmark program intended to end the dominance of drug gangs and militias.
Launched five years ago, the highprofile initiative involved police occupations in dozens of irregular shanty communities, with 36 special “police pacifying units” (UPP) set up before hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors descend on the city for the tournament.
But despite Rocinha’s having been “pacified” in 2011, the shootouts have returned. Recently, two police officers and three locals were injured.
The catalyst appears to have been the case of Amarildo de Souza, a bricklayer, who disappeared in July when he was questioned by special- unit police. Since then, 25 police officers have been charged with his torture and murder.
“It’s a thousand times worse since the UPP was installed,” said Jacky Caetano, 46, who was one of de Souza’s neighbours but left because of the violence. “Everyone is frightened. Every day there are shootings.”
Sprawling over the hillside, Rocinha, with a population of more than 70,000, overlooks the affluent neighbourhood of Sao Conrado.
Tensions are particularly high after Major Edson Santos, the former Rocinha UPP commander, was implicated in the Amarildo case.
“Now, no one knows who is a criminal, who is police,” said Caetano, a mother of five.