adminBRASILIA. —A 270-strong police force yesterday occupied a favela in western Rio riven by drug violence, as authorities pursue their pre-World Cup crime crackdown.A convoy of police armoured vehicles met no resistence after driving into the area before sunrise — although some residents had set up barricades of trash, piles of wood and, in one case, a sofa to slow their progress.
Military police general chief of staff Colonel Paulo Henrique de Moraes told reporters the police operation in Vila Kennedy, a slum built in the mid 1960s and home to some 25,000 people, was a first step before installing a police pacification unit (UPP).
Over the past six years, Rio authorities have set up 37 of these pacification units in favelas as part of efforts to crack down on violent crime ahead of this year’s World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Vila Kennedy, named after the former US President, has been the scene of violent clashes between opposing drug trafficking groups living on either side of the Avenida Brasil thoroughfare which bisects the shanty town.
Tensions rose in recent weeks after one ringleader shifted his loyalties to another group, sparking several shoot-outs. In one last month, a suspected drug dealer was killed. On his arm he bore a tattoo reading “the price of treason is death.”
“The operation in Vila Kennedy has attained its objective,” said Rio security affairs secretary Jose Mariano Beltrame.
The government plans to mount operations in two more favelas before the World Cup starts in June.
To date, more than 9,000 police officers have taken up position in 253 favelas.
However, there has been a re-emergence of violent crime in economically disadvantaged parts of Rio in recent weeks, with 16 police killed since January, three in “pacified” slums. — AFP.
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