Brazil cracks down on drug gangs (military vehicles enter slum in northern Rio de Janeiro)

[Turborama]

Source: Al Jazeera English

Brazil has sent heavily armoured military vehicles into a slum in Rio de Janeiro in a major escalation of the government's fight against drug related crime in the city's shantytowns.

Police said on Thursday that drug gang leaders have been seen fleeing the Vila Cruzeiro slum as Brazilian authorities work to "retake" the area. "At this moment, Vila Cruzeiro belongs to the state," Rodrigo Oliveira, a police spokesman, said.

More than 17,000 police officers have been deployed across the city, and at least 30 suspected drug traffickers have been killed since the operation began on Sunday, police officials said.

=snip=

Bloody clash anticipated

Al Jazeera's Gabriel Elizondo has been monitoring the situation from Sao Paulo, and said that the public hospital nearest to Vila Cruzeiro has been "urgently sending out messages for all of the trauma doctors to please come to the hospital immediately, because they're expecting that this could get very bloody".

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/11/2010112517548384962.html

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This story is being regularly updated. Video report has been added to the article.


Riot policemen are expected to clash with the masked, armed gang members setting up positions
in Vila Cruzeiro (AFP)

[DeSwiss]

1. K&R

Here we go.

[nyy1998]

2. Looks like they're starting the cleanup job for the 2014 World Cup & 2016 Olympics nt

[Lucky Luciano]

3. Sounds like it. They do need to show they are a burgeoning first world country and

Not a banana republic.

[Blue_Tires]

13. they need to start early...for years the drug warlords have

ruled some neighborhoods by fiat since the cops essentially abandoned them years ago...

[unkachuck]

14. making streets safe....

....for the corporate interest is always job-one....the dough won't flow until they get control....

[Turborama]

4. Update: Police 'reclaim' Brazilian slum (& link to the video which has been moved)

Police say they have retaken a sprawling slum area from drug gangs in the Brazilian capital after a five-day assault that killed more than two dozen people.

The government sent armoured military vehicles with high-calibre machine guns into Vila Cruzeiro, a major shantytown in northern Rio de Janeiro, in a concerted crackdown on drug gangs on Sunday.

Police said armoured vehicles backed by helicopters, snipers and thousands of heavily armed men from the military police and navy, with another 17,500 reinforcements were "on alert" for the operation.

At least 30 suspected drug traffickers were reportedly killed since the operation began on Sunday.

More: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/11/2010112635513755848.html

The video has been moved from the article in the OP and they've changed it back to how it was before they updated it earlier. Looking for it now.

ETA Found the video: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/11/20101125235552233602.html

[Festivito]

5. Youtube link to video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYImPKNbodM&feature=channel

They are fighting a way of life entrenched for generations in these poor flavelas. That will make one hard road to hoe.

[reggie the dog]

6. and just how are brazillian memebers of the middle class going to

get their weed and cocaine? IN OTHER FLAVELLAS! and how are the drug dealers and all the little workers in their gangs going to feed their families? by robbing people????

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. I don't know, how do middle class drug users in rich countries' big cities get theirs? -nt

[reggie the dog]

11. here in france we go to the projects, stand in line sometimes up to 15

people outside the door of the housing project building, go inside the stairway and get whatever we want. in the countryside we have dealers we go to, in the city we just go to the projects or citées as they are called.

[lunatica]

7. And people believe only the drug dealers are killed?

yeah, right.

Or that the police are winning this battle?

[Turborama]

8. Al Jazeera English are very careful about the way they report things

You'll notice there are a lot of qualifiers in there.

Here's their http://iwantaje.com/code">code of ethics.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

9. The police ARE indeed winning this battle.

I'm here, right in the middle of things. Believe me.

Moreover, this operation had surprisingly few abuses. Probably because the armed forces and the Feds are in it along with the police.

Amazingly, I see a glimpse of us getting our shit together.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. "dozens of suspected dealers executed without trial"

Point me to reports of this happening in the mentioned operations.

[ret5hd]

15. Good luck and safety, CPD.

you have long been one of my faves .