Rio cops, troops preparing to invade gang haven

[Bacchus39]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101127/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_brazil_rio_violence


By JULIANA BARBASSA, Associated Press Juliana Barbassa, Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO – Soldiers and police crouching behind armored vehicles trained their rifles on dozens of entrances to a sprawling slum Saturday, apparently preparing to invade and try to push drug gangs out an area long considered the most dangerous in Rio de Janeiro, a city set to host the 2016 Olympics.

A delicate calm held after a night that saw intense exchanges of gunfire, filling the dark sky with bright streaks as bullets whizzed into and out of the Alemao slum complex — an area near the highway to the international airport that is known locally as the "Gaza Strip."

Soldiers in camouflage, black-clad police from elite units and regular police held their ground at the entrances to the complex, a grouping of a dozen slums that climb up gentle slopes where more than 85,000 people live, according to the Brazilian government.

The standoff comes after a week of intense and widespread violence in Rio, with dozens of mass robberies of motorists on key roadways, more than 100 cars and buses set on fire and at least 35 deaths, mostly suspected traffickers.

[social_critic]

1. Cops 1 - Bad Guys 0

Looks like the take over of the favelas is going well. Most of the gangsters went into hiding or are being captured. So far today's toll has been 25 bad guys wounded, and the government announced they had full control. Now they need to make sweeps to recover weapons and drugs, and arrest about 500 gangsters who have been terrorizing the favela for so many years. If they can pull this off, and cart them to jail, crime should drop quite a bit in the area.