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LATIN AMERICA |
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Drug
Kingpins Transferred from Rio Prisons Amid
Wave of Violence
RIO DE JANEIRO – Rio de Janeiro authorities,
facing a wave of violence that has already
cost 39 lives in one week, transferred
Saturday 10 drug kingpins to a jail in Mato
Grosso do Sul in order to minimize their
power.
“They’re highly dangerous convicts, the
umbilical cord of the drug trade,” said Lt.
Col. Milton Correa, among those in charge of
moving the criminals from the Rio jails to a
maximum-security prison in Campo Grande,
capital of Mato Grosso state.
Twenty police vans and squad cars were
mobilized to move the drug lords to the Rio
de Janeiro airport surrounded by strong
security measures, a scenario that was
repeated at Campo Grande airport some 2,000
kilometers (1,243 miles) away.
According to police, the criminals who were
transferred belong to rival drug-trafficking
factions known as Comando Vermelho (Red
Command) and Amigos de los Amigos (Friends
of Friends), who a week ago unleashed a
series of battles in different “favelas,” or
shantytowns, around the city for control of
drug points of sale.
The bloodiest incidents occurred in the
favela known as Morro dos Macacos, where a
week ago police intervened to control the
violence, but met with strong resistance
from the criminals who even shot down a
helicopter gunship, killing three of its
four crew members.
Since then the violence has spread to a
number of slums controlled by drug
traffickers and, according to authorities,
as of Friday 39 people had died, including
three police and three young people who had
nothing to do with the conflict.
According to official figures, 2,000 police
have taken part in these operations, 58
people have been arrested and 38
high-caliber weapons and five grenades have
been confiscated.
Last weekend’s carnage caused panic across
the city and attracted international
attention in the wake of Rio’s selection to
host the 2016 Summer Olympics, as even the
Brazilian press raised questions about
whether police would be able to pacify the
favelas in time for the games.
But Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva vowed to address the problem and
promised 100 million reais ($58.8 million)
to the Rio de Janeiro state police to
replace the lost helicopter and upgrade
their equipment.
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