![[Valid Atom 1.0]](valid-atom.png "Validate my Atom 1.0 feed")
BBC MUNDO RADIO
theaustralian.com.au
- From: AAP
- December 01, 2010
A Brazilian Navy soldier takes a picture of a colleague atop an armored carrier at Alemao hill. Source: AP
Troops who helped chase drug gangs out of the most notorious nest of slums in Rio De Janeiro will stay "as long as necessary to secure the peace'', Brazil's president says.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has approved a request from Rio authorities for hundreds of soldiers to remain deployed in the northern Complexo do Alemao slum well into next year, and perhaps beyond.
Military units, using helicopters and armoured vehicles, last week backed police in sweeping away the gangs that had turned the zone into the most feared and lawless part of Rio.
The operation, unprecedented in scale, was seen as vital in securing Rio ahead of its hosting duties for World Cup football events in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016.
Media reported that Lula - who is to step down on January 1, handing power to his former chief of staff, president-elect Dilma Rousseff - had renewed his support of a crime crackdown started three years ago by Rio's state governor Sergio Cabral.
The public backing came after 2600 police and soldiers brandishing high-calibre weapons on Sunday grabbed control of the slum area.
A total of 37 people were killed in the fighting, 130 people were arrested, and caches of drugs and weapons were seized.
Most of the gang members, though, were said to have escaped through the sewerage system. A state-wide manhunt for them was under way.
The operation was hailed as a bold - and long overdue - action to impose the rule of law in Rio's feared favelas, many of which sidle up hills alongside some of its most touristy districts.
Police were omnipresent in the Complexo do Alemao on Tuesday, patrolling the streets as locals warily resumed their lives after days of sheltering from the exchanges of fire.
"The criminals aren't hiding out among us, but the climate is tense,'' said one 22-year-old resident, Alex Santos, as he cleaned potatoes and bananas for sale outside his home.
Although the situation was calm, fear remained.
"We are worried about reprisals,'' one shopkeeper said.
But an officer with a crack police squad known as the BOPE, for Battalion for Special Police Operations told AFP the unit had scored a long-term victory.
"We are proud to have freed these people from the oppression from this group of criminals,'' he said.
He regretted, however, that many of the gang members had not stood their ground for more involved combat.
"They all scuttled away. They were fearful,'' he said.
The lament was not shared by Maria Aparecida, a 53-year-old store employee in the slum.
She said she was relieved the military sweep "occurred almost without shooting, fairly calmly'', unlike previous confrontations that made slums streets look like a war zone.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário