Brazilian police launch mega-operation in Rio de Janeiro favelas to fight organized crime

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro’s state law enforcement agencies launched a mega-operation with a force that includes nearly 2000 military and civil officers across ten low-income neighborhoods on Monday to regain control of areas dominated by organized crime, according to a statement by the state government.

The officers were deployed in Rio’s western zone, an area that has been the target of intense territorial disputes involving drug traffickers and militias in recent years.

The operation, which also seeks to carry out arrest warrants, has no end date. So far, police have made three arrests and have seized a car with three grenades inside.

“The state government’s security task force is on the streets to fight criminal organizations that want to take the population hostage,” said Rio state gov. Cláudio Castro, who was present at the military-police troops departure in Recreio at 4 am local time, the statement said.

Officers were deployed across the sprawling, urban neighborhoods – known as favelas – of Rio das Pedras, Terreirao, Cesar Maia/Coroado, Cidade de Deus, Muzema, Gardenia Azul, Tijuquinha, Fontela, Morro do Banco and Sitio do Pai Joao.

Launched by Rio’s state government, partners of the operation include the Navy, the municipal guard, cable TV and internet operators, and water, electricity and gas utilities.

The spread of organized crime in Rio’s western zone has led to fierce confrontations between law enforcement agencies and different factions of drug-trafficking groups and militias.

The militias — formed in the late 1980s to stop drug traffickers’ expansion — moved into land-grabbing and real estate more recently and control over half the territory in Rio’s metro region, according to a 2022 study from the Federal Fluminense University and the Fogo Cruzado Institute.

Associated Press