Reinforcements join crackdown on Rio drug gangs

Rio's slums saw sporadic violence on Friday as hundreds of soldiers and police joined a widening crackdown on drug gangs that has killed at least 34 people in less than a week.

Isolated gunfights broke out between security forces and gangs in the Complexo do Alemao slum, as troops and police patrolled nearby neighborhoods in a bid to secure territory already pried from the gangs' grip.

Police forced gang members out of the Vila Cruzeiro slum with the aid of tank-like M113 armored personnel carriers and on Thursday claimed to have taken control of the densely populated area.

Authorities are seeking to impose order on the notoriously violent slums -- known here as favelas -- before Brazil hosts two of the planet's largest sporting events: the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics two years later.

But scores of armed men scrambled up the hills surrounding Vila Cruzeiro toward the Morro do Alemao favela at the height of Thursday's crackdown, an indication the fighting is far from over.

Roberto Sa, a senior official with the state of Rio de Janeiro, said that soldiers and police were surrounding the area to Morro do Alemao to prevent the traffickers from escaping.

Sa told reporters that there were no immediate plans to storm the district, but Rio state security chief Jose Beltrame later said that security forces could go "wherever we want... at any time we please" -- a threat aimed at keeping the gangs off-balance.

Beltrame spoke at a press conference along with Governor Sergio Cabral, the head of Brazil's military, Army General Jose Carlos De Nardi, and Defense Minister Nelson Jobim.

Meanwhile photographer Paulo Whitaker with the news agency Reuters was confirmed to have been shot in the shoulder Friday while covering the unrest, but the injury was said to be "not life threatening."

Jobim has authorised the deployment of 10 military armored vehicles, two Air Force helicopters and 800 soldiers, to be added to the 17,500 police already engaged in the crackdown. Some 300 federal police were also dispatched to bolster local forces.

But the gangs have fought back, torching nine more buses overnight, according to local media, bringing to more than 80 the total number of vehicles torched since the fighting began.

The dramatic crackdown against gangs that have terrorized the resort city for years has received widespread support.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and president-elect Dilma Rousseff both voiced support for the police sweep and offered federal backing.

On Friday, area merchants cautiously opened their shops, still fearful that they would be forced to close if bullets started to fly.
"I'm terrified," said Mariza, 44, who owns a toy store in Vila Cruzeiro. "I opened for business because I have to make money to pay my rent and my bills, but I might have to close again in 10 minutes."

Sales are down anyway because few people dare to leave their homes, she said.

Leonardo, a 25-year-old man who sells construction material, agreed.
"I've sold nothing since yesterday," he said. But he quickly added: "The police action is very positive. I've always lived here and I want to have some peace."

Many residents welcomed what they said was long-overdue action to combat the gangs. A record number of calls flooded a hotline as locals tried to help authorities nab suspects.

Police said they have killed 34 suspected drug traffickers and detained 190 suspects since the violence erupted late Sunday, with gang members attacking police stations across northern Rio.

Police have said they are battling two drug gangs that have joined forces seeking to disrupt a two-year-old favela pacification program.
Around two million of Rio's inhabitants -- a third of the population -- live in more than 1,000 favelas.

The powerful drug gangs have long been a thorn in the side of police, and have been blamed for a string of attacks, including shooting down a police helicopter in October 2009.

Police also say drug gangs organised riots in 36 Brazilian prisons in 2006 that resulted in 50 deaths.
The drug gangs "are in the hills," said a woman named Adelina, 69, as she passed a cluster of police equipped with bullet-proof vests on her way to buy bread.

"But when the shooting starts, the police are as dangerous as the drug traffickers," she said.
"Yesterday I almost had a heart attack when I saw the criminals flee. The sons of several of my friends were among them.
"Now," she said, "I'm afraid that there will be a slaughter."

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