BRAZIL: Army Called Out on Eve of Carnival

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 27 2003 (IPS) - Federal army troops in Brazil will take part in an operation aimed at curbing a wave of drug gang- related violence that has Rio de Janeiro on edge on the eve of its renowned Carnival celebration, which draws hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.

Federal army troops in Brazil will take part in an operation aimed at curbing a wave of drug gang- related violence that has Rio de Janeiro on edge on the eve of its renowned Carnival celebration, which draws hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.

The decision was reached by leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a meeting with his ministers of defence, José Viegas, and justice, Marcio Thomaz Bastos, due to the climate of insecurity that has had Rio, the capital of Brazil’s carnival season – which officially begins Friday and runs through Mar. 5 – in its grip since Monday.

Thirty-four buses and over a dozen cars were set on fire in Rio’s metropolitan area, mainly on Monday and Tuesday.

In addition, armed men belonging to a drug gang ordered the closure of businesses and schools in around 20 neighbourhoods, three bombs were set off in the upscale district of Ipanema, and several supermarkets were looted or shot at when they refused to close.

A 70-year-old woman who sustained burns on 60 percent of her body in one of the bus-burning incidents died Thursday afternoon. In addition, several people have been seriously injured, including a woman who suffered burns on 30 percent of her body, and another who was hit by a bullet.

A written message distributed to businesses in the city said the actions were coordinated by the ”Red Command” – Comando Vermelho (CV) in Portuguese – against the ”abuse of power” by the local government and its ”policy of sowing terror” in poor neighbourhoods.

The message also demanded justice for imprisoned members of the gang, which is involved in drug-trafficking and other criminal activities.

In a counteroffensive, the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro deployed 28,000 police officers and military police to maintain law and order during Carnival, which was expected to draw around 380,000 tourists, 40 percent of them from abroad.

Rio de Janeiro state Governor Rosinha Matheus asked the central government to lend 3,000 army troops to the local law enforcement efforts, and Lula approved the request.

One of the first measures taken by what has been named ”Operation Safe Rio” was the transfer of the head of CV, the city’s leading drug baron, in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Luiz Fernando da Costa, better known as Fernandinho Beira-Mar (after the Beira-Mar ”favela” or shantytown), was taken to a maxium security prison in Presidente Bernardes, a city in the interior of the state of Sao Paulo, considered Brazil’s most secure penitentiary.

Authorities say Beira-Mar was coordinating the operations of his gang from a smuggled cell phone from the Bangu I prison on the outskirts of Rio, even though he was being held in isolation.

The deployment of police and troops is aimed at regaining control over 13 favelas dominated by the CV. In one of the slum neighbourhoods, five alleged drug traffickers were killed in a shootout with police Thursday.

On Sep. 30, 2002, the CV triggered panic in Rio and nearby cities with a similar coordinated offensive that brought many shops, banks, schools and part of the mass transit system to a halt.

This week’s incidents have demonstrated that ”the city is divided” between areas controlled by the CV and those under the influence of another major drug gang, the ”Third Command” (TC), Leda de Azevedo, president of the Lar San Francisco de Paula Foundation (Funlar), a municipal humanitarian assistance organisation, told IPS.

Funlar’s central office is located near two favelas that are home to thousands of families, in Vila Isabel, a district near the centre of Rio, and the foundation’s staff frequently finds itself caught up in tense situations.

One member of the staff collected five stray bullets she found in the offices and hallways of Funlar’s headquarters, which has had to close its doors – especially those of the daycare centre that attends 375 children – on a number of opportunities due to threats that shootouts might occur.

Funlar also offers night school classes to prepare students for admission to the university, as well as other services.

But the foundation and the slum neighbourhoods it serves were in ”total peace” this week, because the two nearby favelas are controlled by the TC, which had ”nothing to do with the terror set loose in the city,” said Azevedo.

The problems occur when the neighbourhoods are attacked by the rival group or become the targets of police sweeps, she explained.

The TC drug bosses ”respect” Funlar and punish any members of the gang that inflict harm on the foundation, most of whose staff and beneficiaries are residents of the nearby favelas, said Azevedo.

That is reflected by the foundation’s ”clean” walls, which stand in contrast to the graffiti-filled walls seen all over the city, added Azevedo, who served as the municipal government’s under-secretary for social development.

Although violent crime has always been a fact of life in Rio, it intensified when powerful drug trafficking gangs began to emerge in the 1970s.

The image of a city dominated by organised crime is strengthened by ”terror tactics” like this week’s coordinated actions, said Azevedo. A few dozen armed men acting simultaneously in different parts of the city are enough to generate widespread panic, because they ”seem like thousands,” she pointed out.

While the latest wave of violence has brought a heightened sense of insecurity for local residents, it is especially terrifying for people from outside the city, and scares away tourists, said a high school teacher who lives in Copacabana, a Rio neighbourhood that traditionally draws many visitors but is becoming ”more and more violent.”

Luiza, as she identified herself to IPS, teaches in Ramos, which is located near several favelas.

”I have relatives in southern Brazil who don’t even dare go through the Rio airport or train station to visit family members who live in a city near here,” she said.