“The state government (of Rio) begins a recovery of the territory in the community of Jacarezinho. Surrounding communities will also be occupied,” the force stated in one of the messages, accompanied by photographs and videos of uniformed men dressed in black patrolling the streets.
Until now, the situation was “apparently calm” and there have been no “shootouts” between gangs and the authorities, said the spokesman for the Military Police, Ivan Blaz, according to what was reported by the AFP news agency.
“It was necessary for us to do this fence work and now we have to seek compliance with search and arrest warrants and verification of old prison termsBlaz added.
The mega-operation is part of a government program, baptized Integrated City, to transform “the communities of the state of Rio” where criminal gangs and drug traffickers operate, Governor Cláudio Castro said on Twitter.
“They spent months developing a program that changes the lives of the population, bringing dignity and opportunity. Today’s operations are just the beginning of a change that goes beyond security,” he said.
Castro, who said he will give more details, said last week that the initiative will differ from those of other times, when the authorities applied a military strategy against criminal groups.
Experts in security and violence question this approach due to its few results and high death rates.
Jacarezinho, center of the operation, was the scene last May of a bloody police raid that left 29 dead, including a uniformed man.
The police action was intended to dismantle a gang that recruited children and adolescents for drug trafficking, robbery, kidnapping and murder.
Human rights organizations described it as the deadliest police operation in the history of Rio de Janeiro and denounced summary executions, which the UN asked to investigate.
Since last October, two agents have been prosecuted for homicide.
The extreme right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, who won the 2018 presidential elections with a strong-arm speech against crime, supported the police.
Source From: Ambito
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