10 December 2010

BRASIL: Rio's Favelas React WarilyTo Increased Police Presence.

NYTIMES/ ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO:
   "One week after the Alemão operation, the culmination of a weeklong street battle against drug gangs that claimed dozens of lives across Rio, residents here were viewing the security presence through cautious eyes.
    Gone was the initial euphoria when the police entered the community of 120,000 people on Nov. 28, prompting small children to frolic in a former drug trafficker’s rooftop swimming pool. By week’s end, residents had accused the police of dozens of abuses, including robberies and violent entries into their homes as officers scoured the slum for guns, drugs and money."
 AND:   "Even military officials have expressed concern that their soldiers would be “contaminated” by the “culture of corruption” inside Alemão, a high-ranking military officer acknowledged."