Development & Aid, Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean, Population

BRAZIL: Gang War Has Rio Police, Residents Scrambling for Solutions

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 12 2004 (IPS) - "I almost had a heart attack. The gunshots seemed like they were being fired inside my house. The walls shook and my blood pressure went sky high," says Roseli Gomes, resident of Rocinha, the "favela" where drug gangs and the police have been clashing for the past four days.

Ten people have died so far in the battles between two rival drug-trafficking groups, and between them and the police in Rocinha, the biggest slum in Rio de Janeiro, located on the hillsides not far from the city’s famed beach districts.

Gomes thinks the tensions here are comparable to the situation in Iraq.

One of the victims was a neighbour of hers, a 56-year-old bricklayer, who was hit by a stray bullet while on his house’s balcony, Michele, Roseli’s daughter, told IPS. Michele, 18, and her younger sister did not go to school on Monday, fearing further gun fighting.

Roseli, however, did take the risk and left the house to go to her job at a cleaning company. But when her daughters alerted her that the shooting had started up again, she decided to return home immediately before the battle became more intense, "as it usually does in the afternoon."

This recent outbreak of violence has had a strong impact because it is occurring in big favelas located between rich neighbourhoods. It has heightened tensions across the city, triggering new debate on how to handle crime and insecurity in Brazil’s emblematic city.

Luiz Paulo Conde, assistant governor and secretary of environment for Rio de Janeiro state, announced that three-metre walls would be built around four favelas: Rocinha, Vidigal, Parque da Cidade and Chácara do Céu, with the declared purpose of preventing their expansion from destroying the city’s forested areas.

However, the walls are also seen as an effort to fight drug trafficking.

The project has already come under fire, including from Rio mayor Cesar Maia himself. He accused the state government of "autism" – for failing to recognise reality.

Gunfire has become an ongoing danger in Rocinha since early Friday, when a large group of armed men invaded the favela seeking – according to residents and the police – to push out and replace the gang that controlled the drug trade in a part of the neighbourhood.

Sixty people participated in the operation, according to a drug chief arrested on Sunday. But there are reports that the group was even larger. The intervention by the police, who arrived after a woman was killed on a street that was closed off by the attacking band, seems only to have expanded the gun battle.

As of Monday, 990 police occupied Rocinha and the neighbouring favela Vidigal, where the invading group reportedly came from.

Another 247 police are conducting "street-by-street" searches to remove "the 112 invading bandits" from Rocinha, said Renato Hottz, commander of Rio de Janeiro’s militarised police.

An operation of this magnitude is unprecedented, and could "win the war, but the greater challenge is to achieve peace," in other words, to create a climate of permanent calm in the neighbourhood, says Rubem Cesar Fernandes, coordinator of the non-governmental organisation Viva Rio, active in several of the city’s favelas.

Fernandes convened residents from the two favelas and from neighbouring districts to take part in a dialogue to seek solutions that involve the government, civil society and the private sector.

That does not mean extinguishing the drug trade, a goal that is in the realm of fantasy, he said, but rather curbing violence, which is a product of the battle for power.

Drug trafficking exists in all parts of the world, and is not necessarily always accompanied by criminal violence as it is in Rio’s favelas, said Fernandes.

Rocinha itself has had drug traffickers for a long time, but "five years ago it was a peaceful neighbourhood," able to develop business and a population with purchasing power similar to that of Brazil’s middle class, said Fernandes, an anthropologist who made a name for himself as a leader of social mobilisations in Rio de Janeiro.

The favela even became attractive to banks, which saw less insolvency among their clients there than in wealthier districts. Foreign tourists also wanted to see life inside the favela, which generated jobs.

Residents say the drug traffickers contributed in their way to keeping the peace: they chased out thieves and other criminals, that is, until a few years ago when the drug lord known as Denis was sent to prison where he was murdered.

The current battle, according to the police, pits the gang of Luciano da Silva, alias "Lulu" and controller of the drug trade in Rocinha, against the "invading" gang of Eduíno de Araujo, alias "Dudu" and recent escapee from prison. He apparently wants to recover power over the favela.

The local inhabitants fear the return of Dudu, who is known for his particularly violent actions.

"The only solution is to move away," Roseli Gomes told IPS. She said the only reason she has not is because she has nowhere to go with all of her pets – six cats, two dogs and several birds. And because her older daughter wants to stay.

"I haven’t slept at all in the past few days. I see the houses full of holes, the schools and businesses are closed and the buses don’t come up the hill to where we live," she said.

But Michele likes Rocinha – "a wonderful community", she says – though she experienced moments of terror and tears when the invasion by the Dudu band began.

She thinks that moving will be inevitable if the war and the violence continue, which is likely if the invading group proves successful.