[Really-OT] Rio is at a state of war

[Andre Garzia]

Folks,

This is just a heads up plus me needing to vent it out. Rio de Janeiro is in
a state of un-assumed war for a week now. Criminal factions are trying to
spread terror by burning car, buses and whatever they can on the street,
sometimes without giving any warning to those inside. We're living with this
crap for so long that we're not impressed anymore. As many here don't know
we have really big slums, complexo do alemão slum is home to 400 thousand
people alone and it is not the biggest one. Yesterday, the Rio de Janeiro
Special Police Forces allied with Everyone-Carrying-A-Badge took Vila do
Cruzeiro slum from the criminals and they are retaliating. There are tanks
on the street here and criminals are trying to shoot down the police armored
helicopter. Police is using clanfs (Amphibious Armored light tanks from our
marines) to break down barricades on the slums.

Brazil is a strange place, we have many police forces. There is the Civil
Police (Investigation), the Military Police (Pursuit criminals, maintain
order), Federal Police, National Force, All the different special ops but no
matter how many forces we have, in Rio there is one called BOPE (Batalhão de
Operações Especiais, special ops battalion) which is the best police in the
country but it is really not there to take criminals to justice but to wage
war against organized crime, they dress in black and their symbol is the
loved/hated skull with a knife and two pistols. Yesterday I saw them with
their black armored tanks invading a slum while the foot troops shouted:
"We're going to collect your souls!!!". And believe it or not, 350 BOPE
troppers are all the barrier there is between the common city dweller and
crime. Here in Rio a 14 years old robber will be carrying a AK-47, believe
me, I've seen it and been robbed by it.

What is happening now is a reaction from organized crime to the UPP
(Peace/Pacifying Police Units) which are a mixture of barracks, police
station, goverment presence that is being installed into each slum as we
retake them from crime. Basically after BOPE + Civil Police retake a slum,
they install this huge UPP where there is a permanent presence and
occupation by officers and goverment officials thus making crime somewhat
hard. As BOPE invaded Vila do Cruzeiro yesterday, at least 200 criminals
carrying AK-47 and other nasties fled to the neighbour slum Complexo do
Alemão. There are at least 40 deaths (official deaths which means the true
number is probably 3 or 4 times that) and 50 vehicles burned and more. This
situation is expected to last probably until next year and an things are
expected to aggravate soon as the police advance. Never in this country, the
common people sided with the police like we're seeing now, usually common
poor people would host and hide criminals. Now they are all asking and
tipping the cops, which is good, never seen that in here.

Heck as I am writing this email a black police helicopter just passed by my
window, it is circling a slum near my place, some of the heads behind the
terror wave are supposed to live in there...

Yesterday, on my city block alone there were 4 robberies and what we call
"Arrastão" which is when a huge number of criminals will band together and
run thru the streets robbing everyone on sight. Heck, when you see such
thing, you just run.

So, if you know anyone coming to Rio now or in the next month, tell them not
to come. If they do, make sure they stay safe and by safe I mean make sure
they know someone local to keep them out of the terror zones and make sure
they understand that Rio is under what we can call siege.

If anyone here wants to know what it is to live here because I think most on
this list have no clue, please watch a movie called "Elite Troop" (Tropa de
Elite) and "Elite Troop 2" (Tropa de Elite 2) which are the biggest box
office ever here. They are fictional but they are as close to the truth as
it is possible to go. They are about a real BOPE commander and his quest to
find his replacement in Rio under siege. This happened, he is real and I
just saw him on TV yesterday. The film is a drama/action movie and might
help people here see a side of Rio that the goverment and tourism agents
don't want to let you know.

Hiding behind 30cm of concrete and driving fast
Andre Alves Garzia
PS: I grew up here so I think this is all somewhat normal but it should not
be.


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http://www.andregarzia.com All We Do Is Code.