From wonderful city to terrified city: Rio de Janeiro was plunged into terror on Monday night with bands of parapolice militiamen setting fire to 35 buses, a train, a transport station and four trucks.
In a complete paradox, the attacks on the transportation system occurred while the governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro, congratulated the Police for the action that ended with the death of Matheus da Silva Rezende, known as Faustão, and number two of the militia groups that are fighting for criminal control of Rio de Janeiro in a tough battle with drug trafficking gangs.
“Rio’s largest militia demonstrated its strength and paralyzed the state capital in retaliation for the death of one of its main members,” noted O Globo.
The militia band, founded more than two decades ago by former police officers, although today it involves many people who are not and were not police officers, is in the midst of an internal war. Since the death of its former boss, Wellington da Silva Braga, known as “Ecko”, and uncle of “Faustão”, killed by the Police in 2021, the militia is going through a period of fragmentation. At the same time, it is under increasing pressure from drug trafficking, which is trying to recover territories it has lost in recent years.
The militia controls areas of the populous western sector of Rio de Janeiro, but is in strong dispute with drug traffickers on very touristy beaches such as Recreio dos Bandeirantes or the Jacarepaguá area, where for years a Formula 1 Grand Prix was held.
In all of these areas, violent deaths have skyrocketed this year, while in the state as a whole, violent lethality has decreased.
In Jacarepaguá, where the group has been losing control at the hands of drug traffickers, deaths increased by 156 percent.
The attacks left the population in panic and caused chaos in the transportation system. The inhabitants of the region took hours to get home or had to sleep at work or at the stations.
Governor Castro spoke this Tuesday about the consequences of the attacks and the measures to be taken. “Of the 12 people who were arrested yesterday, six have been confirmed. We have evidence of authorship and materiality. Another six, due to lack of evidence, have been released, but the investigations and monitoring of these people continue,” he said.
“My orientation is that the entire force of Rio de Janeiro be on the streets. Vehicles, armored vehicles, helicopters, drones, both the Civil Police and the Military Police, the Penitentiary Police also with maximum caution and alert. Until the situation is completely stabilized, this will be our position to guarantee the tranquility of citizens and preserve their right to come and go,” Castro added at a press conference.
