Rio Police Targeted More Trafficking Areas than Militia-Controlled Neighborhoods in 2019

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In 2019, the city of Rio de Janeiro recorded a higher number of police operations in areas controlled by drug factions than those dominated by militias in 2019. The findings are being verified by the Study Group on New Illegalities, the Rio de Janeiro Federal University (UFF) and the Observatory of Metropolises of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

According to the preliminary report, the neighborhoods where there is a predominance of dispute over territory (32.3 percent) account for the largest number of police operations (45.5 percent), followed by neighborhoods where the predominant armed group is the Comando Vermelho faction which, although they represent only 24.2 percent of neighborhoods under the control of armed groups, account for 40.9 percent of police operations.

In areas controlled by the Terceiro Comando drug faction, 6.9 percent of police operations were recorded.

“The opposite is true with militias: in 25.5 percent of neighborhoods under the control of armed groups, militias are predominant, yet only 6.5 percent of police operations in 2019 occurred in these neighborhoods,” says the study.

Militias are illegal armed groups, which have been gaining ground in the state of Rio, through the extortion of residents and shopowners and the control of clandestine services such as alternative transportation, cable TV and the sale of bottled gas, and “protection”, in addition to real estate.

According to researchers, the favoring of public power has been instrumental in the growth of militias in Rio. In addition to the low occurrence of police operations in territories under their control, the groups benefit from the absence of inspection to boost their activities in the real estate sector, whether it be in the formal market or through illegal constructions, says the study.

Another survey released this month showed that militias are present in over a fifth of Greater Rio’s neighborhoods. According to the study, militias control all favelas in 21.8 percent of the neighborhoods in the metropolitan region.

Source: Agência Brasil