|
Newsbrief:
12
Dead
in
Brazil
as
Drug
Police
Raid
Shantytowns
1/17/03
A January 10 anti-drug operation
by police in two of Rio de Janeiro's shantytowns resulted in the deaths
of 12 persons -- 11 alleged traffickers and one policeman -- before the
bullets stopped flying, according to BBC and local press reports.
There was, however, no mention of wounded persons, who usually appear as
casualties along with the dead in actual gun battles or combat. Nor
was it clear whether any arrests had been made or drugs seized.
Police sources told reporters
a police raiding force of 250 men searching for four alleged traffickers
came under gunfire from residents when it attempted to enter the shantytowns
of Corea and Rebu. According to numerous press reports, many of Rio's
shantytowns -- the home to millions of people -- have been ignored by the
state and are effectively governed by drug trafficking organizations known
as "commands." The commands organize and provide basic services for
residents, as well as openly selling their wares (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/257.html#parallelpower).
The commands organized armed
strikes in Rio just before last fall's elections, a move some observers
said was a warning to the Workers' Party, whose candidate, Luis Inacio
"Lula" da Silva, won the presidential election. A Workers' party
governor in Rio de Janeiro province had weeks earlier organized sharp attacks
on the commands.
-- END --
|
Issue #272, 1/17/03
The Road to Mérida: Interviews with Participants in the "Out from the Shadows" Campaign | The Road to Mérida: Interview with Dr. Francisco Fernandez, Anthropologist and Former Rector of Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán | The Road to Mérida: Interview with Al Giordano, publisher of Narco News | Bolivian Government Represses Coca Protests, Four Dead... So Far | Ed Rosenthal Medical Marijuana Trial Underway -- Judge Blocks Mention of Prop. 215, Has Trouble Seating Jury | Canadian Prime Minister Promises Motion on Decriminalization as Courts Continue to Chip Away at Marijuana Laws | Latin American Anti-Prohibition Conference, Feb. 12-15, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico | Cumbre Internacional Sobre Legalización, 15-Dec Febrero, Mérida, México | Newsbrief: Souder Pushes Partial HEA Reform, Frank to Reintroduce Drug Provision Repeal Bill | Newsbrief: Racine Caves Before the Ravers | Newsbrief: MPP "War on Drug Czar" Continues -- State Reacts to Allegations | Newsbrief: 12 Dead in Brazil as Drug Police Raid Shantytowns | Newsbrief: Mexican Soldiers Bust Narcs | Newsbrief: Colombian President Seeks Iraq-Like Mobilization Against Traffickers | Newsbrief: Some Colombian Terrorists May Be More Equal Than Others | Newsbrief: Alaska Lieutenant Governor Disqualifies Marijuana Legalization Petition Signatures, Proponents Vow Fight | Newsbrief: Return of the RAVE Act | Newsbrief: Ecstasy Rarely Kills, British Study Finds | Alan Shoemaker Ayahuasca Legal Defense Fund Needs Support | Media Scan: Washington on Forchion, Cockburn on Rosenthal, Forbes on Walters, Szasz on Drug Medicalization, Bruce McKinney, GAO on DARE | DC Job Opportunity at DRCNet -- Campus Coordinator | The Reformer's Calendar
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
PERMISSION to reprint or
redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle (formerly The Week Online with DRCNet is hereby
granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and,
where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your
publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks
payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for
materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we
request notification for our records, including physical copies where
material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network,
P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202)
293-8344 (fax), e-mail [email protected]. Thank
you.
Articles of a purely
educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet
Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
|
