Rio 2010. "War" has begun.

Since last sunday, 22 people were killed, 30 vehicles burnt, 150 people arrested in a sequence of events/crimes related to the confrontation between the police / state forces against criminals *linked* to drug dealers.

Link G1:News
Yahoo.Br News
Estadao Newspaper

It's on the news all around Brazil.

If you have good connection you can watch the News real-time: (sort of brazillian cnn) Band News

Now the amazing thing:
The news are, that these "attacks were orchestrated by criminals INSIDE prisons".
They (anchors, "news people",...) repeat it over and over again...
And also keep repeating that the criminals are doing this just to create panic, that criminals want to create havoc, that they are afraid and "lost control".
So, the police is announcing many operations (some happening right now) on different communities (slums cities) to RETALIATE.
Yes... they are going up the hills and getting a very warm reception: bullets from AKs, Uzis, hand grenades.
They get back with guns, drugs, and corpses.

This is happening as I type...

I just couldn't find anything good on it in english, so please... add if you can.



OK, my take on it:

This is what you get when you live under a corrupt system, that allows millions of people to live way under reasonable standards. That allows (and participates) on most drug schemes that are. That doesn't care about people, that cares about control.

Update: two more buses were set on fire.
Firefighters just put out the fire on the last one.

CNN has been reporting on bull$h!t all day today, while terrible stuffs going on all over the world. They've been promoting the airport scanners so much. Wow they're actually reporting on a student protest in London, for thirty seconds then back to the BS.

Take heed america, this is coming here. As more and more people slip into poverty, things like drugs, prostitution, kidnapping and underground slavery will seem like viable alternatives to making money. Remember that the next time you flip on FOX NEWS and start complaining about how "they want to steal our money via taxes!"

If alot of those social programs dont get paid for, can you imagine our slums, alot of cities dont have mountains for the criminals to slip away into, these gunfights will be on the streets.

Sounds like a revolution. Watch this my American Brothers & Sisters. Watch and learn.

Originally posted by harrytuttle
Sounds like a revolution. Watch this my American Brothers & Sisters. Watch and learn.

What the hell are you talking about? Im pretty liberal, and to me it sounds like narco terrorists using their massive budgets to fight against the police. As much as I think our goverment sucks, i dont think something like a coc aine cartel is an ideal replacement.

reply to post by Sator

Caraca mermao...eu ia visitar o Brasil esse fim de ano mais acho que nao vai dar....Rio com essa violencia toda, e melhor ir lah pra Floripa ou Caxias do Sul........lol.......Hey buddy thanks for reporting those......I'm brazilian and have lived everywhere from Belem to Floripa......been in Finland for couple years now and I'm quite scared of bringing my wife and kids to visit Rio....if I end up going I'll avoid Rio like I'd avoid the plague, even though some of my family actually lives there......where are you located at this moment?

This problem is the result of decades of prohibition and limits on freedom.
Combine that with the incredible wealth inequity and class war taking away more and more from the lower classes and this is what you get.

reply to post by ringht_n_wrong

Now, I'm in Sao Paulo.
I have residence in Floripa


aching_knuckles has a point. What is happening is not for "the good of the people". The men doing this are not the average hard working guys... those are real criminals doing criminal things.
But reality goes way beyond this.
The fact is, the government is not doing (as never have done) anything to BETTER this situation. All the government does is spend more money on weapons, "intelligence", armored vehicles for the police (Take a look at the famous Caveirao (something like "Big Skull", that elite police use for incursions inside slum cities.... so far...) and repression through violence...


This has been done for decades! And how did it help?
Every now and then there's a "wave of violence" that sweeps throughout the cities and it gets "contained" after many "coordinated operations with multi-governmental offices and agencies...
Every time it gets a little bigger.

Last year a similar thing happened in Sao Paulo... even a police station got attacked.
And I'm not talking about 2 or 3 bullets on a drive-by, I'm talking about half a dozen men shooting standing with machine guns, assault-rifles and hand grenades...

...where's this going to end?

Originally posted by aching_knuckles
Take heed america, this is coming here. As more and more people slip into poverty, things like drugs, prostitution, kidnapping and underground slavery will seem like viable alternatives to making money. Remember that the next time you flip on FOX NEWS and start complaining about how "they want to steal our money via taxes!"

If alot of those social programs dont get paid for, can you imagine our slums, alot of cities dont have mountains for the criminals to slip away into, these gunfights will be on the streets.

the career choices you point out-> drug cartels, prostitution rings, bondage/slavery are only now illegal or criminal because the corrupt authoritiarian government has not yet incorporated these into its body of taxable events.

i agree.... just wait !
the wall street and their bought politicians will sanitize all these human endeavors to be culturally acceptable as a means for the newly revived serfdom populace to be able to survive ...

Defense secretary Beltrame says that the tanks are "the first dose" of Marines support. g1.globo.com...
They are going in Vila Cruzeiro... some 70.000 people (all poor, mostly black) live there.

Take a look at this "baby".


150 officers involved in this "take over" attempt.

You can also read some articles and watch live news here: Globo News Online.

Stay tuned for this... big things are happening.

Update:


at 310 agents, 9 tanks dispatch after news chopper filmed and transmitted on live TV HUNDREDS of armed criminals fleeing the invading neighborhoods.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9df08ce323d3.jpg[/atsimg]


Update 2:
up to 50 vehicles destroyed.
up to 6 death due to operations

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b34e1562ad5b.jpg[/atsimg]


This graphic is from around 20h hours ago, but it gives some perspective.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/99aab2461ef0.jpg[/atsimg]

Quick translation, from left to right:
- Bus, van, or truck set on fire
- Car or motorcycle set on fire
- Police Stand attacked
- Violent Mob
- Street closed
- Shots exchange
- Police Pacifier Unity


Getting bigger and bigger many confrontations expected to happen.


I wish
Peace

reply to post by Sator

Good job with the translation Sator...Are you native Brazilian? Quite good english...plus the pictures posted are quite interesting. You can actually see the "Traficantes"(drug dealers) running for cover...I wonder if the militias are involved also.....and if they are actually helping in displacing those criminals...

reply to post by ringht_n_wrong


Hi there... yes, I'm 100% native Brazilian Thank you!

The Official Story is spinning this to something like inmates were supposed to have organized all this from inside, and many of the rival factions among drug dealers are now joining forces and hosting people from other factions against the police incursions AND organizing simultaneous attacks in the city.

About the militia, I wouldn't be surprise if they were involved. But the thing about the militia is that their "personnel" usually don't reside within their "work place". They are usually not as poor as the people in slums, and they are few in numbers if compared to the drug dealing army. If you ask me, I'd say most of them (specially those that act on Vila Cruzeiro) are at home watching the news scared as hell.

Take a look at this picture gallery.

Peace

The Conspiracy Spin!

As this subject didn't "take off", I started digging a little more about all this that happened and found evidence of conspiracy.

First, let me say that this is probably my last post on this thread, since it's clear to me this has not taken much "space" on international media specially because "it was not supposed to" anyway.

Second, the evidence I found points to the direction all this was "expected and allowed" to happen by authorities.
The toll:
Nine days of confrontations, 37 death, 205 guns, 123 arrests, 102 vehicles trashed. (Mind you, these are Official Numbers, some say they are sugar-coated).

Now for the conspiracy spin:
I have observed the media constantly trying to make police action heroic (despite the violence they are usually known for in Brazil) and turn the blame of the vandalism and violence on inmates (drug dealer leaders) that "ordered their pawns to deliver terrorist actions"... and yes, they (media) used the word "terrorist" a lot too.
All this (the heroes vs bad guys part) was so badly done that, at least for me, didn't look very realistic... almost as if we were watching a movie, or a bad episode of "24". You have to understand that the people from the places where police action happened are always AFRAID of the police because their violence... and now, on live TV, people were applauding and supporting the police like never seen before.

Something was smelling fishy so I dug up this:
- Around 10 months ago, there was a first try on Congress to vote for a law projetct called "PEC 300". The purpose of this law is to give a big raise for all police force around the country. Politicians (specially governors) were NOT pleased by the text because the money for the raise should came from the States Treasures, and you know how politicians are about giving money to others.
The law project was put aside and never voted.
One week before these "terrorist acts" started happening around the city, the subject of this law project was "ressurected" by the media.
Right now it's all about "the heroes that deserve a raise".


OK, let's get somethings straight:
The police in Brazil have really, really bad salaries and they DESERVE a raise and better work conditions too (training, guns, equipments, etc). But that would never give them the right to ALLOW criminal actions to take place only to move population in order to support their interests.
Of course is really hard to find PROOF of what I'm saying here only partial evidences...

So I just wanted to make this post to register my insights on this before I forget, since I know this subject is going into oblivion as you read this.

Links about PEC 300, all in portuguese:
www.camara.gov.br...
www.pec300.com...
twitter.com...


Peace

PS.: Sorry for any mistakes (typing, grammar, etc) as I'm not using any spelling check right now.

Brazil is a wild west town. Yes, Brazil has the Rio DE Janeiro Strip. Go one block back into the City and it's Nuts.

When my friend was in 2003, they did strafing runs from the Helos after midnight in the Ghetto. They figured anyone on the street after Midnight in the Ghetto was worth killing.

Their SF Guys were Bad Asses.

Originally posted by Ghost374
CNN has been reporting on bull$h!t all day today, while terrible stuffs going on all over the world. They've been promoting the airport scanners so much. Wow they're actually reporting on a student protest in London, for thirty seconds then back to the BS.

I have CNN on most of the day every day. I frequently find myself saying the same thing as you. "With all that's going on in the world right now, why is this drivel on?" By drivel I mean entertainment news and filler. They spend more time on American Idol than real news. And if it's actual news, it's nothing very important. We're not being informed, we're being led.

I find ATS to be my most turned to source for breaking news, continued coverage and informed opinion. And it's thanks to members like you Ghost347. Good luck, maintain angels and watch your six...

reply to post by Sator


And, we here in America get mad about people wanting to escape their situation to come up here.....

All i gotta say is, If i was living in Brazil right now, I'd be trying to come to America, too...