Brazilian Army to Expand Operations Into Four Other Regions of Rio de Janeiro

03/01/2018 - 12h03

In addition to the city of Rio de Janeiro, the federal interveners have defined four other regions of the state where the Army will concentrate its plans to fight drug traffickers and, as it says, recover the operation capacity of both police branches, Civil and Military.

The military troops will act in tourist areas, such as the cities of Paraty and Angra dos Reis, in the south of the state, Niterói and São Gonçalo, in the metropolitan area, and the poorer outskirts of Baixada Fluminense.

Military actions are also planned to take place in the north of the state, where the petroleum producing cities of Macaé and Campos are.

These four areas are considered important because they represent the territories into which drug traffickers expanded their operations after the UPP (Pacifying Police Units) project began, which occupied the capital's slums several years ago.

As violence rates escalated in the state, President Michel Temer (MDB) signed a decree authorizing the federal intervention in Rio's public security, a measure adopted for the first time and supported by Rio de Janeiro's governor, Luiz Fernando Pezão (MDB).

The evasion of criminals to the countryside made crime rates skyrocket in these areas, mainly in Baixada Fluminense, home to some 3.5 million people in 12 cities.

In cities such as Paraty and Angra dos Reis, two of the main tourist destinations in Rio de Janeiro state, slums have been expanding since the 1990s.

In the last five years, these cities have seen their slums occupied by drug traffickers in much in the same way as it has been occurring historically in the capital.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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	Pilar Olivares/Reuters
	Members of the armed forces patrol the Kelson's slum during an operation against crime in Rio de Janeiro