Mafias run by rogue police officers are terrorising Rio

[Judi Lynn]

President Jair Bolsonaro is turning a blind eye

Print edition | The Americas
May 30th 2019

Late last year mysterious trucks started dumping industrial waste at a precolonial archaeological site in Duque de Caxias, an industrial city of 900,000 people some 24km (15 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro. Environmental activists thought they knew who was behind it. Over the past decade, their battle to protect local nature reserves and the poor people who live near them has become a battle against criminal groups known as militias.

Prosecutors say that from the mid-1990s these groups, often made up of rogue police officers, started snatching swampy federal land. They filled it with dirt and sold the lots to families, mostly poor migrants from other states. In São Bento, a neighbourhood in the city, a hill overlooks thousands of identical tin-roofed shacks. “The militias control all of it,” says an activist. For a fee, they provide transport, water, cooking gas, cable television and internet. But they also flaunt heavy weapons, run extortion rackets and threaten to kill anyone who opposes them.

. . .

https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2019/05/30/mafias-run-by-rogue-police-officers-are-terrorising-rio

To read more, one needs to buy a subscription to the Economist. I can't afford it. I did learn more than I knew, however, in these 2 paragraphs. If I find more info. on the subject I'll attach it to this thread.

[Judi Lynn]

1. Complaints against Militias in Rio Increased 87% in Five Years

Groups have expanded illegal activity, which may explain increased

May.30.2019 9:33AM

Ana Luiza Albuquerque
RIO DE JANEIRO
Complaints against the militias that operate in the state of Rio de Janeiro increased by 87% in five years, according to a survey produced by Disque Denuncia at the request of Folha.

From January to March 2014, there were 864 complaints in the state, of which 637 were in the capital. In the first quarter of 2019, there were 1,614, of which 1,140 were in Rio de Janeiro.

According to José Claudio Alves, a sociologist, and professor at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, the numbers reveal increased militia activity, which is now operating in different areas.

In the past these paramilitary groups sold security, gas, and access to pay-TV , but in recent years business has expanded.

More:
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2019/05/complaints-against-militias-in-rio-increased-87-in-five-years.shtml