Development: On 21 August, the Brazilian army and police continued a military operation launched the previous day in Rio de Janeiro city, despite the death of two soldiers and five suspected criminals.
Significance: These are the first casualties for the army since a federal government decree put the military in charge of public security in Rio de Janeiro state last February. The operation, which involved over 4,000 soldiers and military police officers, took place in the Penha, Maré, and Alemão complexes, home to 26 favelas. It is part of a string of connected operations undertaken by the armed forces with the aim of arresting members local criminal organisations.
- Yesterday the civil police arrested the suspected head of drug trafficking of the Jacarezinho favela, Eber ‘Ebinho’ do Nascimento Candido, who was in hospital after being injured during a 20 August shootout. Candido, who was released on probation in 2014, is also one of the leaders of the Comando Vermelho (CV), Rio de Janeiro’s oldest criminal group.
- A separate confrontation between the police and suspected criminals on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro city on 20 August left six people dead, and caused the temporary closure of the bridge that links the state capital with the neighbouring city of Niterói.
- Lethal violence has continued to increase in Rio de Janeiro state since the federal security intervention. Data released last week by the state’s public security institute (ISP) reveals that lethal violence and deaths at the hands of the police have continued to rise since the start of the intervention. It is the local community that tend to bear the consequences of these violent confrontations. An estimated 550,000 people have been affected by the military operation in Penha, Maré, and Alemão, with inhabitants unable to leave their houses to go to work or school, according to accounts in the local press.
Looking Ahead: The federal security intervention has come under particular scrutiny in the past week as 16 August marked six months since its launch last February. However, the federal public security minister, Raul Jungmann, said in an interview with national daily Folha de São Paulo that the intervention will not be extended beyond its planned end date of 31 December.
