Two of at least 35 public buses set on fire by a parapolice group in Rio de Janeiro on October 23.TV GLOBO (via Portal)
The main parapolice mafia in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, unleashed chaos Monday afternoon in retaliation for the death of one of its bosses in a police operation a few hours earlier. The criminals carried out a simultaneous and coordinated attack, burning at least 35 buses in Brazil’s second largest city. The authorities have decided to declare an alarm and suspend part of the land transport routes in the city, which has caused a traffic collapse in several areas, especially in the western part. Rio’s main road was also hit by massive traffic jams. Governor Claudio Castro congratulated the agents and warned criminals: “Don’t let organized crime dare to challenge the power of the state!” According to the newspaper O Globo, it is one of the worst criminal attacks in the city’s history.
Governor Castro, an ally of former President Jair Bolsonaro, added in his message on social networks: “We will not stop!” Our measures to suppress organized crime have borne fruit every day. “Today we dealt a serious blow to the largest militia in the Western Zone.”
I want to parabenize our DGPE, Core and Draco police forces by being in Santa Cruz, Faustão or Teteu – the direct arm and nephew of the militiaman Zinho.
We will not stop! Our measures to suppress organized crime are showing results every day.
— Cláudio Castro (@claudiocastroRJ) October 23, 2023
The serious unrest began in the afternoon after the number two in the mafia’s hierarchy was killed in a shootout with police officers. Matheus da Silva Rezende, known as Faustão, nephew and right-hand man of the group’s leader, was shot dead this Monday in a police operation. According to the governor, Faustão was “responsible for the turf wars that terrorize the residents of Rio.”
The incidents affected at least seven neighborhoods where more than a million Cariocas live. Authorities have also decided to suspend classes tomorrow, Tuesday, in schools in the western part of Rio, the area most affected by the vandalism. Some bus stops were also destroyed. Thousands of people are now desperate and cannot return to their homes.
In recent years, the so-called militias, criminal groups made up of retired or active police and military personnel who extort and trade drugs, have gained power and taken territory from traditional drug traffickers. And the fights for succession in the gangs or for control of the neighborhoods are decided with gunshots. The militias were formed by security force agents who took control of neighborhoods on the grounds of fighting drug trafficking. They have gained so much power that they control more neighborhoods and neighbors than the drug traffickers.
Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes called for “a very decisive response from the police forces” and criticized the perpetrators of the unrest. “As well as criminals, there are also idiots. (…) In protest against a police operation, they burn down public buses paid for with money. “The people who pay are the working people.”
If the subject is not a bandit, it is a donkey. Militias in the western zone operate public buses paid for with money to protest against police operations. That the worker pays. And to improve it, we need to stop transport traffic in the West Zone so that… pic.twitter.com/NLzj6K1dXF
— Eduardo Paes (@eduardopaes) October 23, 2023
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