The Special Police Operations Battalion (Bope), an elite troop of the Military Police (PM), carried out another operation in the Complexo de Favelas da Maré, in the north zone of Rio de Janeiro, in the early hours of this Monday (17). According to Redes da Maré, the action started in the first minutes of the day, around 00:05. Many residents were circulating in the streets and there were several events in the region at the time when armored vehicles and men from the Military Police entered the Nova Holanda and Parque União favelas, starting the confrontation. This was the second police operation in three days in the community. Redes da Maré is a civil society institution that produces knowledge, develops projects and actions in the quest to guarantee effective public policies that improve the lives of the 140,000 residents of the 16 favelas of Maré. According to Redes da Maré, the action would have been motivated by the death of a military police officer, on Avenida Brasil, on Saturday night (15). Corporal Victor Hugo Lustoza Barros was participating in an action to support the Policing Battalion on Expressways (BPVE), with the aim of reducing the number of robberies on Rio’s main urban thoroughfare, which is 54 kilometers long. The soldier was wounded in the leg by criminals who drove by at high speed, shooting. The policeman was also rushed to the Hospital Getúlio Vargas, in Penha, but died hours later, due to the wound caused by a rifle shot. In a note, the Secretary of State for the Military Police mourned the death of Corporal Victor Hugo Lustoza Barros. According to the PM, he was injured “when fleeing criminals confronted the police officers on Avenida Brasil, near the neighborhood of Olaria, on Saturday night (15/04)”. According to the note, the “criminals were fleeing a siege carried out by the Policing Battalion on Expressways (BPVE)”. The military police joined the corporation in 2011 and was assigned to the Pacifying Police Unit (UPP) Salgueiro. The State Secretariat of Military Police reported in the note that, after being injured, he was taken to the Getúlio Vargas State Hospital, where he was hospitalized until he died on Sunday. Terror “During today’s police action, residents were psychologically abused by police agents, using stun gas and also psychologically terrorizing people who were trying to take shelter in a family clinic during the confrontation. Two people were killed and two people were injured in the action. Fake news about the death of an 8-year-old child circulated on social media. There is no record of entry or death of any child in hospitals in the region or Legal Medical Institute (IML)”, reported Redes da Maré. The areas of education and health were also affected by the police action: 23 school units did not work, affecting 8,274 students, according to the Municipal Secretary of Education; and Clínica da Família Jeremias Morais da Silva also had its service suspended during the day. This is the third police action that takes place in Maré in the month of April alone. Last Friday (14th) a Civil Police operation at the time of departure of children from schools in Maré also affected activities in the region, such as the launch of the Research on the Impacts of Armed Violence on the Lives of Women in Maré, which was being held at Casa das Mulheres da Maré, in Parque União. State deputy Renata Sousa (PSOL) posted videos on her social networks about the moment when the shots scared the more than 70 women present at the activity. Research After three years of decrease in police operations in the favelas of Maré, mainly due to the lawsuits brought by civil society, such as the Arguição de Descumprimento e Preceito Fundamental known as ADPF das Favelas and the Public Civil Action (ACP) da Maré, the seventh edition of the Bulletin Right to Public Security of Maré identified in 2022 a 145% increase in the number of police interventions and, consequently, homicides compared to 2021. In 2022 there were 27 deaths resulting from police operations. The survey, which has been monitoring the impacts of armed violence in the 16 favelas of Maré since 2016, also revealed non-compliance with the ADPF in the favelas in operations last year: in none of them was an ambulance or health teams present; 62% of the operations took place close to schools and day care centers and 67% of them, close to health units. At the time of the release of the bulletin, Agência Brasil contacted the State Secretariat of Civil Police, which informed that the position would be given by the state government. The press office of the Rio de Janeiro government, however, did not respond to questions in the report.
Agência Brasil
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