Wow, Andre! This is intense. Of course, we have it rough here, too. Because it is really cold this week. ;-)
Seriously, little brother, keep your head down. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Looking forward to seeing you in April. Devin On Nov 26, 2010, at 10:00 AM, Andre Garzia wrote: > Folks, > > This is just a heads up plus me needing to vent it out. Rio de Janeiro is in > a state of un-assumed war for a week now. Criminal factions are trying to > spread terror by burning car, buses and whatever they can on the street, > sometimes without giving any warning to those inside. We're living with this > crap for so long that we're not impressed anymore. As many here don't know > we have really big slums, complexo do alemão slum is home to 400 thousand > people alone and it is not the biggest one. Yesterday, the Rio de Janeiro > Special Police Forces allied with Everyone-Carrying-A-Badge took Vila do > Cruzeiro slum from the criminals and they are retaliating. There are tanks > on the street here and criminals are trying to shoot down the police armored > helicopter. Police is using clanfs (Amphibious Armored light tanks from our > marines) to break down barricades on the slums. > > Brazil is a strange place, we have many police forces. There is the Civil > Police (Investigation), the Military Police (Pursuit criminals, maintain > order), Federal Police, National Force, All the different special ops but no > matter how many forces we have, in Rio there is one called BOPE (Batalhão de > Operações Especiais, special ops battalion) which is the best police in the > country but it is really not there to take criminals to justice but to wage > war against organized crime, they dress in black and their symbol is the > loved/hated skull with a knife and two pistols. Yesterday I saw them with > their black armored tanks invading a slum while the foot troops shouted: > "We're going to collect your souls!!!". And believe it or not, 350 BOPE > troppers are all the barrier there is between the common city dweller and > crime. Here in Rio a 14 years old robber will be carrying a AK-47, believe > me, I've seen it and been robbed by it. > > What is happening now is a reaction from organized crime to the UPP > (Peace/Pacifying Police Units) which are a mixture of barracks, police > station, goverment presence that is being installed into each slum as we > retake them from crime. Basically after BOPE + Civil Police retake a slum, > they install this huge UPP where there is a permanent presence and > occupation by officers and goverment officials thus making crime somewhat > hard. As BOPE invaded Vila do Cruzeiro yesterday, at least 200 criminals > carrying AK-47 and other nasties fled to the neighbour slum Complexo do > Alemão. There are at least 40 deaths (official deaths which means the true > number is probably 3 or 4 times that) and 50 vehicles burned and more. This > situation is expected to last probably until next year and an things are > expected to aggravate soon as the police advance. Never in this country, the > common people sided with the police like we're seeing now, usually common > poor people would host and hide criminals. Now they are all asking and > tipping the cops, which is good, never seen that in here. > > Heck as I am writing this email a black police helicopter just passed by my > window, it is circling a slum near my place, some of the heads behind the > terror wave are supposed to live in there... > > Yesterday, on my city block alone there were 4 robberies and what we call > "Arrastão" which is when a huge number of criminals will band together and > run thru the streets robbing everyone on sight. Heck, when you see such > thing, you just run. > > So, if you know anyone coming to Rio now or in the next month, tell them not > to come. If they do, make sure they stay safe and by safe I mean make sure > they know someone local to keep them out of the terror zones and make sure > they understand that Rio is under what we can call siege. > > If anyone here wants to know what it is to live here because I think most on > this list have no clue, please watch a movie called "Elite Troop" (Tropa de > Elite) and "Elite Troop 2" (Tropa de Elite 2) which are the biggest box > office ever here. They are fictional but they are as close to the truth as > it is possible to go. They are about a real BOPE commander and his quest to > find his replacement in Rio under siege. This happened, he is real and I > just saw him on TV yesterday. The film is a drama/action movie and might > help people here see a side of Rio that the goverment and tourism agents > don't want to let you know. > > Hiding behind 30cm of concrete and driving fast > Andre Alves Garzia > PS: I grew up here so I think this is all somewhat normal but it should not > be. > > > -- > http://www.andregarzia.com All We Do Is Code. > _______________________________________________ > use-livecode mailing list > use-livecode@lists.runrev.com > Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription > preferences: > http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode Devin Asay Humanities Technology and Research Support Center Brigham Young University _______________________________________________ use-livecode mailing list use-livecode@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
