Lula hails success in crackdowns

Brazil’s president has praised the police and military crackdowns on drug gangs as human rights activists criticize the government’s heavy-handed approach.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hailed the recent operations in Rio de Janeiro’s Complexo do Alemao favela.

“We will win this war,” state-funded BBC quoted him as saying.

“Obviously it is not over yet, it has only just begun”, he added.

Rio de Janeiro state governor Sergio Cabral also said he would ask the defense ministry to keep 2,000 troops stationed in Complexo do Alemao until next year, the Herald Sun reported.

The government sent approximately 2,600 police and paratroopers, backed by armored vehicles and helicopters, to take control of the area on Sunday.

They seized a number of weapons and more than 30 tons of marijuana and 200kg (440lb) of cocaine.

More than 130 people were arrested, including several alleged leaders of drugs gangs. Many, however, are thought to have escaped through the underground sewerage system.

Human rights activists have criticized the operations, saying the police have been too brutal in their approach.

Patrick Wilcken, a spokesman for Amnesty International in Brazil, said, “The police so far this week in operations in other communities have killed over 50 people, including in a tragic accident involving a 14-year-old girl.”

“This community has a long history of these very militarized campaigns by the police, and in 2007 the police did a huge operation, stormed the community and shot dead 19 people, and then left,” he added.

In total, approximately 22,000 troops, police, and state agents have been deployed for the operations.

The crackdown on the gangs is aimed at cleaning up the city before it hosts the World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in 2016.