HomeNewsBriefRio Gangs Prohibit Crack Sales to Avoid Police Clean-Up
BRIEF

Rio Gangs Prohibit Crack Sales to Avoid Police Clean-Up

BRAZIL / 19 JUL 2012 BY GEOFFREY RAMSEY EN

Drug traffickers have banned the sale of crack cocaine in three of Rio de Janeiro's favelas, in an apparent attempt to discourage a police clean-up that suggests the city's security strategy is bearing fruit.

On June 20, Brazil’s O Globo reported that gangs in the Rio favela of Jacarezinho had posted signs (pictured) which prohibited the sale of crack in the community (see English version of the article on Rio Radar). The ban also applied to the neighboring slums of Mandela and Manguinhos.

Antonio Carlos Costa, head of local community organization Rio de Paz, told the newspaper that the decision was made because of the toll that crack addiction had taken on the neighborhoods.

Police, however, believed that the move was motivated more by self-interest than community solidarity, reported O Globo. Rio authorities have been stepping up efforts to clean up so-called “cracolandias” (favelas where crack use is highly prevalent) in recent months, sending security forces to the areas in order to rein in criminal activity.

As such, the prohibition on crack sales could have been designed to deter law enforcement from the area, so that local drug traffickers could carry on selling other drugs that attract less attention, and continue criminal activities like extortion.

InSight Crime Analysis

Even if the cynicism of O Globo’s police sources is accurate, the crack ban is likely still a positive development for security in Rio. If drug trafficking organizations are taking it upon themselves to limit their activity even in areas where crackdowns have not been implemented, this could be a sign of the effectiveness of the city’s security strategy.

Rio is currently implementing a security push that involves targeting certain favelas with an invasion by security forces, followed by the long-term presence of Pacifying Police Units (UPPs) trained in community policing. The program earned some mixed praise from Human Rights Watch this month. The human rights watchdog said the scheme had the potential to lower violence, but said that complaints of abuses committed by police, including extrajudicial killings, were still not properly addressed by Rio authorities.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BRAZIL / 7 MAR 2023

Brazilian authorities are shutting down illegal gold mining on Indigenous lands, yet miners move elsewhere. Legislation aims to stop that.

BRAZIL / 8 AUG 2023

The tri-border where Colombia, Brazil, and Venezuela meet has long served as a transit corridor for cocaine.

ARGENTINA / 12 SEP 2022

Synthetic drugs like methamphetamine, fentanyl, and ecstasy are reshaping Latin America's drug trade.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…