Don’t worry, says mayor of Rio after gang war erupts

The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, which recently won the race for the 2016 Olympics and will also be hosting some of the World Cup games in 2014, has vowed that security will not be an issue after a weekend of violence in the Brazilian city killed at least 17 people and saw a police helicopter shot down by drug gangs.
 
Eduardo Paes, who was an integral member of the bid team, said: "For the Games, we're not worried about security. We know we can deliver a safe Games, we've done it many times and we'll do it again. We are worried for our everyday life and for our everyday citizens and visitors."
 
Speaking at the Global Sports Industry Summit in London, the 39-year-old continued: "That is our challenge. We never hid that during our Olympic bid. The evaluation commission noted that things are changing and getting better. They are not perfect, there are a lot of problems - we saw that this weekend."
 
The upsurge in violence started on Saturday when a turf war between two rival gangs erupted in the Morro do Macacos area of the city. The Red Command invaded the favela, which is controlled by the Amigos dos Amigos organisation, seeking to take over the lucrative cocaine trade there.
 
Members of the gangs began shooting at each other with automatic weapons, and soon the police descended on the slum district in their hundreds. Ten buses were set on fire across Rio, and two police officers died after the helicopter they were in was fired upon and crash-landed in a football field. Ten gang members were killed and slum residents were also wounded in the crossfire.
 
A spokesman for the Rio police said the events of the weekend would spur on the city to eradicate the gang menace. Oderlei Santos said: "Our operations will only cease when these criminals are captured, arrested or are killed in combat. We have a lot of time before the World Cup and the Olympics, and before then we will certainly arrest a lot of criminals."
 
Taking the drug gangs into custody might not be the only course of action for the Rio police, who routinely kill around 1,000 people every year while "resisting arrest". Mayor Paes has conceded that the violence on both sides is "not good for the image of the city". ·