In the western regions of Rio de Janeiro rival criminal groups routinely fight over territorial control. A recent police operation killed the nephew of a leader of the state’s largest militia. In retaliation, criminal groups set over 35 buses on fire across the city.
Rio’s militias were originally stood up by current and former police officers to defend poor neighborhoods inundated with gang violence and drug activity. Now, the militias have fallen in line with preexisting criminal enterprises to form some of the region’s chronic security threats. Rio de Janeiro state Governor Claudio Castro noted that the nephew was in charge of the militia’s paramilitary forces that terrorized Rio residents. Most of the buses militia members burned were city buses used by workers and students to commute throughout the city. Authorities closed regional public schools following the incident and arrested 12 suspects involved in the fires.
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