RIO DE JANEIRO — In a quick and decisive military sweep, Brazilian security forces seized control of this city's most notorious slum Sunday, claiming victory in a weeklong battle against drug gangs that has taken dozens of lives.
By early afternoon, the military police had raised the flags of Brazil and Rio de Janeiro atop a building on the highest hill in the Alemao shantytown complex, providing a rare moment of celebration in a decades-long battle to rid this city's violent slums of drug gangs.
An air of calm and relief swept through the neighborhood, as residents opened their windows and began walking the streets. Dozens of children ran from their houses to plunge into a swimming pool that had belonged to a gang leader, even as the police searched for drugs one floor below.
"We knew about this, but we were never allowed to come in," said one child, who identified himself as Alan, age 3.
Residents congregated around televisions in bars and restaurants, cheering on the police as they would their favorite soccer teams, even as occasional gunfire peppered the sunny skies.
Drug gangs have stained the reputation of this seaside city and contributed heavily to giving it one of the highest murder rates in the world.
For the past two years, the government has carried out an ambitious campaign to pacify the most violent slums and regain control of the city in advance of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games.
The police have since wrested more than three dozen communities from criminal gangs, installing special community police forces there.
As those areas were cleared, some gang members fled to Alemao, a sprawling slum complex with about 100,000 residents that the city's police chief, Jose Mariano Beltrame, called "the heart of evil."
On Nov. 21, the drug gangs unleashed a wave of attacks on city streets that authorities said was in retaliation for the pacification campaign.
Since then, more than 42 people have been killed in urban fighting between drug gangs and security forces.
The police have not said whether any officers have died.
source: http://www.statesman.com
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