Brazil's Lula mulls federal troops for Rio crime
Source: Reuters
BRASILIA, Jan 1 (Reuters) - The governor of Rio de Janeiro state called on Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday to send federal troops to help control a wave of gang violence that killed at least 19 people last week. Gov. Sergio Cabral Filho, who took office on Monday, told journalists that he asked Lula to send troops of the National Security Force immediately, instead of waiting until the Pan American games in July when a deployment of 7,000 troops was planned. National Security Secretary Luiz Fernando Correa is to travel to Rio on Tuesday to discuss the request. The attacks began on Thursday when criminals set ablaze 10 buses and shot up police posts, killing two officers and two bystanders. Seven people were burned alive on one bus and another died from burns later. On Monday Lula compared the attacks to terrorist acts. "This barbarity in Rio de Janeiro cannot be treated like a common crime. It is terrorism and needs to be treated with a strong hand and policy of the Brazilian state," Lula said in a speech following the inauguration of his second four-year term in office. Lula said rising violence in Rio resulted from mistakes made by Brazilian society as a whole and could only be solved by all of society. He said the municipal, state and federal governments must work together more closely. Rio de Janeiro police and armed men faced each other in renewed skirmishes early on Sunday but the city's dazzling New Year's eve party took place without major incidents. The tourism mecca of Rio has one of the world's highest murder rates, of about 40 per 100,000 people a year. Most of the violence takes place in the slums and poor areas, but it sometimes spills over to areas popular with tourists.
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