Via the BBC: Thirteen die in Rio slum battle
Clashes between police and drug traffickers in a slum in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro have left at least 13 people dead, officials say.Guns and grenades were used in the fighting, with armoured vehicles and helicopters backing police units.
The violence began when more than 1,000 policemen advanced on Alemao, the slum stronghold of a drug-dealing gang.
Rio de Janeiro officials are trying to make the city safer before it hosts the Pan-American games on 13 July.
[…]
More than 30 people had been killed and 80 injured since the police first surrounded the slums in northern Rio known as the German Complex on 2 May.
But Wednesday’s police operation was the biggest to date, triggering fierce fighting for several hours in the slums which are home to some 100,000 people.
The city is expecting around 800,000 tourists for the games and will also be hosting “the global series of Live Earth rock concerts on 7 July.”
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Not sure I understand the post title. “Literal” drug war? Were bags of marijuana shooting it out with vials of cocaine? Or maybe it was people fighting, but using drugs as weapons? (Catapulting ecstasy pills at the enemy?)
It’s bad enough that we call it a drug war (and I do it all the time), but what you’re describing is a literal war, not a literal drug war. And unfortunately, it’s happening all over the world, including right here in the United States, complete with police forces with armored personnel carriers and military weapons.
Comment by Pete Guither — Thursday, June 28, 2024 @ 10:27 pm
Actually I used the would “warfare”–the grenades and such.
Sometimes the drug war is metaphorical and all too frequently it is actual warfare. In terms of an urban conflict, the one described in the article that I quoted is pretty extreme.
However, I am rather aware of the overall issue.
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Friday, June 29, 2024 @ 8:25 am