Brazil, Latin America: Week in Review

Brazilian Authorities Raid Rio Favela In Preparation For 2014 World Cup

June 20, 2011 By Staff

 Today in Latin America

Top Story — A wave of heavily armed Brazilian soldiers and police swept through one of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas Sunday morning in an effort to wrestle control of the area in the lead up to the 2014 World Cup from drug gangs. The pre-announced operation in the Mangueira neighborhood, home to Rio’s famed Maracana soccer stadium and one of the city’s oldest samba schools, took place around dawn as 14 armored personnel carriers rolled through area’s steep streets as helicopters hovered overhead. Brazilian authorities met no resistance as the drug gangs fled the neighborhood well in advance. Some Mangueira residents worried that after the World Cup the police presence will disappear and the gangs will return. “All of that is because of the World Cup. But afterward, who will make sure it doesn’t go back to like before, that the police won’t leave?” said Vera, who did refused to give her last name for fear of reprisal.

Read More from AFP.

Headlines from the Western Hemisphere

North America

Caribbean

  • The Cuban dissidents who receive the most attention from the U.S. media were largely unknown to Cubans seeking to emigrate, American diplomats in Havana found in a survey taken in 2008, according to a cable obtained by WikiLeaks.
  • The remains of U.S. pastor Lucius Walker will have their final resting place in Cuba, fulfilling the wishes of the former leader of the religious movement Pastors for Peace, which sought an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

Central America

Andes

Southern Cone

Image: gbryson2 @ Flickr.

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