RIO DE JANEIRO — Drug gangs ordered schools and businesses shut down across large swaths of Rio de Janeiro on Monday in what officials said was an unprecedented show of force by criminals in an increasingly public war with Brazil’s police.
From the ritzy shops in the city’s famous Ipanema neighborhood to Rio’s ghettos, business was brought to a virtual standstill in at least 10 neighborhoods. Schoolchildren were released from classes early or told not to come. Tourists at some hotels were warned to stay inside. Thousands of police officers spilled into the streets.
No major injuries were reported, but an atmosphere of fear pervaded much of the city.
“This is all to make it very clear who has the power in the city. Everyone is very afraid,” said Luis Neto, a 59-year-old retiree who was discussing the city’s problems with neighbors in Rio’s posh south zone.
Residents said young people
and bandits armed with machine guns passed out letters ordering stores and schools shut in several neighborhoods.
Local media reported that Brazil’s most powerful criminal, convicted drug trafficker Luiz Fernando da Costa, known as Seaside Freddy, was behind the shutdown.
Da Costa, who was hunted down in Colombia’s jungles last year, has been placed in isolation in a Rio prison and has been demanding better conditions since early September, when he allegedly led an uprising in Rio’s maximum security Bangu I prison. The uprising ended with four drug traffickers dead, including a main da Costa rival.
On Monday, police arrested at least nine people circulating the warnings. News of the threats spread anyway, from downtown diners to tourist shops.
Police said bandits set off at least two homemade explosives in front of a private Rio university, forcing the cancellation of exams.
Many hospitals were barely functioning.
“A few workers did arrive at the hospital but as they began hearing the news, everyone started calling home to check on their children and many left,” said Vilma Soares, 53, a psychologist at a public hospital in downtown Rio. “People are very nervous.”
Rio’s state governor dispatched police across the city to encourage shop owners to defy the gangs. But most were too afraid to open.
“I want the population to know that we are in control,” Gov. Benedita da Silva said at a news conference. “We are providing cover everywhere and our commanders are on the streets.”
But many residents, such as Zeferino de Oliveira, 72, disagree.
“I have lived here for 67 years and I have never seen stores forced to close like this,” said de Oliveira, the owner of a hair salon and a store in Leme.
“We need a (Rudolph) Giuliani in Rio. That is what we need,” de Oliveira said, referring to the former New York mayor. “The police have lost the authority because of the bandits. The bandits are saying, `We will show you who is in charge whenever we want.’”