Hundreds of heavily-armed police occupied the Jacarezinho neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday morning in a renewed effort to bring security and public services to "favela" slums dominated by gangs of drug dealers, authorities said.
Governor Claudio Castro said the operation was the start of a new offensive to transform poor areas, echoing the rhetoric of the Police Pacifying Units (UPP) that displaced violent gangs in the city ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games.
