Police units patrol 2 drug-infested Rio slums

Hundreds of police fanned out across two of Rio's most dangerous and drug-infested slums on Wednesday as part of efforts to tighten security ahead of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 summer Olympics. A total of 1,131 members of special police pacification units (UPPs) patrolled in cars, motorcycles or on foot in Jacarezinho and Manguinhos, two known crack markets secured since last October by joint police and navy forces after three decades of brutal rule by narcotraffickers. Some 30 UPPs have been installed across Rio since 2008 when authorities launched their drug control strategy and the goal is to deploy 40 by 2014. "We are under no illusion that we are going to resolve the situation overnight after years of neglect. We face challenges," said Rio state governor Sergio Cabral as he dedicated this latest operation. Home to 70,000 people, Jacarezinho and Manguinhos had been reputed to be among the city's most dangerous shantytowns -- where drug trafficking took place in broad daylight and armed men routinely roamed the streets. "There's more security, more police. We can move around at any time without problem," a woman resident who asked not to be named told CBN radio about life since authorities moved in. But most residents refused to talk to the media for fear of reprisals by drug traffickers. "We are always being watched, both by police and by the criminals," the woman said.