Complexo Alemão Access Points Surrounded

Trafficker escape route from Villa Cruzeiro to Complexo do Alemåno. Via O Globo

Like I said earlier, Military Police (PM) unit, BOPE, entered Villa Cruzeiro, along with a few hundred Army soldiers and their tanks. Over 200 gangsters fled through the forest into Complexo Alemão, which is where other gangsters from previously pacified favelas are suspected to have fled as well. Villa Cruzeiro "belongs to the state," as the PM announced on TV.

Complexo Alemão is now a major hotspot. The federal government has given 800 more Navy troops to the city of Rio to use in the operation - but the PM and BOPE are still running the show. The main access points to Complexo Alemão are surrounded by military forces, but they are not entering - yet. People I talk to here say the police won't enter - but I think they will, probably tomorrow. Why would they take personnel from the Army and bring in tanks if they weren't planning something big. If they take Alemão they will be making a huge statement. And if they are eventually able to pacify it and send in UPP - wow - that would be unheard of.

I am suspicious of UPP, but I've heard a lot of good stories coming out of pacified favelas. The process of pacification - mainly the invasion part of it - is what can be terrible. But the question becomes: what about after 2016?