The rise of Brazil's neo-Pentecostal narco-militia
URL copied to clipboard Israeli flags fly from the highest spots of the hills surrounding the Cidade Alta favela in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro. Checkpoints, raised to prevent the entry of police and rival groups, display the Star of David to warn passers-by whose territory they are entering. In a bunker used by drug traffickers, police find ammunition for anti-aircraft machine guns, ballistic vests and a copy of the Torah, the holy book of Judaism. In the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, criminal groups have taken control of five favelas in Rio’s outskirts, establishing what they ...
Source: opendemocracy.net