Crime Wave Rio de Janeiro


Advertisement
Chile's flag
South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago
February 21st 2009
Published: February 21st 2009
Edit Blog Post


Attached news article somewhat daunting as we await in Santiago Airport for our connection into Rio de Janeiro for a fortnight of Carnivale.


Rio embarrassed by surge in Carnival crime against tourists
11 hours ago

RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) — It's billed as the biggest show on Earth, but this year's Carnival underway in Rio de Janeiro is also confirming the Brazilian city's reputation for crime.

Nearly 100 tourists have been robbed, many by armed gangs, raising questions over whether Rio is safe enough to win a bid to host the 2016 Olympics.

This week, men brandishing knives, a handgun and a grenade trussed up 34 Americans, Britons, Argentines and other foreigners staying in one hostel in the city center, stealing iPods, money and cameras.

A similar pre-dawn assault on another hostel in Copacabana stripped 13 tourists, including 11 Israelis, of their valuables.

A military patrol that stumbled on a mugging of 10 tourists -- six Germans and four Americans -- in the south of the city scared off their two attackers.

An Australian woman was also robbed as she arrived at her hostel early Friday.

Other cases compiled by the city's Tourist Police service showed at least 94 foreigners have been victims of crime in the city so far this month -- 20 percent more than February 2008, when the last Carnival was held.

Rio's police, embarrassed by the robberies, have stepped up security.

A total of 9,800 officers have been deployed for the duration of Carnival, which runs to Tuesday. A suspect from one of the hostel assaults has also been arrested.

Fernando Veloso, the chief of the Rio Tourist Police, admitted to AFP that despite his service's rapid response, "the damage is already done -- the image (of the city) is already marred."

He stressed that, while any crime against a foreigner was a concern, "when you consider the number of tourists in Rio in this period, it's very small, the number of them who are victims."

Riotur, the city's tourist authority, said nearly a third of the 709,000 visitors in Rio for Carnival came from abroad.

Most of the crime in Rio is borne by its Brazilian residents.

According to official figures from 2008's Carnival, there were a total 1,303 robbery incidents in Rio -- of which just 117 involved foreigners.

There were also 80 homicides.

The US State Department-managed Overseas Security Advisory Council, rates the threat of crime in Rio de Janeiro as "critical."


Advertisement



Tot: 0.051s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 10; qc: 46; dbt: 0.0318s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb