Rio de Janeiro’s top cop resigns as gunfights rage between police and favela drug gangs

Rio de Janeiro state’s security secretary Jose Mariano Beltrame has resigned as clashes between police and drug traffickers escalated, casting further doubt on the future of his landmark programme to secure the city’s favelas.

Firefights between traffickers and police raged throughout Monday in the Cantagalo and Pavao-Pavaozinho favelas that rise up behind Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. They were among the first favelas to receive one of the 38 pacification units during Beltrame’s tenure. Nearby businesses remained shuttered Tuesday morning as police from other units came to reinforce the area. Cidade de Deus, another pacified favela in Rio de Janeiro, was also the setting for shootouts over the past few days.

Beltrame handed his resignation letter to Rio’s acting governor Francisco Dornelles on Monday, according to the governor’s office. His replacement, Roberto Sa, will take over next week.

Beltrame oversaw the so-called pacification of favelas since taking office in 2007, and his resignation had already been widely expected following the Olympics. The promise of reclaiming favelas lost to drug traffickers has been in retreat in recent years, particularly as Rio state approaches financial ruin. In June it declared a state of fiscal calamity, and received a federal bailout exclusively for security ahead of the Olympics. Those funds may dry up as soon as this month, according to the state finance secretariat.

In addition to financial constraints, Rio faces a leadership vacuum with Beltrame resigning and the elected governor out of office since March to receive chemotherapy, according to Robert Muggah, research director at the Igarape Institute, a Rio-based security think tank.