Brazilian Drug Gangs Shoot Down Police Helictopter

[Havet]

RIO DE JANEIRO - A police helicopter flying over a clash between drug gangs was hit by gunfire and crashed Saturday, police said. Two officers were killed.
Bullets from the Morro dos Macacos slum in northern Rio de Janeiro hit the helicopter pilot in the leg, causing him to lose control and crash in a nearby football field, a police spokesman said.

The official -- speaking on condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to discuss the event -- earlier said all four people in the helicopter had escaped alive, but later said two of those aboard had died.

The pilot and another surviving officer aboard suffered burns.
Television images showed the blackened wreckage of the chopper in the middle of the football field.

Police were not able to say if this was the first time one of their helicopters had been shot down.

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/18/brazilian-drug-gangs-shoo_n_325059.html

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/17/world/AP-LT-Brazil-Violence.html

http://blog.taragana.com/n/gangs-shoot-down-brazil-police-helicopter-2-officers-killed-in-crash-198894/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLv6DRttrOs

This is what Drug Wars end up like.

[Havet]

Don't anybody got nothing to say about this?

Is it common for helicopters to go down in your area?

[Pogue]

Don't anybody got nothing to say about this?

Is it common for helicopters to go down in your area?

The local economy is kept afloat by it.

[Havet]

The local economy is kept afloat by it.

By drugs or by choppers going down?

Just kidding.

It wouldn't surprise me to see many commentaries saying this is all the fault of the "liberal" drug laws in Brazil, and that governments there are "too permissive".

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

should have landed on the drug gang , two birds with one stone as LS said.

[Dimentio]

This is not caused by restrictive drug laws. The Brazilian doesn't generally have the power to control the favelas. What is causing drug gangs to appear is an inept and authoritarian state governing a gigantic country with enormous social inequalities. Social inequalities breed crime, and is the source of the recruitment of such gangs.

I must say I am very dissappointed at Lula. He could at least have tried some socialist reforms.

[RGacky3]

It wouldn't surprise me to see many commentaries saying this is all the fault of the "liberal" drug laws in Brazil, and that governments there are "too permissive".

Well you'd be arguing with yourself here, I doubt many people believe its teh fault of liberal drug laws here, or anyone things governments are too permissive, go to a conservative web site for that.


Social inequalities breed crime, and is the source of the recruitment of such gangs.


Exactly, its plain as daylight.

[Richard Nixon]

How unfortunate. The drug lords must be destroyed, it would satisfy me greatly if all the prominent drug lords from Tijuana to Tierra Del Fuego were lined up on public TV and shot.

[Vendetta]

How unfortunate. The drug lords must be destroyed, it would satisfy me greatly if all the prominent drug lords from Tijuana to Tierra Del Fuego were lined up on public TV and shot.

And that would solve...what? Kill one, another one will take their place.

Same situation where I live; the police popped some of the major dealers in my area, a couple of weeks went by, and soon some other dudes took it up.

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

How unfortunate. The drug lords must be destroyed, it would satisfy me greatly if all the prominent drug lords from Tijuana to Tierra Del Fuego were lined up on public TV and shot.

This is why OI can't have nice things.

[Dr. Rosenpenis]

Like any bourgeois state, Brazil is a very authoritarian country. That hardly explains drug wars. Social and material inequality are obviously to blame. The state does have the fire power and man power to exert control over these slums which are now controlled by gangs. The bloodshed of course would be enormous. The reason why it doesn't happen is neither that it would cause bloodshed or that the state isn't capable. It's that the police and the state are in collusion with the drug traffic and nobody is concerned with the people who are forced to live beneath the gunfire of this conflict.

[rebelmouse]

If criminals like this become anarchists, I am sure, anarchism will be reality very fast.
I don't blame anybody for surviving in favellas, some of them succeeded more and they are ready to attack the state. it is happening in mexico also. in europe, maaaaaany criminals are not ready to attack the state, they rather cooperate with the state.

by the way, custom choppers are my love:)

http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt273/globspace/motori/th_customchopper.jpg (http://s619.photobucket.com/albums/tt273/globspace/motori/?action=view&current=customchopper.jpg)

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

If criminals like this become anarchists, I am sure, anarchism will be reality very fast.
I don't blame anybody for surviving in favellas, some of them succeeded more and they are ready to attack the state. it is happening in mexico also. in europe, maaaaaany criminals are not ready to attack the state, they rather cooperate with the state.

by the way, custom choppers are my love:)

http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt273/globspace/motori/th_customchopper.jpg (http://s619.photobucket.com/albums/tt273/globspace/motori/?action=view&current=customchopper.jpg)

No, just no.

[rebelmouse]

No, just no.

Yes, just yes :laugh:

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

No.

[Havet]

No.

wtf are you two talking about? motorbikes?

[Os Cangaceiros]

The drug lords must be destroyed, it would satisfy me greatly if all the prominent drug lords from Tijuana to Tierra Del Fuego were lined up on public TV and shot.

The United States conducted an operation in the early 1970s in which they spent millions of dollars and months of time tracking down every single drug dealer in Phoenix, Arizona. They arrested every drug peddler in Phoenix in a single day.

It took one week for drug production to get back up to (and exceed) the previous capacity.

[Bright Banana Beard]

Destroying drug dealers create another drug dealers.

[Havet]

Destroying drug dealers create another drug dealers.

Exactly. When you destroy some drug leaders, you are actually empowering their competition. If one wishes to stop this senseless and brutal competition one would need to decriminalize drug production and use in the first place.

[Richard Nixon]

I do believe that we should kill the root cause of drug dealing also, so don't get me wrong here. I also think marijuana (but no other drugs) should be legal for responsible adults over the age of 18 and highly taxed.

[Havet]

I do believe that we should kill the root cause of drug dealing also, so don't get me wrong here. I also think marijuana (but no other drugs) should be legal for responsible adults over the age of 18 and highly taxed.

Why not other drugs?