He died in a police operation “Ecko”, one of the most wanted criminals in Rio de Janeiro

The Brazilian government on Saturday announced the death of one of Rio de Janeiro’s most wanted criminals, Wellington da Silva Braga, better known as ‘Ecko’, during a police operation carried out in the city during the last hours.

Da Silva Braga, alleged leader of one of the largest “militias” in Rio de Janeiro state, killed in gunfight during a visit to his wife and children in the favela Tres Pontes le Valentine’s Day, celebrated in Brazil on June 12, as confirmed by the Brazilian government to the information portal G1 of World.

‘Ecko’ was shot twice. When he tried to escape through the back of the house, he was shot. On the way from the van to the helicopter, he attempted to grab a policewoman’s gun and fired the second shot. It is important to stress that the action was swift, the aid was very swift, ”explained the Under-Secretary for Intelligence. Thiago neves.

‘Ecko’ arrived dead at the Miguel Couto hospital.

Your group, The Ecko tram, controls much of the Rio west area and Baixada Fluminense region, which borders the metropolis to the north.

The militias in Rio control about 25 percent of the territory of the city of Rio. They are involved in drug trafficking and protection, even deciding who has electricity, gas and running water.

The Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Claudio Castro, congratulated the municipal police. “Today is an important day. We have dealt a severe blow to the state’s criminal gangs. Congratulations,” he wrote on Twitter.

Let the police investigate more and kill less

For his part, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, this week demanded that the police in this Brazilian state “investigate more and kill less” by deploring the death of a pregnant woman during an operation, which adds to other cases that reflect the severity of police violence in the city.

Paes, in his statements to reporters, defended the adoption of a new public security policy in Rio de Janeiro which allows “more arrests, more convictions, more investigations and fewer deaths”.

According to official data, In the first three months of this year, 453 civilian deaths were recorded in police operations in Rio de Janeiro, a number 18% higher than in the first quarter of 2020. Last year, the number of victims of police violence in Rio de Janeiro was 1.245.

Paes championed the changes in public safety policy, which is a responsibility of the regional government and not of the municipal or national ones, in mourning for the death of Kathlen Romeu, a 24-year-old girl who was four months pregnant, was hit by a stray bullet during a police operation Tuesday in a favela in the so-called Lins Complex, north of the city.

“What we cannot allow is that they begin to believe that these tragedies are natural: that a young pregnant woman can be hit by a bullet if she goes out for a walk. We cannot lose our capacity for outrage at these events. We are talking about people and not numbers, ”he said.

The mayor said that the Public safety is the main challenge for tourism in Rio de Janeiro, which is Brazil’s tourist mecca and one of the cities that generates the most tourist interest in Latin America. for its natural beauties and its famous carnival.

“I think what reduces the number of tourists we receive the most is the violence. Although this is not the main problem for people who visit us, they end up seeing scenes of armed people on television, ”he explained.

Last May, In an operation harshly contested by the UN and international human rights organizations, 28 people were killed, including a police officer, during an exchange of gunfire between men in uniform and members of a criminal gang in a favela in Rio de Janeiro.

The action was seen as theto the “biggest massacre” in the history of Rio and alerted to the abuses of uniformed people in the city, since most of the civilians killed were young people, blacks and favela residents, only three of whom were wanted by the authorities.

Irregularities reported by witnesses to the events, who ensure that Several of the deceased were executed inside their homes and some were not even armed, they put the facts under the control of the competent authorities.

With information from EuropaPress and EFE

KEEP READING: