In 16 years, urban areas under the sway of armed groups in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro went from 8.7 to 20 percent of the territory, up 131 percent between the periods of 2006–2008 and 2019–2021.
In the same time span, the power of militia—criminal groups formed by former police and military agents—spread from 23.7 to 49.9 percent of the dominated area, which currently covers 38.8 percent of the population under the command of armed groups, up from 22.5 percent in 2008. Considering the total area under militias, the expansion in the period was 387.3 percent—from 52.6 to 256.28 km², ten percent of the entire Greater Rio area.
The information can be found in the Mapa dos Grupos Armados (“Map of Armed Groups”), released this week by the Fogo Cruzado Institute and Fluminense Federal University law study group Geni-UFF. In it, one can identify which areas are ruled by each criminal organization, with the historical evolution separated under each three-year period.”
According to Geni-UFF Coordinator Daniel Hirata, the survey, the first of its kind, found crucial information for the creation of public security policies. At the core of the issue, he said, lies the expansion of the militia, observed in areas not previously claimed by any faction.
“The militia was the group that grew the most over this period—nearly 400 percent. Over these years, the militias have become hegemonic, more so in sub-districts than in favelas and housing developments, where drug trafficking rings still wield greater authority.”
The armed groups controlling territories in Rio are involved in illicit economic activities such as drug trafficking and also the clandestine provision of services such as public transportation, the sale of gas, cable TV, and public security.
Historically, the drug trade has occupied favelas and other impoverished regions since the 70s, where alleys and narrow side streets make it difficult for police cars to access.
Militias
According to Maria Isabel Couto, executive director with Fogo Cruzado Institute, 90.3 percent of the growth reported under militia occurred in new areas, where there was no control of any armed organization.
“In terms of territorial coverage, the militias have expanded at an exponential rate, almost doubling the area they had in 2008. Their rate surged quicker than those of drug factions. That is to say, of the total area controlled by any armed group in Greater Rio, half was in the hands of militias by 2021—49.9 percent. From the people’s point of view, it still doesn’t come off as prevalent, but that seems to be just a matter of time, given the speed with which the militias incorporate large amounts of people under their control.”
Today, police militias pose the main threat to public security in Greater Rio, she argued, considering the sharp surge reported in the last five years.
“After the parliamentary investigation into militias in 2008, we saw a moment of stability and even decline in the area under their rule. This trend ends, however, in 2017. Also, in the final five years of the time series, the militias experience their largest expansion, and come to encompass over 138 km², an area home to over 750 thousand people.”
As the top drivers behind these dynamics, the research names the 2008 parliamentary investigation into militias in the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro State; the Pacifying Police Units, a program that lasted from 2008 to 2016; the socioeconomic, political, and fiscal crisis in the state from 2014 to 2017; and the public security management crisis that led to the end of the special department dedicated to the issue and to the autonomy of the civil and military police bodies in 2019.
Regions
The study covered the entire metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro, including the capital, home to nearly 7 million people; the Metropolitan East, with the municipalities of Niterói, São Gonçalo, Itaboraí, Tanguá, and Maricá, with approximately 2 million inhabitants; and the Baixada Fluminense, a region that encompasses 13 municipalities, with around 4 million people.
The Mapa dos Grupos Armados points out that the Comando Vermelho faction expanded its dominion in the Baixada Fluminense and maintained its hegemony in the Metropolitan East.
In 2021, the slice of Baixada Fluminense falling under these sects was reported as 39.7 percent under Comando Vermelho, 48.6 percent under militias, and 10.9 percent under Terceiro Comando Puro. In the Metropolitan East, 88.2 percent of the area was swayed by Comando Vermelho, 9.1 percent was under the control of militias, and 2.6 percent is influenced by Terceiro Comando Puro.
In the capital, militias ranked first, holding 74.2 percent of the total area occupied by armed factions, which correspond to 29.8 percent of the city’s area. The prevalence is focused on western Rio and extends into the north, with little clout in the South and city center.
The study examined 690 thousand records from the Disque Denúncia hotline portal that mentioned militias or drug trafficking between 2006 and 2021. This enabled specialists to establish the history of faction and militia dominance in 13,308 sub-districts, favelas, and housing developments in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro.
Fogo Cruzado is an institute that uses technology to produce and disseminate open and collaborative data on armed violence in the metropolitan regions of Rio, Recife, and Salvador, with information on shootings checked in real time.
Geni-UFF specializes in different forms of violence and social conflict.
Police forces
When questioned by our reporters about the survey, the Military Police said the force is active in the fight against organized crime using intelligence and official data through actions “based on technical protocols defined by current legislation and court rulings.”
“The Military Police would like to add that, in 2022 alone, the force has arrested more than 23.9 thousand criminals, seized more than 2.5 thousand teenage offenders, and removed from the streets more than 4.35 thousand firearms, including 247 rifles,” their statement reads.
The Civil Police, in turn, declared they will not comment on the study as they have no knowledge of the methodology used, adding they have their own intelligence department.
“It is worth underscoring that the state’s Civil Police secretariat boasts the country’s largest central intelligence agency for state public security, where all sectors seeking and producing knowledge to help devise strategies convene to operate.”
