A group of about 50 housewives in Duque de Caxias, state of Rio de Janeiro, have lost patience with the lack of government action against crime and set up their own, machete-wielding vigilante unit. Their leader, Hilda Prado, says that among their prime targets are rapists: their municipality has a rate of about 25 cases of rape or sexual assault a month. Their procedure: they detain suspects and, if the victims recognise them, 'take the necessary measures.' One newspaper has pointedly reported that a suspected rapist in Duque de Caxias was killed weeks ago by being dragged by horses through the town.
CHILE | Elite force to deal with drugs & terrorism
The Chilean navy has commissioned a new, 19-strong élite unit trained in counternarcotics and counterterrorist skills, to be known as Grupo de Respuesta Inmediata (GRI, 'Immediate Response Group'). This unit is separate from the navy's buzos tácticos (similar to the US Seals or Britain's SBS), from where its members have been drawn. They report to Directemar, the navy's directorate of maritime territory and merchant marine, which had previously been assigned a role in counternarcotics operations along Chile's long Pacific seaboard, but had been charged with developing a counterterrorist capability after the September 2001 attacks on the US.
The Chilean navy is just back from Panamax 2003, a joint exercise with the US Navy against a simulated terrorist threat (a shipload of explosives) against the Panama Canal.
ARGENTINA | Anticrime drive also embraces capital
The crackdown on crime in Argentina is not confined to the province of Buenos Aires. It is also taking place, in a coordinated effort, in the autonomous metropolitan district of Buenos Aires city. Gustavo Beliz, minister of justice, security & human rights, has announced that 1,100 more police officers will be put on the streets (including just-graduated police cadets and officers freed from paperwork, which is being handed over to civilian employees) and that the federal police will launch a blitz of surprise raids - many of them in support of the campaign against auto theft being conducted in Buenos Aires province.
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