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Rio police tear down memorial for favela raid victims

AFP

Police in Rio de Janeiro have torn down a small memorial to the 28 people killed last year in an anti-drug trafficking operation in the slum of Jacarezinho, the bloodiest raid in the Brazilian city’s history.

Residents and rights activists had erected the memorial last week to mark the anniversary of the violence on May 6, 2021, when 27 alleged suspects and one officer were killed in an operation that turned the impoverished “favela” neighborhood into a war zone.

The memorial — a small blue wall in a public square — had four rows of plaques bearing the victims’ names.

Police pounded and pried the plaques off the wall with hammers and a crowbar Wednesday, then tied it to an armored vehicle and pulled it down. Video showed the memorial shattering into pieces when it fell.

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Police said in a statement sent to AFP the memorial was “unauthorized” and “illegal.”

It was removed for “defending drug trafficking, given that the 27 dead had police records and demonstrated involvement in criminal activities,” it said.

The family of the policeman killed in the operation had not given permission for his name to appear “alongside those of the drug traffickers,” it added.

Residents and rights groups say the police killed people indiscriminately during the raid, executing some of the victims in cold blood.

Despite an international outcry and a UN call for an independent investigation, just four police and two alleged drug traffickers face charges over the violence that day.

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Most cases were closed for lack of evidence.

“It’s absurd to tear down this tribute,” said Guilherme Pimentel, the ombudsman for the Rio public defender’s office.

“It was not a defense of drug trafficking, it was a memorial to console victims’ families,” he told AFP.

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International

Trump replaces Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with Senator Markwayne Mullin

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Thursday the departure of Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security, one of the key architects of the administration’s policy of deporting undocumented immigrants.

Noem, who has been assigned a new role as a “special envoy” to Latin America, will be replaced starting March 31 by Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin, the president said in a message posted on his social media platform Truth Social.

According to media reports, Trump made the decision after Noem’s recent hearings in Congress, during which she faced tough questions regarding the awarding of a major public contract.

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International

Young Woman Will Represent Mexico at 2026 World Cup Opener, Says President Sheinbaum

Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, announced Thursday that the young Mexican woman who proves to have the best ball control skills will receive her personal ticket to the opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Mexico City.

The left-wing leader had previously said she would not attend the tournament’s opening game on June 11 in the Mexican capital and instead planned to give away the ticket number 00001, reserved for her by FIFA.

During her morning press conference, Sheinbaum explained that women between 16 and 25 years old can participate by submitting a video through an official platform.

“What do they have to do? Keep the ball in the air for one minute,” she said, referring to the soccer juggling challenge that will determine the winner.

Among the judges selecting the winner will be Mexican striker Charlyn Corral, the world’s top female scorer who set a ball-control record in 2005, and professional referee Katia Itzel García.

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Sheinbaum also revealed that she plans to watch the opening match during a large public gathering with giant screens in the Zócalo, located in the historic center near the presidential palace.

“Very few people will be able to attend the opening. So I will watch it here with the people, and a young woman will represent me and the people of Mexico,” the president said.

Sheinbaum has previously commented on the high cost of World Cup tickets, as well as the difficulty of obtaining them in a metropolitan area with more than 20 million inhabitants.

In the 2026 tournament, jointly hosted by United States, Mexico, and Canada, Mexico will stage 13 matches in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey.

The opening match will take place at the legendary Estadio Azteca, which previously hosted World Cup opening ceremonies in 1970 and 1986, occasions when the presidents in attendance were famously booed by the crowd.

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Claudia Sheinbaum: Operation Against ‘El Mencho’ Was Based on Pending Arrest Warrants

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday rejected claims that the military operation that resulted in the death of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was carried out under pressure from the United States government.

Sheinbaum explained that the deployment of federal forces was aimed at executing outstanding arrest warrants against Oseguera Cervantes, who was considered one of the most wanted criminals in both Mexico and the United States.

“That was not the objective (to ease pressure from the United States). It is very important, and I want to repeat it. This individual had an arrest warrant, or several,” Sheinbaum said, referring to the operation conducted on February 22.

According to the president, the initial goal was to capture Oseguera Cervantes, but military forces responded after coming under attack during the intervention.

“The operation was to detain him. The problem is that they were attacked — the Secretariat of National Defense — and they responded at that moment,” she said.

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The president insisted that the action was not carried out in response to external demands, although she acknowledged intelligence cooperation with the United States.

“It was not done in any way because of pressure from the United States, not at all. Of course, there was intelligence information from the United States that was used specifically,” she concluded.

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