Rio thieves armed with grenades rob tourists

[milkman]

Rio thieves armed with grenades rob tourists

 

Sun Nov 26, 2:47 PM ET

 

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Thieves armed with automatic rifles and military-issue grenades robbed a busload of British tourists in Rio de Janeiro before dawn on Sunday, the latest incident in a wave of violent crime plaguing Brazil's seaside tourist mecca.

 

Police said four armed men pretending to be police stopped the tour bus as it pulled into an upscale neighborhood in the southern part of the city.

 

At least 18 British tourists who had just arrived in Brazil were robbed, losing their luggage, passports and cash. One tourist who resisted was hit in the head with the butt of a rifle but was not seriously hurt, police said.

 

The robbery took place near Rio's famed Ipanema beach, a swanky area where police and drug traffickers squared off in a prolonged shootout this week that sent tourists ducking for cover.

 

Two days later a prominent socialite was shot and killed by a teenage assailant on a bicycle as she pulled up to a stoplight in Leblon, another glitzy beach neighborhood popular with tourists.

 

Nestled between lush mountains covered in tropical vegetation and the Atlantic ocean, Rio has long been Brazil's most popular tourist destination. But it also has one of the highest murder rates in the world, prompting some travel agencies to warn tourists that it might be safer to vacation elsewhere.

 

 

Gunmen rob English tourists in Rio

 

Sun Nov 26, 5:29 PM ET

 

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - A group of 18 English tourists was robbed by heavily armed gunmen shortly after arriving in Rio de Janeiro for vacation, authorities said Sunday.

 

No one was injured in the Saturday night robbery, although one of the tourists reported being hit on the head, said Mario da Silveira, a state Public Safety Department spokesman.

 

Four gunmen, reportedly carrying automatic weapons and even a grenade, intercepted the tourists' bus on the way from the airport to their hotel in the upscale Copacabana district, police said.

 

The robbers, who are still at large, then entered the bus and forced the tourists to hand over their belongings, police said.

 

Rio de Janeiro is one of the world's most dangerous cities. Last month, gunmen attacked a bus carrying Chinese tourists and robbed them of $17,000. Police said it wasn't clear whether the same group of gunmen was behind the robberies.

[Luv2play]

This is a black eye for Rio and Brazil in general.

 

I've walked around Ipanema and Leblon and felt perfectly safe. On the other hand, I stuck to myself and didn't look flashy or affluent. I especially didn't hang around other tourists. I just kept a low profile and nobody even looked at me, except when I ordered food or a drink. Basically, I faded into the background. (Of course, it was a completely different scene at the saunas!)

 

There were exceptions. I am a Sunday artist and one day I sat down in the market area of Copacabana and sketched the scene for a couple of hours; another time it was on the beach observing and sketching the volley-ball players. In no time I was surrounded by young kids mostly watching and giving me the thumbs up. I couldn't speak much Portugese and of course they couldn't speak English or French, my 2 main languages. But we had fun.

 

Violence can happen anywhere. I guess you need to have a little luck but also exercise a little discretion anywhere you go. I hope people aren't turned off Brazil because it is a beautiful place with (mostly) beautiful people. Still, the authorities need to get a grip.

[Guest Fisher]

While Rio may not be the safest place in world, it is

not Beirut or Baghdad. If one is not foolhardly and

takes appropriate precautions, a trip to Rio is not

a dangerous undertaking. The physical beauty of the

land, the architecture, and the people – as well as

the warmth and openness of the Brasilian people - will

make your stay in the “Wonderful City” ” one of great

memories and one that you want to repeat over and

over again.

 

One of the “precautions” I take is to have a sexy

sauna boy accompany on my walks. }( I feel absolutely

safe with my garoto.

 

Cheers,

Fisher :-)

[JT Brooklyn]

I do remember reading OLIVER our Traveling Delegate was going to RIO?

 

Not sure IF he has taken this Trip Yet?

 

Rumor has it, he will be seen doing Palm Springs in 2007.. :P

[+ Axiom2001]

Ever so often we get a "Violence in Rio" thread at this forum or the other related forum. I am glad that Luv2Play and Fisher wrote what they did; your comments make much sense and are appropriate!

 

A very, very good friend and former colleague of mine took off yesterday for South America (Argentina and Brasil) with her adult daughter. Before she left, I sent her my guide books, Carlo's e address (Yes, Carlo does trips for "straight" folks!), and spoke with her for almost three hours assuring her that Rio is NOT really as violent as others have reported and painted. I gave her the ends and the outs in being safe and tried to allay her fears.

 

Although I sympathize with those tourists who have been attacked previously, caught in the cross fires of gang warfare, and being robbed-- this will NOT curtail my revisting my FAVORITE city or my discouraging anyone from visiting "The Land of the Cariocas!"

 

(I plan to go to Egypt in May in spite of its being right in the heart of the Middle East. But, if the government advises us travelers NOT to travel to the "Motherland," then I will forego this trip with my tour group!)

[pierrot]

I'm sorry to read this too, as I loved Rio when my partner and I were there in summer 2005. While we were there a city bus was stopped and robbed (we heard about it, we weren't there), and it seems buses are particularly targeted by these gangs. So these two reports -- the British group and the Chinese group being robbed -- are not a new phenomenon. I had advise going to Rio, just take normal big city precautions, stay out of certain neighborhoods, hang out with Brazilians if possible, and don't take buses.

[jackhammer91406]

>I do remember reading OLIVER our Traveling Delegate was going

>to RIO?

>

>Not sure IF he has taken this Trip Yet?

>

 

 

Yes Oliver did take his trip and posted a few observations about it in the South of the Border forum.

He is now at home safe and sound.

 

Neither of us had any problems while in RIO last month. The suggestions

offered in this thread are all wise precautions. RIO is a marvelous city and the Brasilian people in general are very warm and friendly.

 

>Rumor has it, he will be seen doing Palm Springs in 2007..

> :P

 

Residents of the Palm Springs area should prepare as Oliver will indeed be using up the hot men this Winter.

[+ glutes]

Rio: More than robberies...

 

Chaos at Brazil airports leads to delays, cancellations, protests

 

dpa German Press Agency

Published: Thursday December 7, 2006

 

Rio de Janeiro- A week of chaos at Brazil's airports reached a highpoint of delayed and cancelled flights as passengers held protests and the government scrambled to address the problem. The National Civil Aviation Agency said 37 per cent of Wednesday's flights were delayed by more than an hour and more than 10 per cent of the 1,184 scheduled flights were cancelled.

 

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva planned to soon present a policy package to flight the aviation crisis after holding an emergency meeting in Brasilia, a government spokesman said.

 

The authorities have yet to give an exact cause for the chaos, but air traffic controllers have been conducting a work slowdown for weeks and the failure Tuesday of the communications system in the Brasilia control tower halted traffic at three airports.

 

The head of the Air Force, Franco Ferreira, spoke of "sabotage," saying it was impossible that all the radio frequencies had gone down at the same time.

 

Whatever the cause, passengers' tempers flared Wednesday, particularly at the hardest-hit airports of Sao Paulo, Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro, causing large protests to break out, media reports said.

 

In Brasilia, passengers banded together and demonstrated with whistles as passengers throughout the country were fainting during their long stays in queues.

 

The work slowdown by air traffic controllers followed a midair crash above the Amazon in September that led a Boeing 737 to go down, killing all 154 people on board. Afterward, controllers instituted a strict adherence to aviation regulations, such as observing flight limits and times between landings and takeoffs, to draw attention to their working conditions.

 

The controllers charge that their workloads are too great, they are underpaid and have too few staff as investigators look into whether controllers' actions played a part in Brazil's worst airline disaster, in which a Gol Airlines passenger plane crashed after clipping a private executive jet.

 

On Tuesday, more than two months after the crash, the pilot of the American executive jet, who successfully made an emergency landing, received permission to leave Brazil. He is under suspicion of contributing to the crash of the larger plane.

 

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency

[Juan Vancouver]

RE: Rio: More than robberies...

 

Wow,

 

I am suposed to be in Rio in just a couple of weeks, and all this notes are doing nothing but making me hornier for sun and tanned flesh.

 

A Brazilian friend was coaching me to deal with the fear of cryme in Rio, and he just made me think about something... what could they possibly take from you if all you are wearing is a brazilian thong and tons of sunscreen lotion? }(

 

As it is, it made me feel much better, since I am not planning on wearing a lot more at any time. (Maybe sandals?)

 

I hope I will see some of you guys in that Land of Perdition and Sin.

[+ purplekow]

RE: Rio: More than robberies...

 

>Wow,

>

 

>what could they possibly take from you if all you are wearing

>is a brazilian thong and tons of sunscreen lotion? }(

>

My virginity? lol

[Juan Vancouver]

Take my virginity, NOT my thong!

 

>>what could they possibly take from you if all you are

>wearing

>>is a brazilian thong and tons of sunscreen lotion? }(

>>

>My virginity? lol

>

 

Well, I hate to have to dispell the aura of purity and piousness that surrounds my persona, but should perhaps confess that someone took that one away from me a few moons ago. :o

 

I know, I know... I look so innocent.