Brazil army ordered to take over security in violent Rio de Janeiro

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil´s federal government on Friday ordered the army to take over command of police forces in Rio de Janeiro state in a bid to curb violence driven by drug gangs, marking the first such move since the country´s dictatorship ended three decades ago. The emergency measure could delay a vote in Congress on pension legislation, the flagship reform of President Michel Temer´s government. The bill, designed to address the pension system´s massive deficit, requires an amendment to the constitution, which is banned during any such federal intervention. Deadly violence in Rio de Janeiro has spiked in recent years, with an 8 percent increase in killings last year over 2016 and a 26 percent jump since 2015, according to statistics from the Rio state government. The army has already been employed in Rio in recent years in an effort to quell violence, mainly centered on slums in Rio´s metropolitan area.