A SPANISH tourist has been shot dead by a police officer whilst touring one of the most notorious favelas in the former Brazilian capital of Rio de Janeiro.
María Esperanza Ruiz Jiménez, 67, from El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz province) was in a Fiat Freemont in the Largo do Boiadeiro neighbourhood, a busy shopping district at the foot of the Rocinha slum, or favela, at around 10.30 local time (14.30 mainland Spain time) when the driver allegedly failed to stop as ordered by the armed police who are permanently on duty in the deprived outskirts of the city.
The driver, an Italian who had lived in Rio for four years, said he did not remember any order to stop, nor jumping a police checkpoint.
Police did not realise the car was carrying holidaymakers on a 'favela tour' – which are growing in popularity in Brazil's largest cities – until it had passed.
According to the driver, he heard shots and accelerated to get away from them, then realised that one of the Spaniards in the car had a bullet wound in her neck.
María Esperanza was travelling with her brother and his wife, who are waiting at the Miguel Couto Hospital in the south of the city for her body to be released.
CCTV footage released by the Brazilian newspaper Globo shows the car being driven down the street in Rocinha, the sound of gunfire, and several police officers running towards the vehicle.
Brazilian Military Police are investigating the actions of the officers involved and say they have identified who was responsible for the fatal shooting.
Three policemen are under scrutiny, the one who pulled the trigger has been arrested, and homicide detectives have called the incident 'unacceptable'.
María Esperanza's brother and his wife say they were not aware of the risks involved in the trip to Rocinha, one of Rio's largest favelas and the site of a massive shoot-out between rival drug gangs a month and a half ago which forced the Army to intervene and left two policemen seriously injured.
Rocinha is a popular destination for favela tours, since its height means it offers an excellent panoramic view over the Atlantic Ocean.
Travel operators say demand for favela tours in the Rocinha slum has fallen drastically in the last few weeks, and their own guides recommend choosing other destinations.
Many group trips to Rocinha have been cancelled since the drug gang warfare and fewer bookings taken, says Marcelo Armstrong from the agency Favelatours.
He says several trips had to be called off at the last minute due to violent incidents.
Armstrong stresses that nobody should ever enter a favela in a car with blacked-out windows, because both police and drug-barons will shoot indiscriminately as they have no idea who is travelling inside.
Police frequently open fire first and check later, since they have to make split-second decisions when cornered in back streets of favelas by drug dealers and cannot necessarily identify them at a glance.
The photograph shows María Esperanza's brother and sister-in-law waiting outside the hospital.
