Rio Issues Arrest Warrants For Men Linked to Collapse of Buildings

By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Rio police authorities have issued arrest warrants for three people linked to the collapse of two buildings earlier which caused the death of twenty people.

Builder José Bezerra Lira and real estate agents Rafael Costa and Renato Ribeiro were identified by residents of the Muzema favela community as being responsible for the construction and the sale of the apartments in the two buildings that collapsed.

“We asked for the arrest of these three, who were effectively recognized, as the builder and two sellers (of buildings),” police chief Adriana Belem was quoted as saying in online news site G1.

“We understand that a person who builds a building that way, under those circumstances, takes the risk of killing those people,” added Belém.

“They are people who sold dreams to humble people who received the tragedy, the misfortune,” concluded the officer.

According to the police chief, all three are already considered fugitives, since police have not found them anywhere. She has asked the population for any of information that can lead to the arrest of the three men.

On Thursday the president of the Muzema Residents’ Association, Marcelo Diniz, was interviewed by police for a second time. According to local media sources, Diniz once again denied knowing the militia group that operates in the community and said he did not know the names of those responsible for the construction of the two buildings.

According to police it has been difficult to obtain information about the constructions built in the community because residents are wary of talking about the militia groups that according to local media ‘control’ the area.

Since the collapse engineers have criticized the local government for its lack of inspection of illegal construction complexes, such as the one seen in Muzema.

“The justification that the inspectors could not enter because the community is run by the militia is wrong. What we cannot have is militia; the State is also negligent in that, because it has allowed these militia (groups) to exist,” said engineer Eduardo-König, vice-president of Crea-RJ (Regional Council of Engineering and Agronomy of Rio de Janeiro), during a press conference.

Since the morning of April 12th, when the two buildings collapsed, more than one hundred firemen, with rescue dogs and special equipment have been working to find the victims believed to be under the rubble. Three people continue unaccounted for.