By Maira Magro
Police in Rio de Janeiro arrested a drug leader Sunday who was convicted of taking part in the assassination of TV Globo reporter Tim Lopes in 2002. Eliseu Felicio de Sousa was captured during this weekend's police invasion of the Alemão shantytown complex, the same region where Lopes was killed. The arrest was broadcast on live TV during extensive coverage of the police operations. (See video below of TV Globo's coverage.)
De Souza was sentenced to 23 years and six months in prison for having bought the gasoline used to burn Lopes' corpse. But after serving only five years and 25 days, he was permitted in 2007 to leave prison during the day and return at night. However, the first time he left to visit his family, De Souza fled, and he was reported to be selling drugs freely again in Rio de Janeiro's northern zone.
He surrendered to police Sunday without resistance after he was discovered hiding in his home, Bloomberg News and Brazilian media report. He was to be transferred to a federal prison Monday in southern Brazil, O Globo newspaper says.
Lopes was tortured and brutally killed while working under cover to report on sexual exploitation of minors at dances sponsored by drug traffickers in Rio.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
