Rio de Janeiro, May 11 (EFE).– Rio de Janeiro’s “pacified” favelas, or shantytowns, have a lower murder rate than the rest of this Brazilian city, according to a study released Monday by the regional government after a violent weekend when six people were gunned down in several central neighborhoods.

The 196 favelas occupied by police as part of the “pacification” program last year had a total of 40 murders, or 7.4 such deaths per 100,000 residents, according to the study prepared by the Public Safety Institute, or ISP, of the Rio de Janeiro state government.

The murder rate has been gradually declining since 2007, a year before the start of the pacification program, when there were 167 killings, or 30.9 per 100,000 residents.

In all, Rio – with its six million residents – has been experiencing a reduction in rates of violence compared with earlier years and last year there were 19.3 killings per 100,000 residents.

The pacification policy was launched in 2008 and led to the expulsion of the drug trafficking gangs that in recent decades had imposed their own rules at gunpoint in the 196 favelas where 600,000 people live.

Those poor neighborhoods, which in years past were some of Brazil’s most dangerous areas, are now patrolled by 9,000 police officers and have 38 permanent police stations, called Pacification Police Units, although these measures have not completely eliminated clashes between drug trafficking bands.

The publication of the study came after a violent weekend in the favelas of Coroa, Fallet and Fogueteiro, in central Rio, all of which were included in the pacification campaign.

Six people were killed and five wounded between Friday night and Sunday morning in those three shantytowns and police said that the violence occurred as rival drug gangs vied for control of the areas despite the presence of UPP officers there.

In Rio, there are still dozens of favelas that are controlled by drug gangs or violent criminal groups known as “militias,” who are normally comprised of active duty or retired police officers.

In the favelas they control, the armed groups regularly extort residents and businessmen in exchange for providing security, and they monopolize the provision of natural gas, cable television and other services. EFE