Drug boss accused of ordering churches in Rio to close

Reports that a powerful Rio drug lord known for his extremist religious beliefs ordered Catholic churches near his stronghold to close have spooked worshippers and security experts and exposed the advent of a "narco-pentecostal" movement made up of heavily armed evangelical drug traffickers.

- Tom Phillips

Claims have emerged in the Brazilian press that Álvaro Malaquias Santa Rosa - a notorious gang boss known as Peixão (Big Fish) - had determined that three places of worship should shut down in and around the favelas he controls in northern Rio.

Peixão - whose nickname comes from the ichthys, a fish symbol for Christ took control in 2016 of five favelas that have become known as the Complexo de Israel, or Complex of Israel, an allusion to the evangelical belief that the return of Jews to the Holy Land is a step towards the second coming of Christ and Armageddon.

A neon Star of David has been erected at the top of the complex and at night can be seen for miles. The roofs of the redbrick houses are dotted with blue and white Israel flags demarcating the territory the gangster controls.

In the past, Peixão's troops have been accused of ransacking AfroBrazilian temples and banning AfroBrazilian celebrations in the Complex of Israel, where more than 100,000 people live. But this month's reports were the first relating to Catholic places of worship.