Rio sounds like a great place to have the 2016 Olympics. From VOA:

Residents of some of Rio de Janeiro’s worst slums are fleeing their homes, hoping to escape a drug war that has left part of the city in ruins.

Smoke rose from the smoldering wreckage of a police helicopter Saturday, while at least eight buses burned and gunfire filled the air in the slum of Morro dos Macacos.

Police say the fighting broke out early Saturday, when one of the city’s three main drug gangs invaded the area in an attempt to expand their territory.

At least eight suspected gang members were killed in subsequent gunbattles with police, while two police officers riding in the helicopter were also killed.  Several other people were injured.

Police say the aircraft exploded on a football field after the pilot tried to make an emergency landing.

Hundreds of police officers have been sent into the area to end the fighting.

The outbreak of violence comes just weeks after Rio won the right to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

Via BreitbartTV we have video of the incident:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsjywM4BBpE[/youtube]

Transnational gangs have grown in power and have been an increasingly legitimate challenger to states like Brazil where the government is unable to throw the resources necessary into maintaining control of the streets; Mexico is in a similar situation. With the collapsing dollar and the decrease in tax revenues we will be seeing in the next few years America too will provide a fertile operating ground for gangs to establish similar footholds as police and other law enforcement structures become too expensive for states to maintain.

Here’s the future of America if the economy and cultural/civil architecture continue to decline.