This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Police in Rio de Janeiro said they shot dead a Spanish tourist after the car she was in failed to stop at a police roadblock in the Rocinha favela, near the city’s famous beaches.

Local media named the 67-year-old victim as María Esperanza Ruiz Jiménez and said she was with two other Spaniards, an Italian and a guide. She is the third tourist to have been shot dead in Rio favelas in less than a year.

Brazil's army returns to Rio favela amid clashes between gangs and police Read more

Her killing puts the spotlight back on Rio’s deteriorating crime situation just a month after the Brazilian military were sent into the Rocinha favela in an attempt to control violence between warring drug gangs.

The operation failed to bring peace to Brazil’s biggest favela, and shootouts between gang members and police have continued on a daily basis, residents said.

In the last year, two other tourists have been shot dead in Rio favelas and in August a British tourist, Eloise Dixon, survived being shot near Angra dos Reis, a three-hour drive from Rio de Janeiro. In each case the shootings were blamed on drug gangs.

Police said the latest violence broke out around 9.30am on Monday at two separate locations in the sprawling Rocinha favela, Brazil’s biggest. Two officers and a gang member were injured.

“Around 10.30 a Fiat Fremont broke a police roadblock,” police said in a statement. “Officers reacted, hitting the vehicle. Upon approaching it, it was discovered that the vehicle was carrying tourists. A Spanish woman was injured and taken to the Miguel Couto hospital but did not survive.” Police said the case was being investigated.

A recording that is circulating in the Rocinha favela on the WhatsApp cellphone message service said police were sheltering from the rain when they ordered the vehicle to stop but had not entered into the roadway.

“The woman must not have even heard,” an unidentified man said in the recording, describing the shooting.

Launched in 2008, Rio’s much-lauded programme to pacify favelas run for decades by drug gangs, by installing armed police bases, is in a state of collapse. The state government is broke and has struggled to pay police salaries. As crime has escalated, drug gangs have recaptured old territory and spread their control to new areas – and tourists have increasingly been caught in the crossfire.

In December 2016, an Italian motorcyclist was shot dead in the Prazeres favela in central Rio after he and a friend inadvertently drove into a gang-held area. In February this year an Argentinian tourist was shot when the car she was in entered the same favela. She died a month later of her injuries.