War in the streets

Hi all,

What sensationalism is this? Am I stooping to Fox News (using the term loosely) tactics to draw attention?

Hardly. The Rio police have been fighting an urban battle with drug gangs for years. Recently the gangs retaliated with carjackings and bombings. Matters escalated to the point that the army has been enlisted to help root out the gang members from the favelas where they reside and hide. Armored vehicles patrol the streets of some of the northern communities, where the violence is worst. Yesterday I saw the number of dead since Sunday totaled 33, most of them drug gang members, but some simply bystanders. I have not seen an updated count today.

What the hell? What is going on?

To help explain, let me give an ultra-quick synopsis.

The recent problems center on a few of Rio’s 1,000 or so favelas, or slums, which are largely built on the sides of the granite hills or morros which dot the landscape here. Some of these favelas date from the 1930s, but the real growth began in 1970s and 80s. Laborers and unemployed, many of them from the poor northeastern states of Brasil, flocked to Rio in search of work. They migrated to the hillside communities.

Though there were (and are) laws on the books prohibiting building on the green areas of these hills around which the legal areas of Rio are built, nothing was done at the time to halt the building, and parallel favela communities sprang up alongside virtually every “asphalt” community, as the licit communities are known. The government chose to ignore the squatters, and the squatter communities became fixed settlements of permanent structures.

Subsequent governments continued this blind-eye policy, choosing simply to ignore the hillside communities, pretending that they did not exist. The residents were not counted in censuses, and received no municipal services such as police. They did not even appear on city maps until fairly recently.

Most homes in favelas these days have water and electricity – though it is not paid for but heisted (“borrowed” is the term used in the recently-PC Brasil) and residents of the asphalt pay for this usage through subsidies on their bills.

The relationship between favelas – “Communities” is the current PC term, but I will stick with “favelas”, as “communities” could be any community, legal or not, and I’ve never been accused of being PC anyway – is unique, for lack of any other more suitable word. As an estimated one in 5 residents of Rio lives in an “illegal” community, the utility subsidy on the asphalt communities is significant, and often bemoaned and resented by their residents. Asphalt residents also complain about the noise from the adjacent favelas (I often awake to the crows of roosters on the hill 50 meters from my bedroom window), and fear the criminal elements that live in many favelas, so near their pricey homes.

But though residents of the asphalt complain, the adjacent favelas supply workers. Many of the shop girls, cashiers, delivery men, and laborers with which you interact each day return each night to their homes in nearby favelas (where, interestingly, they may have spectacular views and enjoy cooling breezes envied by the asphalters below). And let us not overlook that the overwhelming majority of residents in favelas are not criminals. They are simply living where local economics allow them to live.

Residents of the favelas, for their part, may often feel second-class citizens. They may feel marginalized, and not really a part of Rio, making it easier for the young among them to be drawn into gangs and into actions against the police and government, which they do not see as serving or representing them.

Which sets the stage for the problems Rio is experiencing today. In the absence of police and civil authorities in the favelas, drug lords moved in to fill the void. They made huge profits from marijuana and cocaine – but many also provided some semblance of law and order, exercising some control over the favela. As one example, conventional wisdom here says that foreigners – provided they don’t do something completely stupid like trying to photograph an uzi-toting drug gang soldier – are actually pretty safe. The reason is simple: Drug lords don’t want to draw heat from the police for attacks against foreigners. So drug lords hunt down and penalize petty criminals within their borders. There are even stories of drug lords delivering medicines to the needy within their fiefdoms in actions reminiscent of The Godfather.

So let us fast forward to 2010. The municipal government, in an effort to effect some actual long-term change, has begun in the last two years to establish police precincts within the favelas, a first step in what has been termed “urbanization” – integrating the favelas into the municipality. First the government would send in the BOP, or SWAT team. Once the gangs were quelled, the UPP (unification pacification police) entered to fill the void. To date, 13 such precincts have been established. Obviously, with 1,000+ favelas there is a long way to go, but the government has purposefully targeted some of the most crime-ridden favelas to be first, and the actions seem to be more than symbolic, as the raids of the past often were.

Which brings us to now. The presence of permanent police stations is beginning to truly threaten the drug gangs by taking away their territory. These gangs are just like wild animals: They may hide and continue to hang on, unless you invade or eradicate their territory.

And like cornered animals, gang leaders are retaliating. There purportedly have been calls for concerted attacks today (Saturday). Many folks are choosing to stay indoors rather than risk possibly being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

All of this above is, I apologize, a gross oversimplification of a complex issue, certainly, but I wanted to provide some backdrop for the recent violence and what you will read and see below. I would certainly welcome the opinions of Rio residents. (Hey, Fábio, what can you add?)

***

The “news” networks in the US don’t seem to be reporting the happenings here very much. I called my mom yeserday to reassure her that I was fine and she had no idea what I was talking about. (“Uh, never mind.”) A search of the internet revealed surprisingly little coverage. That which I could find was all British. (Count on the Brits for good world news coverage.) And I found no videos on YouTube of the recent violence here. I find this so odd that I can only conclude that my searches were inadequate. However, it appears that Rio may have avoided a severe press beating, perhaps because Thanksgiving and Black Friday occurred this week.

So what exactly is happening here?

Tensions began to escalate last Sunday. Cars and buses were stopped, robbed and then set alight. Some homemade bombs were placed. Attacks continued throughout the week. Most of the actions took place in the north, particularly in the areas of Penha and Complexo do Alemáo, which are near Galeáo International Airport. Some though occurred even in Zona Sul. A bus, for example, was set alight in Ipanema at the base of the favela of Paváo.

This is not one of the routine raids which are common here. As of yesterday, the television was reporting 33 dead. Most were gang members, but some were bystanders, including a 14-year-old girl.

To see images of the actions, and read more, you can click these links:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11837815

http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC101127-0000143/War-for-Rio?-Olympic-city-facing-gang-backlash

O Globo (The Globe), RIo’s largest paper, has been giving good coverage. Although it is of course in Portuguese, you should be able to understand parts and the pictures of course speak for themselves.

http://oglobo.globo.com/

Let’s see what transpires. Penha and do Aleamáo are surrounding by police and troops, backed by armored vehicles and automatic weapons.

So strange to see all of this on television and know it is happening only miles away.

John

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