Brazzil

It is always the police's fault. Of course, never is the criminal's fault. If someone dies they blame the police for using force against the mafia of the favelas. I believe that policemen in Brazil, as in any country, make a lot of mistake maybe because they are facing a very organized crime group or because they are under stress and even fear. The article above however shows how the situation really is. The crooks never "mess" with us, they say, they are "nice" and, of course, they feed the population hungry for drugs. How wonderful!

The policeman in also a human being with family, wife, children and mothers too. They are killed by criminals and few of the Brazilians defend their work. They are always blamed for everything.The fact that the criminals know better the favelas, use high powered weapons, and destroy the lives of the population of the favelas is not important. They want to rule and they want the media and naive journalist to listen to their stories and blame the authorities for acting . Please, someone tell me that the police in the USA, for example, never used brutal force and even cause inocent people to die. I will remind you many stories here and there, from Texas to California.

I feel sorry for the dead kid and his family but I think that he is mainly a victim of the crooks from the favelas. They are using apparently an effective plan of turning the population and media against the authorities so that the police will not be so implacable hunting the criminals. It is a war out there and if I remember the napalm bomb killed a lot of kids in the Vietnam War. How then should the police in Brazil approach this situation? How would you behave if you had the obligation of going to a very dangerous territory, with low support and a great probability of being killed by a military qualified weapon?

Maybe there is a peaceful way to resolve this, besides of course, removing the entire population from the favelas which is inviable in a short term. However, how long it would really take? How much would cost in terms of lives (spoiled by the criminals) and money? The policemem in Brazil are seen as the bad guys, they have no real support from the population, they are seen as the "pariahs" of our society, they have no respect, they have the international nosy journalists against them, they are not trained properly for combat against such a well equiped group, they are not well educated in the arts of law enforcement, etc, etc. What do you expect?

I would never say that criminals were not to blame, but the brazillian military police is uneducated and the vast majority corrupt and too young. Joining the policeforce should be a task that demands education. The only weapon to generate a secure and non-corrupt system, is knowledge.
-Young norwegian student-

I expect that if you are sent to "protect and serve," then you come in and do just that! No excuses!

If you are un-educated then stay the hell out of my neighborhood!

If you are under-manned and out-gunned, then stay the hell away from me!

Ther is no excuse for law enforcement to come into a neighborhood and kill innocents! NONE!

These people in the Favelas would do well to put up gates to keep the police out of their neighborhoods, however if the criminals (drug dealers) are going outside of the neighborhood to create havoc with their drugs, and violence, and expect the Favelas to be a safe haven to return to without reprisal from the police, then they are part of the problem too.

This needs to be address by the people living in the Favelas!

Hanging drug dealers, and killer cops from the nearest lampost would go a long way towards solving the problem...

Obviously, there is no short answer for the violence in Rio. But, this is not a new problem. It is as old as Rio itself. Rio hosts one of the most organized public events in the world, the famous carnival, every year. It takes a lot of planning ahead, a lot of minds working together. So "cariocas" don't lack an ability to organize, to plan, to work out issues in order to "make something happen". The people in the favelas and the police are all victims of the same vicious system. A couple of points here:
1)Any similarities between the Rio situation and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Wall? Tanks? There, the Palestinians have rocks, bombs, misery, and despair. In Rio, the "favelados"live in misery and despair.
2)Drug traffickers are able to conduct "business" by bribing cops so they get to go free if they get caught. Also, cops are a reliable source of guns. The “favela” is the trafficker’s safe haven. The boundaries between cops in Rio and the “bandidos” have always been fuzzy.
3)Rio has become a city divided into two very distinct and parallel worlds: those who have and those have nothing. The working class, the very poor, and the cops are caught between these two worlds. So it is most of Brazil.
4)On the positive side of things, even though Sao Paulo is facing some of the same difficult problems as Rio, they are targeting the problem in many different fronts. State and local governments, religious and community leaders, universities, and the local people are working together to bring jobs, education, and safe social activities for boys and girls in the poor communities. According to "Veja", a monthly Brazilian magazine, crime in Sao Paulo is down 40 percent compared to the same period five years ago. What can we learn from Sao Paulo's approach to violence? The bigger issues will still be there for a long time: corruption, lack of jobs, lack of health coverage, lack of access to education and the list goes on and on. At meantime, a lot of people in Brazil are getting it right. They are working together to solve a very complex problem. Please, let’s also report on the good things. We can all benefit from good, balanced journalism.
(Carla)

I am not sure if I understand the the part starting with ..."however if the criminals (drug dealers) are going outside of the neighborhood to create havoc with their drugs, and violence, and expect the Favelas to be a safe haven to return to without reprisal from the police, then they are part of the problem too."

What that means? Are you saying that the criminals are not going outside of Favelas already to deal the drugs and kill inocent people? Are you aware that actually the population of the Favelas literraly protect the criminals by giving them resources and haven?
What about the policemen killed when they were only watching the traffic flow?

I do not think that your are totally aware of what is going on, indeed, sir. The criminals are even able to set up a plan of sniping inocent people when the police is nearby to make the people at Favelas think that the shot came from the police. This is highly plausible if not a reallity already.

As I have said above, the police is amateurish and. worse, they HAVE no moral support from the Favelas dwellers, but that is what we have. We must live with that until something big happens, politically and socially. And while this persists the criminals will rule the Favelas and continue to recruit children for their business. And then, they will be killed by internal wars and they kill civilians who oppose them. Where do you see this as good? Is police worse? NO. In a place where the criminals receive the authorities with bullets from M-16, police will have to retaliate at the same level. Or you prfer to see the police running scared? They are already frightened with all the danger and what do you want them to do? Be nice and kind? Serve and die?

I am not sure if I understand the the part starting with ..."however if the criminals (drug dealers) are going outside of the neighborhood to create havoc with their drugs, and violence, and expect the Favelas to be a safe haven to return to without reprisal from the police, then they are part of the problem too."

What that means? Are you saying that the criminals are not going outside of Favelas already to deal the drugs and kill inocent people? Are you aware that actually the population of the Favelas literraly protect the criminals by giving them resources and haven?
What about the policemen killed when they were only watching the traffic flow?

I do not think that your are totally aware of what is going on, indeed, sir. The criminals are even able to set up a plan of sniping inocent people when the police is nearby to make the people at Favelas think that the shot came from the police. This is highly plausible if not a reallity already.

As I have said above, the police is amateurish and. worse, they HAVE no moral support from the Favelas dwellers, but that is what we have. We must live with that until something big happens, politically and socially. And while this persists the criminals will rule the Favelas and continue to recruit children for their business. And then, they will be killed by internal wars and they kill civilians who oppose them. Where do you see this as good? Is police worse? NO. In a place where the criminals receive the authorities with bullets from M-16, police will have to retaliate at the same level. Or you prfer to see the police running scared? They are already frightened with all the danger and what do you want them to do? Be nice and kind? Serve and die?

In 1999, my Brazilian girlfriend was walking home alone along Avenida Atlantica in Copacabana. She was rousted by a policeman for R20 in broad daylight. Policeman or civilian, you can't be in the business of making enemies and expect to live long and prosper.

Criminals are thugs.

Police are thugs with state power.

I visited Vila do João this summer and met many young people involved in community and NGO projects. I am deeply saddened to think that one of the children I met this summer may now be dead. The majority of children and adolescents in poor communities (and anywhere in the world) who are provided with chances that will lead to self-improvement take advantage of these opportunities. Drug trafficking often emerges in low-income communities because of lack of opportunity beyond demeaning work in 12 hour a day, 6 day a week jobs. Even with a lack of opportunity for decent wages and jobs, 90-95% of the people in the favelas, slums, and shantytowns of the world are not involved in drug trafficking, and most are engaged in legitimate employment.
The problem of the police being undertrained and undereducated (and often underpaid), in Brazil and the U.S., is a serious one that contributes to the problem. As one person commented, the police in Brazil are of course human beings with spouses and children who face mortal danger in their daily lives. However, moving away from a system of training reminiscent of the days of the military dictatorship may be one step toward creating a more civil society in Brazil's cities. I've also heard of programs in Brazil where the police representatives spend time in the favelas involved in community development, so that they begin to feel as if they are also part of the community and that they are invested in the lives of the favela residents.
The roots of violence in Brazil, the U.S., and most of the world have to do with unequal distribution of wealth, goods, resources, and rights. Until there is more social equity worldwide, we will continue to witness and experience a violent world.

If the police had shot and killed an innocent 11-year old in the U.S., the entire country would revolt and the cops would be fried. But nobody in Brazil who have a college degree wants to be a cop in the streets. Their lives are at risk. They have to show authority. Problem is, they should do what's called surveillance and they would have noticed that there was KID in the car. But being a kid in Brazil is not necessarily represenative of innocence and many kids have shot and killed cops too. It's a sad situation. When you have so many s**theads piled on both sides of the story, it's no surprise that chaos exists.