Back for a new day and I am hugely grateful to you for joining me. You are warmly welcome to the first post of this Tuesday.
(spell check is not functioning, so forgive me if some errors get through my proof reading!)
The weekend saw another move in the five year old 'Pacification Program' for the favelas (shanty towns/slums) of Rio de Janeiro. Almost 800 police and other military units moved in to take the streets of the Lins de Vasconcelos favelas, home to around 15,000 people; though no-one can be sure of the numbers in an area that had been all but a 'no go' district for police and government authorities prior to the operation. The aim of the mission was to evict the drugs gangs that controlled much of life in the area and prepare the way for establishing two permanent police stations that will be manned by 'Police Pacification Units' (UPP). The term pacification sounds better suited to a war zone and, during the weekend operation, that is what the Lins de Vasconcelos favelas looked like, with the various military units moving in with military armoured personnel carriers and armoured cars.
In years past, such operations might have been mounted as a very short lived show of strength, perhaps to slap down a drugs gang that had broken 'unofficial rules' that appeared to exist between them and the City authorities or to bolster the position of a City/State politician, but a new direction was taken five years ago and the Police Pacification Units were formed. In what many saw as a move motivated by the push for the soccer World Cup and the Olympics, rather than a desire to improve the quality of life for the City's residents, the authorities launched a program to 'pacify' up to 40 favelas before the World Cup kicked off. To date, the police say that they have pacified 34 of the City's favelas and, as part of that difficult and dangerous program they have evicted the infamous and violent Commando Vermelho and Amigos dos Amigos drugs gangs from their home turf, wherein they previously held almost unchallenged autonomy. The police action is also said to have dramatically reduced the levels of violent crime and reduced the general level of other crimes. Prior to the UPP operations, some report that Rio police killed 80 people a month in the course of their duties but that number has been significantly reduced by the drop in violent crimes being committed. While such success should be applauded, there has also been biting criticism of the police operations.
Many individuals and groups in Rio have complained that the apparent impact of pacification on levels of violent crime and on the numbers being killed by the police masks the reality of unreported crime and unreported police killings. Of particular note, of course, is the disappearance of Amarildo da Souza from the Rocinha favela in early July after being arrested by the police. A sustained campaign mounted by family, friends and supporters led to an official police enquiry which has resulted in the arrest and charging of ten UPP officers for offences including the torture and murder of Amarildo. Rio de Janeiro has a long and painful history of extra judicial killings and of thousands of so called 'disappeared'. Best known as something that happened during the days of military dictatorship, the horror of the 'disappeared' continues to this day; as the Amarildo case indicates. In 2007, for example, just prior to commencing the pacification program, media and human rights organisations suggest that up to 10,000 people may have 'disappeared' from Rio's streets that year. They assess that up to 7,000 of those who vanished were killed by drugs gangs, other criminals and corrupt police elements. Such alleged police criminality is not confined to the Rio. In recent weeks a major operation by 200 Policia Federal in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, arrested 18 police officers who were suspected of acting as a 'death squad' and murdering at least 18 people.
In addition to the affliction of the 'disappeared', Rio de Janeiro also suffers significant numbers being shot while resisting arrest. Indeed, the phrase 'shot while resisting arrest' often elicits a knowing nod and cynical smile from Brazilians. That response results from numbers showing that 5,000 were shot while resisting arrest in Rio in the last ten years. The UN has, in fact, complained at the numbers and requested an enquiry into what appear to have been 'extra-judicial killings'. The City is not alone in such concerns, with Human Rights Watch having produced a report calling for enquiries into the the deaths of 22 people killed while resisting arrest in Sao Paulo, 2010-2012, expressing concern for them having been extra-judicial killings. We shall talk about policing and the administration of justice more generally in a separate post, but the content above highlights some of the major problems many see in its current conduct....not least the responsible Federal Government Minister who has called for a major reform of policing.
Lastly, teachers in both Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo mounted large protests last night in support of their long running call for better pay. While there are some conflicting media reports, it seems that about 10,000 took to the streets in Rio and anywhere between 10,000 and 50,000 in Sao Paulo (with the police saying 10,000). Following the nation wide mass protests of June we have seen action continue in many areas, but it has tended to be much smaller and more issue specific than the broad based, bottom up expressions of dissatisfaction with many aspects of life in the country and its governance that we saw, even marvelled at, four months ago; and we shall discuss the issues surrounding June and its aftermath in the coming days. Teaching is a poorly paid profession in Brazil and the demand for better remuneration has fairly broad support. The official protests were well ordered and passed off without incident but, as the main event broke up in each City, localised but serious violence broke out. In Rio around 200 from the so called 'Black Block' anarchist group clashed with police as their members sought to break into and burn ATMs banks and force entry into the City Hall; smashing one of the entry gates to the latter.
With the soccer World Cup in Rio de Janeiro only months away, concern about levels of public unrest and the potential for civil disturbance during the competition are rightly high and the emergence of the Black Block group serves to heighten such fears. We shall discuss these issues and the potential for further major protests and civil unrest in 2014, World Cup year and election year, in the days ahead.
That's it for the first post of the day. I am really most grateful to you for dropping in and I do hope you will return and, when you feel like it, contribute with comments and maybe follow by email (see the box top right).
Today's second post will examine my perceptions of family and identity here in Aracaju, NE Brazil. It will hit the screens later today and I hope you will look in on it.
Stay safe.
Dave
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