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Brazil has a crime problem, a very bad crime problem. This is the ugly side of a great country that has so many, many wonderful people, places and things.
I used to keep a box full of clippings about Brazil (see picture), organized into folders by subject. I soon noticed that I had a lot of articles on "history", "sports" and "sex". The problem was that the thickest file was the folder named "crime". This page is about a form of evil in Brazil. I don't look forward to writing about this, but it is -- in a strange way -- part of everyday life in Brazil; and at the same time, it is not. Life in Brazil is family, fun, love, art, discussions, humor, sex, food, sports, song, beaches, work, hope and many things. Crime is not even a major part of it, but it is there lurking in the background, and it can arise and strike when you least expect it. I would like to make it clear that while crime is a problem in almost all of Brazil, the extent of the problem is relative and it affects some places and people more than others. It is bad, but not as bad as in some parts of Africa, Colombia, the Middle East, Mexico or maybe even some run-down urban centers in the US. It must also be said that if you go to Brazil, it will probably not touch you. Even if you are unlucky, most of the criminal activity (maybe 99.5%) is quick, non-violent (nobody hurt) and involves insignificant monetary values. Having said that, $10 dollars taken by a pivete, or a camera snatched on the beach is not unimportant, but it is nothing compared to human life.
The problem of crime in Brazil is not the amounts taken, but the pervasive, gratuitous and banal nature of most of it. Now I am not talking about the gang wars, criminals killing criminals for turf - or even the high-profile notorious crimes that make the headlines. I am also not talking about the crimes against the famous and rich, or even foreign tourists, I am speaking of the tens of millions of middle and lower class Brazilians who must deal with possibility of crime, if not the actional event, on a almost daily basis. I am talking about going out with friends or family and then usually having to take a few minutes to ketch up on the latest robberies, carjackings, kidnappings and assalts envolving friends and families. It simply wears a person down.
In the year 2000 I was in Brazil for a week, for a younger brother's wedding. When I arrived my niece and nephew had no car because it had been stolen at a traffic light, by two guys with guns demanding their vehicle. Later that week, I visited my wife's cousin (a teacher at USP university) and she also had no car because it was stolen from the street near her apartment. It gets worse. I call Sarah, an old friend, and she is upset but happy because her son had survived being shot in the eye during a robbery at Guarapiranga Lake at Interlagos (Santo Amaro) area. He survived. Before leaving Sao Paulo, I go back to Cida's house, my sister-in-law, and I notice a crowd outside the neigbors house, with people weeping. I ask Cida what happened and she says their son was killed in a robbery. This is five days in Sao Paulo. I then went to Rio for the last two days and all was quiet. Please understand that this is not typical, and it may not mean anything, but it does make an impression - and not a very good one. 
This is Roberta's story. It is about her frightening experience with what is called a "Lightening kidnapping" (sequestro-relampago). She was snatched in her car and held for an hour, then taken to a field. To make matters worse, a dry, impersonal legal anaysis follows explaining that a "lightening kidnapping" is not really a kidnapping because the victim is only held for a short while and usually envolves only a small amount of money or the forced use of ATM cards to withdraw cash. How sweet! That makes everything alright, I guess!
This is a story about the daughter of Silvio Santos, one of the richest men in Brazil. She was kidnapped and held for 7 days. The authorities say that a ransom of about $175,000 was paid even if the girl denied it. I happen to remember that Silvio was also robbed in his Morumbi mansion another time - the feared "home invasion." I guess it is true, Silvio Santos was born under a lucky star.
This is about a businessman that was kidnapped and held for 4 days, and when finally released he went back to his shop the next day, only to be visited by two robbers. He said "I thought that the kidnappers had returned". Fortunately the robbery was foiled when other shop employees arrived. Thirty minutes later the police arrived to continue their investigations of the kidnapping.
Here is the front page of The Day (O Dia) newspaper in Rio, with pictures of a man being executed in the middle of the day on a road near the center of Rio de Janeiro. If I remember correctly the victim had tried to rob a man in a car (in blue) who pulled a gun and chased the man and shot him on side of the road. Seeing he had hit the criminal, the man coolly walks away. The robber is hurt but manages to sit up. A crowd gathers. The man is taken away in an ambulance, but dies. Rio de Janeiro, daylight, 10:30 AM on a busy street. What can I say?
Honey, today was a little violent!
Violence takes so many forms, so it is hard to even describe it. As I said above, the thing that really bothered me was not the big time killings, the bloody massacres in the newspapers or the gang wars. What worried me was the petty, small time crime that could turn violent without any reason. If you are robbed, the guys gets your wallet or purse, and no big deal. Yes, you lose money, or your documents, or even your car, but those things are small things that are not really important.
Mom, are we going to suffer in a war here in Brazil? No, of course not, son - we are a peaceful people! 
Hurray! He didn't take my watch! 
The driver must be colorblind, the light has turned green five times and he hasn't moved...
Hello, is that the funeral home?
Robber: Like I was saying, it is better for you to drive slowly and be held up by me than be caught by the radar. And I don't even penalize you points on your license! Driver: Great!
The red light boy.
This is from a series of pictures taken at a location known as the "corner of fear" in Sao Paulo. It show s a young kid, actually part of a group of three juveniles, casing cars for something to steal. Finding something that he wants, he breaks the window, grabs a bag and runs.
When I was in Brasil this tragic event happened and was broadcast on national TV. A robber on a bus didn't get away so he took a young girl as hostage. The police arrived and tried to negociate. Nothing resolved. A policeman sees an opening and shoots the bandit, but misses him and kills the young girl. A horrible, preventable acident!
"Here is the kidnapper and here is the victim we saved" "You mean the 'hostage' is the good guy?" and "Police Training Center" This same type of unfortunate event happened several times in a few months, so much that the papers and TVs were full of jokes about how unprepared and unprofessional Brazilian police are. There is plenty of truth there, but that is only a small part of the problem.
"New equipment for Rio de Janeiro police" The fact is that Brazilian police in general are not only unprepared, underequipped, and underpaid but also unappreciated by many segments of society. It is a thankless job! Not only must they fight the criminals, they must also work against a justice system and political interests that protect the criminal element of society. Yes, that is right. It gets worse. Perhaps even worse than the justice system (judges, mainly, and lawyer groups) and leftist political groups are the 'human rights' and "social activists" groups. These people do not care at all about the average person, but will shed rivers of tears because a criminal can't use his cell-phone in prison or has to spend five years in jail for murder with conjugal visits every weekend. More about this later...
"Good morning, We have kidnapped your husband. To pay the ransom, press 1. To receive a part of his body, press 2. To speak to the thug on duty press 3. The payment can be made at any bank branch with an agreement or online at www.ifyoudontpayhedies.com.br. Thank you. The problem of the 'lightening kidnapping' got so bad that there were stories of criminals hidnapping maids and calling the homes asking for about $50 reais ($20 dollars) to get Maria back. So they paid, and Maria was back in time to help with the dinner. Of course, that would also cause jokes to circulate about the vexame (shame) of having a ransom set at such a ridiculously low amount. It was almost considered an insult, in a morbid way. 
Back to cartoons. The man has prepared his car trunk with "anti-kidnapping measures" in case he is carjacked and locked in the back. Just another humorous look at reality, which is so often not funny. The fact that Brazilian can laught at themselves and their predicament in a situation where in reality there is absolutely no humor says a lot about their ability to face these problems. I remember when one of my brother-in-laws was taken by bandits in his car and driver around for a few hours before letting him go, we did joke about how the bandits probably just couldn't stand his boring talk (Nao aguentaram a conversa chata dele). It was just a joke, but only after he was safely home.
The drug dealer is supported by ... the police chief that is supported by ... the representative legislator that is supported by ... the senator that is suported by ... the President that is supported by ... the elector. yes, it is a vicious circle, and yes, there is an incestuous relationship between the government and crime and the people, but that is true in all societies. The problem is that the links are much stronger between crime and the government as compared to the people and the government. To me it seems that the government in Brazil needs problems (including crime) more than they need the people. Solving problems, or in this case, fighting crime, or making laws about fighting crime, makes them feel good, even if nothing changes. I know this paragraph is less than clear, but the crime problem in Brazil is not just a matter of actions, but it is structural and ideological. It is still not clear!
Here is a cartoon about the balance of power in Brazil. It show the trhree traditional brances of government: The legislative (make the laws), the judiciary (they apply the laws) and the executive (the administer the law). There is a fouth branck also: the parallel power (it executes the law). There is some truth there, somewhere. It is very complex, but I will keep trying to figure it out.
"Ok, my little daughter, you can go to school now..."
"Equipment to walk around in Rio de Janeiro: special helmut for things trown from buildings, crucifix for bad moments, wristwatch camulflaged to fool kiddie theives, cards with funeral plan, safe-box burmuda shorts against picppockets, special tenis shows to run from fragnets robberies, shin guards to protect from pitbull attacks, bullet proof vest, first aid kit, fire extinguisher for bus rides, dark glasses to hid the look of panic., 
"At the costume party... Wow, I love that costume as a lost bullet. It is really scary".
"At the super-heroes meeting: People, we have a difcult mussion. End the chaos in the city of Rio de Janeiro!'. Anyway, I think these cartoons are funny. They all have very serious elements of truth, but the humor shines through.
For some reason, crimes are like fashion. One year, it is one type that gets the attention, and then it will lose its notoraiety and be replaced by soemething else. Well, 2003 was the year of the arrastao. The means dragnet" and it is, of course, a fishing term. That it means is that a ban of young kids will swarm an area of the beach in large groups and grab anything they can and run.
Analysts say 90 percent of the kidnappings in Brazil are carried out against the middle and lower classes for smaller ransoms that are often not reported.
A study conducted by the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo showed students make up one of every four kidnap victims.
"When kids are taken, criminals tap into a penetrating emotional effect," consultant Jim Wygand at Risk Solutions, a group that advises executives on personal safety, said. "The parents want to settle quickly."
Brazil is a war zone by Conor Foley at "Comment is free" at the Guardian newspaper in Britain. http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/conor_foley/2006/05/post_92.html
... It is sometimes difficult to convey the sheer scale of violence in Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro, for example, there are an average of 4,000 homicides each year. The police are responsible for about 1,000 of these. Heavily-armed teenage narco-trafficants carry out most of the rest.
The death rate per inhabitant of Rio's favelas is far higher than any other city in the world and one study found comparisons with battle-related statistics more applicable. For example, while 322 Palestinian and Israeli children died in the Intifada between September 2000 and August 2002, a total of 612 children were shot dead in Rio during the same period. Even by Brazil's usual standards the violence of the last few days have been exceptional, however, and the highly organised nature of the violence, and the fact that it was coordinated from within the prison system has sparked widespread public outrage.
Fear of crime is all-pervasive in Brazil and this, predictably, breeds support for simplistic and authoritarian measures. Just over a year ago, for example, off-duty police officers massacred 29 people in "retaliation" for the arrest of two of their colleagues in connection with another massacre. Police internet chat-sites have called for the faxina (cleansing) of Sao Paulo's prisons, in reference to a previous massacre, after a prison rebellion which resulted in 111 murders. Ironically, the PCC was formed in direct response to this massacre.
Yet there are other voices too. The Institute Sou da Paz, which works with both the the police and favela youth groups, claims that the areas where it has programs have seen a marked decline in levels of violence in recent years. Sou da Paz sponsored a recent referendum to ban the sale of all weapons and although this was defeated, a survey showed that it was it was the middle class who turned out to vote it down, while many working class areas backed it.
Most independent observers see the desperate overcrowding and chronic underfunding of Brazil's prisons as the root cause of their perpetual crises. There is a similar extremely obvious connection between crime and social inequality in Brazil. One of President Lula's most notable achievements in office has been his extension of family credit to millions of poor Brazilians, which is linked to school attendance. However, Brazil remains one of the world's most unequal countries. Until the political will can be found to tackle this, our "social civil war" looks set to continue.
My comment posted...
Amnesty demands crackdown on police death squads in Brazil
By Karin Goodwin in Sao Paulo
Published: 03 December 2005
Brazil's police force needs urgent reform to tackle endemic human rights abuses that potentially constitute thousands of executions in the country's poorest communities every year, Amnesty International says.
A report released yesterday claims that "death squads" - groups of rogue military police who have been accused of the mass murder of people living in favelas (slums) - are on the rise across the country.
... Elizabete Maria Souza, head of Rede de Comunidades Contra a Violencia, a group working with the mothers of victims in Rio, added: "People who live in favelas are branded as bandits and they suffer. The reality is, if you have money in Rio, you are given protection. If you don't have money, you have none.
Yes, Brazil has a violence problem. Mr Foley is right about the magnitude of the problem, but he like so many others of his type (Human rights groups, judges and lawyers, to name a few) have no clue about the real issue and what real people think about it.
The fact is that Sou de Paz and other such groups only care about criminals. They work to make make life easier for those who murder, rape and rob. They don't care at all about the average Joao or Maria on the street, but if a criminal is even arrested or accused without 101% proof, they scream to high heaven, and if he goes to jail, they make life in jail as easy and short as possible.
After 25 years in Brazil, I have no respect for these people. The reason that the weapons ban was rejected was that it was widely perceived as a measure that would do absolutely nothing to keep arms out of the hands of criminals, but make self-defense even more impossible for the law abiding citizen.
The problem of crime in Brazil is not hunger or poverty (in 90% cases), it is not even primarily social inequality, it is the 'its not their fault' mentality and the soft approach to crime by the human rights establishment and the legal and educational communities. For 30 years people like Mr Foley and others have blamed everybody but the criminals for the bloodshed. Of course, this is a "simplistic" concept.
I hope there is a dark, hot corner in hell where criminals go, and maybe they can take their friends with them.
I speak for myself, but I know dozens of Brazilians that feel like this. Nobody really cares about them, and you can be sure that Sou da Paz, the judges, OAB, ABI, Rede Globo and others never go to the funerals of Joao and Marias' family menbers and friends killed by criminals.
John.
PS: Just to illustrate this, much of the killing in this weeks violence were done by some of the thousands of criminals released for 'mothers day' leave.
Page updated: June 2004