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Brazil

With An Eye On The 2014 World Cup, Crack Addicts Swept Out Of Rio Slum

Even though Brazil's hosting of the World Cup and Summer Olympics are two and four years away, it is apparently already "clean-up" time for at least one Rio de Janeiro slum.

Favela of Rio de Janeiro (David Berkowitz)
Favela of Rio de Janeiro (David Berkowitz)
SourcesSocietyFOLHA DE S. PAULOCountriesBrazil

By Luiza Souto
FOLHA DE S. PAULO/ Worldcrunch

RIO DE JANEIRO - Still several years ahead of hosting the World Cup and Summer Olympics, the "clean up" of this city's slums has apparently already begun. The Brazilian goverment launched a three-day military operation in the Santo Amaro favela of Rio de Janeiro to remove crack users, driving out of the area more than 400 non-residents between last Friday and Monday.

The Santo Amaro slum is considered the largest drug distributor for the wealthy of the Rio South Area. The government announced that Santo Amaro will be occupied by the National Public Security Force for an undetermined amount of time.

Still, many local residents doubt all the attention will last after 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games. "I think this is nothing more than a make-over," says one resident, who preferred to remain anonymous. "The government can't keep this up for a long period." Another added: "As soon as the big events finish, everything will return to how it was."

The atmosphere during the round-up was tranquil. According to police officers, there was no hostility coming from the residents, who seem to have no problem with the operation. "The problem is going to be down the hill," says sergent Mata, referring to the wealthier areas below. "As these users can no longer stay here, they will try to occupy the streets." In Rio, slums are located over hills distributed along the city.

Psychologist Maura Cristina, a coordinator for the Facing Crack Project, told Folha that the goal is to take users off of the streets, and bring them to shelters maintained by the Special Protection Division. In total, Rio has 2,741 places among private and public shelters.

"We can't force adults to stay at these places, but those under 18 are going to stay in compulsory shelters," she says.

Read more from Folha in Portuguese

Photo - David Berkowitz

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FOLHA DE S. PAULO
Founded in 1921, the "Sao Paulo Gazzette" became Brazil's leading daily in the 1980s by applying standards of openness and objectivity to its coverage of the country and Latin America as a whole.
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Migrant Lives
Migration

What's Driving More Venezuelans To Migrate To The U.S.

With dimmed hopes of a transition from the economic crisis and repressive regime of Nicolas Maduro, many Venezuelans increasingly see the United States, rather than Latin America, as the place to rebuild a life..

Photo of a family of Migrants from Venezuela crossing the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum​

Migrants from Venezuela crossed the Rio Grande between Mexico and the U.S. to surrender to the border patrol with the intention of requesting humanitarian asylum.

David Peinado via Zuma Press
Migrant LivesVenezuelaEL ESPECTADORGeopoliticsSourcesfeatured-postCountriesUnited States
Julio Borges

-Analysis-

Migration has too many elements to count. Beyond the matter of leaving your homeland, the process creates a gaping emptiness inside the migrant — and outside, in their lives. If forced upon someone, it can cause psychological and anthropological harm, as it involves the destruction of roots. That's in fact the case of millions of Venezuelans who have left their country without plans for the future or pleasurable intentions.

Their experience is comparable to paddling desperately in shark-infested waters. As many Mexicans will concur, it is one thing to take a plane, and another to pay a coyote to smuggle you to some place 'safe.'

Venezuela's mass emigration of recent years has evolved in time. Initially, it was the middle and upper classes and especially their youth, migrating to escape the socialist regime's socio-political and economic policies. Evidently, they sought countries with better work, study and business opportunities like the United States, Panama or Spain. The process intensified after 2017 when the regime's erosion of democratic structures and unrelenting economic vandalism were harming all Venezuelans.

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