On the Eve of the Olympics, Security in Rio’s Poorest Neighborhoods Deteriorates
Photos by Spencer Platt, Alexander Hassenstein/GettyThe Olympic games will officially begin tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro. As athletes and Olympic officials rest and prepare in the multi-million dollar Olympic village tonight, the 1.5 million residents of the city’s poor neighborhoods, called favelas, hope to escape harm from either the hands of violent gang members or the police meant to stop them.
A recent story from Reuters’s Bradley Brooks breaks down the city’s failed attempt to gain control of the large number of murders happening within favelas. In 2008, 38 “police pacification units”—or UPPs—began to post more than 9,500 permanent officer positions within the neighborhoods to suppress violent gang activity.
While its initial five years managed to decrease the murder rate by 40 percent, public support for the program has since crumbled after the police began prosecuting and executing innocent residents.