Pacification in the Favelas: The Role of the Police in Preparing for the Olympics in Rio de Janiero

Abstract

In the early afternoon sunlight of March, 2008, our car entered the outskirts of Rio de Janiero’s Villa Cruziero favela. The author recalls feeling a sense of having entered a new world; this was not just due to the change of physical surroundings. In fact, at least where we were at the outset, there was not a marked difference visually from other hillside urban slums I had seen in other parts of the world. The difference here was that there was a knowing feeling of passing a boundary beyond the traditional world of police protection. This was because the boy on the bicycle signaling to others that it was ok for our car to pass was in plain sight to us as we entered. Leading our entry into the favela was Nancko van Buuren, an inspiring Dutch immigrant that had spent most of his life working to better the quality of life for the residents of Rio’s favelas through his social health NGO IBISS; this included building non-profit community centers with many types of available resources and programs. He had also had remarkable success mentoring over 1400 child soldiers away from the very violent drug gangs; this was the group to whom we were on our way to meet at a local school. When walking the streets with Nancko and his group, it was clear from the community’s\s reception to him that he was well known and cherished. At no point did I feel unsafe.

In addition to the author’s own work in the favelas and discussions with government and local resident stakeholders, this chapter relies heavily on the analysis of secondary sources, particularly Stahlberg (2014) and Soares (2009) for their summaries of the UPP (and prior) responses to crime in the favelas.Please see also the excellent work of Arias (2006) for a comprehensive understanding of the drug and violence contexts of the favelas.