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Society & Culture

Brazil: Security, Violence and the World Cup

May 22, 2014
Patricia Gomes
6 min read
Brazil: Security, Violence and the World Cup
Brazil: Security, Violence and the World Cup
Brazil: Security, Violence and the World Cup
Brazil: Security, Violence and the World Cup
Brazil: Security, Violence and the World Cup
Brazil: Security, Violence and the World Cup
Brazil: Security, Violence and the World Cup
Brazil: Security, Violence and the World Cup
Brazil: Security, Violence and the World Cup
Brazil: Security, Violence and the World Cup
Brazil: Security, Violence and the World Cup

The World Cup is coming to Brazil. But, despite major preparations and dozens of promises , many parts of the country remain unsafe.

Last year, there were more than 47,000 homicides recorded in Brazil, ranking it among the most violent countries in the world. A 2011 study revealed that, in the last 30 years, more than one million people have been murdered. According to research carried out in March this year by the Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice, a Mexican non-governmental organization that operates under the country's Employer's Association, among the 14 cities ranked as the most violent in the world, seven will host World Cup matches: Fortaleza, Natal, Salvador, Manaus, Recife, Curitiba and Belo Horizonte. The study focused on cities with a population of at least 100,000 and figures were compiled using statistics provided by local governments.

Iran's national team will play in three of these cities: Curitiba (the 39th most dangerous city, with 38.09 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants), Belo Horizonte (45th with 34.4 per 100,000) and Salvador (22nd with 56.98 per 100,000).  Another two, Maceio and Joao Pessoa, have homicide rates considered by the World Health Organization to  be "epidemic" (more than 10 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants). Last year, in Maceio, there were 79 homicides per 100,000 habitants. Poor, young and black people are the main victims of this violence, most of it generated from drug wars and gun crime.

“In Brazil, among the approximately 50,000 homicides per year, only eight percent are solved,” said Luiz Eduardo Soares, an expert in public safety and co-author of Elite da Tropa, which investigated Rio de Janeiro’s elite police forces. In other words, 92 percent of investigations of attempted homicides do not result in the identification of any suspects.  

A 2010 study published by the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute (IBGE) reveals that 47.2 per cent of Brazil’s population do not feel safe in their hometowns: they lack confidence in local police and public safety policies in general.

Corruption Remains Rife

Though in theory there is a good spread of political representation in public offices, including those responsible for public safety, the reality is that corruption remains rife within many police departments. Policing in Brazil is in need of a complete overhaul, not least because the judicial framework has its roots in the former military regime of the 1970s. Many police authorities neglect official procedure, and, in some instances, authorities act without due diligence to existing legal frameworks. In many cases, brutal force is used to keep order. According to Mariana Hope, a student from São Paulo, the army and police regularly operate outside the law, violating citizens‘ rights  on almost a daily basis. At the same time, the government offers little support to police authorities and their employees. Frontline officers in particular are left vulnerable, in direct contravention of employment laws.

It’s easy to see how such a climate of mismanagement, corruption and illegality might lead to the disrespect, or even outright violation, of citizens’ rights. And it’s no surprise that Brazilians regard police authorities with a great deal of mistrust.

Because of this lack of trust, 60 percent of Brazilian homes have some sort of security device in place; closed circuit television security systems are widely used and private security guards are increasingly in demand. Bulletproof cars are also popular.

In 2009, according to IBGE, around 2.5 million people aged 10 and above were the victim of some kind of physical assault. The situation is worse in the northern parts of the country, Maceio being one city particularly affected.

The prison population in Brazil is rapidly growing, with prisons quickly becoming overcrowded. In 1995, there were 145,000 prisoners in Brazil. Today, 20 years on, it's 548,003, just behind the United States, China and Russia. Iran, by comparison, has the eighth largest prisoner population in the world, with 217,000 people currently in prison, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies at the University of Essex.

Will the Brazilian People Benefit?

“We are paying a high price to bring the World Cup to  people. We're being run over,” said Sueli Figueiredo, a social worker from São Paulo. Hosting the World Cup will have dramatic reverberations for Brazilian people, yet public opinion was not taken into account at the time the country bid to host the tournament. Brazilians, she says, have not been given the opportunity to be protagonists in their own history. And, she says, those in the ruling classes, the dominant elite, still remain in controlwhether it’s the World Cup or anything else that affects the future of Brazil.

One of the major problems in Brazilian society today, says  Rafael Machado, a journalist from Porto Alegre, is the government’s inability to define priorities. Violence grows dramatically because “investment in public safety is not sufficient", he says. Around 2 billion rial (just under US$904 million) has been invested to reinforce safety and security in the World Cup host cities. According to president Dilma Roussef, this investment will benefit Brazil for years to come. When asked about safety measures ahead of the World Cup, she was formidable: "Part of this investment is destined to structure the command system and control, discourage vandalism, acts that damage public property and prevent attacks against the health and safety of the people. The police and security forces are instructed and ready to act. When necessary, we will mobilize the armed forces. We have invested in security in many cities, even the ones that are not hosting the games, like Maceio. But with regards to the World Cup, we are well prepared to guarantee the safety and security of everyone”.

“It's not safe here because inequality is huge, and the population is not well treated,” says student Mariana Hope. According to research by Datafolha, 55 percent of the Brazilian population believe that the World Cup will bring more losses than benefits to the country. The majority of the population would have liked to have seen the US$11 billion spent on the tournament invested in projects to improve education, housing, healthand especially public safety. 

Many who live in Rio de Janeiro feel there is a lack of law and order in the so-called "wonderful city." Instead, it suffers from extreme poverty and a government that doesn't invest in the well-being of the population, including on matters of healthcare, transport, education and public security. There's is a war in Brazil, a social war, "but guns won't solve the problem,” says Christina Julien, who lives in Rio de Janeiro.  “We need more police in the streets; because of the World Cup the streets are full of police and armed personnel, but what happens after? We will be vulnerable to ‘small crimes’, as the government likes to call it."

What legacy will the World Cup leave the country, especially when it comes to public safety? "It will all depend on what happens during the games,” says says Luiz Eduardo Soares. “There's no way of knowing beforehand. But without necessary reform to the police system, there won't be any changes to this scenario.  I don't see any legacy apart from a continuation and worsening of the current crisis". 

Related: Read  "Is Brazil Ready for the World Cup?" by Karina Pignataro

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