Against the Tide: Why It's So Hard to Stop the Violence in Brazil
Against the Tide: Why It's So Hard to Stop the Violence in Brazil
By
Richard Lapper
In a murder-plagued Brazilian city, a legislator pushes against popular clamor for hard-line enforcement.
This article is adapted from AQ’s print issue on reducing homicide in Latin America.
When Renato Roseno first visited Pirambu, one of Brazil’s biggest favelas, it consisted mostly of wooden shacks and dusty roads.
“Life was pretty precarious” in the early 1990s, he recalled. “People were battling for access to electricity and basic health care. The really big challenge was the high rate of infant mortality.”
Today, clusters of orderly two-story houses freshly painted...
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