In early 2022, the Rio de Janeiro state government launched a new operation to control crime in the city’s favelas. Under the name of ‘Integrated City’, this program foresees the occupation of some favelas by police battalions, in order to try to contain the criminal activity of drug trafficking factions and paramilitary organizations known as ‘militias’. In addition to carrying out public works in the selected favelas.
This operation recalls the implementation of the Pacifying Police Units (UPP) 14 years ago, on the eve of the two sporting mega-events that took place in Rio de Janeiro: the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. In this first In the phase of Operation Integrated City, 1,300 policemen participated and several armored vehicles and a helicopter were used.
Initially two neighborhoods were occupied: Jacarezinho and Muzema. The first gained worldwide prominence in May 2021, after the Police carried out the bloodiest raid in the history of Rio de Janeiro, which resulted in 28 fatalities. They were all young black men accused of having a criminal record and who, according to their relatives and human rights associations, were coldly executed by the police. At the time, the Jacarezinho massacre caused a stir inside and outside Brazil. The United Nations Organization even demanded an independent investigation.
Unlike last May, this time the operation was carried out peacefully, among other reasons because it had been announced by local authorities in the previous days. The Jacarezinho drug traffickers chose to leave the favela, which was occupied by agents without firing a single shot.
However, a few days later, the Brazilian Bar Association registered the first cases of human rights violations. Felipe Gomes Vieira, a law student and activist, denounces that six policemen invaded his home in Jacarezinho without a court order and that they also stripped him naked and tortured him for hours. “They punched me a lot in the ribs, slapped me in the head with an open hand and also in the face. I really thought they would kill me. They put a handkerchief over my mouth and another policeman put a knife on my wrist,” says this young man. , who fled the favela for fear of further persecution.
Felipe recounts that his phone and all his documents were also confiscated. He only managed to retrieve his work documentation. Álvato Quintão, president of the Human Rights Commission of the Brazilian Bar Association in Rio de Janeiro, assures that Felipe’s case is not isolated. “We have several stories of houses invaded without a court order. Many residents of these favelas denounce that torture is something recurrent during Police incursions,” explains this lawyer.
Cláudio Castro, the governor of the state of Rio Janeiro who took office after the ‘impeachment’ of his predecessor, Wilson Witzel, denies that the Rio de Janeiro Police, considered one of the deadliest in the world, is acting with violence. “For a long time, our Police have been accused of being a force that enters to shoot, which is a great injustice. Our Police are entering the favelas to liberate people from the yoke of drug trafficking and militias”, he stated during the act in which he made the first assessment of Operation Integrated City, at the beginning of February. “The Integrated City is a great proposal. It is a program that intends to change the idea with which we look at the favelas”, he added on that occasion.
For the inhabitants of Jacarezinho, it is a program with clear electoral overtones. In October 2022, Castro aspires to be elected to continue in a position that he reached without going through the polls. “Politicians only appear at election time. Outside of this time, they forget about us,” complains Arnaldo Neves Francisco, a graphic technician who lives in one of the poorest areas of the favela, where the Jacaré River is full of waste. “I am going to be 30 years old and since I was a child I have heard the promise that they are going to recover this region or that, alternatively, they are going to give us a house in another neighborhood. But they are just words,” he adds.
For Agda Floriano de Oliveira, an evangelical pastor who has lived in this favela for half a century, the Integrated City Operation should serve to create employment in a community severely affected by job insecurity. “We don’t need anyone to come from outside to do these works. There is skilled labor here. We want an opportunity to work, because we are trained, ”she highlights. At the same time, she criticizes the governor for not having met with the neighbors to find out their needs.
Another complaint from the inhabitants of Jacarezinho is that the arrival of the Police caused economic losses to the street vendors because for weeks the movement of people decreased, worried about a possible resurgence of police violence. “Actually, our work got worse. If I went out to do what I was doing three months ago, I wouldn’t be able to sell my merchandise like I used to. All the vendors are going through the same situation,” says Roberto Chacha, a street vendor.
His family has not yet recovered from mourning. The first child of his wife was one of the 28 young people killed by the Police during the May 2021 operation. “My son was executed by the Police with two shots in the back. After killing him, they dragged him down the alley as if he were a dog”, reveals Sandra Gomes between sobs.
Matheus was 21 years old and had two daughters. The Police accuses him of belonging to drug trafficking, but his mother denies it. She only acknowledges that he had a complaint for theft, and emphasizes that he was never convicted, nor was it ever proven that he had committed this crime. “Even if my son had 300 complaints, even if he had been imprisoned, I would fight against this injustice because in Brazil there is no death penalty. If he had done something wrong, at that moment they should have arrested him, not executed him, ”says this cook, who fights so that her son’s case is not filed in court.
The favelas of Rio de Janeiro live in a kind of undeclared war, which continues to claim the lives of young black people who live on the outskirts. A study by the Network of Security Observatories indicates that 86% of those killed in police operations in Rio de Janeiro are black, despite the fact that this group represents only 51.7% of the population.
On February 10, the Police killed another 23-year-old in Jacarezinho, accused of being one of the most powerful drug traffickers in this favela and of having killed a police officer in 2021. The family, as is often the case in these cases, denied this version. Meanwhile, some residents staged a protest in the streets of the favela, which was lost in the noise of a city that has become accustomed to a routine of violence.
In early 2022, the Rio de Janeiro state government launched a new operation to control crime in the city’s favelas. Under the name of ‘Integrated City’, this program foresees the occupation of some favelas by police battalions, in order to try to contain the criminal activity of drug trafficking factions and paramilitary organizations known as ‘militias’. In addition to carrying out public works in the selected favelas.
This operation recalls the implementation of the Pacifying Police Units (UPP) 14 years ago, on the eve of the two sporting mega-events that took place in Rio de Janeiro: the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. In this first In the phase of Operation Integrated City, 1,300 policemen participated and several armored vehicles and a helicopter were used.
Initially two neighborhoods were occupied: Jacarezinho and Muzema. The first gained worldwide prominence in May 2021, after the Police carried out the bloodiest raid in the history of Rio de Janeiro, which resulted in 28 fatalities. They were all young black men accused of having a criminal record and who, according to their relatives and human rights associations, were coldly executed by the police. At the time, the Jacarezinho massacre caused a stir inside and outside Brazil. The United Nations Organization even demanded an independent investigation.
Unlike last May, this time the operation was carried out peacefully, among other reasons because it had been announced by local authorities in the previous days. The Jacarezinho drug traffickers chose to leave the favela, which was occupied by agents without firing a single shot.
However, a few days later, the Brazilian Bar Association registered the first cases of human rights violations. Felipe Gomes Vieira, a law student and activist, denounces that six policemen invaded his home in Jacarezinho without a court order and that they also stripped him naked and tortured him for hours. “They punched me a lot in the ribs, slapped me in the head with an open hand and also in the face. I really thought they would kill me. They put a handkerchief over my mouth and another policeman put a knife on my wrist,” says this young man. , who fled the favela for fear of further persecution.
Felipe recounts that his phone and all his documents were also confiscated. He only managed to retrieve his work documentation. Álvato Quintão, president of the Human Rights Commission of the Brazilian Bar Association in Rio de Janeiro, assures that Felipe’s case is not isolated. “We have several stories of houses invaded without a court order. Many residents of these favelas denounce that torture is something recurrent during Police incursions,” explains this lawyer.
Cláudio Castro, the governor of the state of Rio Janeiro who took office after the ‘impeachment’ of his predecessor, Wilson Witzel, denies that the Rio de Janeiro Police, considered one of the deadliest in the world, is acting with violence. “For a long time, our Police have been accused of being a force that enters to shoot, which is a great injustice. Our Police are entering the favelas to liberate people from the yoke of drug trafficking and militias”, he stated during the act in which he made the first assessment of Operation Integrated City, at the beginning of February. “The Integrated City is a great proposal. It is a program that intends to change the idea with which we look at the favelas”, he added on that occasion.
For the inhabitants of Jacarezinho, it is a program with clear electoral overtones. In October 2022, Castro aspires to be elected to continue in a position that he reached without going through the polls. “Politicians only appear at election time. Outside of this time, they forget about us,” complains Arnaldo Neves Francisco, a graphic technician who lives in one of the poorest areas of the favela, where the Jacaré River is full of waste. “I am going to be 30 years old and since I was a child I have heard the promise that they are going to recover this region or that, alternatively, they are going to give us a house in another neighborhood. But they are just words,” he adds.
For Agda Floriano de Oliveira, an evangelical pastor who has lived in this favela for half a century, the Integrated City Operation should serve to create employment in a community severely affected by job insecurity. “We don’t need anyone to come from outside to do these works. There is skilled labor here. We want an opportunity to work, because we are trained, ”she highlights. At the same time, she criticizes the governor for not having met with the neighbors to find out their needs.
Another complaint from the inhabitants of Jacarezinho is that the arrival of the Police caused economic losses to the street vendors because for weeks the movement of people decreased, worried about a possible resurgence of police violence. “Actually, our work got worse. If I went out to do what I was doing three months ago, I wouldn’t be able to sell my merchandise like I used to. All the vendors are going through the same situation,” says Roberto Chacha, a street vendor.
His family has not yet recovered from mourning. The first child of his wife was one of the 28 young people killed by the Police during the May 2021 operation. “My son was executed by the Police with two shots in the back. After killing him, they dragged him down the alley as if he were a dog”, reveals Sandra Gomes between sobs.
Matheus was 21 years old and had two daughters. The Police accuses him of belonging to drug trafficking, but his mother denies it. She only acknowledges that he had a complaint for theft, and emphasizes that he was never convicted, nor was it ever proven that he had committed this crime. “Even if my son had 300 complaints, even if he had been imprisoned, I would fight against this injustice because in Brazil there is no death penalty. If he had done something wrong, at that moment they should have arrested him, not executed him, ”says this cook, who fights so that her son’s case is not filed in court.
The favelas of Rio de Janeiro live in a kind of undeclared war, which continues to claim the lives of young black people who live on the outskirts. A study by the Network of Security Observatories indicates that 86% of those killed in police operations in Rio de Janeiro are black, despite the fact that this group represents only 51.7% of the population.
On February 10, the Police killed another 23-year-old in Jacarezinho, accused of being one of the most powerful drug traffickers in this favela and of having killed a police officer in 2021. The family, as is often the case in these cases, denied this version. Meanwhile, some residents staged a protest in the streets of the favela, which was lost in the noise of a city that has become accustomed to a routine of violence.
In early 2022, the Rio de Janeiro state government launched a new operation to control crime in the city’s favelas. Under the name of ‘Integrated City’, this program foresees the occupation of some favelas by police battalions, in order to try to contain the criminal activity of drug trafficking factions and paramilitary organizations known as ‘militias’. In addition to carrying out public works in the selected favelas.
This operation recalls the implementation of the Pacifying Police Units (UPP) 14 years ago, on the eve of the two sporting mega-events that took place in Rio de Janeiro: the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. In this first In the phase of Operation Integrated City, 1,300 policemen participated and several armored vehicles and a helicopter were used.
Initially two neighborhoods were occupied: Jacarezinho and Muzema. The first gained worldwide prominence in May 2021, after the Police carried out the bloodiest raid in the history of Rio de Janeiro, which resulted in 28 fatalities. They were all young black men accused of having a criminal record and who, according to their relatives and human rights associations, were coldly executed by the police. At the time, the Jacarezinho massacre caused a stir inside and outside Brazil. The United Nations Organization even demanded an independent investigation.
Unlike last May, this time the operation was carried out peacefully, among other reasons because it had been announced by local authorities in the previous days. The Jacarezinho drug traffickers chose to leave the favela, which was occupied by agents without firing a single shot.
However, a few days later, the Brazilian Bar Association registered the first cases of human rights violations. Felipe Gomes Vieira, a law student and activist, denounces that six policemen invaded his home in Jacarezinho without a court order and that they also stripped him naked and tortured him for hours. “They punched me a lot in the ribs, slapped me in the head with an open hand and also in the face. I really thought they would kill me. They put a handkerchief over my mouth and another policeman put a knife on my wrist,” says this young man. , who fled the favela for fear of further persecution.
Felipe recounts that his phone and all his documents were also confiscated. He only managed to retrieve his work documentation. Álvato Quintão, president of the Human Rights Commission of the Brazilian Bar Association in Rio de Janeiro, assures that Felipe’s case is not isolated. “We have several stories of houses invaded without a court order. Many residents of these favelas denounce that torture is something recurrent during Police incursions,” explains this lawyer.
Cláudio Castro, the governor of the state of Rio Janeiro who took office after the ‘impeachment’ of his predecessor, Wilson Witzel, denies that the Rio de Janeiro Police, considered one of the deadliest in the world, is acting with violence. “For a long time, our Police have been accused of being a force that enters to shoot, which is a great injustice. Our Police are entering the favelas to liberate people from the yoke of drug trafficking and militias”, he stated during the act in which he made the first assessment of Operation Integrated City, at the beginning of February. “The Integrated City is a great proposal. It is a program that intends to change the idea with which we look at the favelas”, he added on that occasion.
For the inhabitants of Jacarezinho, it is a program with clear electoral overtones. In October 2022, Castro aspires to be elected to continue in a position that he reached without going through the polls. “Politicians only appear at election time. Outside of this time, they forget about us,” complains Arnaldo Neves Francisco, a graphic technician who lives in one of the poorest areas of the favela, where the Jacaré River is full of waste. “I am going to be 30 years old and since I was a child I have heard the promise that they are going to recover this region or that, alternatively, they are going to give us a house in another neighborhood. But they are just words,” he adds.
For Agda Floriano de Oliveira, an evangelical pastor who has lived in this favela for half a century, the Integrated City Operation should serve to create employment in a community severely affected by job insecurity. “We don’t need anyone to come from outside to do these works. There is skilled labor here. We want an opportunity to work, because we are trained, ”she highlights. At the same time, she criticizes the governor for not having met with the neighbors to find out their needs.
Another complaint from the inhabitants of Jacarezinho is that the arrival of the Police caused economic losses to the street vendors because for weeks the movement of people decreased, worried about a possible resurgence of police violence. “Actually, our work got worse. If I went out to do what I was doing three months ago, I wouldn’t be able to sell my merchandise like I used to. All the vendors are going through the same situation,” says Roberto Chacha, a street vendor.
His family has not yet recovered from mourning. The first child of his wife was one of the 28 young people killed by the Police during the May 2021 operation. “My son was executed by the Police with two shots in the back. After killing him, they dragged him down the alley as if he were a dog”, reveals Sandra Gomes between sobs.
Matheus was 21 years old and had two daughters. The Police accuses him of belonging to drug trafficking, but his mother denies it. She only acknowledges that he had a complaint for theft, and emphasizes that he was never convicted, nor was it ever proven that he had committed this crime. “Even if my son had 300 complaints, even if he had been imprisoned, I would fight against this injustice because in Brazil there is no death penalty. If he had done something wrong, at that moment they should have arrested him, not executed him, ”says this cook, who fights so that her son’s case is not filed in court.
The favelas of Rio de Janeiro live in a kind of undeclared war, which continues to claim the lives of young black people who live on the outskirts. A study by the Network of Security Observatories indicates that 86% of those killed in police operations in Rio de Janeiro are black, despite the fact that this group represents only 51.7% of the population.
On February 10, the Police killed another 23-year-old in Jacarezinho, accused of being one of the most powerful drug traffickers in this favela and of having killed a police officer in 2021. The family, as is often the case in these cases, denied this version. Meanwhile, some residents staged a protest in the streets of the favela, which was lost in the noise of a city that has become accustomed to a routine of violence.
In early 2022, the Rio de Janeiro state government launched a new operation to control crime in the city’s favelas. Under the name of ‘Integrated City’, this program foresees the occupation of some favelas by police battalions, in order to try to contain the criminal activity of drug trafficking factions and paramilitary organizations known as ‘militias’. In addition to carrying out public works in the selected favelas.
This operation recalls the implementation of the Pacifying Police Units (UPP) 14 years ago, on the eve of the two sporting mega-events that took place in Rio de Janeiro: the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. In this first In the phase of Operation Integrated City, 1,300 policemen participated and several armored vehicles and a helicopter were used.
Initially two neighborhoods were occupied: Jacarezinho and Muzema. The first gained worldwide prominence in May 2021, after the Police carried out the bloodiest raid in the history of Rio de Janeiro, which resulted in 28 fatalities. They were all young black men accused of having a criminal record and who, according to their relatives and human rights associations, were coldly executed by the police. At the time, the Jacarezinho massacre caused a stir inside and outside Brazil. The United Nations Organization even demanded an independent investigation.
Unlike last May, this time the operation was carried out peacefully, among other reasons because it had been announced by local authorities in the previous days. The Jacarezinho drug traffickers chose to leave the favela, which was occupied by agents without firing a single shot.
However, a few days later, the Brazilian Bar Association registered the first cases of human rights violations. Felipe Gomes Vieira, a law student and activist, denounces that six policemen invaded his home in Jacarezinho without a court order and that they also stripped him naked and tortured him for hours. “They punched me a lot in the ribs, slapped me in the head with an open hand and also in the face. I really thought they would kill me. They put a handkerchief over my mouth and another policeman put a knife on my wrist,” says this young man. , who fled the favela for fear of further persecution.
Felipe recounts that his phone and all his documents were also confiscated. He only managed to retrieve his work documentation. Álvato Quintão, president of the Human Rights Commission of the Brazilian Bar Association in Rio de Janeiro, assures that Felipe’s case is not isolated. “We have several stories of houses invaded without a court order. Many residents of these favelas denounce that torture is something recurrent during Police incursions,” explains this lawyer.
Cláudio Castro, the governor of the state of Rio Janeiro who took office after the ‘impeachment’ of his predecessor, Wilson Witzel, denies that the Rio de Janeiro Police, considered one of the deadliest in the world, is acting with violence. “For a long time, our Police have been accused of being a force that enters to shoot, which is a great injustice. Our Police are entering the favelas to liberate people from the yoke of drug trafficking and militias”, he stated during the act in which he made the first assessment of Operation Integrated City, at the beginning of February. “The Integrated City is a great proposal. It is a program that intends to change the idea with which we look at the favelas”, he added on that occasion.
For the inhabitants of Jacarezinho, it is a program with clear electoral overtones. In October 2022, Castro aspires to be elected to continue in a position that he reached without going through the polls. “Politicians only appear at election time. Outside of this time, they forget about us,” complains Arnaldo Neves Francisco, a graphic technician who lives in one of the poorest areas of the favela, where the Jacaré River is full of waste. “I am going to be 30 years old and since I was a child I have heard the promise that they are going to recover this region or that, alternatively, they are going to give us a house in another neighborhood. But they are just words,” he adds.
For Agda Floriano de Oliveira, an evangelical pastor who has lived in this favela for half a century, the Integrated City Operation should serve to create employment in a community severely affected by job insecurity. “We don’t need anyone to come from outside to do these works. There is skilled labor here. We want an opportunity to work, because we are trained, ”she highlights. At the same time, she criticizes the governor for not having met with the neighbors to find out their needs.
Another complaint from the inhabitants of Jacarezinho is that the arrival of the Police caused economic losses to the street vendors because for weeks the movement of people decreased, worried about a possible resurgence of police violence. “Actually, our work got worse. If I went out to do what I was doing three months ago, I wouldn’t be able to sell my merchandise like I used to. All the vendors are going through the same situation,” says Roberto Chacha, a street vendor.
His family has not yet recovered from mourning. The first child of his wife was one of the 28 young people killed by the Police during the May 2021 operation. “My son was executed by the Police with two shots in the back. After killing him, they dragged him down the alley as if he were a dog”, reveals Sandra Gomes between sobs.
Matheus was 21 years old and had two daughters. The Police accuses him of belonging to drug trafficking, but his mother denies it. She only acknowledges that he had a complaint for theft, and emphasizes that he was never convicted, nor was it ever proven that he had committed this crime. “Even if my son had 300 complaints, even if he had been imprisoned, I would fight against this injustice because in Brazil there is no death penalty. If he had done something wrong, at that moment they should have arrested him, not executed him, ”says this cook, who fights so that her son’s case is not filed in court.
The favelas of Rio de Janeiro live in a kind of undeclared war, which continues to claim the lives of young black people who live on the outskirts. A study by the Network of Security Observatories indicates that 86% of those killed in police operations in Rio de Janeiro are black, despite the fact that this group represents only 51.7% of the population.
On February 10, the Police killed another 23-year-old in Jacarezinho, accused of being one of the most powerful drug traffickers in this favela and of having killed a police officer in 2021. The family, as is often the case in these cases, denied this version. Meanwhile, some residents staged a protest in the streets of the favela, which was lost in the noise of a city that has become accustomed to a routine of violence.