One theme that continues to arise during our Brazilian culture learning is that of corruption within the governing powers of Brazil. Nowhere is this more prevalent than the favelas, and specifically the large, drug-trafficking run communities of Rio de Janiero. The corruption in these areas make it impossible for Brazil to improve the favelas, as it is simply easier, safer, and more profitable for the authorities to work with the gang members than to launch a full assault. As a result, no real progress is ever made, leading to a rift in trust between the inhabitants of the favela and their own state government.
"Performances of Police Legitimacy in Rio's Hyper Favela" does a great job of explaining how the illusion of the war on drugs is created by the police, media, and drug traffickers. Gang members are often alerted days ahead of a drug raid (usually by an inside source), allowing the leaders to escape, sit back from afar, or plan accordingly. The gangs understand that the police must kill traffickers and collect narcotics in order to look legitimate in the eyes of the media, and use this info to minimize their own losses in both bodies and strength as a result of these police raids. In one case noted in the reading, the gangs left two tons of marijuana for the police to find, allowing the state's raid to appear successful (photos of helicopters lifting huge amounts of drugs out of the ally's in nets dangling below, great for the front page of the news paper), consequently ending the police effort before any real battles were fought, even described as "non-confrontational" in the article. Those who live in the favelas daily understand that this is all for show, and that the police really have no power within the area.
This idea of hopelessness in the war on drugs is greatly shown in the movie "The City of God". In the film, Lil' Ze grows up to run the drug gangs. From a young age, he learned from amateur gangsters, eventually breaking into drug trafficking and becoming the most powerful man in the city. After killing off all of his enemies, Lil Ze has complete control of the favela, which ironically leads to a relatively peaceful time for the community, as it is for once undivided. As rifts grow within his drug ring as a result of various events, an opposing gang begins to form, leading to an all-out war tearing the city into sections. There is a common theme of police corruption in the film, as it is shown that the police are supplying the gangs with guns, as well as receiving payments (portions of the drug money) in order to look the other way and allowing the trafficking operation to continue smoothly. All of these ideas come to a point at the end of the movie when Lil Ze is finally arrested, but as our main character Rocket soon discovers, this is all for media show. As soon as Lil Ze is brought into the station, he is immediately unhand-cuffed and begins discussing payments with the officers. Lil Ze is above the law, allowed to run free killing and doing as he pleases, while the police arrest and kill smaller gang members in order to appear to be making progress in eliminating the two groups.
Overall, both the article and movie this week demonstrated how large the issue of corruption truly is in Brazil's favelas. Police work with the gangs, receiving payments in order to allow the drug trafficking operations to continue. This makes the leaders invulnerable, and ultimately the police's effort futile, as they do the bare-minimum to appear legitimate in the eyes of the media and the world.
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