Opinion:Brazil's never ending war on the poor
Brazilian police are waging a deadly war against the poor because they were created to do just that.
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia
Brazilian journalist and researcher
Published On 23 Aug 2022
23 Aug 2022
Police officers patrol the Jacarezinho slum during a new 'pacification operation' in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, January 19, 2022 [Alexandre Loureiro]
Violence – and particularly state-sanctioned violence – is part of everyday life for many Brazilians. This is true especially for those who are unlucky enough to be poor, live in a favela and have “the wrong skin colour”.
Indeed, poor Black and brown people living in precarious situations are the preferred victims of the Brazilian police – a force that is seemingly committed to eradicating not poverty, but the poor.
In Brazil’s favelas, residents live with a constant fear of “police operations” – or to be more accurate, indiscriminate shootings across narrow residential streets involving automatic weapons and helicopters. They know that if a police officer happens to approach them – regardless of what they may or may not have done – they could be threatened, beaten up, jailed, killed or simply “disappeared”. They know that their house can be invaded any minute, their possessions confiscated, their lives turned upside down – all with the complete support of their country’s government and other state institutions.
On May 24, 25 people were killed during a police operation in the Vila Cruzeiro Favela in Rio de Janeiro. On July 21, 2022, yet another police raid claimed 18 more lives in Complexo do Alemao in the same state. These massacres were only a few in a much longer chain. According to a study conducted by Federal Fluminense University researchers, 182 people have been killed in at least 40 separate police operations in Rio de Janeiro alone between May 2021 and May 2022.
More:
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/08/22/new-documentary-territory-chronicles-indigenous-land-defenders-fight-protect-amazon