Vincent Bevins
Violence in Brazil is as deadly as the civil war in
Syria, a U.N. report finds
Almost everyone here on the outskirts of
Maceio, the capital of Brazil's most dangerous state, has a horror story to
tell.
"They shot a woman in the bar last
week," said Maria das Gracas da Silva, a 49-year-old maid. "They shot
her right in her mouth, which usually means she said something she shouldn't
have. Then they just took off."
Up the road, Francisco Kummer pointed at a
nearby tree from inside his small school supplies shop.
"I've seen two murders recently, including
one right here in front of my shop," he said. "The men on the
motorcycles weren't actively looking for the guy, but they must have wanted
him, because when they noticed him, they stopped abruptly. Three shots in the
head."
More than 2,000 people are killed each year
here in the tiny state of Alagoas, with a population of a little more than 3
million, making it much more dangerous than big cities such as Sao Paulo and
Brasilia. But the problem of killings is nationwide and has not improved for
more than a decade.
Brazil's high homicide rate has barely budged
since 2000, even as economic growth has brought millions out of poverty and
reduced social inequality.
A study by several United Nations agencies,
including the World Health Organization, which used global data from 2012, the
most recent year available, showed that Brazil had the highest number of
killings in the world.
The nation's death toll of more than 64,000
that year, according to the report, is comparable to the number of people who
have been killed annually in Syria's civil war. Brazil's homicide rate remains
higher than that of Mexico, despite the drug war raging there since 2006.
From 2000 to '12, Brazil experienced a period
of relative stability and prosperity, with almost every social indicator
improving. Except one.
"All else being equal, we expect that if
there is a major drop in inequality, homicide rates go down," said
Christopher Mikton, technical officer on the WHO Prevention of Violence Team,
who worked on the report. However, "in 2000, Brazil's homicide rate was
32.2 per 100,000 residents, and in 2012 it was just over 32.4."
"In the same period," he said,
"the world overall got about 16% safer from murder, while developed
countries saw a drop of 40%."
The Brazilian government offers a lower
estimate of the number of killings, putting it at about 50,000 in 2012. About
half the victims were young black men, local data indicate. There is no
evidence of improvement since 2012.
Studies point to a broad set of possible
explanations for the persistent violence. Experts cite the continued prevalence
of the drug trade and violent gangs in certain neighborhoods, as well as
corruption and poor training among police forces and ineffectiveness in the
court system.
They say that despite social improvements,
inequality is still high by global standards. The mega-rich live close to
youths who lack educational and professional opportunities, and that increases
the risk of crime.
"It's essential that we change the justice
system, socioeconomic conditions and the way that the police work," said
Sergio Adorno, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo and director of its
Center for the Study of Violence. "The police continue to be very violent
and the justice system is slow. They're both relics of the past."
There has been one significant shift in the
last decade: The number of homicides has dropped in larger and more affluent
cities, such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and jumped in the poorer
northeastern region, which includes Alagoas.
Experts have no easy answers for the change.
One theory is that some members of criminal gangs, such as Red Command, which
was founded in Rio, have moved here as they have lost territory to security
crackdowns and better policing at home. Another is that the number of young men
— a demographic more likely to commit crimes — has grown.
The homicide rate increased in the northeast
even as the region's economy grew much faster than that of the southeast, which
includes Sao Paulo and Rio.
Kummer, the shopkeeper, recalls that his
closest brush with death came precisely when the economy took off in his
neighborhood. He received threats after he complained to authorities about a
booming nightclub nearby.
"All kinds of different people began to
come up to me and give me messages and dark warnings," he said as he
looked out at joggers passing by a park where he witnessed a killing.
"They'd say things like, "Watch out' or 'You don't know who you're
dealing with,' or most menacingly, 'Stay safe.'"
For much of the last five years, Brazil's
violence churned along in the background, rarely interfering with the economic
or political headlines that dominated here, unless it spilled into the lives of
the white upper-middle class.
But the economy has slowed, and with President
Dilma Rousseff weakened politically by scandals, newly empowered conservatives
have gone on the offensive in Congress. They have brought crime to the center
of the national debate by pressing for a law to try 16- and 17-year-olds as
adults, a move that neither most crime experts nor the federal government
believe would reduce violence.
During her reelection campaign last year,
Rousseff proposed altering the constitution to allow more federal involvement
in crime-fighting at the state level. This would be a big step toward allowing
local authorities to work together effectively, said Regina Miki, the national
secretary of public security.
"We'd like to able to bring all the
relevant local authorities to the same table, establishing goals and
streamlining enforcement and judicial processes, as well as provide education
and training for the police," said Miki, who acknowledges that the
national homicide rate has not improved.
But Rousseff would need congressional support
for any such changes, given that police and local security are under the
jurisdiction of state governors.
Despite the violence, Miki pointed to Alagoas
as successful test case for more federal involvement. After national
intervention, the homicide rate came down to 64 per 100,000 people in 2012.
Three years earlier, it was more than 100 per 100,000.
Jeovar da Oliveira Verissimo, 70, said he has
watched generation after generation turn to crime and violence and is not yet
convinced that things have turned around.
"Well, I guess maybe there's been a small
improvement, maybe I can smell some good things in the air," he said,
sitting on a bench across from a burned-down building previously used for selling
drugs. "After all, it's been a month or two since I've seen a murder
around here."
Vincent Bevins is a special correspondent of Los Angeles Times, May 22, 2015
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