A 14-year-old and six other youths were tortured and then killed and mutilated in a Rio de Janeiro favelo this week. It was another shocking incident in the continuing violence which dominates the world-famous Brazilian resort city.
With just a week to go before this year's carnival, the government has sent in 500 troops in an attempt to quell the gang violence and safeguard the million-plus visiting tourists. Contrary to some reports, the carnival is not at risk - it is held in a self-contained kilometre-long stadium, the Sambadrome, on the edge of the city - but it will be heavily guarded.
The recent spate of violence began in December, when eight people were burnt to death after a gang attacked a city bus, robbed its passengers and set it ablaze. That led President Luiz Inacio Lula da
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A new website is counting the casualties of Rio’s drug wars, says gibby zobel |
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Silva to label the perpetrators 'terrorists'.
To make matters worse, there are new reports of militias made up of active and retired police officers and soldiers roaming the favelas on killing sprees.
Among Rio's residents, there is a word banded around at times like this - banalizacao or 'banalisation'. The hard truth is that violence has become the norm, has become banal. The turf wars between drug gangs have become part of everyday life.
In an effort to shock the country into thinking differently, a handful of campaigners have set up Rio Body Count, a website inspired by Iraq Body Count. Launched on February 1, it documents the death toll since that date, culled from media reports. This morning, it stood at 70 dead and 37 injured. 
FIRST POSTED FEBRUARY 7, 2007 |
