VIOLENCE IN THE BAIXADA
By Maurício de Oliveira CAL Wise-Up Duque de Caxias – RJ November 2010.
On October 2nd, 2009, Rio de Janeiro was chosen to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Everyone in Brazil and especially those in Rio de Janeiro were excited, almost in ecstasy at the news, because some games and the great final of the 2014 World Cup will also take place in the Maracanã Stadium and a real river of money will flow into the city. It will give Rio de Janeiro a special opportunity to become a city of the “first world”.
But after this amazing news, it is time to begin constructing a lot of buildings, provide infrastructure and principally to decrease the ugly head of violence that exists in the so called “Marvelous City”, or the “Cidade Maravilhosa” as it is known in Brazil. However, investments in security, infrastructure, and other important works that will change the face of Rio de Janeiro won’t necessarily improve the metropolitan region. Violence will be a bigger problem to solve and once again nothing will change in the Fluminense Lowlands, because there will be no games, tourists, tourist attractions or journalists covering events, among other things happening in our region.
In the map of Brazil, which follows, we can see the State of Rio de Janeiro in red and the contrast between its territorial areas. Rio de Janeiro State occupies approximately 44.000km², about 0.5% of Brazil’s total area.
Figure 1 and 2: Brazil and the State of Rio de Janeiro.
With more than 16 million inhabitants, the State of Rio de Janeiro is geographically divided into eight large regions: the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region, the North Fluminense Region, the Northwest Fluminense Region, the South-Central Fluminense Region, the Mid Paraiba Region, the Green Coast Region, the Coastal Lowland Region and the Mountainous Regions.
Figura 3: Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region
The Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region has more than 11.5 million inhabitants and we can sub-divide it into Rio de Janeiro (Capital City), the Fluminense Lowlands (Belford Roxo, Duque de Caxias, Itaguaí, Guapimirim, Japerí, Magé, Mesquita, Nova Iguaçu, Nilópolis, São João de Meriti, Seropédica, Paracambí and Queimados), and Greater Niterói (Niterói, São Gonçalo, Itaboraí, Tanguá).
Niteroi was the old Capital City of the State of Rio de Janeiro and among other things, has a good urban infrastructure, a middle class informed population and one of the best cities regarding quality of life of Brazil. Anything bad that happens there has repercussions and is promptly reported in the press.
Rio de Janeiro city is bigger and violence makes part of its everyday life. However, there is a real paradise / little oasis, or it will become one with the 2016 Olympic Games. What I’m talking about here, is the Southern Zone, or “Zona Sul” as it’s known, which includes “Barra da Tijuca” and Downtown Rio, because they are tourist areas and a lot of money will be invested, as it is the Capital of the State and the Second City of Brazil. In general, crime is being combated throughout the whole city, in almost all neighborhoods.
On one side we have the Fluminense Lowlands. A land of contrasts, where we have an inferior quality of life, a disorganized and uninformed middle class, plus a sensationalist press who loves showing headlines such as: “Massacre in Fluminense Lowlands - 5 dead and 10 injured”; “Massacre in Belford Roxo city with 8 dead and 5 injured”; “Shootouts in Caxias with 3 dead”; “Large scale assaults on the sidewalks of Duque de Caxias city leave everybody in panic”; “The Hills of the Fluminense Lowlands were invaded by drug dealers”; “Conflict among police and bandits, with 3 dead” – “Mother says that her son wasn’t involved with dealers”; “Bodies found in car in Nova Iguaçu city”
Usually inhabitants from the Fluminense Lowlands always complain that they were abandoned by the State Government of Rio de Janeiro. They say there are no police in the streets and that nothing is being done to reduce the number of crimes, including crimes of violence.
The following chart shows the actual statistics between 2000 and 2005 in the State of Rio de Janeiro:
| TOTAL NUMBER OF EVENTS RECORDED BY THE CIVIL POLICE - 2000/2005 | |||||||||
| (Absolute numbers) | |||||||||
| MURDER | THEFT FROM VEHICLES | STOLEN VEHICLES | CASUAL PERSONAL THEFT | BUS THEFT | BURGLARY, HOME BREAKING & ENTRY | ASSAULT WITH HEINIOUS INTENT | AUTO RESISTANCE | ||
| SOUTH ZONE | 500 | 5,441 | 13,948 | 10,173 | 1,969 | 859 | 15,564 | 152 | |
| DOWNTOWN | 295 | 1,597 | 2,369 | 8,943 | 1,370 | 72 | 8,132 | 31 | |
| NORTH ZONE 1 | 3,235 | 44,843 | 19,359 | 25,245 | 5,278 | 939 | 31,696 | 1,180 | |
| NORTH ZONE2 | 4,411 | 49,934 | 15,469 | 20,521 | 5,814 | 708 | 32,239 | 1,305 | |
| WEST ZONE | 5,551 | 19,485 | 9,894 | 11,265 | 3,161 | 852 | 44,432 | 512 | |
| BARRA/JACAREPAGUÁ | 1,161 | 9,688 | 7,049 | 5,660 | 1,627 | 646 | 20,641 | 118 | |
| NITERÓI/S. GONÇALO | 4,206 | 10,918 | 15,247 | 12,879 | 6,241 | 1,115 | 43,810 | 454 | |
| BAIXADA | 11,666 | 35,316 | 15,626 | 19,861 | 6,846 | 1,963 | 92,257 | 1,030 | |
| ISLANDS | 372 | 4,357 | 1,476 | 2,154 | 485 | 145 | 5,236 | 157 | |
| INTERIOR OF STATE | 7,620 | 8,351 | 16,995 | 12,289 | 3,182 | 2,769 | 141,555 | 256 | |
| STATE TOTAL | 39,017 | 189,930 | 117,432 | 128,990 | 35,973 | 10,068 | 435,562 | 5,195 | |
http://www.ucamcesec.com.br/est_seg_esp.php
News about violence is common in the newspapers from Rio de Janeiro, mainly on the police pages that try to portray or provide an overview of the Fluminense Lowlands, an important and interesting region of Brazil. If foreigners read this news with attention, they would think that we are living through a civil war or in a land without law. However, violence that exists in this place sometimes is encouraged by politics and paramilitary groups, which dispute power among themselves to influence the people. But, our reality is that with violence knocking on our door, in different ways, crimes such as burglary, theft or assault is passing into car robbery, rape and even murder.
With a total population around 3.7 million people – similar to, for example great Melbourne, Australia, apparently one of the best places to live in the world – or less populated than Seattle, USA. If the Fluminense Lowlands was a country, their GDP would be approximately R$42 billion (much more than US$24.7billion), it will be similar, for example to Panama or superior to Jordan in the Middle East. But, the wealth that is generated in the Lowlands has not changed the social situation of their inhabitants. It really was abandoned by Federal and State Government for many years. The public services that have been offered in this region are very bad, especially regarding education, health and safety. To complete this dreadful situation, the mayors are corrupt and the press practically don’t exist in the region. If you mix corrupt cops, an incredibly lethargic justice system and bad public services together, we will have the perfect formula for everything to go wrong. Unfortunately it isn’t an exception and yes, the rule is that this situation exists in almost all towns that make up the Fluminense Lowlands.
It follows the same types of crimes that have occurred in Rio de Janeiro City, Niteroi / São Gonçalo, Fluminense Lowlands and the Interior of the State (all other cities) between January and June 2010. This data was provided by the Public Institute of Security of Rio de Janeiro.
| TOTAL NUMBER OF EVENTS RECORDED BY CIVIL POLICE – 2010 January until June* | |||||||||
| (Absolute numbers) | |||||||||
| MURDER | THEFT FROM VEHICLES | STOLEN VEHICLES | PERSONAL THEFT | BUS THEFT | HOME BREAKING & ENTRY | ASSAULT WITH HEINIOUS BODILY INTENT | RAPE | ||
| CAPITAL | 725 | 5,445 | 3,964 | 16,192 | 1,896 | 246 | 12,980 | 525 | |
| NITERÓI/S. GONÇALO | 305 | 945 | 1,206 | 3,466 | 668 | 103 | 3,418 | 206 | |
| BAIXADA | 535 | 1,815 | 1,296 | 4,969 | 460 | 79 | 6,949 | 440 | |
| INTERIOR OF STATE | 450 | 424 | 1,546 | 1,661 | 174 | 193 | 9,264 | 472 | |
*2010 April (Not disclosed) http://www.isp.rj.gov.br/Conteudo.asp?ident=150
Last month we saw the decrease of violence in Rio de Janeiro City – or should I say, the sensation of violence decreased as a result of the installation/occupation by police of some slums with the PPU’s - “Pacifying Police Units” which have expulsed the drug dealers and left these places in peace. However, on the other hand, we have seen the increase of the sensation of violence in the Fluminense Lowlands. Nobody knows if the drug dealers of Rio de Janeiro came to Lowlands or if the bandits that live in Fluminense Lowlands have changed their methods and have become more violent or not.
Violence only creates more violence,
Gentleness generates more gentleness!
Proof-reading: by Alan Hayman
