Tag Archives: rio de janeiro

Ladeira dos Tabajaras Rocinha Se Fudeu 2009

Posted on by
1

I’ve been holed up at home working in the studio with my head between 2 speakers and in front of the computer monitor.  Sometimes, I can only take so much and I have to get out.  I went up to the baile at Cantagalo at about 2:30am last friday night, as I often do.  Piranhão was manning the 1s and 2s…er, well, the MP3s on his laptop.  The rapaziada was in FULL effect, going around the quadra with one hand on the person in front and their AK or glock or whatever in the other hand.  Nothing terribly unusual about this, although, this doesn’t usually happen INSIDE the quadra with SO MANY manos in the bondinho…..At one point, the music was cut and the MC asked for a minute of silence to remember those that were at Tabajaras that are no longer with us (see below).

This also is not very unusual, but that night, it was PACKED.  The contrast of being between 2 opposing walls of speakers cranking out funk to the point that it made your clothes visibly vibrate to the same room full of completely silent people was tremendous.  NO ONE spoke.  Nobody moved.  Weight being shifted from one foot to the other, a sniffle, a far away motorcycle and a rooster crowing down the street were the only sounds.  Silence when you are alone and/or in a distant natural place are one thing, but a very large space filled with unspeaking, unmoving people is impressive.

About 2 weeks ago, there was an invasion of Ladeira dos Tabajaras by traficantes from Rocinha.  After a big shoot out with police and local traficantes, part of the crew from Rocinha escaped into the forest nearby where they spent days before trying to escape last week.  In the reports that I found, it’s a bit unclear, but the police then invaded Ladeira dos Tabajaras the following week (last week) where they killed at least 4 suspected traficantes (supposedly from Tabajaras – the guys from Rocinha were supposedly arrested april 1 while trying to escape).

This track talks about the invasion – Ladeira dos Tabajaras Rocinha Se Fudeu (Rocinha fucked themselves).  From ProibidãoRJ

Here is a a video of part of the shoot out from march 23 in Copacabana.

and another video talking about the invasion of the guys from Rocinha and where they tried to escape to.  This gives a little better better idea of how a war like this can happen in the middle of a very densely populated city.

It continues to blow my mind that this sort of things happens ALL THE TIME here.  This is NOT an isolated incident!  Does this only come to the attention of the media and mainstream society when there is a shoot out on their block?

But, anyway, everything is just fine now…….Rambo has arrived!  And, if that’s not enough, we can sick the Terminator on their ass.

A few blocks down the street (in the other direction)……….Sylvester Stallone just arrived in Rio.  He is here to do a film about mercenaries.  Seriously.

Não se acostume como esse cotidiano violento, não!

Posted on by
2

“Não se acostume com esse cotidiano violento,
esta não é a minha vida,
esta não é a sua vida.”
“Don’t get used to this everyday violence,
this is not my life,
this is not your life.”
- Raçionais MCs in “A Formula Mágica da Paz” from Sobrevivendo no Inferno.

I saw this written on the back of someone’s shirt in the metrô the other day and realized just how pervasive it is to get accustomed to violence. Surrounded by it everyday – wherever you are – in the media, in the newspaper, in music, in cinema, in our language, in our governments, our police, our neighbors, our families, and within ourselves.

I went up to the baile in Cantagalo the other night to say hello my man, Sany Pitbull ( He’s gotta be one of the sweetest guys on the planet.). Then, I took my usual walk around to check things out. On the upper balcony, a couple guys moved away and I took their place at the railing to get a better view of the baile. Before I knew it, I was being forcefully pushed out of the way by a guy with a big handgun sticking out of the waist of his pants. He moved in and sat on the railing to role a multi-paper joint. At the time, I didn’t really think much of it. He was just a traficante exercising his privilege and position.

I am choosing to illustrate this incident for three reasons. First, it is an example of how power, authority or position can enable us to behave in a subtly violent way, which perpetuates and supports violence on a larger scale. Second, it shows an incident within the stereotypically demonized context of a baile funk, which actually happens all the time, all over the place, all over the world and in all stratum of society. The gun is only an inconsequential prop. As they say, “o pobre rouba e o resto desvia (the poor rob, while the rest merely divert funds).” Third, because it illustrates (albeit in a very literal sense) how violence is self-medicating. It occurs in a manner which is just sufficiently self-aware to seek to cover up (or hide from) its effects. To get used to it. We are all guilty of this perpetuating violence in this way.

A few weeks ago, 10 armed, masked men entered a building on Rua Piragibe Frota Aguiar (one block from my house), which is just at the beginning of the road leading up to Cantagalo, and assaulted the residents of 2 different apartments. 2 of the doormen and the wife of one of them were tied up and locked in the garbage collection area of the building while the third porteiro was forced to greet arriving residents where they were then assaulted by the bandits.

When it was discovered that one of the residents was a doctor for the PM (Polícia Militar), the robbers tortured her, using pliers to pull out her teeth and fingernails.
The next day, 50 Military Police invaded Cantagalo with the objective of catching those responsible. The police never said how they knew that the robbers were at Cantagalo. After several hours of intense shooting, they came down the hill after having killed 2 suspects, arrested 6, seized multiple guns (one of which was a PM issue with the serial number scraped off….), a large quantity of marijuana and cocaine in small sacks, money, jewelry.
Then, to top it off, the police said (O Globo Online) that their actions reflected the desires of society.

Anyway, just some thoughts I had while on the metrô……

Rio Body Count

Posted on by
Reply

Just found this – Rio Body Count (Não Acreditamos em Paz Vigiada, Queremos Inclusão Social – We don’t believe in guarded peace, we want social inclusion) – a blog which gives up to date reports on violence in Rio de Janeiro and the number of dead (543) and injured (298) people since February 1, 2007. Sorry, but it’s all in Portuguese…….so, because I find this so fucking an important, I am running today’s violence reports through an online translator (sorry, no time to translate this stuff. anway, you’ll get the idea of what’s going on here even with just a quick glance). These reports are from TODAY and it is only 1 pm!

30/03/2007 Two boys were beaten up in this early morning by securities in the parking of home of Show Olimpo, in the Avenue Vicente of Oak, 1450, in the Crag. After they helped, were led for the Hospital Getúlio Vargas. One of them is interned in grave state and will be operated. (The GLOBE ONLINE)

30/03/2007 Two men in motorcycle murdered, last night, the merchant Landmark Fernando of the Hisses pine Tree, 46 years, that was vice president and director of patrimony of the Association of Inhabitants and Friends of the Park Two Brothers (Amap), in Curicica, Jacarepaguá. The crime occurred about the 19h30, in the Street José Eusébio, height of the number 151, to around 500 meters of the headquarters of the association. Little landmarks, as be known, to have finished leaving of the Amap when was approached by the men, that shot at least three times in the head and right away fled at high speed. (The DAY ONLINE)

30/03/2007 The bodies of two black men, pretending 20 years, were found in the night of this Thursday in the trunk of the Toyota KUM-8762, abandoned in the interior of the Alliance Town shanty town, in Bangu, in the Zone West. According to the police, the victims still done not identify, were murdered with several shots. The Toyota, second the police, was stolen in the day 3, in the area of action of the 34ª DP (Bangu), where the case was recorded. (The DAY ONLINE)

30/03/2007 A black man still done not identify dead with several shots in the early morning of this Friday in the Avenue Nazareth, corner with Street Berberibe, in Ricardo of Albuquerque, in the North Zone. Polices of the 14º BPM (Bangu) were defendants and did not find witnesses for the crime. The police investigates the motive. The record was deed in the 39ª DP (Pavuna). (The DAY ONLINE)

30/03/2007 Men armed did shots aimlessly against the Plaza Manuel Flag and shot a lady that passed. The woman still done not identify was led for the Hospital Paulino Werneck, in the same neighborhood. A patrol of the 17º BPM (Island of the Governor) was set in motion. The case will be recorded in the 37ª DP (Island of the Governor). (The DAY ONLINE)

30/03/2007 Sebastião Lopes of olive Tree, 56 years, died in the night of this Thursday in the Road of the Seven Streams, in very Saint, in the Zone West. Second information of the police, the victim was pushd by another man and died to the beating with the head in a stone. The victim was an inhabitant of the Street Senator Camará, also in the Zone West. The record was deed in the 34ª DP (Bangu). (The DAY ONLINE)

30/03/2007 Antonio Bertoldo of Souza, of 27 years, dead to shots in the end of the night of Wednesday in the orange grove Town neighborhood, in Japeri. His body was found hours afterwards in the Street 7, but alone was collected to the IML in the late of yesterday by the IML. According to accounts, Antonio be passing for the localities when was approached by the murderer and whitened in the nape. (HOUR H ONLINE)

While this is shocking, this is not meant to shock. This is meant to shed light on an otherwise little known situation that is totally commonplace here. This is meant to hopefully give a voice to those who have no voice (or who are too hoarse from crying out after being ignored for so long that nobody can hear them). AND, these are not all inclusive by any means. Many murders and injuries go unreported.

While Greg Scruggs may be right that we can’t exactly go up there to Cantagalo or Vigario Geral or wherever it is and stop this from happening, we can talk about it and be aware of it – everywhere.

And if this was in your house? But, wait! It is in your house!

Posted on by
3

Polícia prende suspeito de chefiar tráfico em Vigário Geral

In an operation on Thursday, 20 suspected drug traffickers were arrested in Vigário Geral, North Zone of Rio de Janeiro. During the operation, children on their way to school were systematically stopped and searched as police suspected that they were forced to carry weapons and/or drugs by the local drug traffickers.

The headline of Extra was, “Isto é em Vigário Geral. E se fosse na Zona Sul?” or “This is in Vigário Geral. and if it was in the South Zone?” This was the foto which ran under this headline on the front page (sorry, but I can’t find the full front page on the internet…)
Zona Sul in Rio de Janeiro encompases Copacabana, Ipanema, Jardim Botanico and a host of other mostly affluent neighborhoods. Within the South Zone, there are numerous pockets of autonomous zones run by traffickers and populated by poor (read: invisible people with little or no representation) people, but mostly it’s a pretty well off area. Vigário Geral in the North Zone is a very poor area.

Children being subject to this sort of experience is yet another symptom of the invisiblity of those without economic power. Practically the exact same thing is happening in Mitchell’s Plain in Cape Town in the post below. This is happening so much that it’s perceived as being normal.

We don’t want to break out of our little bubbles to see what’s really going on around us. Case in point – note Timeblind’s observations on the difference in lifestyle in Berlin and New York City.

There are those who want to smash the state. Those who want to insulate and isolate themselves in order to avoid more pain (maybe that’s why those people who passed me after the accidents in South Africa were in such a hurry). Or those who seek to create their own autonomous zones where they can create the lives they desire free from the control and manipulation of the state and the consumer culture at large. Some can be constructive (self-sufficient communities, for example) while others are destructive (drug addiction for example).

According to the Vice Guide to Travel (which I will be discussing soon in another post), there are 50,000 murders per year in Rio de Janeiro alone. That’s a civil war. That’s more than in the Israel/Palestine conflict per year.

But then, here I am, exclaiming that this is all so alarming……I’ll post this and then go on to writing emails and doing my work and washing the dishes and listening to invisible people firing shots at each other just up the street (that is NOT an isolated incident, just in case you were wondering)…………………………I don’t know what I’m saying. I don’t know the answer. I’m stumped. I’m confused.

And what if this was in your house?