[Favelas in Arms]
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[The northeastern city of Salvador, Brazil’s third-largest, is a major tourist destination thanks to its beautiful beaches and popular festivals. Its Carnival is considered the world’s largest street party.
In spite of being idyllic in so many ways, this city suffers from an unprecedented explosion of violence in recent years, part of a national phenomenon with the migration of violence towards the north. While the murder rate has dropped more than 63% in the southeast in the past ten years, it has increased 86% in the northeast. That is according to the 2012 Map of Violence compiled by the Brazilian Center for Latin American Studies. In Salvador, the murder rate has risen over 250%.
One of the police officers I spoke to summed up the situation clearly with his own personal tragedy. [We’re living in the middle of a war. I try not to leave home, and when I do I’m armed], he said, asking to remain anonymous. He knows what it’s all about – his son was killed recently by a thief to steal his iPad. Just a teenager, he died as he was returning from school on the street near their home in an upscale neighborhood]. – Lunaé Parracho
In spite of being idyllic in so many ways, this city suffers from an unprecedented explosion of violence in recent years, part of a national phenomenon with the migration of violence towards the north. While the murder rate has dropped more than 63% in the southeast in the past ten years, it has increased 86% in the northeast. That is according to the 2012 Map of Violence compiled by the Brazilian Center for Latin American Studies. In Salvador, the murder rate has risen over 250%.
One of the police officers I spoke to summed up the situation clearly with his own personal tragedy. [We’re living in the middle of a war. I try not to leave home, and when I do I’m armed], he said, asking to remain anonymous. He knows what it’s all about – his son was killed recently by a thief to steal his iPad. Just a teenager, he died as he was returning from school on the street near their home in an upscale neighborhood]. – Lunaé Parracho
Police react while on patrol in the Nordeste de Amaralina slum complex in Salvador, Bahia State, March 28, 2013. One of Brazil's main tourist destinations and a 2014 World Cup host city, Salvador suffers from an unprecedented wave of violence with an increase of over 250% in the murder rate, according to the Brazilian Center for Latin American Studies (CEBELA). (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
Police search youths for weapons and drugs while on patrol in the Nordeste de Amaralina slum complex in Salvador, Bahia State, March 28, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
![Police patrol past the [rifle wall] pockmarked by bullets from many shootouts between drug gangs and police, in the Nordeste de Amaralina slum complex in Salvador, Bahia State, March 28, 2013. One of Brazil's main tourist destinations and a 2014 World Cup host city, Salvador suffers from an unprecedented wave of violence with an increase of over 250% in the murder rate, according to the Brazilian Center for Latin American Studies (CEBELA). (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)](http://img.gagdaily.com/uploads/posts/sad/2013/0000d354_big.jpg "Police patrol past the [rifle wall] pockmarked by bullets from many shootouts between drug gangs and police, in the Nordeste de Amaralina slum complex in Salvador, Bahia State, March 28, 2013. One of Brazil's main tourist destinations and a 2014 World Cup host city, Salvador suffers from an unprecedented wave of violence with an increase of over 250% in the murder rate, according to the Brazilian Center for Latin American Studies (CEBELA). (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)")
Police patrol past the [rifle wall] pockmarked by bullets from many shootouts between drug gangs and police, in the Nordeste de Amaralina slum complex in Salvador, Bahia State, March 28, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
A boy plays on the street of the Nordeste de Amaralina slum complex in Salvador, Bahia State, March 28, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
Police pause while patrolling next to a cross painted with a threat to them in the form of graffiti referring to the Community Security Base they staff in the Nordeste de Amaralina slum complex in Salvador, Bahia State, March 28, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
Police patrol in the Nordeste de Amaralina slum complex in Salvador, Bahia State, March 28, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
The body of a person identified by the police as a tranvestite named Rodrigo, lies on the street where he was shot in the Alto do Cabrito slum of Salvador, Bahia State, March 30, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
A Brazilian drug gang member nicknamed Giant, 17, poses with a gun atop a hill overlooking a slum in Salvador, Bahia State, April 11, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
The body of a woman lies in public view after being shot in the face on the night of Good Friday, in the Ondina neighborhood of Salvador, Bahia State, March 30, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
Brazilian woman Ana Claudia, who witnessed her son Reinaldo being beaten and shot dead by drug traffickers, cries during an interview in the Fazendo Couto slum of Salvador, Bahia State, April 11, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
A Brazilian drug gang member nicknamed Giant, 17, poses with a gun and his medallion of St. George, in a slum in Salvador, Bahia State, April 11, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
A Brazilian drug gang member nicknamed Firecracker, 22, poses with a gun atop a hill overlooking a slum in Salvador, Bahia State, April 11, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
Brazilian drug gang members pose with weapons atop a hill overlooking a slum in Salvador, Bahia State, April 11, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
A Brazilian drug gang member nicknamed Poison, 18, poses with a gun atop a hill overlooking a slum in Salvador, Bahia State, April 11, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
A police officer watches live security cameras aimed at different points of the city where violence is common, at a command center in Salvador, Bahia State, March 28, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
Police special forces train to operate against drug gangs in Salvador, Bahia State, March 28, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
Brazilian drug gang members pose with weapons atop a hill overlooking a slum in Salvador, Bahia State, April 11, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
The body of a person identified by the police as a transvestite named Rodrigo, is removed by police forensic workers from the street where he was shot in the Alto do Cabrito slum of Salvador, Bahia State, March 30, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
A Brazilian drug gang member nicknamed Pilintra, 26, poses with a gun atop a hill overlooking a slum in Salvador, Bahia State, April 11, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
Residents observe the body of a person shot in the head in the Sao Cristovao slum of Salvador, Bahia State, April 13, 2013. (Photo by Lunae Parracho/Reuters)
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