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Felipe Dana / AP
A man smokes crack in the Manguinhos slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 7. Some drug bosses say they have stopped selling crack because it destabilizes their communities, making it harder to control areas long abandoned by the government. City authorities take credit for the change, arguing that drug gangs are trying to create a distraction and make police back off their offensive to take back the slums.
Business was brisk in the Mandela shantytown on a recent night. In the glow of a weak light bulb, customers pawed through packets of powdered cocaine and marijuana priced at $5, $10, $25. Teenage boys with semiautomatic weapons took in money and made change while flirting with girls in belly-baring tops lounging nearby.
Next to them, a gaggle of kids jumped on a trampoline, oblivious to the guns and drug-running that are part of everyday life in this and hundreds of other slums, known as favelas, across this metropolitan area of 12 million people. Conspicuously absent from the scene was crack, the most addictive and destructive drug in the triad that fuels Rio's lucrative narcotics trade.
-- Reported by the Associated Press
Felipe Dana / AP
Traffickers and users gather at a drug selling point in the Antares slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felipe Dana / AP
Traffickers sell drugs in the Antares slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felipe Dana / AP
People gather in an area known as "Crackland" inside the Manguinhos slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felipe Dana / AP
A trafficker test fires a riffle in the Mandela slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felipe Dana / AP
Traffickers sell drugs in the Antares slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felipe Dana / AP
A trafficker stands at a drug selling point that stopped selling crack in the Mandela slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felipe Dana / AP
A masked and armed trafficker at a drug selling point that no longer sells crack in the Mandela slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felipe Dana / AP
Crack users gather under a bridge in the Antares slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Felipe Dana / AP
A crack user leaves a crack house near the Manguinhos slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Leave a Comment:
GAM... your comments show that you are definitely one our nations few and proud! As Mo 563393 asked "why are you so angry?" I don't think he's angry just fed up w B.S. As for these photos of Rio... its like any other drug area it's just in the open instead of abandoned houses or behind closed doors. It wont change my tomorrow.
Wow it's better for business not to sell crack. Amazing, there are some ideas here methinks. Perhaps if we could offer incentives to drug dealers not to sell their product. In Rio it could work. The country is corrupt enough to allow such dealings. Who says corruption can't be a tool for good aswell? Buy the drugs off the drug dealers? It's unthinkable, i know. These men are criminals but, i think in the long run it would be so much cheaper than spending money on fighting the problem which obviously has not been working.
i'm not suuggesting that buying drugs off dealers is the only way to beat the problem but i am suggesting that unconventional thinking is perhaps the only way to combat drugs.
It worked in switzerland when the government started giving away heroin which took away the business of the dealers and allowed the government to help the addicts because all of them were coming to them. This can't work in every country but maybe things like this are a start.
Rather than destroy the trade, governments should seek to control and dissipate it.
I Love "CRACK" in Rio ! ! !
My name is Burt Conners, Im a 49 year old Corporate Executive with a large Multinational, based here in Green Bay Wisconsin.
I travel every month to Rio for business, as well as "Happy Times" with adolescent Girls. Darn the Brazilian "Crack" is nice. Fortunately, my 452 pound
heiferwife does not like the food in Brazil.She enjoys attending Eating Events. In fact, next week, while she competes in the 71st Annual Sheboygan Troth Eating Festival, I'll be "Enjoying" Maritza, Paola, and Estefania.....
LIFE.....IS.....GOOOOOD ! ! ! ! !
I was born/raised outside of NYC and have lived in several different areas of the US and Europe, and having been to Rio I can tell you that the slums there are more dangerous than the worst cities the US has ever seen. It's laughable to even compare anything in the US to Rio. Camden and Detroit would be 'average' or 'nice' neighborhoods there.
I have lived in Brazil and even lived in sprawling favelas outside of Brasilia. While there, I saw people get shot and killed, was commonly awakened to semi-automatic gunfire and was even frisked by police looking for killers. Drugs are a huge problem in Brazil, and as a people, they suffer for it.
Many on this board blame the government, I don't personally believe the government can stop the abuse of drugs any better than our (US) government can. Some blame churches for not doing more, I think they do all they can, and they do alot. In the end, it is personal responsibility. Any drug problem can be traced back to an individual's personal sense of responsibility. No form of government, church, or charity can replace it.
As far as the Olympics go, I think Brazil, and more specifically Rio can pull off a great Olympic Games. I think they can provide a safe and secure area very easily. Brazilian people are warm and considerate, whether in the favelas or not. I would not however recommend tourists go into the favelas, particularly at night.
A simple Business decision......LOL