July 7, 2025 • 31 mins
Security in the favelas is impoverish young men with guns, who’re untrained and unscrupulous. We went on patrol with these armed foot-soldiers at the higher, more impoverished levels of the shanty town.
There we saw a different side to the favela, one of precarious living and environmental degradation.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Causer Media.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
You're listening to the Away Days podcast on the ground
outside reporting from the underbelly with me Jake Hanrahan. To
watch Awaydays documentaries, go to YouTube dot com slash at
away Daze TV. This is part two for Velow Government,
(00:30):
Episode three. This podcast is a production of H eleven
Studio and call Zone Media. After talking to Player, I
understand the CV outlook a little better. Unlike some of
(00:50):
the other gangs, they at least want to be seen
to be helping the people. But whilst it's true that
CV generally didn't tax people back in the day, it's
not like it used to be. There are now reports
of the gang charge in Favela residents for everything from
parking spaces to internet access, just like a conventional government.
(01:13):
In fact, CV has the resources of the Favela lockdown
so well that in some cases they've literally made their
own internet service providers. In this article from twenty twenty two,
journalist Graham Slattery details how armed gangs even chased out
repair men who've been sent to a terminal to fix
(01:33):
what showed as a disruption in service that it definitely
was quote as real. Dejenira residents sheltered at home last year,
during the deadliest phase of Brazil's COVID nineteen outbreak, Police
detective Gabriel Ferrando said he got a tip that something
suspicious was upending local internet service. Access had vanished across
(01:58):
broad swaths of Moral for Meiga or the Anhill, a
tough neighborhood on the city's north side. When Ferrando quized
the technician from a broadband provider tasked with fixing the outage,
the worker, who he declined to name, said armed men
had chased him away with a warning not to return.
Turns out a new internet provider had claimed this turf,
(02:21):
a company whose investors at one time included an accused
drug and arms trafficker with ties to Brazil's notorious Red
Command crime syndicate. Using stolen property, some of it pilford
from the internet provider tim The newcomers soon had their
own internet service up and running. Residents could sign up
(02:42):
with the new firm or do without end quote until
wasn't the only place affected either. The journalist interviewed almost
two dozen telecoms executives, law enforcement officials, and Internet users
in Brazil. They also reviewed thousands of pages court documents
submitted by the police. What they found was quote an
(03:05):
audacious takeover of internet service in dozens of neighborhoods in
Brazil's major cities by companies associated with alleged criminals, unafraid
to use force and intimidation to push out rivals. The
result is that tens of thousands of Brazilians now depend
on unreliable second rate broadband networks, estimated by industry and
(03:27):
law enforcement officials to be generating millions of dollars annually
for purported crooks. End quote. So all the webbing of
telegraph wires above our heads in the favela is part
of CV's telecoms empire. The many different sized antennas and
satellite dishes I've seen jerry rigged onto the top of
(03:48):
roofs and the sides of Foravella housing provides residents internet
and television. Let's call it CV and T. It's the
most popular provider in the whole of the favela. Because
CV and T is the only provider in the whole
of the favela. If you want to serve the Web,
you'll be doing it with gang made internet technology, real
(04:11):
Favela innovation. In this case, it's a way to make
more money from the citizens of the favela. You could argue,
so what why should the local gang not make some
extra money from an internet provider. Well, I think the
issue is that the residents have no other choice. You
CV and T or don't have internet. Tadly a free
(04:36):
market if the other competitors are chased away with literal
machine guns. In plot Foggatto, we seem to have gained
some kind of trust. The gang members are surprised we
keep coming back each day, and are definitely more comfortable
with us around than they were at the start. A
(04:57):
few have even waived or nodded at us as we
moved past them at various checkpoints. We move further up
the hills into the shakier heights of the favelas. See
As you move higher into the hills of a Brazilian favela,
the physical, social, and infrastructural landscape changes dramatically. Favelas are
(05:17):
often built on steep land that the formal city avoids.
The glass and metal sky rises of the city are
certainly not built on hillsides, ravines, and floodplains. The lower
levels of the favela tend to be more accessible and
as a result have better access to what limited public
infrastructure there is. Over time, these services might extend upwards,
(05:43):
but not always. Housing near the base of the favela
is usually denser and more established, built from brick, concrete, or,
as we've seen, brittle breeze blocks. These homes are often
two or more stories, sometimes with small shops or makeshift
businesses on the ground level. As I travel further up
(06:05):
into the favela, it's clear that construction becomes a lot
more improvised. Buildings on the upper slopes are usually smaller,
built from cheaper materials like wood or sheet metal, and
many lack proper foundations. The angles of some of these
dwellings look as if they're filmed on a fish Eyelans.
Outer walls are sometimes bowing with weight, and there are
(06:27):
huge water butts hanging off the edges of many homes here,
probably their only chance to get decent water. The jungle
landscape becomes more dense also, and so the area is
susceptible to landslides, particularly during rainy season. These upper zones
are at greater environmental risk and often house the poorest families.
(06:49):
One of the main issues here believe it or not
is global warming. Amongst all of the guns and the
drugs and the violence, even pollution is getting the people here.
The community reporting platform rio on watch has covered this
problem extensively. In an article by Karla Regina, she wrote, quote,
(07:11):
these phenomena leave some displaced and homeless, forced to live
in public shelters or with relatives. Local governments in Brazil
generally register them for social rent if they are unable
to access public housing programs such as Minhat Casamina Vida,
but not everyone affected is covered by these programs, and
even when they are, many report the payments received are
(07:34):
lower than the rents charged in the favelas. Thus, many
favela residents choose to return to their former addresses to
rebuild their homes. Others join the homeless movement, occupying vacant
lots or abandoned public and private buildings that are not
fulfilling the social function of property as outlined in the
(07:54):
Brazilian Constitution. The complete absence of public services in higher
perwer of the favelas is alarming. Ravines are giving way,
gradually eroding with each bolt of rain. With a few
more storms, which are common in Rio, it's likely these
will collapse, wiping away everything and everyone in their way.
(08:16):
Tall trees grow on unstable soil and without proper care
from the authorities. There are also a cause of concern
amongst residents the close to falling onto their houses. It's
a tragedy waiting to happen. One of the Favella houses
I visited in twenty nineteen used to be occupied by
a woman and her pregnant daughter. Back then, it was
(08:37):
already in precarious conditions and did not have electricity. The
woman and her daughter cooked outside in their backyard on
a makeshift brick stove using charcoal and a refrigerator grill.
When I spoke to the pregnant daughter in twenty nineteen,
she said she felt no danger living there. She was
already used to it, and while almost everything got wet
(08:58):
when it rained, she could sleep wherever the rain hadn't fallen.
Today the house is even more run down end quote.
In the time we've been here in the Favella, it
rained heavily several times. Each roof drips water constantly, and
the stream of the brill and uncollected rubbish pushes filth
(09:20):
and probably diseased down Some parts of the open hills.
One of the few benefits of living higher up in
the Favella's dough are the views, if you can call
that a benefit in such poverty. We turn a corner
after five minutes, stomping up an almost vertical hill, and
agreeted with the natural beauty of the jungle in front
of us, lush leaves, thick branches, and green for miles
(09:46):
just around the corner. Though on the other side of
this strip, the view is the opposite. You can see
all the main roads into the Flavella from here, and
the normality of the city out in the distance. Suddenly
I hear the crackle of a radio. Behind us, there's
a young lad, dressed and a black t shirt with
a black cat and blue denim shorts, sat with a
(10:06):
few guns at a higher vantage point. He's a lookout,
watching here all day and informing his higher ups of
any suspicious activity. His plastic chair is placed within a
few feet of the front door of a makeshift house.
It's decorated out front with a mix of different brightly
colored flowers. There's even a little tor toys moving slowly
(10:27):
through the garden. A marvel at the tortoise as the
lookout moves around, putting his pistol into the band of
his trousers and nodding at us vaguely. He doesn't want
to talk, as he's busy working, beats friendly, and he
seems chilled out with us around. I reckon he's about
sixteen years old. In this area, despite the young gunman
keeping watch of everything, there is a lot less going
(10:49):
on and it does feel more peaceful socially. There's also
a subtle status hierarchy in some favelas, depending on how
high up you are. While in most city ties the
higher ground means wealth, in favelas the opposite is often true.
As I've said, residents at the bottom tend to have
better economic opportunities given their proximity to transport, employment, and services.
(11:14):
Those living at the top are usually more isolated and
have to navigate these long, steep hills. It's not uncommon
for people to have to carry water, fuel, or even
construction materials by hand up the hillside. Community investment and
urban upgrading projects typically begin in lower or mid level zones,
where access is easier and the property is more stable.
(11:38):
Higher up areas tend to be last in line for
improvements like lighting, pavements and public spaces. Ultimately, the higher
you go in a favela, the more precarious life can
be structurally, environmentally, and economically. I want to go even
further up to see what life is like there. Carlos
(11:58):
isn't sure. He makes a few calls. After a few minutes,
he gets a message. Basically, we have permission, but at
our own risk. The motorbike taxis will come to take
us further, but one of the gang members has to
radio each checkpoint first to let the gang members know
not to shoot us as we go past. It's taking
(12:19):
him a while to radio each checkpoint on the route
we're headed up. I'm happy about that, as he seems
to be doing a thorough job. I absolutely do not
want to get shot today or tomorrow or ever. Eventually
(12:47):
the bikes turn up. I catch a ride up to
the higher parts of Palat Fogato. After a few minutes
I arrived first. Not ideal. They've got to go back
down to get Carlos. They're pulled up to a wreck
(13:08):
area with a load of concrete benches, a children's playground,
and a mesh fence football court. There's around a dozen
well armed gang members set around the benches, both young
and older. As a unit, they're better around than the
shooters we saw further down. These lads have a variety
of different long barreled guns and side arms. At their hips.
(13:31):
They have AK pattern rifles, AR fifteen platform rifles, fil
para and G three A three. With all these guns
around just meters away in the courts, kids are playing
football and little children are watching. Gang members all look
at each other and certainly then at me and starting
(13:52):
to worry they didn't get the message don't shoot the gringo.
I put on my friendliest smile wave and I say
hi the kind of nod. Then look to an older
guy wearing all red with long hair down his back.
He's also the first person we've seen in the Favela
with a beard. He has a Saga twelve semi auto
shotgun slung over his shoulder and a whole belt of
(14:15):
red shotgun shells fastened around his waist. He's like Favella Rambo.
He nods to me and smiles white. Everyone relaxes a bit,
and Carlos arrives on the back of the bike.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Fuck, It's all good. Despite us being higher up, where
as I've mentioned Favella's usually become more impoverished. This is
actually a really nice neighborhood. The houses a makeshift and
piled up still sure on this street, at least, they're
all painted bright colors, green, pink, yellow. There were large
(14:48):
bushes with blooming, multi colored flowers growing out of the
tops of the flat roofs. A start to wonder if
maybe a CV boss lives in this area. The guy
with the combat shotgun who will call Red, and a
younger member of the local gang are about to head
off on a patrol of the area. They ask if
we can join them, and they shrug okay, and they
(15:10):
lead the way. The patrol is a pretty informal affair.
Two gang bangers wander around the area with their guns drawn,
but not like they're about to storm the front line.
It's more just in case. The purpose of these patrols
is to inspect the various CV checkpoints, to make sure
the gang members are all doing their job that and
(15:31):
to make sure there's no trouble in the neighborhood. It
occurs to me that in a strange way, this is
sort of what police back home do in the UK,
or at least what they used to do a bobby
on the beat. We call it as in police officers
who are assigned to a local area to walk about,
make sure things are okay, familiarize the people with the police.
(15:53):
Now though generally police in the UK chase after insignificant
nonsense and largely shy away from serious crime. I can't
even remember the last time I saw a police officer
get out of their car for anything other than an arrest,
but the concept still sits in my head. As we
walk around the upper levels of this Foravila neighborhood, CV
(16:14):
has really taken on the role of the authorities in
more ways than one, whether they realize it or not.
As we head down some uneven concrete steps out of
the more colorful neighborhoods, it becomes clear that actually this
area is more impoverished than the lower levels. The stench
of shits and sewages in the air. A few people
(16:34):
around look addicted to drugs. We move through a checkpoint
and the CV members on it look very high. They
giggle and laugh and say hello to us. It's not
ideal when they're all armed to the teeth. Red's nods
at them, says a few words checks the radio, and
we move off down a long set of stairs in
a narrow side street halfway. I want to know what
(16:56):
would happen if we encounter the police right now, if
the police come through here, what happens? Well, if the
lads there just said, without hesitation, we shoot a police
straight away, we can't let them into the favela. We
(17:16):
can't let them up here. This is not wann to
be tough guys shit either. These lads are totally serious.
They've probably already done it, almost without a doubt. It's
a matter of fact. It happens here regularly. The cops
kill them, they kill cops, the cops kill them, they
kill cops. It goes on and on. Like players said,
(17:38):
this is a war that will probably last till the
end of time. Just as we're about to keep moving,
an elderly man, maybe in its seventies, walks down the
steps behind us with two huge bags of rubbish. He's
trying to clean up the area or dump out his
own home waist. I don't know. The two gang members
part to let him through. The younger, I notice, immediately
(18:01):
puts his back to the wall and looks straight down
at the floor it's like a young kid put in
a dunce corner. I could be wrong by a sense
he feels some kind of shame. He's wearing a mask
over his head, so it's not that he wants to
hide his face, and yet still he hangs his head
so his chin is almost touching his chest. The old
fellow strides through the middle of us and doesn't look
(18:23):
up at the gang members or me for a single second.
He doesn't acknowledge any of us whatsoever. In my opinion,
his body language like this suggests he is absolutely not
a fan of these guys. It's a brief moment, but
I see it almost as a silent protest. Maybe I'm
looking into it too much. I don't know. These two
(18:47):
gunmen are basically the security of his neighborhood, impoverished young
men with guns who are untrained and unscrupulous. In every
neighborhood there's a batch of these CV foot soldiers armed
with black market guns. They're ready to fight at any time.
In fact, last year there were over two thousand, five
(19:07):
hundred shootings in this area of Real, Over one third
of them were during police operations. Hundreds of civilians have
been caught in the crossfire, and many don't even go
to the hospital for fears they'll be accused of gang activity.
Needless to say, the actual statistics are probably a lot higher.
Believe it or not, the life expectancy in a favela
(19:30):
like this is just forty eight years old. If you're
not killed in a gang shootout or by deprivation or
assassinated for something, you might just get shot to death
by the police. It is not at all uncommon. As
I've mentioned several times in this series, police brutality in
Brazil is a long standing issue, but in recent years
(19:54):
it's become even more severe, especially in the favelas and
poorer urban areas. Brazil has one of the highest rates
of police killings in the world. A lot of the
violence is tied to the so called war on drugs,
which is given the police a kind of unofficial license
to go in hard and ask questions later, if at all.
(20:16):
Here in Rio and in sal Paolo, operations often involve
armored vehicles rolling into densely populated areas where shootouts erupt
in broad daylight. Civilians frequently get caught in the crossfire,
and accountability for that is almost non existent. What I
find most shocking is the number of kids being killed.
(20:38):
Twenty twenty three, for example, police in Rio killed hundreds
of people during operations, many of them just teenagers. These
deaths are often justified as the result of confrontations with gangbangers,
but investigations are very rare, So who even knows. Would
you trust the word of a police force that is
(20:58):
known to form a legal militias and deal drugs themselves.
I wouldn't. Even if cases do get investigated, they rarely
lead to prosecution. Video evidence and witness testimony is routinely ignored,
and the cops involved in such killings are usually back
out on the streets in just days. People living here
(21:22):
in the favelas often describe feeling under sieged by the
police rather than protected. It's no wonder It's not just
a few bad apple cops either. All the evidence suggests
that this is a deeply embedded problem within the system
here in Brazil, and many of these units are part
of the elite forces like BOPE who are spoken about
(21:45):
in a previous episode. They operate with heavy firepower and
little oversight. Politicians often praise these aggressive tactics as being
quote unquote tough on crime, especially during election cycles. We
are surprise the sickly former president Bolsonaro put this mentality
(22:08):
on steroids when he openly encouraged police to kill suspected
criminals and promised legal protection for those who did. Obviously,
that emboldened any local forces that were out for blood.
Due to the nature of the combat in the favelas,
there were no end of cops looking to take scalps.
(22:28):
Community activists and human rights groups have been pushing back,
but they face serious risks too. Some have been targeted
or even killed for speaking out. In the end, it's
the people living in the favelas who pay the ultimate price.
The cycle of violence keeps turning, and the gap between
the state and its citizens keeps growing. Nothing gets resolved.
(23:05):
The next day I arrived early in the favela and
it turns out we've been invited into the home of
a local who lives under CV rule but is a
civilian by choice. He has no intentions to join the
gang and hopes to make it as a successful rapper.
He goes by the name Flows, and he is completely
uninvolved in gang activity. Let me be clear, he wants
(23:27):
to keep it that way. This lab wasn't brought to
us by CV either. This is not some fake press tour.
It's a friend of a very trusted friend of mine
that put us in touch. For me, this is a
perfect opportunity to speak to a civilian in his own home.
Here in the favela. We head up an extremely steep
hill to meet floats. You almost have to put your
(23:48):
hands out as you walk up it. As soon as
we arrive, Flows is out. He's ready. A spot him
at the back door of an alleyway that leads to
his small favela rented dwelling.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
The sweir Ai.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
You we're going this way. I instantly like his vibe.
He's clearly full of energy and he embraces me warmly,
like we're old friends. He's in his early twenties, skinny
with a little goatey beard, a baggy T shirt and
a flat peak cap with Jay Diller embroidered into the
front of it. Jay Diller being the highly influential American
(24:22):
hip hop producer and rapper known for his work with
artists like a tribe called Quest and Common. A follow
flows into his house. It's small, airy, and honestly pretty cozy.
The walls are all bare concrete as are the floors,
but Flows has made it his own. There are world
(24:43):
maps on the walls, an old worn out punch bag
hanging from the ceiling, and a desk with a laptop
and various different music equipments spilling over it. Seeing as
me and my team are from the UK, Flows tells
us he has a drill beat ready and wants to
show us his rapping ability. Now, if you don't speak Portuguese,
his verses what makes sense to you? But I'm gonna
(25:04):
let it play in full anyway, as I don't think
it matters if you don't understand Flows is a hidden
for talent. Trust me on this.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
By the movie transiender save such result.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
So NOI.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
D c in pretty good but sabi if Finnish persona
TV forma bid a familiar for find my spook kadi videos,
I said, say d v V Christ and all that
(25:57):
ten dollars ron bb. So I'm see in drug a
quasarity taking a pointing ida them to do a bit.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
And some.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Present brotig chill knack and child nu paid might say
grid no pre seas I say by six Swish paid
to balakom. They just said invitas. I say paid lad
hev Stad will be need come to chill, chill pay
(26:30):
and I might say grid no pre seas I say
by six sush paid to Balakom. He just said ina,
I say paid to lad he Shtad will be neat
we commit.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
That's so there's a there's a lot of like, you know,
gang activity around here. Do you find it hard to
kind of stay away from that and just keep track
doing your own thing with your music or is there
a kind of like maybe a pressure where you feel
maybe you would be doing better if you did join
(27:06):
the gang or something like that.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
These people grow up close to complicate the situations. It's
not compulsory to join, you know. I notice because music
rescue me. In the favela. We are hostages off the system.
The system brings nothing good to us. The system only
comes here to kill.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
As someone that's growing up in this community, you were
born here, raised here, you live here. Still it's run
by CV. What do you think of the police. We
haven't seen any, but I understand when they do come
here things really kick off. As a local, what's your
perception of the cops here?
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Would that police?
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I don't feel safe aroundto police in the community when
they come here. In almost all cases, it's to hurt people.
They want to build a completely desensitized society. The police
have a lot to do with this, because it's like
they have pushed people to become monsters.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
So when you're out of the favela and you're in
like the main areas of real the less impoverished areas,
how do you feel, do you feel like that's the
same place or not? Because for us, honestly, it feels
like the government has completely abandoned the favelas and only
cares about like downtown.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
I mean, how does it feel to you satiategy quality.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
I feel a very strong collective instinct here. You have respect,
affection and a great admiration for the people you see
there through good times and bad. In the cities, it's
more difficult because people are very elitis. They have ideas.
They are totally different form a collective one. In many
buildings they don't even great dormant, they don't even know
(28:46):
their neighbors even though they have lived there for years.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Do you have any fear of like CV or because
you see them they're up and down here that arms Obviously,
there's a lot of violence when the police come in.
Is that something you feel as a local, like you
scared of them? Or do you feel like they protect you.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
We have learned to get used to it because our
reality is in a certain way safer. Who can I
explain this? Like here, if I leave my window open,
I know no one will rob my house, no one
steals from anyone here, so in a way I feel
more at ease. However, we should never normalize it to
(29:27):
ans like we have here because we know many people
who are in CB and it's a very risky lifestyle,
so to normalize this would be psychotics.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Have you lost anyone due to this life? A yah?
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Oh yeah, I will tell you. He was a really
good kid, a very nice person. Renato died at the
top of a gatro. The police were hiding inside a
children's nursery. Bro. A nursery should be used for good things.
Military police hiding there and they kill him.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
He was a good dad.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Now his son is growing up to be a beautiful kid. Bro.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
I am tired of this.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
This is how we live in the favela. A favela
resident is always discriminated against. Regardless of where you're at,
you will always be a sass.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
How does it work if someone comes into your house
when you're not here still with a lot of stuff
and then gone, like, who do you go to say
you have a dispute? Are you able to go to
CV to like deal with disputes.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Like that or not?
Speaker 3 (30:32):
That's an impossible situation. There is no way the favailables
will that it happen here.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
With this, Flows starts laughing. I think the message is clear.
No one would dare act top in the Favela when
CV is around. You've been listening to the White Days
podcast next week, the final part of Favela Government. To
(31:00):
watch independent of Waydays documentaries, subscribe to our channel at
YouTube dot com slash at Awaydaze TV. Your Way Day's
Podcast is a production of H eleven Studio for Cool
Zone Media. Reporting, producing, writing, editing and research by me
(31:20):
Jake Hanrahan, co producing by Sophie Lichtermint music by Sam
Black and in this episode, Diamondstein sound mixed by Splicing Block.
Photography by Johnny Pickup and Louis Hollis. Graphic design by
Laura Adamson and Casey Highfield.
Causer Media.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
You're listening to the Away Days podcast on the ground
outside reporting from the underbelly with me Jake Hanrahan. To
watch Awaydays documentaries, go to YouTube dot com slash at
away Daze TV. This is part two for Velow Government,
(00:30):
Episode three. This podcast is a production of H eleven
Studio and call Zone Media. After talking to Player, I
understand the CV outlook a little better. Unlike some of
(00:50):
the other gangs, they at least want to be seen
to be helping the people. But whilst it's true that
CV generally didn't tax people back in the day, it's
not like it used to be. There are now reports
of the gang charge in Favela residents for everything from
parking spaces to internet access, just like a conventional government.
(01:13):
In fact, CV has the resources of the Favela lockdown
so well that in some cases they've literally made their
own internet service providers. In this article from twenty twenty two,
journalist Graham Slattery details how armed gangs even chased out
repair men who've been sent to a terminal to fix
(01:33):
what showed as a disruption in service that it definitely
was quote as real. Dejenira residents sheltered at home last year,
during the deadliest phase of Brazil's COVID nineteen outbreak, Police
detective Gabriel Ferrando said he got a tip that something
suspicious was upending local internet service. Access had vanished across
(01:58):
broad swaths of Moral for Meiga or the Anhill, a
tough neighborhood on the city's north side. When Ferrando quized
the technician from a broadband provider tasked with fixing the outage,
the worker, who he declined to name, said armed men
had chased him away with a warning not to return.
Turns out a new internet provider had claimed this turf,
(02:21):
a company whose investors at one time included an accused
drug and arms trafficker with ties to Brazil's notorious Red
Command crime syndicate. Using stolen property, some of it pilford
from the internet provider tim The newcomers soon had their
own internet service up and running. Residents could sign up
(02:42):
with the new firm or do without end quote until
wasn't the only place affected either. The journalist interviewed almost
two dozen telecoms executives, law enforcement officials, and Internet users
in Brazil. They also reviewed thousands of pages court documents
submitted by the police. What they found was quote an
(03:05):
audacious takeover of internet service in dozens of neighborhoods in
Brazil's major cities by companies associated with alleged criminals, unafraid
to use force and intimidation to push out rivals. The
result is that tens of thousands of Brazilians now depend
on unreliable second rate broadband networks, estimated by industry and
(03:27):
law enforcement officials to be generating millions of dollars annually
for purported crooks. End quote. So all the webbing of
telegraph wires above our heads in the favela is part
of CV's telecoms empire. The many different sized antennas and
satellite dishes I've seen jerry rigged onto the top of
(03:48):
roofs and the sides of Foravella housing provides residents internet
and television. Let's call it CV and T. It's the
most popular provider in the whole of the favela. Because
CV and T is the only provider in the whole
of the favela. If you want to serve the Web,
you'll be doing it with gang made internet technology, real
(04:11):
Favela innovation. In this case, it's a way to make
more money from the citizens of the favela. You could argue,
so what why should the local gang not make some
extra money from an internet provider. Well, I think the
issue is that the residents have no other choice. You
CV and T or don't have internet. Tadly a free
(04:36):
market if the other competitors are chased away with literal
machine guns. In plot Foggatto, we seem to have gained
some kind of trust. The gang members are surprised we
keep coming back each day, and are definitely more comfortable
with us around than they were at the start. A
(04:57):
few have even waived or nodded at us as we
moved past them at various checkpoints. We move further up
the hills into the shakier heights of the favelas. See
As you move higher into the hills of a Brazilian favela,
the physical, social, and infrastructural landscape changes dramatically. Favelas are
(05:17):
often built on steep land that the formal city avoids.
The glass and metal sky rises of the city are
certainly not built on hillsides, ravines, and floodplains. The lower
levels of the favela tend to be more accessible and
as a result have better access to what limited public
infrastructure there is. Over time, these services might extend upwards,
(05:43):
but not always. Housing near the base of the favela
is usually denser and more established, built from brick, concrete, or,
as we've seen, brittle breeze blocks. These homes are often
two or more stories, sometimes with small shops or makeshift
businesses on the ground level. As I travel further up
(06:05):
into the favela, it's clear that construction becomes a lot
more improvised. Buildings on the upper slopes are usually smaller,
built from cheaper materials like wood or sheet metal, and
many lack proper foundations. The angles of some of these
dwellings look as if they're filmed on a fish Eyelans.
Outer walls are sometimes bowing with weight, and there are
(06:27):
huge water butts hanging off the edges of many homes here,
probably their only chance to get decent water. The jungle
landscape becomes more dense also, and so the area is
susceptible to landslides, particularly during rainy season. These upper zones
are at greater environmental risk and often house the poorest families.
(06:49):
One of the main issues here believe it or not
is global warming. Amongst all of the guns and the
drugs and the violence, even pollution is getting the people here.
The community reporting platform rio on watch has covered this
problem extensively. In an article by Karla Regina, she wrote, quote,
(07:11):
these phenomena leave some displaced and homeless, forced to live
in public shelters or with relatives. Local governments in Brazil
generally register them for social rent if they are unable
to access public housing programs such as Minhat Casamina Vida,
but not everyone affected is covered by these programs, and
even when they are, many report the payments received are
(07:34):
lower than the rents charged in the favelas. Thus, many
favela residents choose to return to their former addresses to
rebuild their homes. Others join the homeless movement, occupying vacant
lots or abandoned public and private buildings that are not
fulfilling the social function of property as outlined in the
(07:54):
Brazilian Constitution. The complete absence of public services in higher
perwer of the favelas is alarming. Ravines are giving way,
gradually eroding with each bolt of rain. With a few
more storms, which are common in Rio, it's likely these
will collapse, wiping away everything and everyone in their way.
(08:16):
Tall trees grow on unstable soil and without proper care
from the authorities. There are also a cause of concern
amongst residents the close to falling onto their houses. It's
a tragedy waiting to happen. One of the Favella houses
I visited in twenty nineteen used to be occupied by
a woman and her pregnant daughter. Back then, it was
(08:37):
already in precarious conditions and did not have electricity. The
woman and her daughter cooked outside in their backyard on
a makeshift brick stove using charcoal and a refrigerator grill.
When I spoke to the pregnant daughter in twenty nineteen,
she said she felt no danger living there. She was
already used to it, and while almost everything got wet
(08:58):
when it rained, she could sleep wherever the rain hadn't fallen.
Today the house is even more run down end quote.
In the time we've been here in the Favella, it
rained heavily several times. Each roof drips water constantly, and
the stream of the brill and uncollected rubbish pushes filth
(09:20):
and probably diseased down Some parts of the open hills.
One of the few benefits of living higher up in
the Favella's dough are the views, if you can call
that a benefit in such poverty. We turn a corner
after five minutes, stomping up an almost vertical hill, and
agreeted with the natural beauty of the jungle in front
of us, lush leaves, thick branches, and green for miles
(09:46):
just around the corner. Though on the other side of
this strip, the view is the opposite. You can see
all the main roads into the Flavella from here, and
the normality of the city out in the distance. Suddenly
I hear the crackle of a radio. Behind us, there's
a young lad, dressed and a black t shirt with
a black cat and blue denim shorts, sat with a
(10:06):
few guns at a higher vantage point. He's a lookout,
watching here all day and informing his higher ups of
any suspicious activity. His plastic chair is placed within a
few feet of the front door of a makeshift house.
It's decorated out front with a mix of different brightly
colored flowers. There's even a little tor toys moving slowly
(10:27):
through the garden. A marvel at the tortoise as the
lookout moves around, putting his pistol into the band of
his trousers and nodding at us vaguely. He doesn't want
to talk, as he's busy working, beats friendly, and he
seems chilled out with us around. I reckon he's about
sixteen years old. In this area, despite the young gunman
keeping watch of everything, there is a lot less going
(10:49):
on and it does feel more peaceful socially. There's also
a subtle status hierarchy in some favelas, depending on how
high up you are. While in most city ties the
higher ground means wealth, in favelas the opposite is often true.
As I've said, residents at the bottom tend to have
better economic opportunities given their proximity to transport, employment, and services.
(11:14):
Those living at the top are usually more isolated and
have to navigate these long, steep hills. It's not uncommon
for people to have to carry water, fuel, or even
construction materials by hand up the hillside. Community investment and
urban upgrading projects typically begin in lower or mid level zones,
where access is easier and the property is more stable.
(11:38):
Higher up areas tend to be last in line for
improvements like lighting, pavements and public spaces. Ultimately, the higher
you go in a favela, the more precarious life can
be structurally, environmentally, and economically. I want to go even
further up to see what life is like there. Carlos
(11:58):
isn't sure. He makes a few calls. After a few minutes,
he gets a message. Basically, we have permission, but at
our own risk. The motorbike taxis will come to take
us further, but one of the gang members has to
radio each checkpoint first to let the gang members know
not to shoot us as we go past. It's taking
(12:19):
him a while to radio each checkpoint on the route
we're headed up. I'm happy about that, as he seems
to be doing a thorough job. I absolutely do not
want to get shot today or tomorrow or ever. Eventually
(12:47):
the bikes turn up. I catch a ride up to
the higher parts of Palat Fogato. After a few minutes
I arrived first. Not ideal. They've got to go back
down to get Carlos. They're pulled up to a wreck
(13:08):
area with a load of concrete benches, a children's playground,
and a mesh fence football court. There's around a dozen
well armed gang members set around the benches, both young
and older. As a unit, they're better around than the
shooters we saw further down. These lads have a variety
of different long barreled guns and side arms. At their hips.
(13:31):
They have AK pattern rifles, AR fifteen platform rifles, fil
para and G three A three. With all these guns
around just meters away in the courts, kids are playing
football and little children are watching. Gang members all look
at each other and certainly then at me and starting
(13:52):
to worry they didn't get the message don't shoot the gringo.
I put on my friendliest smile wave and I say
hi the kind of nod. Then look to an older
guy wearing all red with long hair down his back.
He's also the first person we've seen in the Favela
with a beard. He has a Saga twelve semi auto
shotgun slung over his shoulder and a whole belt of
(14:15):
red shotgun shells fastened around his waist. He's like Favella Rambo.
He nods to me and smiles white. Everyone relaxes a bit,
and Carlos arrives on the back of the bike.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Fuck, It's all good. Despite us being higher up, where
as I've mentioned Favella's usually become more impoverished. This is
actually a really nice neighborhood. The houses a makeshift and
piled up still sure on this street, at least, they're
all painted bright colors, green, pink, yellow. There were large
(14:48):
bushes with blooming, multi colored flowers growing out of the
tops of the flat roofs. A start to wonder if
maybe a CV boss lives in this area. The guy
with the combat shotgun who will call Red, and a
younger member of the local gang are about to head
off on a patrol of the area. They ask if
we can join them, and they shrug okay, and they
(15:10):
lead the way. The patrol is a pretty informal affair.
Two gang bangers wander around the area with their guns drawn,
but not like they're about to storm the front line.
It's more just in case. The purpose of these patrols
is to inspect the various CV checkpoints, to make sure
the gang members are all doing their job that and
(15:31):
to make sure there's no trouble in the neighborhood. It
occurs to me that in a strange way, this is
sort of what police back home do in the UK,
or at least what they used to do a bobby
on the beat. We call it as in police officers
who are assigned to a local area to walk about,
make sure things are okay, familiarize the people with the police.
(15:53):
Now though generally police in the UK chase after insignificant
nonsense and largely shy away from serious crime. I can't
even remember the last time I saw a police officer
get out of their car for anything other than an arrest,
but the concept still sits in my head. As we
walk around the upper levels of this Foravila neighborhood, CV
(16:14):
has really taken on the role of the authorities in
more ways than one, whether they realize it or not.
As we head down some uneven concrete steps out of
the more colorful neighborhoods, it becomes clear that actually this
area is more impoverished than the lower levels. The stench
of shits and sewages in the air. A few people
(16:34):
around look addicted to drugs. We move through a checkpoint
and the CV members on it look very high. They
giggle and laugh and say hello to us. It's not
ideal when they're all armed to the teeth. Red's nods
at them, says a few words checks the radio, and
we move off down a long set of stairs in
a narrow side street halfway. I want to know what
(16:56):
would happen if we encounter the police right now, if
the police come through here, what happens? Well, if the
lads there just said, without hesitation, we shoot a police
straight away, we can't let them into the favela. We
(17:16):
can't let them up here. This is not wann to
be tough guys shit either. These lads are totally serious.
They've probably already done it, almost without a doubt. It's
a matter of fact. It happens here regularly. The cops
kill them, they kill cops, the cops kill them, they
kill cops. It goes on and on. Like players said,
(17:38):
this is a war that will probably last till the
end of time. Just as we're about to keep moving,
an elderly man, maybe in its seventies, walks down the
steps behind us with two huge bags of rubbish. He's
trying to clean up the area or dump out his
own home waist. I don't know. The two gang members
part to let him through. The younger, I notice, immediately
(18:01):
puts his back to the wall and looks straight down
at the floor it's like a young kid put in
a dunce corner. I could be wrong by a sense
he feels some kind of shame. He's wearing a mask
over his head, so it's not that he wants to
hide his face, and yet still he hangs his head
so his chin is almost touching his chest. The old
fellow strides through the middle of us and doesn't look
(18:23):
up at the gang members or me for a single second.
He doesn't acknowledge any of us whatsoever. In my opinion,
his body language like this suggests he is absolutely not
a fan of these guys. It's a brief moment, but
I see it almost as a silent protest. Maybe I'm
looking into it too much. I don't know. These two
(18:47):
gunmen are basically the security of his neighborhood, impoverished young
men with guns who are untrained and unscrupulous. In every
neighborhood there's a batch of these CV foot soldiers armed
with black market guns. They're ready to fight at any time.
In fact, last year there were over two thousand, five
(19:07):
hundred shootings in this area of Real, Over one third
of them were during police operations. Hundreds of civilians have
been caught in the crossfire, and many don't even go
to the hospital for fears they'll be accused of gang activity.
Needless to say, the actual statistics are probably a lot higher.
Believe it or not, the life expectancy in a favela
(19:30):
like this is just forty eight years old. If you're
not killed in a gang shootout or by deprivation or
assassinated for something, you might just get shot to death
by the police. It is not at all uncommon. As
I've mentioned several times in this series, police brutality in
Brazil is a long standing issue, but in recent years
(19:54):
it's become even more severe, especially in the favelas and
poorer urban areas. Brazil has one of the highest rates
of police killings in the world. A lot of the
violence is tied to the so called war on drugs,
which is given the police a kind of unofficial license
to go in hard and ask questions later, if at all.
(20:16):
Here in Rio and in sal Paolo, operations often involve
armored vehicles rolling into densely populated areas where shootouts erupt
in broad daylight. Civilians frequently get caught in the crossfire,
and accountability for that is almost non existent. What I
find most shocking is the number of kids being killed.
(20:38):
Twenty twenty three, for example, police in Rio killed hundreds
of people during operations, many of them just teenagers. These
deaths are often justified as the result of confrontations with gangbangers,
but investigations are very rare, So who even knows. Would
you trust the word of a police force that is
(20:58):
known to form a legal militias and deal drugs themselves.
I wouldn't. Even if cases do get investigated, they rarely
lead to prosecution. Video evidence and witness testimony is routinely ignored,
and the cops involved in such killings are usually back
out on the streets in just days. People living here
(21:22):
in the favelas often describe feeling under sieged by the
police rather than protected. It's no wonder It's not just
a few bad apple cops either. All the evidence suggests
that this is a deeply embedded problem within the system
here in Brazil, and many of these units are part
of the elite forces like BOPE who are spoken about
(21:45):
in a previous episode. They operate with heavy firepower and
little oversight. Politicians often praise these aggressive tactics as being
quote unquote tough on crime, especially during election cycles. We
are surprise the sickly former president Bolsonaro put this mentality
(22:08):
on steroids when he openly encouraged police to kill suspected
criminals and promised legal protection for those who did. Obviously,
that emboldened any local forces that were out for blood.
Due to the nature of the combat in the favelas,
there were no end of cops looking to take scalps.
(22:28):
Community activists and human rights groups have been pushing back,
but they face serious risks too. Some have been targeted
or even killed for speaking out. In the end, it's
the people living in the favelas who pay the ultimate price.
The cycle of violence keeps turning, and the gap between
the state and its citizens keeps growing. Nothing gets resolved.
(23:05):
The next day I arrived early in the favela and
it turns out we've been invited into the home of
a local who lives under CV rule but is a
civilian by choice. He has no intentions to join the
gang and hopes to make it as a successful rapper.
He goes by the name Flows, and he is completely
uninvolved in gang activity. Let me be clear, he wants
(23:27):
to keep it that way. This lab wasn't brought to
us by CV either. This is not some fake press tour.
It's a friend of a very trusted friend of mine
that put us in touch. For me, this is a
perfect opportunity to speak to a civilian in his own home.
Here in the favela. We head up an extremely steep
hill to meet floats. You almost have to put your
(23:48):
hands out as you walk up it. As soon as
we arrive, Flows is out. He's ready. A spot him
at the back door of an alleyway that leads to
his small favela rented dwelling.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
The sweir Ai.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
You we're going this way. I instantly like his vibe.
He's clearly full of energy and he embraces me warmly,
like we're old friends. He's in his early twenties, skinny
with a little goatey beard, a baggy T shirt and
a flat peak cap with Jay Diller embroidered into the
front of it. Jay Diller being the highly influential American
(24:22):
hip hop producer and rapper known for his work with
artists like a tribe called Quest and Common. A follow
flows into his house. It's small, airy, and honestly pretty cozy.
The walls are all bare concrete as are the floors,
but Flows has made it his own. There are world
(24:43):
maps on the walls, an old worn out punch bag
hanging from the ceiling, and a desk with a laptop
and various different music equipments spilling over it. Seeing as
me and my team are from the UK, Flows tells
us he has a drill beat ready and wants to
show us his rapping ability. Now, if you don't speak Portuguese,
his verses what makes sense to you? But I'm gonna
(25:04):
let it play in full anyway, as I don't think
it matters if you don't understand Flows is a hidden
for talent. Trust me on this.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
By the movie transiender save such result.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
So NOI.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
D c in pretty good but sabi if Finnish persona
TV forma bid a familiar for find my spook kadi videos,
I said, say d v V Christ and all that
(25:57):
ten dollars ron bb. So I'm see in drug a
quasarity taking a pointing ida them to do a bit.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
And some.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Present brotig chill knack and child nu paid might say
grid no pre seas I say by six Swish paid
to balakom. They just said invitas. I say paid lad
hev Stad will be need come to chill, chill pay
(26:30):
and I might say grid no pre seas I say
by six sush paid to Balakom. He just said ina,
I say paid to lad he Shtad will be neat
we commit.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
That's so there's a there's a lot of like, you know,
gang activity around here. Do you find it hard to
kind of stay away from that and just keep track
doing your own thing with your music or is there
a kind of like maybe a pressure where you feel
maybe you would be doing better if you did join
(27:06):
the gang or something like that.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
These people grow up close to complicate the situations. It's
not compulsory to join, you know. I notice because music
rescue me. In the favela. We are hostages off the system.
The system brings nothing good to us. The system only
comes here to kill.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
As someone that's growing up in this community, you were
born here, raised here, you live here. Still it's run
by CV. What do you think of the police. We
haven't seen any, but I understand when they do come
here things really kick off. As a local, what's your
perception of the cops here?
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Would that police?
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I don't feel safe aroundto police in the community when
they come here. In almost all cases, it's to hurt people.
They want to build a completely desensitized society. The police
have a lot to do with this, because it's like
they have pushed people to become monsters.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
So when you're out of the favela and you're in
like the main areas of real the less impoverished areas,
how do you feel, do you feel like that's the
same place or not? Because for us, honestly, it feels
like the government has completely abandoned the favelas and only
cares about like downtown.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
I mean, how does it feel to you satiategy quality.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
I feel a very strong collective instinct here. You have respect,
affection and a great admiration for the people you see
there through good times and bad. In the cities, it's
more difficult because people are very elitis. They have ideas.
They are totally different form a collective one. In many
buildings they don't even great dormant, they don't even know
(28:46):
their neighbors even though they have lived there for years.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Do you have any fear of like CV or because
you see them they're up and down here that arms Obviously,
there's a lot of violence when the police come in.
Is that something you feel as a local, like you
scared of them? Or do you feel like they protect you.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
We have learned to get used to it because our
reality is in a certain way safer. Who can I
explain this? Like here, if I leave my window open,
I know no one will rob my house, no one
steals from anyone here, so in a way I feel
more at ease. However, we should never normalize it to
(29:27):
ans like we have here because we know many people
who are in CB and it's a very risky lifestyle,
so to normalize this would be psychotics.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Have you lost anyone due to this life? A yah?
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Oh yeah, I will tell you. He was a really
good kid, a very nice person. Renato died at the
top of a gatro. The police were hiding inside a
children's nursery. Bro. A nursery should be used for good things.
Military police hiding there and they kill him.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
He was a good dad.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Now his son is growing up to be a beautiful kid. Bro.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
I am tired of this.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
This is how we live in the favela. A favela
resident is always discriminated against. Regardless of where you're at,
you will always be a sass.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
How does it work if someone comes into your house
when you're not here still with a lot of stuff
and then gone, like, who do you go to say
you have a dispute? Are you able to go to
CV to like deal with disputes.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Like that or not?
Speaker 3 (30:32):
That's an impossible situation. There is no way the favailables
will that it happen here.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
With this, Flows starts laughing. I think the message is clear.
No one would dare act top in the Favela when
CV is around. You've been listening to the White Days
podcast next week, the final part of Favela Government. To
(31:00):
watch independent of Waydays documentaries, subscribe to our channel at
YouTube dot com slash at Awaydaze TV. Your Way Day's
Podcast is a production of H eleven Studio for Cool
Zone Media. Reporting, producing, writing, editing and research by me
(31:20):
Jake Hanrahan, co producing by Sophie Lichtermint music by Sam
Black and in this episode, Diamondstein sound mixed by Splicing Block.
Photography by Johnny Pickup and Louis Hollis. Graphic design by
Laura Adamson and Casey Highfield.
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