Rio’s ‘Internal Armed Conflict’ and Counter-Insurgency

Lucky you, you get to read my article for the Rio Times before it's published on Tuesday! Enjoy.

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The end of 2010 was a busy time for Rio. Between Dilma’s election, the discovery of enormous pre-salt oil fields, and preparing for a massive Reveillon, one could almost forget Rio’s most important systemic concern. The favelas remain a central part of the city’s identity and a major source of many of its problems, and accordingly drew a good deal of attention from the U.S.’s Rio de Janeiro Consulate.

Late 2009 saw a flurry of activity in the favelas as the Favela Pacification Program and the UPP finished their first full active year with plans to expand (singling out Complexo de Alemao as the ‘epicenter of the fight’). However, foreshadowing the Navy APCs and marines in Zona Norte a few weeks ago and belying public confidence in the pacification efforts, retired Brazilian Army General Alvaro de Souza Pinheiro said in September 2009 that the Army was fully prepared to “occupy and maintain control of favelas,” given their experience in UN Peacekeeping operations around the world.

Acknowledging the lawlessness of the favelas, Pinherio said the Army is well suited for pacification, as “many officers and units were specifically trained and prepared to undertake operations related to public security and general policing in communities lacking state control.”

Wealth and poverty are not far apart here

It is significant in itself that a former high-ranking military official admits that the favelas, situated inside a megacity of one of the world’s strongest democracies, need a military occupation like those in Haiti or Sierra Leone. He is definitely not the only one to say so behind closed doors.

In November 2009 the Principal Officer of Rio’s U.S. Consulate met with an unnamed source in the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) in Rio. The source explained what he could not disclose publicly because of ‘Brazilian sensitivities;’ that the situation in the favelas as of November 2009 was “for all practical purposes, a full-blown ‘internal armed conflict,’” with all the implications that such a weighty characterization entails.

While not exactly the definition used in the Geneva Conventions, Protocol II, the main features of Rio’s violence closely resemble situations around the world widely recognized as ‘internal armed conflicts.’ These include “organized factions holding the monopoly on violence in their areas while in an open conflict with rival factions or/and state forces, the humanitarian impacts on innocent civilians trapped by violence in favelas dominated by gangs, and the need for ICRC to operate as though in a war zone.”

The Consulate tentatively agreed with the source’s assessment, noting that it describes Rio’s violence better than simple urban crime. To this extent it took special interest in the Favela Pacification Program’s ‘clear and hold’ approach, which “closely resembles U.S. counter-insurgency doctrine in Afghanistan and Iraq, and highlights the extent to which favelas have been outside state authority,” reads a diplomatic cable from November 2009.

Largely a problem Rio created for itself, the favelas present a unique environment of state failure within a successful state, more similar to Fallujah or Marjah than the Ipanema and Copacabana neighborhoods next door.

Rio State Secretary for Public Security Jose Beltrame explained to the U.S. Consulate, “you cannot imagine what government neglect of the favelas have done to this city. It is a failure of public service” that the city is now paying for with blood. Although the beginning phases of the Pacification Program have gone well, it is only the beginning of the fight.

"The cat." Electrical theft is rampant

As with U.S. counter-insurgency doctrine overseas, the ‘center of gravity’ in the favelas is the population. Success wholly depends on winning the ‘hearts and minds’ of the residents, who must be made to trust and depend on the authorities, not an easy task for a government lacking legitimacy as a relative newcomer to the favelas. The crucial task is to deliver the services and benefits promised, which depends on civilian and NGO components of the Pacification Program following through after the UPPs.

Yet as of late 2009, during a visit to the pacified Dona Marta favela, U.S. representatives noted that “police officers are doing everything from assisting residents with requests for utilities to coaching sports. There is no cadre of civilian government and NGO personnel to handle those tasks, nor evidence of systematic programming for additional services.... If such a vacuum persists, it will wear down police capacity and lead to frustration among residents in pacified favelas, threatening the initial gains in those areas.”

The U.S. Consulate fully supported the Pacification Program and was enthusiastic about the results, saying they “could remake the social and economic fabric of Rio de Janeiro.” But however much U.S. support is genuinely humanitarian and good-hearted, there is no denying the enormous economic potential in the favelas.

According to José Luiz Alquéres, the president of Rio’s electric company Light, the economy of Rio de Janeiro could grow by 38 billion Reals (21 billion USD) through increased economic activity and new jobs, and 90 million Reals (45 million USD) in property and service taxes could be raised if the favelas were integrated into the rest of the city. Not a bad deal for the price tag – data from the Rio State Secretariat for Security show operations to pacify and reintegrate favelas would cost from 90 million to 340 million Reals (48 million to 183 million USD).

If Iraq is any example, we should realize that the road to favela pacification will be tough and bloody, but doable. What helped keep Iraq together was a history of strong central government and the promise of massive oil revenues. The favelas are a totally different situation, but if the authorities can coax the residents with commercial and educational opportunities, the hope of a better life, and then actually deliver that promise, perhaps Rio won't remain a city of millionaires surrounded by slums.

Happy New Year, btw.

Lapa

Lapa in the daytime

There is a neighborhood, next to the center of Rio, called Lapa. I have mentioned it before. It is a neighborhood whose incredibly poorly-translated magazine heralds as a 'center of democracy.' I have had a friend tell me this too, while stumbling around its streets, which I must admit were filled with a fairly diverse group of people.

Lapa is were Rio goes to get drunk as hell on the cheap. There's samba too. Every weekend, Friday especially, a variety of municipally sponsored street vendors open onto the street, spilling their podrãos and drinks into the mouths of the waiting. A tallboy of beer is 2 or 3 reais, and a toxicity-strength caipirinha is about R$4, which my friend thinks should be illegal. There are lots of bars and music venues, but most people just stand around drinking, often well into the daylight hours. If this is the center of Brazilian democracy, then I guess the country is surprisingly well-off despite all its problems, the least of which is a constant hangover.

Recent weekends have seen my repeated appearance there, so it has lost a little of its novelty for me, but is still a solid backup for when other plans fall through. After an interesting day involving mistaking a heavy opioid for asprin and a subsequent attempt to boogieboard, I met up with a Swedish friend and bought beers from a guy with a cooler on a motorcycle, right in front of the cops. It was then that I realized I wasn't in Kansas anymore.

We proceeded though the growing mass of revelers and sambistas to a pool hall where they only had extra-huge and extra-tiny tables for some reason. Stopping at several places on the way and having been overtaken first by the hare-krishna then a whole other bunch of hippies, we lost part of our group so headed to a horrible club where I paid money to listen to music I hate.

I actually really dislike funky, I think it's among the worst music there is. No offense to anyone or anything, but it's stupid, violent and sexist. The dance is stupid too, but kinda sexy when girls know how to do it. Just sayin', and it's not like I think square dancing is any good either.

I don't remember what happened next, but then I was on the beach with a headache and a broken boogieboard and it was afternoon. I'm pretty sure I had avoided calling for Raul. The camelôs had inspired me with a way to get more ESL students; I was to write on a white shirt 'tem ingles aqui' and walk up and down the beach yelling 'Aaaaulas de ingles! Aaaaulas de ingles!' while giving out my business card. I thought it was brilliant, but my friend said I had better shed all sense of shame before trying it.

Looks innocent, doesn't it?

Back in Lapa that night, I learned that prostitution is a legal profession in Brazil. Get this: they have working papers, legal protections, and retirement! They can retire and get a pension! Amazing.

At was turned out to be a nearly gringo-only event, I spoke with a lovely Californian girl who sympathized with the minor culture shock I was describing to her. "You have to be lazy. Force yourself to do nothing," she said. "That's the only way to survive." That's actually pretty true. Coming from a place (NYC) where everyone cares so much about everything they paradoxically go to great pains to show themselves as the opposite, I have been undergoing a shock of sorts here in Brazil where no one cares much about anything, and excel at avoiding responsibility, especially politically or bureaucratically.

When the place filled up and the cariocas began to outnumber the gringos, I was thankful for being able to amuse myself with mild drunkenness while not understanding anything anyone is saying. I've gotten excellent at pretending to understand Portuguese, and I actually spent about five straight hours today doing that with someone I had just met. But if anything, if I fail to learn Portuguese, I will remember Brazil as the place where I learned that it's ok to look at girls' butts, since everyone here does it and for very good reason. Besides, some are so hemispheric you don't have much of a choice.

The next morning I stumbled back into Lapa. Why I was awake, hungry, and not yet sober, back in the place I had been a mere 6 hours before, was beyond me. I think it had something to do with a waterfall. The pee on the streets was still fresh and small groups of people were still drinking...at 8AM, with the sun already beaming down like a thousand lasers from space.

Brazil - U.S. Military Ties

Unrelated picture of some people surfing.

Because I'm a nerd, this is the kind of stuff I'm into.

Otherwise, I am very happy because my hat arrived from NY, and I got a nice Christmas card from a good friend of mine. A real post will come soon, I promise!

Adenir and Education

Waiting for me at the Rio airport was Adenir. He is a wonderful man from Minas Gerais, a rural farm state next to the state of Rio (like New York, Rio de Janeiro is a state and a city). He studied under my grandfather and was his secretary during the 70's or sometime when the military or someone was doing bad deeds or something. Whatever happened, he now worships my grandfather, which of course is good for me; free lunches.

His rural background and affect remain with him, much to the chagrin of his two children, but I find it charming and it has him say all kinds of great things. He once asked me what religion I was while we were examining some of his books. I replied, "a little Quaker, but mostly nothing" (readers of my other writings will know what's up with me and Quakerism) to which Adenir said, "I am, a little, Alfredo!" Alfredo being my grandfather. The next day we were having dinner at a choperia where I learned that "cariocas [people from Rio] are beautiful but problematic" and how quail eggs "are Viagra," and on the way back Adenir states, "Alfredo is like Batman. You know Batman?" I mumble in reply, "euhh, sim?" Adenir beams at me. "Yes. Batman, Robin, and Alfredo." With that I know I'm welcome in his home for at least another week.

On my first day in Rio, the family sat around at lunch and discussed politics. Pretty much everyone I've met doesn't like Dilma, the new president, for various reasons (another classic Adenir moment: "Hey, she is woman, give her a chance. It will. Be. Interesting."); either because she's a hypocrite, or not radical enough, or too communist. Each person at the table had such a different political opinion it was hard to believe they were related. I sat wide-eyed and overwhelmed, trying to drown out the cacophony of unfamiliar sounds (they weren't even words to me at that point) with mouthfuls of cachorro-quente. Once I had eaten everything I had nothing to hide behind so tried to describe the midterm elections in the U.S. Not surprisingly my explanation quickly devolved into me saying 'left, right, and center' over and over until Adenir chimed in cheerfully, "Politics. It is just like football." And with that, discussion was closed.

I love the guy, he really takes good care of me, almost to the point of absurdity. Like holding my shoulder when crossing the street, or directing me around the subway (which has special cars just for women during rush hour) with his hand on my back. On our way to a public school where he teaches he was so absorbed in making sure I got on the train that he fell in the gap between the train and platform. He was fine, thank goodness, and later asked me what it means when the train announcer says "mind the gap." 

Adenir with a student

At his school I got to see what few gringos see; an up-close and intensely personal experience with Rio's public schools. Fabricio, Adenir's son, later told me, "you went to hell and survived!" In retrospect, yes, I have seen hell and it is a classroom filled with screaming favela teens hitting each other, knocking over desks, and repeatedly asking if I am Edward from Twilight or if I know Justin Bieber personally. "This is just our situation," a teacher told me, "we deal with it." 

I was paraded though a series of 'English classes' where I sat in a corner and had half the class huddle around me and the other half completely ignore me and the teacher, who translated for the kids with a massive profanity filter. The boys usually took passing interest, asking me about video games (FYI 'Pikachu' is the same in Portuguese) and action movies, hip-hop and American women. The girls were, for the lack of a better term, what my friend Sam would call 'prostitots,' and would not shut up about how nicely they could cut my hair or how badly they wanted to see New York. The teacher I was with told me, "Brazilian women are very sensual. It is hard to be a gringo man in Brazil." Normally I would have thought she was crazy, but after what I saw in those classrooms I think she might be on to something.

After 5 hours I was definitely ready to go, and as I left with Adenir a girl from one of the classes I visited ran up and put a piece of paper in his pocket. It was for me, and had 'please, write, email soon!' scrawled on it with an Gmail address that weirdly sounded like a New York hospital's name. I told him more or less what happened (we have a pretty big communication gap), how the kids were very talkative but didn't say much, the ridiculous questions, etc, and his answer made me laugh. "You see, here in Gloria neighborhood there are many trees. They talk a lot here because there is a lot of oxygen!" Its all about delivery with him.