The Ice Flow

By Red Sox Steve

As we progressed through the alleyways, we passed by barbershops, butchershops, bakeries, single room homes and small churches and eventually stopped at an art studio. As you can see from clicking the link, the artists who work there depict the favela in numerous oil paintings of various sizes as well as putting together a number of politically oriented pieces. From there, we continued to a daycare run by an Italian Non-Governmental Organization ("NGO") as well as a local bakery where hungry tourists were implored to purchase a variety of sweets by the proprietor. We saw local kids beating on overturned buckets working together to produce a samba beat as well as local proprietors selling jewelry like wire bracelets and necklaces.

Our winding journey continued around corners, down steps, under homes extending from the hillside. Daniel stopped occasionally to point out different aspects of life in the favela and gave our group the opportunity to take pictures. He's done this before - along the way, whenever he had the opportunity, he made sure to acknowledge people that he knew, and also to greet people he didn't. It is their home after all; it's their community, and we are just guests. Part of Daniel's efforts - because he was well known to some of the people we passed - were in making sure the group was safe. Far better to acknowledge the presence of our hosts and show our group's gratitude for being able to go into the favela than acting as if we are in someway entitled - and they are in some way obligated - to allow this to take place.

This is especially true because of what happened near the end of our tour...

As we were descending down a set of stairs, in a grassy area off to our left (sorry I don't have any pics of this, but we were under pretty strict instructions - based on our surroundings and lack of understanding of the favela, we had to trust and obey Daniel's instructions), we saw a man holding a two-way radio and an automatic rifle of some sort. Just prior to this occurrence, we came across this photo:

ADA is a graffiti tag that represents the gang "Amigo dos Amigos" (in Portuguese, "friend of friends"). The ADA is the drug gang that controls Rocinha. They use communication systems like two-way radios, fireworks, and even kites to send signals around the favela - they know who goes in and who goes out, and even prior to seeing this particular guy I was under no illusions: the ADA was watching our group. Not wanting my future article on the favela to become an action story, I took note of the guy taking note of our group and kept walking.

Drug lords have a great deal of power in Latin America - undoubtedly, cocaine and marijuana are cash crops for the nations that produce them, and for the gangs it means political influence is purchased with some of the funds. For some young police officers, it means that bribe money and extortion can make up a significant portion of their income - to be sure, a civil servant, especially one early in his or her career makes very little money, resulting in a stranglehold of the authorities by the drug dealers.

Another contributing factor to all this? Geography. The same economic principles that cause rural dwellers to migrate to cheap urban locations to be close to jobs in wealthy neighborhoods also govern the relationship between the drugs coming from the favela going to nearby communities. In other words, drugs can go door to door - a kilo of cocaine can leave the favela and be at a customer's door in Ipanema in minutes. In addition, the gangs are very well armed. According to Daniel, the ADA has AK-47s, M-16s and even anti-aircraft weapons... all superior to police issued weaponry. All this, however, doesn't stop the police from trying to stem the drug trade. The police have launched numerous early morning raids on the favelas, resulting in shoot outs that can last all day... they take place as many residents are on their way to work.

According to Daniel, out of the entire population of Rocinha, there are about 1,000 ADA gang members. The drug lords, however, seem to exercise a benign influence over Rocinha. In other words, as Daniel mentioned, the ADA doesn't allow crack cocaine to be sold inside Rocinha, primarily because they are concerned the drug will disintegrate and weaken the community that exists there as it does in every other community. Of course, though, there is little government control over the events of the favela, which means that anything the ADA wants to accomplish inside the favela will go unchecked by the residents - let's keep in mind, however, that "might makes right" has no place in a democracy. The number of people residing in the favelas makes it a huge social and economic problem for Brazil that eventually must be addressed by the government on a much larger scale.

There is no way to capture the entirety of life inside the favela during a single afternoon tour, however it was also hard to ignore the gritty and turbulent reality that the residents of Rocinha have to deal with on a daily basis. As Daniel said along the tour, "the same guy who shakes your hand in the favela will mug you on Ipanema beach." In addition, what is unique to many countries in the developing world is that wealthy and poor live so close to one another - opportunities, both legal and illegal, quickly result from this proximity. The favela is a small city within a larger city, teeming with life, run by those whose welfare has little to do with that of the community they live in, and also the only choice for poor rural dwellers eager to take advantage of the financial opportunities that urban life offers. TW and I were both grateful that we got to learn a little more about favelas and a side of Rio we would not have been exposed to had we not gone on this tour.