00.00 - 00.44 120 people a day are killed in Rio's violent favelas. In January 2007 this violence surged, forcing the city mayor, Sergio Cabral, to launch a military operation to quell what had become open gang war. But too often in this on going war against drugs, the victims are innocent bystanders. Selma Batista is one of many parents who have lost children in police actions Her son was shot in the head while playing cards on the family terrace.
00.44 - 01.06 (SOUNDBITE)(PORTUGESE) SELMA BATISTA: "- When I got up here I saw my son lying over there on the floor. He was bleeding so much, there was blood everywhere and he had a hole right here. He was bruised and had an injured leg. When I saw all this I grabbed his arm and started screaming: Lucas, Lucas... Talk to mommy! Baby! Baby! His nickname was Baby cause that was what he was like..."
01.06 - 01.30 (SOUNDBITE)(PORTUGESE) DEPUTY MINISTER OF DEFENCE, STATE OF RIO DE JANEIRO, MARCIO DERENNE: "- Whenever there is an exchange of gunfire, when someone innocent or a police officer dies, or even when a criminal dies...it is because we have not given 100%. And that is because there have been casualties. We don't want there to be any casualties at all. Of course we want the government to intervene, but it must also be an integral part of poor communities. We don't want the police to step in just in order to shoot or find dead bodies."
01.30 - 02.12 But this has become the norm in crime ridden Brazil. Police carry out campaigns from behind armoured vehicles and helicopters. When the drug cartels respond, innocent people end up in the cross fire. But recently Rio has seen big demonstrations against the tactics used by the police. They see the callous tactics as an extension of a government which simply doesn't care.
Fernando da Silva lives in Rocinha, Brazil's largest favela. He says that it is a decent neighbourhood and that he feels safe there. The only time he is afraid is when the police carry out one of their raids. Last year his son was killed in one of these raids.
02.12 - 02.43 (SOUNDBITE)(PORTUGESE) FERNANDO DA SILVA: "- BOPE is a special op force, a police unit they call the elite here in Rio. They are used only in extreme circumstandes... But they are very violent, they don't respect citizens. There were about forty of them when they came. They were the ones that killed our boys, though they deny it."
02.43 - 02.52 (SOUNDBITE)(PORTUGESE) SELMA BATISTA: "- Unfortunately those who get killed are always the innocents. Innocents, innocents, innocents... And when they kill innocents they claim that they were members of the cartels."
02.52 - 03.11 (SOUNDBITE)(PORTUGESE) DEPUTY MINISTER OF DEFENCE, STATE OF RIO DE JANEIRO, MARCIO DERENNE: "- When you fight a drug dealer in Sao Paolo, Curitiba or Brasilia you fight someone carrying a revolver, a pistol. But in Rio de Janeiro you battle against missiles. Today they have anti-aircraft guns which they use against the police."
03.11 - 03.41 The escalating violence and the enormous amount of weapons iin circulation have created a crisis. Last year Lula da Silva, committed the government to spend $3 billion on better training and raised salaries for police. He hoped to stem the widespread corruption within the force, and so beat the crisis. But he also stresses the importance of social programmes within the favelas. It was an initiative which Rio's mayor met with enthusiasm.
03.41 - 03.44 (SOUNDBITE)(PORTUGESE) REPORTER: "- What are you doing to meet the violence from cartels and militia?"
03.44 - 04.09 (SOUNDBITE)(PORTUGESE) MAYOR OF RIO DE JANEIRO, SERGIO CABRAL: "- In any way possible we try to fight criminality. Regardless of in which shape it comes it has to be fought. Whether it be militia or drug cartels... It makes no difference. We have to establish a rule of law in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Raising the status for and salaries of our police officers is a start because they make way to little."
04.09 - 04.46 But these initiatives may have come to late. Because today the struggle for control of the favelas is not only fought between the police and the drug cartels. A third faction that until now has had a low profile presence in Rio, has taken advantage of the critical situation and advanced into becoming a key player. This group consists of members of the police, ex-police officers and fire fighters that initially joined forces to protect their neighbourhoods from drugs and violence. Today they advance rapidly and have already established their parallel judicial systems in nearly a hundred favelas. Brazilian media have reported on members of the militias making huge profits from the control of gas- and water supply in these areas. They are also often accused of committing violence and murders within the favela societies but barely anyone has been put on trial. An explanation to that is said to be the difficulty of getting people to testify. Ricardo, who lives in a favela controlled by the militia, is afraid to show his face.
04.46 - 05.06 (SOUNDBITE)(PORTUGESE) "RICARDO": "In my view the militia is a criminal organisation. A parallel authority that is illegal but still tries to hide behind those in power."
05.06 - 05.29 And the militia today enjoys support from powerful groups in Brazilian politics. With the absence of the Brazilian state in the favelas some politicians express that they simply see the militias as a better alternative than the influence of the drug cartels. There is an acceptance for that these parallel systems of justice have been established and Marina Maggessi, who has a history of commanding Rio's security police, says that the militias have been successful in creating a functioning order in their communities.
05.29 - 06.15 (SOUNDBITE)(PORTUGESE) MP (PPS/RJ) MARINA MAGGESSI: "- The advantages... One of the greatest advantages that people in these areas has, is that when the militia overtake a favela, there are no more invasions by the police, no shoot outs or stray bullets. People know that they can go to sleep with their windows open. And they know that they are free from outlaws and the police which otherwise give them a lot of trouble. It is done illegally, in an illegal way... But it is done. And it is possible because the police officer that is a member of the militia... He is the same person when he wears his uniform in the morning, when he works in the security of some colonel in the afternoon and when he works for the militia in the neighbourhood where he lives that same night."
06.15 - 06.47 (SOUNDBITE)(PORTUGESE) "RICARDO": "- I think that it is very dangerous. Although I live there I spend most of my time away from home. I keep myself occupied with other things just so I don't have to be there. The only thing I do is to sleep in my neighbourhood. They don't even respect people who live there. They aim to exterminate. We have been told that if they see us out in the street after 10 PM they are free to shoot."
06.47 - 07.03 President Lula has shown a political will to improve the situation in the favelas but the question of how his promises will be implicated remains unsolved. One thing is definite, the Brazilian people have had enough of the violence that so heavily affects their lives.