Brazil is one of the world’s most populous countries, with numerous things to do and a vibrant financial district across many different cities like Sao Paulo or Rio De Janeiro. With so many things to do and so many people it can be somewhat easy to look past some of the less preferable aspects in the city. Slums are a major issue affecting the country with many impoverished people living in close quarters in less than desirable conditions. Another thing that may be a shock to the general public is the fact that Brazil has managed to beat its own tragic homicide record with 63,880 people being murdered across the country in 2017 alone. (Darlington, 2018)
This is shocking because it is up an extra 3% from 2016 and is equivalent to 175 deaths per day! This is absolutely horrifying because according to data from the Brazilian Forum of Public Security, the murder rate per 100,000 people was 30.8 and compared to the United States 5 per 100,000 it’s clear this isn’t a normal problem. The problem can mainly be attributed to organized crime. With many rival drug gangs battling “…for territory in a country that shares borders with the three biggest cocaine producing countries in the world — Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.” (Darlington, 2018)
It isn’t just the fact that they share borders with cocaine producing countries but also that Brazil itself is a major consumer of cocaine and crack and often is a transit point drugs that are to Asia and Europe. It can be seen that drugs and the transportation of drugs can be somewhat attributed to the homicide toll especially seeing that Acre and Ceara, two of the states with the highest homicide rates, are popular along drug smuggling roots. (Darlington, 2018)
This problem seems to be deep rooted as budgets pertaining to public security are reportedly being trimmed a lot due to a really bad recession in Brazil. With police officers not getting paid enough and being understaffed to deal with this increasingly violent issue it is clear to see that this issue is an endless cycle unless they find a way to reallocate funds towards resources for first responders and also tackling the drug smuggling issues. Unsurprisingly the majority of murder victims are living in impoverished slum locations, where drug and gang activity can thrive, and are typically young, black, and poor males. Though it isn’t uncommon for children and innocent people to be caught in the crossfires due to the close quarters. Many of the victims were killed by police officers at about “…an average of 14 people killed by the police each day.” (Darlington, 2018) Due to the high frequency of violence it is not uncommon to see displays of military strength at many tourists locations which are now flooded by soldiers and tanks. (Darlington, 2018)
This article can relate to physical geography and population and settlement in the aspect of the slums. Part of the issue with slums is poor and impoverished people living many miles away from city limits. These slums usually are overcrowded, violent and chaotic. With many people not having access to reliable transportation it can be hard for them to get jobs and in turn leave the slums. This can somewhat explain the drug problem and some of it’s motivations if people can’t make money outside of the slums it is easy to see why they would choose to make money within the slums via gang activity.
Another issue this article deals with environmental issues in the aspect of drug trafficking. When drug traffickers are busted or routes are compromised it forces them to create new routes which usually involves the destruction of forests and habitats as they clear new area for drug crops and paths to smuggle the drugs. This may not be a huge impact of the environment but any destruction is still a loss and change to the local climate and environment.
In conclusion Brazil may be one of the world’s most populous countries, with numerous things to do and many tourist attractions like Rio De Janeiro but with so many things to do and so many people it can be somewhat easy to look past some of the less preferable aspects in the city. Slums and gang activity are a major issue affecting the country with many impoverished people living in close quarters in less than desirable conditions. These issues unfortunately are directly correlated to the increasing homicide record. Without proper funding and training this issue will remain a wicked problem.