The Independent
· collected 2026-09-27 · by Eleonore Hughes and Diarlei Rodrigues
Public safety has become the primary issue for Brazilians ahead of October’s presidential election, with rival candidates competing to present the firmest and most effective strategies.
Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, son of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, aims to defeat President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with promises to break organized crime's hold, especially in Rio de Janeiro.
Following Rio’s deadliest police raid last year—which left over 120 people dead—polls indicate broad support for the hard-line tactics Sen. Bolsonaro champions.
asserted
Bolsonaro → become → tactics
Lula, by contrast, favors an expanded federal role and stronger coordination among state institutions.
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Lula → favor → institutions
While politicians trade barbs, Rio de Janeiro residents are creating their own solutions, ranging from podcasts by former traffickers to initiatives by grieving mothers working to prevent youth gang recruitment.
Community leaders and experts maintain that armed confrontations are inefficient and often lead to collateral loss of life, prompting citizens to address the security vacuum themselves.
Podcast warns of the dangers of gang life
Once a week, a group of former drug-traffickers gather in a small recording studio on the outskirts of Rio to dissect their past lives of crime and those of their guests.
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group → trade → guests
They air the episodes of 01 Sobreviventes, or 01 Survivors, on YouTube and streaming platforms.
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They → air → YouTube
A painting of the four founders grinning hangs on the wall, while the podcast’s logo – a microphone breaking a chain – is projected on a screen over the desk.
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logo → grin → desk
“We want to propagate the idea that crime isn’t worth it," said host Fábio Santos, a 56-year-old ex-trafficker from the Manguinhos favela who spent 25 years in prison.
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who → want → prison
"We want them to follow our current lives so that they don’t go through what we went through,” he added after recording a recent interview with a former gang member who is now a pastor.
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who → want → member
The podcast, launched in 2024 and followed by more than 225,000 people on Instagram, is both for those tempted by the allure of quick cash and for those who need convincing to course-correct.
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who → launch → convincing
Crime leads to prison, a wheelchair or a coffin, they say repeatedly.
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they → lead → prison
Santos says several people have said they have seen traffickers listening to the podcast and that he regularly hears about people who left the world of crime or didn't enter thanks to their work.
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who → say → work
Martial arts keep youth from a perilous path
Alan Duarte, 38, grew up in Complexo do Alemao, one of the two sprawling complexes of favelas targeted in Rio’s lethal police operation last year.
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Duarte → keep → operation
He lost a brother, uncle and cousins — 10 family members in all — to violence.
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He → lose → violence
He credits the influence of a nonprofit offering martial arts classes in a nearby favela for keeping him from going down a perilous path.
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He → credit → path
That insight inspired Duarte to create his own academy in his childhood neighborhood.
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insight → inspire → neighborhood
Since opening in 2014, Abraco Campeao, or Embrace Champions, has expanded into teaching boxing, jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai and capoeira, and providing educational talks.
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Campeao → open → talks
Duarte hopes to boost its current 600-student capacity to 1,000.
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Duarte → hop → 1,000
“I often say that martial arts, Abraco Campeao, offers the same things that draw youngsters to gangs: identity, respect, attention, authority and a sense of belonging,” Duarte said during a recent tour of the school.
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Duarte → say → school
During one of the thrice-weekly classes, attendees have an hour-long discussion with an educator about themes ranging from environmental issues to relationships.
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attendees → have → relationships
Mherrhy Esperança Rosário, a 23-year-old amateur boxer who has been part of the school for more than a decade, is studying software engineering at a nearby university.
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who → study → university
He said the school changed his life.
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school → say → life
“Abraco Campeao offers a path that is different to what we often see around here," he said.
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he → offer → what
“It shows that we can attain our dreams.”
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we → show → dreams
Job opportunities offer a way out
When two armed men turned up to Vanderson Rocha Silva’s electricity course in a Rio favela asking if they could join, the 43-year-old didn’t turn them away.
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old → offer → them
Today they are both working as electricians.
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they → work → electricians
“If they want to leave crime but they don’t have an employment opportunity, any hopes for life, what are they supposed to do?
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they → want → life
A project changes everything,” Rocha Silva said.
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Silva → change → everything
Rocha Silva grew up in an abusive household in the famed City of God favela and was 8 when he entered the world of drug-trafficking.
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he → grow → trafficking
After stints in prison and converting to Evangelical Christianity, he eventually left that life behind and now runs what he calls a therapeutic community, named “R3,” which stands for Rescuing, Resocializing and Resending.
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which → convert → Rescuing
The organization offers psychological assistance as well as free electricity, refrigeration and English courses.
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organization → offer → assistance
“I’m starting my life again,” said Danilo Gomes da Silva, 37, who was once addicted to cocaine and involved in a criminal organization.
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who → start → organization
He now has a job in building maintenance and is slowly furnishing a small home; a fridge is on its way.
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fridge → have → way
“Look at all (the pastor) is doing without help from the state.
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pastor → look → state
Imagine all the people he could resocialize,” he said.
uncertain
he → imagine → people
A grieving mother helps young boys
Nadia dos Santos' son Cleyverson ran a social project that distributed food, medicine, clothes and other essentials to people in need in the Chapadao complex of favelas where he grew up.
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he → grieve → favelas
After police killed him in 2022 when he was 17, his mother shifted the focus of the project specifically to help youth under 26 get jobs and training.
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youth → kill → jobs
“We have to get them out of the world of criminality where they are used to living," dos Santos said.
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Santos → have → criminality
Due to funding challenges, the project is still in its early stages, hosting occasional events.
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project → host → events
Dos Santos plans on transforming a house she owns into its headquarters, with a room for computers and another for a community food center.
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she → plan → center
At a recent event she organized in her son's memory, other grieving mothers called for a change in the approach to security in Rio.
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mothers → organize → Rio
Maria Rubia Brito da Silva, a 61-year-old who was at the event, said her son and grandson became involved in drug-trafficking and were later killed.
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son → say → trafficking
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
