Discusses the relationship between squatters and the state in Brazil. Information on redemocratization in Latin America; Return of electoral democracy; Political transition from authoritarian to procedurally democratic regimes; Detailed information on the squatter settlements in Brazil; Distribution and sale of cocaine from public low-income housing projects; Information on prison authorities in Brazil.
Carlisle Barracks, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College
Location:
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
4 p., The growing violence and instability in Mexico and the Caribbean will clearly demand greater attention from the United States in the future. This conference, held at the University of Pittsburgh campus on October 28-30, 2009 offered an important opportunity to assess these threats, and to consider what can be done to counter them. Includes chapter "Perspectives on the Caribbean."
Brazil's tourist-jammed cities are some of the most violent on the planet. A considerable number of the country's 43,000 annual murders occur on the streets of Sao Paulo, Recife, and Rio de Janeiro. And Brazilian cities are not alone in what might be called a bad neighborhood. The fact is that most major Latin American and Caribbean cities are today plagued by an epidemic of violence. With more than 20 murders per 100,000 people, the regional homicide rate is roughly three times the global average. Many of the larger urban centers -- from Caracas and Ciudad Juarez to Kingston and Port-of-Spain -- register the highest rates of lethal violence in the world.
