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.
Argues that a global system of uneven capitalist development has given rise to a crisis of the underclass, which is international in scope. The entrenchment of a lumpenproletariat alienated for legitimate and socially responsible forms of employment, empowerment, and self-identity has made a sizeable population vulnerable to being recruited into the ranks of the underground drug economy.
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.
