Rio’s Favelas Feel The Peace — And The Pressure — Of Pacification
On a Saturday morning, in a group of Rio de Janeiro’s notoriously violent shanty towns, or favelas, heavily armed pacification police stand on one side of the street, on the other side, protestors call for them to withdraw.
On the protest side, Mayse Freitas lists the people she knows who have been injured or killed in shootouts in the area recently.
“I’m a mother and a grandmother,” Freitas says. “I don’t want my children or grandchildren to be next.”