Violent Rio

A boy looks at a bullet-riddled wall in the no-man's land area between two slums known as "Vietnam" in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Dec. 15, 2005. Police occupied the two slums after eight young people were kidnapped from one of them, allegedly by drug traffickers from a the other rival slum nearby. The kidnappings are the latest episode in a feud between the Vigario Geral and Parada de Lucas slums which has been going on for more that 20 years. The Vigario Geral slum was also site of an infamous massacre in 1993, in which police killed 21 people. Shootouts marked by indiscriminate shooting between rival drug gangs and the police are common in Rio and innocent bystanders have fallen victim to the deadly gunfire and the homicide rate of Rio rivals that of declared war zones.(AustralFoto/Douglas Engle)

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A boy looks at a bullet-riddled wall in the no-man's land area between two slums known as "Vietnam" in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Dec. 15, 2005. Police occupied the two slums after eight young people were kidnapped from one of them, allegedly by drug traffickers from a the other rival slum nearby. The kidnappings are the latest episode in a feud between the Vigario Geral and Parada de Lucas slums which has been going on for more that 20 years. The Vigario Geral slum was also site of an infamous massacre in 1993, in which police killed 21 people. Shootouts marked by indiscriminate shooting between rival drug gangs and the police are common in Rio and innocent bystanders have fallen victim to the deadly gunfire and the homicide rate of Rio rivals that of declared war zones.(AustralFoto/Douglas Engle)

brazil slum drug violence police poverty