Allegations that some of the victims were innocent residents executed in a revenge mission after a police officer was killed there 25/03/2018 Dom Phillips and Júlio Carvalho Originally published on The Guardian A police operation in a Rio favela has left at least eight people…

By Anastasia Moloney MEDELLIN, Colombia, March 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – As a pink dusk settles on this poor hillside slum in the city of Medellin, 19-year-old Esteban Arrieta skips and shadow punches with a small group of budding boxers in a bare classroom. Just…

The police have failed to control violence. The army is doing no better 22/03/2018 Originally published on The Economist On the sweltering afternoon of March 18th some 2,000 people crammed the narrow streets of Maré, a favela in the north of Rio de Janeiro, to…

22/03/2018 Por Katherine Aguirre Tobón Publicado originalmente en El País Cali El Plan Fortaleza es un eje importante de la actual política de seguridad de la ciudad. Éste parte de unas instituciones de seguridad fuertes y con presencia en el territorio, donde la policía cuenta…

20/03/2018 By David Biller Originally published on Bloomberg In the world’s most murderous country, gun control is starting to lose its appeal.  Desperate Brazilians are wondering whether they’d be better off armed, given that around 60,000 of their compatriots are killed each year. Polls show…

19/03/2018 By Anthony Faiola and Marina Lopes Originally published on the Washington Post RIO DE JANEIRO — Before stepping into her Chevrolet Agile at 9:04 p.m. last Wednesday, Marielle Franco had just done what she did best: fire up a room. “Let’s do this,” the 34-year-old politician with the cascading…

15/03/2018 As published on the New York Times RIO DE JANEIRO — On the eve of her killing on a downtown street on Wednesday night, a Rio de Janeiro councilwoman suggested that the death of a young man earlier in the week had been the…

Ousmane Diallo and Gustavo de Carvalho   More than two and a half years since its signature in Bamako, the agreement for peace and national reconciliation between the government of Mali, the Coordination of the Movements of Azawad (CMA), and the Plateforme coalition is at…

March 2018 This week sees the Instituto Igarapé’s launch of its Forced Migration Monitor, bringing unprecedented research into the phenomenon of forced displacement in Brazil.   Refugees represent less than 0.005% of the Brazilian population, but another kind of migrant accounts for a much larger…

An influx of eateries and artistic businesses is helping to sweep away decades of neglect and decay 13/03/2018 Originally published on the Financial Times It is a Friday night in central São Paulo and the terrace at Orfeu, a restaurant-cum-club, could be New York’s Greenwich…

13/03/2018 Originally published on the World Economic Forum website Latin America’s largest city, São Paulo, was once among the region’s most violent. But the bustling metropolis of over 12 million Paulistanos has experienced a remarkable decline in homicide. The murder rate dropped from a high…

05/03/2018 MARINA ESTARQUE FROM FOLHA DE S.PAULO, AMAZONAS   Bodó, the Amazon sailfin catfish, is known by local residents as a very resistant fish. Its body is covered with rough skin and it can breathe out of water and “live in the mud.” As it…

There is a widespread perception that violence in Rio de Janeiro is spinning out of control. During last month’s Carnival celebrations, disturbing clips of tourists getting assaulted and gunfire erupting between rival drug gangs were broadcast repeatedly on television. Then President Michel Temer signed an extraordinary…

February, 2018 The Globe and Mail   Anne-Marie Slaughter is an academic, foreign-policy analyst, author, former director of policy planning for the U.S. State Department and current president and CEO of New America. As statecraft proves less and less able to solve or even tackle…

Innovations and Challenges from Colombia   Adriana Erthal Abdenur, in Bogotá   UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the resulting agenda on Women, Peace and Security has called for more inclusive peace processes, stressing that women’s specific needs and experiences should be taken into account…