5. Favelas of Rio de Janeiro
While preparing for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer
Olympics, Rio de Janeiro has been implementing an innovative
safety program called “UPP,” Police Pacification Unit.
UPPs are permanent police posts installed in the “favelas,” the
sprawling shantytowns that house hundreds of thousands of the
city residents.
Their mission is to maintain control of favela territory once the
local drug trade has been expelled.
While many believe the UPPs have helped to quell the violence
and bring prosperity to the favelas, others see the Pacification
program as a temporary cover-up to Rio’s problems with social
disparity.