Adventures of a Gringa

Bope Movie Backfires

Hello Americans and Brazilians in the US: has anyone heard anything about Tropa de Elite coming out in the States? The representative for the American distributor won't respond to my emails and they're already 3 months late in releasing the movie.

Anyway, Globo had this little story recently about how in 2008, the number of applicants to BOPE tripled. After the movie was released there were 1,000 applicants, coming from all over Brazil. One applicant noted he was applying because he thought he'd get more women and make more money.

But like in the movie, very few applicants actually make it through the final rounds of training to become actual BOPE officers: during a recent course, 567 people signed up to go through the intense boot camp training, and only 18 were left at the end.

The movie in question, "Tropa de Elite," was trying to show the abuses of the BOPE and how much of what they're doing is in vain, in an endless, bloody urban war, and that although at first glance it may be "glamorous" to be a part of the elite force, it is actually destructive and horrible and turns you into a ruthless, heartless killer. People apparently didn't really get that.

Oh and by the way: you have to be a military police officer in Rio or a similar Brazilian institution linked to the police in order to apply.

What BOPE really does

As far as I know, "Tropa de Elite" still hasn't come out in the U.S. despite coming out all over the world. But for those of you who have seen the movie, this is what BOPE really does.

Today, BOPE invaded a favela in the suburbs of Rio, Vila Cruzeiro. The mission was to take out drug traffickers and create easier access to the favela, which traffickers had impeded. Nine people were killed and six were injured. BOPE claims all those killed were traffickers, but all of the people injured were innocent bystanders. Fourteen people were arrested.

The traffickers who run the favela had warned residents with signs all over the neighborhood: "On days when the police invade, stay inside your homes."

Apparently that wasn't enough.

I wonder when the U.S. will realize that Brazil is slowly but surely becoming Colombia of the 1990s. We can only hope it doesn't get that bad.

FYI: Types of Police in Brazil

I promised this awhile back. Here it goes.

In Brazil, the levels of police are a bit more complex than in the US or the UK.

We have:

Guarda Municipal: this is the lowest rung of the police, and are technically not cops. They tend to help with traffic and do occasional sweeps of illegal street vendors. As such, they have a fair amount of women in the force, unlike some of the other types of police. They "maintain order."

Policia Militar: this is the state police force, and are under control of the state governor. Since they are technically the "military," they can be called up for duty in the case of emergencies, much like the American National Guard. They're responsible for law enforcement and security, and often invade favelas on missions to recover drugs and arrest traffickers, though many times they are actually working with traffickers, taking bribes and supplying them with arms.

*BOPE: Batalha de Operacoes da Policia Especial --a subgroup of the Policia Militar, this is the SWAT team unit of the military police, responsible for going on missions deemed failed or impossible by the Policia Militar. They were featured in the film "Tropa de Elite" (Elite Squad), showing their intense recruiting and training techniques and controversial missions in the favelas. Essentially, they battle against the drug traffickers, in what some consider "a private war."

Policia Civil: This section of the police, the civil police, is responsible for detective work, investigations, and booking criminals.  They are also state-based, and don't use uniforms, but are armed. Their salaries are considerably lower than American police with the same duties, and in Rio they frequently protest.

*CORE: Coorenadoria de Recursos Especias -- a subgroup of the a subgroup of the Policia Civil, they perform highly complex operations, like disarming bombs. They are quite similar to the BOPE, but are considered part of the civil police. This type of police exists in Rio to perform similar missions to BOPE, like invading favelas.  It is easy to confused them with the BOPE, since they ride in black jeeps with huge guns sticking out the window, with nearly the same symbol as BOPE.

Policia Federal: this is the national police force, under control of the federal government. They investigate crimes against the state, combat international drug trafficking and terrorism, and control the borders, meaning they work in airports and also issue passports to Brazilians. They are the equivalent of the FBI and immigration police in one.

a day of annoying, weird, and then good things

Hi guys. It's been a ridiculously long day, and a weird one at that. Here's how it went.

First, me and Eli dragged ourselves to work in the early early morning. I texted my student before I left, knowing he wasn't that reliable, and waited for 40 minutes at the office with still absolutely no word from him. I felt better because the secretary felt bad and was telling me how irresponsible the student was being, but I was still so irritated. And I still haven't heard anything from him all day, so I don't know what happened.

Today on the Metro I saw a little boy who was the spitting image of one of my favorite students from the DR, a little black kid about 7 or 8 with huge eyes and long eyelashes, who is possibly the cutest kid ever. Anyway he has a Brazilian twin and it made me miss my DR kids a lot.

I also witnessed a really weird thing today. I went to a drug store to buy some stuff and when I was at the register this woman waltzed in, a fat lady possibly from a favela who was a little sloppy and dirty (which by Brazilian standards even of lower class is not acceptable) with her obese 10 year old son. She walked straight over to the condom section, took a look, and then said loud enough for other people to hear, "Oh it's so emBARRASSING to have to buy these!" Nevertheless, she looked them over and chose a box and brought it to the register, her kid in tow. Prostitute? Bad mom? Crazy lady? Who knows.

Then I came home and took a nap, then went to my 12pm class, then ate lunch (where a guy across from me in a fancy suit was wearing a little pin, like the American flag pins politicians love to wear except it was the soccer team Flamengo's emblem. hahaha), then went to the office, and then went to Urca, where I was fully planning to quit, not expecting to get paid for the second day in a row. But much to my surprise, the mom was actually there today AND paid me in cash! Joyous.

When I was waiting for the bus to go to Recreio, there was a huge group of blind people waiting since the Institute for the Blind is in Urca. There is always a bus company rep who stands at the bus stop to monitor the flow of buses who knows all the blind people, so he decided to play a trick on one of them and went up to him and faked a nasally kid's voice and asked for money, like the street kids do, and the poor blind guy totally believed him and was like, "No, sorry buddy." Then the bus guy fessed up and the blind guy was embarrassed but amused. Poor guy.

THEN, I saw a huge swarm of military police on motorcycles, maybe about 15 of them, who were escorting a military bus filled with none other than BOPE agents!!! who were in full SWAT uniform with huge shielded helmets. Cool.

Then I went to my classes way far out with my to-be Canadians who told me that there are huge gambas that live on the property of the condo and also monkeys! I told them to appreciate it because soon it will only be rats and pigeons in urban Canada.

This is a Brazilian gamba, but they also call skunks gamba, sooo not really sure why.

When I finallyfinally got home, Eli and I went to the mall for fast food (just too tired and starved to deal) and came home. He brought me flowers today which was really sweet. :) But he has already passed out but I think he has the right idea.

great article about BOPE

The sun is out but there are men hammering in the space between the roof and our apartment. Ahh Friday. I forgot that I really need to get myself moving to get to Recreio by 2 so this will be quick.

BBC has a great article today about the "Elite Squad" movie and the BOPE in Rio. Here is the link. And here is an excerpt:

"As he watched his men training, one of Bope's senior commanders insisted he did not accept the film's portrayal of police using torture.

"The film is a fiction and the author may exaggerate things. The limit of activity of police, in particular Bope, is the law. The law doesn't allow us to do that. Torture is not permissible, torture is a crime," he told the BBC News website.

The commander said any operation in a violent area was difficult as civilian injuries were possible. " We work to try to prevent this, it's not what we want," he said.

But Rodrigo Pimentel, who wrote the film's screenplay, and who served for 12 years in Bope, said torture did happen.

"The Brazilian police tortures and kills - that is a fact. It is part of the daily life of the Brazilian police, " he said.

"For obvious reasons I will not confess to torture. But I would say to you that I used to agree with the actions of the character I created [in the film]. For the first two or three years of my career I believed in this kind of practice. But I left the police condemning those acts."

He said the best legacy of the film was the debate it had provoked among millions of Brazilians over how security is handled."