Velazquez 1

Guadalupe Velazquez

Salt Lake Community College

4600 South Redwood Road, Salt Lake City Utah 84123

Instructor Bohannon

September 7, 2017

Dear instructor Bohannon

I am writing to state that my topic for this paper will be on the culture of Southern America, most

specifically Brazil. The reason why I want to learn about this country in specific is because it is

my nine-year-old brothers favorite country. He chose this country over his own country; this has

to mean something to him. He always talks about Brazil therefore he caught my attention and I

want to learn about their country. I specifially wanted to focus on their crime rates along with

their poverty rates. I want to find out whether there is a connection between the two. I wold also

like to explore what role the government plays in both the poverty and crime rates.

Sincerely,

Guadalupe Velazquez
 Velazquez 2

Poverty and Crime Rates in Brazil

Brazil has been known as one of the poorest countries throughout history. In fact just in

the year 2000 about 23.1 million people were under the poverty line. That is 13.4 percent of the

population (The World Bank). This is based off extreme poverty which is considered earning

less than $1.90 a day. These statistics are what we usually think about when we think of this

country. This however is no longer the case. The numbers have since then significantly dropped

due to the government involvement. Even though the high poverty rates have lowered; the crime

rate has not, in fact one could even say it is at an ultimate high.

The country has significantly lowered its poverty rate. It is now lower than it has ever

been, only about 3.7% of the country is in extreme poverty (The World Factbook ). This has

mainly evolved this way due to the fact that the government has started issuing welfare programs

such as the Bolsa Familia Program. This program was enacted by Luis Ignacio in the year 2003.

It has had great success rates. Around 26.4 million people were helped in this initial year. Now

the number raised to about 44 million people (Pereira, p. 1) This program was especially

established to help families as a whole. This program gives people who are in poverty a chance

to get money by following simple guidelines. For example if a mother takes her children to

school on a daily basis she will get the money. In order to qualify one must be earning between

$17-$30 a month (Pereira, p. 2). Women are usually the ones that receive and handle this money.

The amount that these women are given depends on the amount of children they have. The fact

that the money is given to the mothers rather than the fathers is due to the fact that women are

the ones in charge of their children therefore it is more difficult for them to work (Filho, p.

1231). Women are, however, expected to take their children to school and make sure they are
 Velazquez 3

doing well. This is a great tactic as it makes it so that mothers could adequately watch over their

children.

Although there are many criticisms for the Bolsa Familia, it has proven to be extremely

helpful. As previously mentioned, the poverty rate has dropped by nearly ten million people. The

statistics prove that this is a helpful plan and it should be protected. In fact this goes further than

just people who are being directly impacted by it. It can be pictured as the domino effect. An

example of this is when people who are benefiting from this money go out and shop. Therefore

the stores would need more supplies. The extra supplies would also need to be handled by

someone which means that these stores would need to hire other people. Thus boosting up the

economy.

This all sounds great and it makes us wonder how could there be any poverty rates

whatsoever. There is however still millions of people who are still under the poverty line. This

could still be partially due to the World cup back in 2014. One would think that this would

would have boosted the economy drastically. How could it not? Soccer is the most popular sport

in Brazil. This was precisely the problem. Many people called these games holidays therefore

they closed their businesses down and went to the games ( Matsuoka de Arago p. 11). This

would not have a large impact if it would have just been one business but it was many businesses

countrywide that did this. In addition to this millions of dollars were used to repair stadiums.

These stadiums would only be used for these couple of games therefore they will rarely be used

again.

This sounds terrible, however, this only focussed on the negative impacts of this event.

This did have a toll in the economy however one could say that tourism helped Brazil balance

out the costs just a bit. It was estimated that this world cup would bring in three billion dollars. It
 Velazquez 4

was, however, incorrect this World Cup ended up bringing in thirteen billion dollars to Brazil. (

Matsuoka de Arago p. 13) It also helped create one million jobs. Out of these jobs 710,000 were

permanent and the rest were temporary (Matsuoka de Arago p. 11). Although the people who

had the temporary jobs benefited by gaining work experience, it was still difficult to find relevant

jobs to what they were trained for.

Even though the economy is witnessing a boost, crime rates are still high. One would

think that the crime rate would decrease but it has not. A researcher by the name of Jeff

Garmany went to a town in Brazil and did a stand out with some police officers. He wanted to

get insight as to how it was being a police officer in Brazil as well as get insight the what the

crime rate looked like. At the moment he reached over to get his seatbelt he was stopped by one

of the police officers who told him that he would not need his seatbelt due to the fact that they

must act fast if they see a criminal. This shocked Garmany as he was only going for the ride

along there was no way he would get down. He claimed that while he was in the police car the

police officers took advantage of their power (Garmany p.1246). They would only follow the

traffic patterns when they were patient but as soon as they became impatient they would turn

their siren on and avoid the traffic laws. At some point they passed by a dangerous neighborhood

in which they rolled down the windows and aimed their guns at the people. By doing this they

are giving a sense that they are abusing of their power, which is how we get police brutality.

Garman also witnessed a conversation between the two police officers. This conversation

looked back on a day when one of them was sick and they got a crime call as soon as he went

into the bathroom. Due to the fact that the one police officer was in the bathroom they did not

answer they call. Once confronted to why they did not respond to the call, their answer was, we

will get another one in fifteen minutes or so(Garner p 1246). This demonstrates just how bad
 Velazquez 5

the crime rate in this country is. In fact we can even go back onto the dangerous street that was

previously mentioned. Although it appears wrong to take out a gun and point it at people; the

police officers most likely had a motive to doing that. They could tell that this was a dangerous

street.

In fact the country itself is ranked as having one of the highest homicides reported. Police

officers primary focus is on controlling the poor (Gardner p. 1242). Homicides might even be

the most prevalent crime in this country. Crime rates could have also increased due to drugs.

Although there are countries who report higher drug use, Brazil is starting to see an increase in

this use. Whatever the reason may be thousands of people are being killed on a yearly basis and

the police are not doing much to prevent it from happening. Due to this people are boarding up

their houses and building fences that surround the entire house. These specific precautions are

not frequently seen in the U.S. People in the United States do lock up their doors but they do not

do it as Brazilians do it with such worry, they are simply terrified.

In fact, Brazil, specifically Rio de Janeiro had a day that they addressed as The Holiday

of Terror. The reason this day was called The Holiday of terror was because there was a drug

cartel called Comando Vermelho who shut an entire city down.

According to news reports 235 schools sent 50,000 students home; four buses

were set on fire and 2000 buses never left the garage, leaving 800,000

passengers stranded; health clinics,supermarkets, shopping malls, banks and

restaurants all closed (Penglase, p.1).

This was astonishing as it demonstrated what control this cartel had. This was their way of

demonstrating what control they had over the entire city. The fact that police officers did not
 Velazquez 6

intervene in any manner, proves that these drug cartels have invoked fear, even on the

authorities. Thus September 30th 2002 will definitely be a day remembered by many.

Now you might be thinking, how is it the government does not get involved. The truth is

there is no insight to why the government does not act upon all of this crime. It could simply be

because like the police officers, they simply do not care or are focused on bigger issues, such as

lowering their people who are in poverty. However it could also be that the government is being

controlled by these drug gangs which would explain the lack of information. It would also

explain the event in which the entire town was shut down.

Regardless of the angle you look at it, there is no direct linkage between crime rates and

poverty rates. It is almost as if they were two foreign concepts. The crime rates have risen but the

poverty rates have dropped. It is strange that there is no connection but it could just lead to

further research. The crime is happening and not much is being done to stop it, this could be due

to many reasons but something should be done to prevent it.

In conclusion Brazil has been seen as one of the poorest countries in the world. As

someone mentions the word Brazil many people tend to think of poor children who are forced to

into labor at such a young age. This may have been the case, however Brazil has started

evolving and has started creating welfare programs such as the Familia Bolsa. This program

has been extremely helpful because it provides an income to families who are in poverty. The

only requirement that someone has to fulfill is to send their kids to school. This is a great

program that many countries can adapt. However, not everything is as magical as pictured

above. Brazil is still struggling with crime rates. The strange aspect is the fact that there is no

direct linkage between the poverty and crime rates. One would predict that due to the decrease

of people in poverty that the people would minimize crime rates. Yet there is no connection

whatsoever. In fact these crime rates could be associated to police who appear to be brutal.
 Velazquez 7

This is due to the fact that police do not care enough. If they do not catch a criminal, it does not

truly matter because another one is lurking around the corner. Police might even take

advantage of their roles. They overuse their siren when they become impatient. Regardless of

all the motives of cirme, there are still no viable connections between the poverty and crime

rate. Overall, Brazil is overcoming the obstacle of poverty but they are still struggling to

minimize crime rates.

 Velazquez 8

Works Cited

Contact CIA. Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 1 Apr. 2016,

www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/. Accessed 2 Oct. 2017.

De Aragao, Mirele M. Economic Impacts of the FIFA world cup in developing countries.

Western Michigan University Scholar Works, 17 Apr. 2015,

scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3609&context=honors_theses.

Accessed 2 Oct. 2017.

Filho, Alfredo S. Social Policy for Neoliberalism: The Bolsa Famlia Programme in Brazil.

Development and Change, Nov. 2015,

web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=31&sid=d7a4864b-981b-411a-

bd46-63643eaa4c1f%40sessionmgr101. Accessed 2 Oct. 2017.

Garmany, Jeff. Space for the State, Police, Violence, and Urban Poverty in Brazil,

web.a.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=13&sid=a50c30f6-5452-

956-a08c-da7ad6742455%40sessionmgr4007&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%

d%3d#db=aph&AN=99078488. Accessed 2 Oct. 2017.

Penglase, B. R. (2005, October). The shutdown of Rio de Janeiro. Retrieved October 6, 2017,

From

http://web.b.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=12&sid=5

a8376e-f77e-420e-991c-855f6138d670%40sessionmgr103

Pereira, Anthony W. Bolsa Familia and Democracy in Brazil. Sept. 2015,

web.b.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=8&sid=5d6d529

-fec9-405f-9716-8087c7596818%40sessionmgr104. Accessed 2 Oct. 2017.

 Velazquez 9

Poverty & Equity. Poverty & Equity Data | Brazil | The World Bank,

povertydata.worldbank.org/poverty/country/BRA. Accessed 2 Oct. 2017.