Her parents have not spoken since. Her father, a doorman who had spent every penny he earned paying for her college education, which she was about to complete this year, had mentioned that today, Monday, he was going to take his daughter, who is the couple's only child, out to pick a present for her birthday. Instead, he followed her flower covered casket, arm-in-arm with his wife, quietly walking the path to burry his child, who he and his wife had to watch be murdered.
This is merely one of many shocking crimes that happen in Rio on a daily basis. The reason? Crime is worth it over there. With sentences that are as arbitrary and unpredictable as world's financial prospects, the chances are that, if caught, this cold blooded killer will only get five years in prison.
While most cariocas (as those born in the city of Rio are called) will eventually go back to their daily lives, not to mention all those all over the world who, sadly, won't ever hear the news, this poor girl's parents will never be the same again. The moment where they lost the most important person in their lives will play over and over and over again in their heads, and they will be forced to also watch crime go severely unpunished, so much so that their precious, studious, dedicated, smart daughter will not be the only victim of the streets of Rio.
Too many governments have changed, and the situation in Rio has only gotten worse. A little over a year ago a little boy was dragged for miles on the hot asphalt of Rio, his foot tangled on the seat-belt of his mother's car after four armed men approached them at a light, demanded they got out, and despite her pleas for just a few more seconds because her son's foot had gotten tangled, the robbers took off anyways, dragging her child as a rag doll on the streets at high speed. His body was destroyed, with body parts found all over the streets of Rio where the men drove. Motorists tried to tell the men that it looked like someone was being dragged by the car, but they laughed and replied that it was just "a Judas doll". That poor mother...that poor child...that poor family. Again, robbed of what they most valued in life. Their child, who they loved so much, treated like he was completely meaningless. And the wrongdoers? Well, they were minors. So nothing serious could happen to them by the local laws.
These are just a couple examples of what is a predominant problem there. Rio de Janeiro is a beautiful, but violent place. A city that is dominated by drug-lords who reign over the cariocas from high up the hills in the favelas (slums). When one of them is killed, they rebel against the people, coming down the streets with their Uzis, AK 47s and hand grenades, ordering commerce to shut down their doors, setting fire to buses full of working class people, causing chaos, terror, and despair. But does anything change after all that takes place? No. Nothing changes. Cariocas sometimes get mad when "outsiders" comment on these events, replying that violence exists everywhere.
Does it though? I want to know whether here in the United States crimes like these would happen at the scale they do over there. And I wonder what would be done here to the perpetrators of these terrible acts. At least here there is justice. There is a system in place, that works well and is respected by most people.
The saddest thing is, Brazil is not in Africa, and is not a middle eastern country at war, so there is no foreign intervention. Disregard or simply unawareness keeps international citizens shielded from these incidents, and if you are still wondering why you should care, well, firstly that is a topic outside the scope of this entry, but on a more direct note, I assume if you are reading this, you are human, and, as a human, it is puzzling if you don't care.
I agree these issues need to be addressed. The rest of the world does not understand the magnitude of this!
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Rarely does news like this reach the United States. The average American who knows anything about Brazil probably thinks of soccer (Ronaldinho), "The Girl from Ipanema," and -- if you're lucky -- "City of God." While those elements do provide glimpses into Brazil, by no means do they encapsulate what Brazil is all about. In a country where the rich are considered richer and the poor, poorer, awareness is key, and the divide is only getting larger. You are exactly right that Brazil is not Africa; that fact alone, though, doesn't mean the country doesn't deserve attention and support.