Do riots in a Rio favela mean the pre-World Cup pacification efforts failed?

There were violent clashes in Rio de Janeiro Tuesday night just weeks before the city and the rest of Brazil play host to the World Cup soccer tournament, leading many wondering if Rio will be safe and ready for the marquee even

A resident gestures during a protest against the death of a man in Pavao-Pavaozinho slum, in the Copacabana neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro April 22, 2014. Residents have accused Police Peacekeeping Unit officers of causing death of a 25-year-old dancer
A resident gestures during a protest against the death of a man in Pavao-Pavaozinho slum, in the Copacabana neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro April 22, 2014. Residents have accused Police Peacekeeping Unit officers of causing death of a 25-year-old dancer

Clashes last week between favela residents and police in Rio de Janeiro led to flaming barricades, the partial shutdown of the iconic Copacabana neighborhood, and at least one shooting victim. Less than six weeks from the start of the World Cup, Rio and its slums appear to be teetering on the brink of chaos.

Favela residents say they’re protesting human rights violations on the part of police forces. Meanwhile, drug dealers are regaining territory amid the chaos, and authorities are leaning on military reinforcements to keep order. Also caught in the crossfire? A much-lauded urban policy called Pacification Police Units (UPP).

And yet, here is Rio, seething, at precisely the moment it finds itself in the international spotlight.

The UPP program, initiated in 2008, represented a paradigm shift in policing attitudes towards Rio’s favelas. Prior to the establishment of UPP, police traditionally only entered these areas for targeted operations, with little regard for residents. The UPP concept put in place community-oriented approaches to policing in the city’s poorest neighborhoods, first by wresting control of the favelas from drug gangs, and then by embedding new police units in those areas.

Key to these new units was that they were to be composed of fresh recruits, untainted by the rampant corruption associated with existing forces, and specially trained in human rights and community outreach. Broadly speaking, the policy has been seen as a success. There are now 37 new police posts operating across Rio’s favelas, working with an estimated 1.5 million residents. The city’s homicide rate dropped by 65 percent between 2008 and 2012. A 2012 review estimated that about 60 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants are prevented yearly in each UPP favela.

And yet, here is Rio, seething, at precisely the moment it finds itself in the international spotlight. Crime and homicide rates have started to creep back up. Nineteen Rio police officers have been killed so far in 2014, more than were killed in all of 2013.

Residents and policy experts point to a number of reasons why the UPP program, once held up as a massive success, now appears to be stumbling.