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Comment by hazdiego | Hacker News Reader

Ironically, Rio de Janeiro is considered one of the safest capitals in Brazil [1]. The absolute numbers are high, but that's a huge city with millions of habitants.

I lived there for 27 years in favelas like Rocinha and Santa Marta (when I didn't have money), and in apartments in Botafogo and Flamengo (after making money). I walked on the streets midnight and later. Nothing has ever happened to me. I've never even witnessed anything.

Of course, it's my own experience and I have some privileges.

The only time I was robbed in my life I was in the US. My computer has been stolen in the Houston International Airport (thankfully, it was recovered by a super professional Mexican police officer).

[1] https://thebrazilbusiness.com/article/the-10-safest-state-ca...

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>Ironically, Rio de Janeiro is considered one of the safest capitals in Brazil [1]. The absolute numbers are high, but that's a huge city with millions of habitants.

Rio police are also globally considered fascist butchers... with frequent news stories of indiscriminately killing favela residents, kids, etc.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/08/16/police-killings-are-out-...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/14/brazil-13-dead...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/30/brazil-rio-pol...

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/07/brazil-police...

https://www.humanium.org/en/children-victims-violence-brazil...

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/world/americas/police-kil...

I agree. My post is more in the direction of "the violence practiced by the police is disproportionate to the real violence of the city".

Although I never suffered anything from the police either (maybe because I'm not black and didn't look poor when I was poor), I've seen a bunch of racist approaches from them in many situations.

Of course, it's based on my own experience (27 years living there) and statistics I find on the internet (which may not count the violence that happens deeper in the favelas).

How was your laptop stolen in Houston recovered by a Mexican police officer? Was there Mexican customs officers or baggage handlers at the Houston airport?

I had a friend have his $2500 Macbook stolen from his bag by baggage handlers while in a Thai airport. You're lucky you got it back.

Mine was a Macbook too. It was stolen on that security part where you have to put your personal belongs on the "running machine" (no idea how to call that) and pass through the scanner.

The woman that passed before me took my laptop. I thought it was by mistake, but the cameras proved otherwise.

Surprisingly or not, nobody cared. I was already hopeless in the airplane (which was late because of it) when this police officer came with my computer. I don't know what happened to the woman.

The police officer was American. I said he was Mexican because he was speaking Spanish with us (which helped, because my wife's Spanish is better than my English, and I was too anxious to speak).

By the way, would anyone be interested in reading this story? I have the camera recordings with me.

Yes, please.

Second Yes.

What is the actual source for those numbers? Rio is not one of the safest capitals in a very long time.

This article seems to be not only old, but very far from the actual numbers.

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_de_unidades_federativas_...

The media coverage of Rio de Janeiro's violence is a bit inconsistent. For example, if you go by the numbers the capitals in northeastern Brazil are more violent than Rio but Rio still gets much more media coverage.

That said, The crime and violence situation is still pretty bad, specially if you compare to first world standards. In certain parts of the city, residents live at the mercy of drug trafickers or paramilitary groups of currupt police officers (milicias). Even in the relatively safe Zona Sul, where the well-off people live, most have been directly or indirectly affected by violence.

For example, here is a non-exhaustive list of personal anecdotes:

- My grandmother's sister was murdered back in the 90s, when her house was robbed.

- One time my parents were stuck in a traffic jam for hours, They later found that the source of the problem was a shootout between drug trafickers and the police, which blocked a major traffic artery of the city. People had to get out of their cars and lie down to avoid getting shot.

- A friend of mine works at the federal university. One they they came to work and there was a bullet hole in one of the walls.

Well, I live in Rio and was robbed twice last year alone. So, YMMV.

To put it in perspective, I left the first city in that list, Florianópolis, because of the increase in violence and lack of safety.

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