Name: Millions in Brazil’s favelas live in fear under gang rule
Uploaded: 2025-12-30T13:44:54.363Z
Duration: 3 min 19 s
Description: The violence at the heart of favelas, how armed gangs are using threats and intimidation to keep control in the poorest townships of Brazil.

The violence at the heart of favelas, how armed gangs are using threats and intimidation to keep control in the poorest townships of Brazil.

São Paulo

Millions of residents in Brazil's favelas, particularly in Rio de Janeiro, live under the control of criminal organizations such as the Red Command. These groups enforce strict rules, and violence is frequent, forcing schools to close and residents to remain indoors for safety. 

With the state largely absent in these neighborhoods, families struggle to keep children out of gangs amid limited opportunities. Despite political promises, residents express little hope for change as criminal influence spreads to most of Brazil's states.

Millions in Brazil’s favelas live in fear under gang rule

Young men showing off military weapons, marking their territory with the symbol of the Red Command, Brazil's second-largest criminal organization. A common scene in Rio de Janeiro's favelas or slums, right next to wealthy neighborhoods, yet worlds apart. Criminal organizations now control the daily lives of at least four million people, a third of Rio's metropolitan population. Bullets fly every time there are shootouts between rival gangs or with the police. Schools shut down. We're forced indoors, fearing for our lives. We have rules. Nobody enters a favela without permission or a local guide. Car windows must be lowered so lookouts can see who is coming in and going out, and no filming in alleys. Patrick Sousa was once a drug lord. He tells us he's killed tens of rivals, robbed banks, and spent almost two decades in jail. Today he guides us through Cidade de Deus, or City of God, a favela controlled by the Red Command. More than 30,000 people live here, including Joice Silva. She was married twice. Both husbands were members of the Red Command. Both are dead. Two of her five children are now in prison. We do what we can to stop them from joining gangs, but they have few options. It's sad. Our children see drug traffickers with new sneakers and phones. They want the same. This favela is not an exception. At least one in every five Brazilians is now living in a neighborhood controlled by criminal organizations, where the state has no presence. This map shows how the Red Command has expanded in Rio. It is still fighting to take over the blue areas from militias, armed groups of former policemen turned mobsters, who charge residents security fees. But now it has spread to 25 of Brazil's 27 states. With elections approaching, security dominates political speeches. But residents say nothing will change. Politicians only show up during elections. Once they're over, they disappear, like always. As night falls, Patriki walks past children playing in the rain. After 17 years in four prisons, he is now an evangelical pastor, trying to steer the next generation away from the path he once took. Nothing will change unless the system changes. It's corrupt, starting from the top. We have military weapons from the U.S. and Colombia. Ask yourself how they got here. In Rio de Janeiro, two worlds exist side by side, one ruled by criminal gangs, the other by wealth and privilege. For millions living in the favelas, power does not belong to the state, and change depends on forces they cannot control. Monica Yanaykev, Algeciras, City of God, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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