Drug traffickers and militias in Brazil have taken the law into their own hands by imposing strict curfews on residents as the coronavirus continues to spread across the globe.
With the virus now having affected more than 2,000 people in the country, gangs in Rio de Janeiro’s lawless Cidade de Deus (City of God) are imposing a coronavirus curfew as the virus continues to threaten the poorer and more crowded communities.
The latest move comes after Brazil’s Health Ministry confirmed 2,201 cases of COVID-19 and 46 deaths from the virus on Tuesday.
The favela, a sprawling complex of slums made famous by the hit 2002 blockbuster City of God, registered the first confirmed case of coronavirus in the slum over the weekend.
Drug gangs have imposed strict curfews on residents in Rio de Janeiro’s Cidade de Deus, Brazil, in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Pictured: Children play in the Cidade de Deus slum
As the virus continues to claim more lives across the world, the gangs have taken the law into their own hands and imposed a curfew on residents. Pictured: Children play football in Cidade de Deus
The strict curfew comes after Brazil’s Health Ministry confirmed 2,201 cases of COVID-19 and 46 deaths from the virus on Tuesday. Pictured: Residents in Cidade de Deus slum during the coronavirus outbreak
Now, with the state government woefully underfunded and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro widely criticised for a slow response to the outbreak, criminal gangs that have long held sway across Rio’s favelas are taking their own precautions against the virus, according to residents and press reports.
According to well-sourced Rio newspaper Extra, City of God gangsters have been driving round the slum, blaring out a recorded message to residents.
According to Extra’s Tuesday story the message read: ‘We’re imposing a curfew because nobody is taking this seriously.
‘Whoever is in the street screwing around or going for a walk will receive a corrective and serve as an example. Better to stay home doing nothing. The message has been given.’
While the veracity of the recorded message in unconfirmed, City of God residents, who declined to give their names for fear of retribution, confirmed an evening curfew and other restrictions.
The lawless complex of was made famous by the hit 2002 movie City of God which was set in the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro
The slum, which registered the first confirmed case of coronavirus over the weekend, was made famous in the 2002 film City of God
The gangs’ concern over the outbreak echoes fears nationwide about the fate of Brazil’s nearly 15 million favela residents confronting what some have dubbed ‘the disease of the rich.’
The coronavirus landed in the country with wealthier Brazilians returning from Europe, but is quickly migrating into poorer communities, where crowded quarters, informal labor and weak public services threaten to accelerate its spread.
Drug gangs or rival paramilitaries often act as de facto authorities in the favelas and with little or no government presence in the neighborhoods, gangs enforce social contracts. They also engage in regular shootouts with each other and police forces.
Across Brazil, some 40 million people lack access to the public water supply, while 100 million – nearly half the population – live without a connection to sewage treatment, according to the country’s National Water Agency.
With Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro widely criticised for his government’s slow response, gangs have begun to impose curfews in favelas
‘Basic sanitation is terrible,’ said Jefferson Maia, a 27-year-old resident of the City of God. ‘Sometimes, we don’t even have water to wash our hands properly. We are very concerned with the coronavirus issue.’
Thamiris Deveza, a family doctor working in Rio’s Alemao complex of slums, said residents had been complaining for the last two weeks about a lack of water in their homes, making it difficult for them to clean their hands and protect themselves from the fast-spreading virus.
She said many pharmacies in the neighborhoods had run out of hand sanitiser. When available, it was prohibitively expensive.
Pictured: Children play out in the streets in Cidade de Deus slum during the coronavirus outbreak
As the globe tries to tackle the spread of COVID-19, coronavirus cases are expanding quickly in Brazil.
The country had 2,201 confirmed cases on Tuesday, with 46 related deaths, according to the Health Ministry.
Rio state, where around a fifth of the population lives in favelas, now has 305 cases.
Governor Wilson Witzel warned on Friday that the state’s public health system was in danger of ‘collapse’ within 15 days.
Rio Mayor Marcelo Crivella has said that officials will deposit free soap at entrances of the city’s favelas and relocate older people with health problems to hotels. The city has already signed a deal to secure 400 rooms, he said.
‘Those most at risk need to be protected as soon as possible,’ Crivella told journalists on Saturday.
On Tuesday, Rio’s urban sanitation unit Comlurb kicked off a more comprehensive cleaning of some of the city’s most transited areas, including around hospitals, the mayor added.
But the favelas are still likely to be a major public health challenge, said Edmilson Migowski, an infectologist at Rio’s Federal University.
He said: ‘The entry of the coronavirus into denser, less planned and less culturally assisted areas could be devastating.
‘Where water, soap and detergent are lacking, it will be difficult to stop the spread.’