Is Rio de Janeiro, Brazil a dangerous and violent place?

I have lived in Rio since April 2003. Now that Rio de Janeiro will host both the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, one question keeps popping up. Is Rio de Janeiro a safe place to visit? It is certainly understandable. Quite often, photos of violence in Rio de Janeiro are shot around the world.

Not only is Rio de Janeiro one of the most beautiful cities in the world but it is also one of the largest. All large cities have a certain amount of violence and some precaution should always be taken when traveling the dark and unknown streets of a large city. Putting that aside, Rio de Janeiro does have a higher level of violence.

I place this in two categories.

1) On going drug war
2) Tourist related crimes

When we see all the photographs and video beamed across the world, it is usually related to the government’s on going drug war. There is quite a bit of poverty in Rio de Janeiro, and it is all focused in these large slums called favelas. Rio boasts some of the largest favelas in the world. Favela residence do not pay utilities nor do they pay property taxes and so on. Hand in hand with the favelas, is also a thriving drug trade. This drug trade creates a certain lawlessness.

In November 2010, the lawlessness hit a crescendo. The drug lords were burning buses. They would evacuate the bus, and then burn the entire bus as a symbolic Fuck You to the government. Each time a bus burned, it would be the front page of the paper, and quite often across the internet. Finally, the government took measures in their own hands, and invaded one of the larger favelas just south of the international airport. The city government joined forced with the federal government and the results were stunning. They brought in the tanks, armored vehicles and lots of lots of artillerary and helicopters. All other TV programming was canceled and the war was broadcast 24/7. I was secretly rooting for the governmnet despite my secret love affair with anarchy.

There were few casualties and the bus burnings have ceased. I have no false hope that the game is over, but the key point is that the violence and danger is centered in the favelas. I have never been to a favela and I never plan to go. Many of my friends have been, and they wear it like a badge of pride. Not me. The odds are extremely small that one would be hurt, but why bother? I just can’t justify it in my mind.

Tourist related crimes. In addition to the drug war, there is and always be tourist related crimes. These crimes are never homicides and mainly petty theft. The prime tourist area in Rio de Janeiro is called Copacabana and that is not coincidentally where the vast majority of these crimes occur.

I have been robbed two times since living in Rio. Both times in the Copacabana and both times involved a stupid gold chain that I used to wear. Not any more. It is a simple precaution, but I now have a much more important precaution and I am confident that I will never be robbed again.

I am in very good physical shape and when walking on the streets particularly at night, I never let anyone that I do not know get close to me. If I see someone approaching me, or attempting to talk to me, I just run away. Simple. These guys have a million little schemes. Some guys throw little balls of dirt that look like shit on your shoes. Some guys just pretend like they want to talk to you. Again, if you don’t know them, then don’t let them near. Run away.

So I have two basic rules. I don’t go into favelas and I don’t let strangers near me when walking on the street. By following these two basic rules, I can say that Rio de Janeiro is totally safe and I feel just as comfortable in Rio as any other place I have visited in the world.