Criminal law, International, Society

Woman Interviewed On The Street About The Crime Wave In Rio . . . And Is Promptly Mugged On Television

article-2601346-1CFD0D8E00000578-461_634x457As many have been discussing, the rampant crime in Brazil has led many to avoid the country as tourists and many others to criticize the selection of Rio de Janeiro for the next summer Olympics, the Soccer World Cup, and other huge venues. The local media was covering the growing crime wave in interviewing this woman . . . who was promptly mugged on television as if to bring home the point.


article-2601346-1CFD0D9600000578-403_634x481The picture to the right gives a better view of what the thief was after: a gold chain. He did not get away with it. He did break it but he out ran the reporter and got away. In August of last year loan, there were 406 killings in Rio and surrounding areas and 629 robberies on public transport; in just one month.

In the meantime, various sports, including sailing officials, are expressing alarm over the pollution in and around Rio.

Years ago, I stayed at a hotel along the Copacabana. One night I went to one of the best known Churrascarias in the city — just a couple blocks from the hotel. The hotel insisted on driving me but I decided to walk back. I was met from both ends of the street by alarmed hotel and restaurant employees who scolded me for not calling for a car or taxi. I explained that I saw little reason since I could see the hotel roughly a block away and the hotel said that I was lucky to get as far as I did. (I was later pulled off the street by Brazilian police in Sao Paulo for some heated questioning next to a police cruiser. They were clearly seeking a bribe, which I declined to give. A government officer later said that it would have been wiser to just hand over the bribe).

13 thoughts on “Woman Interviewed On The Street About The Crime Wave In Rio . . . And Is Promptly Mugged On Television”

  2. Paul, Absolutely. It was a blue collar beer like Pabst. But now, like Pabst, it’s a hipster beer. Old Style has always been a big seller @ Wrigley, not so much @ Comiskey.

  4. Chicago is a code word for “majoring in the minors” or “straining at a gnat but swallowing a camel” it would seem:

    The Commander in Chief of MOMCOM yesterday ordered the invasion of oil rich Libya, saying that “the people of Libya must be protected”.

    Bush II once upon a time said that about oil rich Iraq and the Iraqi people, just before invading Iraq to remove those dangerous WMD.

    A million dead Iraqis (four million expatriated) later, BP is beginning to control the pumping of “Iraqi” oil.

    One interesting thing I noted was that Obama made this proclamation from Brazil, reminding me of some recent Dredd Blog “history” written in 2009:

    The 5th Fleet together with troops are in the Middle East where there is lots of oil.

    The 4th Fleet has been reactivated after 58 years of being moth balled, and has been sent to Central / South America where there is also lots of oil.

    A website of the federal government tells us:

    “Oil is the lifeblood of America’s economy.”

    (Department of Energy [they removed it, so here is The Wayback Machine copy of that page: Department of Energy]). Which is the same thing as saying you are economically dead without your blood, your oil.

    The struggle for economic life then, would be the struggle for oil would it not?

    Bush II put it in the cowboy language during a state of the union address to congress, saying that “America is addicted to oil”.

    (The Fleets & Terrorism Follow The Oil). That bit of history set the context for the meaning of some of Obama’s statements from Brazil:

    … hailing the United States’ growing economic and political ties with Brazil and predicting “a path toward even greater cooperation for decades to come.”

    (NY Times). There are a few people in Brazil who understand exactly what he meant, there are a few people in the U.S. who also understand what he meant even though he was using “newspeak”, and then there is the majority who have great faith and hope in “coincidence”.

    Which reminds me of some song lyrics: “Take what you have gathered from coincidence” (Bob Dylan).

    (The Fleets & Terrorism Follow The Oil – 2, links removed). Many reading this will probably think that “The 4th Fleet” is a Chicago police squad.

  5. Dredd, Here is a classic Chicago Cop story. When we lived there we would go there to smelt fish. Smelt fishing is just like crabbing where I grew up out east. You get a case of beer, go out @ night, and drop a rope for crabs, or throw out a net for smelt. Mindless, no talent needed, and you can drink beer. We were smelting on Montrose Harbor in Chicago. Now, drinking is illegal but hardly enforced. Usually, if you are not idiots, cops just look the other way. This particular night 2 cops wanted to make money. The usual bribe to a cop for a minor offense is $20, it may have been adjusted for inflation. These 2 cops did everything but ask for the $20. The others were going to give it up, but I kept giving them the “no way” look. The cops kept saying, “I hate to have to take you in” which was pure bullshit. After a solid half hour of them threatening in the form of pleading, they finally realized they had not run into rubes. They had to settle for ~7 Old Style beer confiscated as contraband. That is the consummate Chicago cop bribe story.

    1. Nick – as I remember, and my memory is fast fading now, Old Style wasn’t that bad and it was cheap. 🙂

  6. They are in the amateur stage of bribery evolution.

    In sophisticated countries highly-evolved bribery involves real money flowing from the 1% plutocrats to the billboard government officials.

    The heaven-scent lobby runs the game in the religious sentiment realm, while the security-scent lobby does it for the secularists.

    Natch.

  8. “They were clearly seeking a bribe.” Just like Chicago cops. You shoulda felt right @ home.

  9. You don’t have to go to Rio to get mugged. In Carson City CA the cops will do it

  10. Rogue, Mafia, Russia. Brazil, flooding soldiers into crime lord slums, and still nowhere near ready for prime time. What has the Olympic Committee been drinking?

  11. We can only hope this goes world wide. 🙂 I am not planning on attending either event.

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