In a city where traffic laws seem made to be broken and where popular wisdom teaches you that sometimes is more secure to run a red light than to stop, the main victims are pedestrians and motobikers. 

It may seem preposterous but Paulistanos (São Paulo city natives) are celebrating these new statistics. That’s because the situation used to be much worse. Until 1996 when a more strict Traffic National Code was put in place the number of people killed daily due to car accidents used to be nine or more than double when compared to today.

Nobody is celebrating, however a new study by the Ibope (Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics) about personal safety and robbery in the state of São Paulo.

The Ibope found out that one in every three São Paulo residents has already been robbed. Numbers from the Public Security Secretariat show that every hour 88 people are victims of robbers, which translates to close to one and a half robbery every minute. 

The statistics also show that 18% of the people were robbed when driving their cars even though the majority says that they were assaulted in the middle of the street. 31% of all victims have also revealed that they have never filed a police report about the incident.

Lawyer Ângela Barral, a victim of robbery interviewed by SPTV, a TV news program from Globo network, declared while sitting behind the wheel: "They accosted me, asking for money. When I was handing them some change they took my wallet and my purse. I’m so afraid that I rarely drive in São Paulo now." 

The south zone of São Paulo, the most prosperous, is also the most frequent target of robbers. The east zone comes in second, followed by the west, central and north zones.

Bordalo was killed when reacting to an assault in Copacabana beach, on Monday, October 14. The student of airspace engineering, had come to Rio with his parents, physicists Sérgio Ramos e Paula Bordalo. He was on the beach at 8:20 in the morning when a man stole his backpack.

The Portuguese student  started screaming and ran after the robber who then knifed him on the chest. Apparently the parents didn’t see what happened. The mother was inside the water and the father was walking on the sand.

Claudeci Bezerra da Silva, 23, the assailant, was caught by the police with the help of beachgoers who ran after him after the crime. According to the police they tried to lynch the murderer. He was apparently high on drugs, but had no previous police record.

Three cases of multiple robbery were announced in the last few hours. They occurred in Copacabana and downtown. The news appeared in Estadão, a daily from São Paulo, which commented apparently with scorn: "And the Military Police commander, colonel Hudson de Aguiar, stated that Rio is a safe city."

In one case, vive Chinese, three of them public servants in China, were assaulted just before 7 am in Copacabana beach. The robbers had a knife and knocked out one of the tourists before they took his video camera.

In another case, 14 tourists inside a van were stopped by six men riding three motorcycles close to the Lapa stairway in the center of the city. The criminals took over the van and were kidnapping the foreigners when the vehicle choked and wouldn’t restart. They then stripped six of the passenger of their possessions and left the van behind, but not the car’s key.

Among the objects stolen: close to US$ 1000 in cash, one camcorder, several watches, two cell phones and four digital cameras. Until yesterday night nobody involved in the assaults had been arrested.

The Copacabana police made an arrest, however, Thursday night. But this was another robber from another case. Dimas Leonardo Miranda de Farias, 28, was caught red handed while attacking with a knife three Colombian tourists. They took money, a camera, and documents, which were recuperated by the policemen.

According to agents from the Deat, a police specialized in tourists, Farias is one of 20 robbers who use a knife to assault tourists in the area. He was the fifth to be arrested in two weeks. 

Public Security Secretary, Roberto Precioso, announced that by the end of September Rio should have 220 wireless and mobile cameras monitoring the most dangerous corners of the city. They are powerful enough to figure out the numbers of car plates.

The devices should also be used in Vista Chinesa, Paineiras and Mesa do Imperador, three locations where assaults against tourists have been frequent. 

Wednesday, the 6th Military Police Battalion, which is located in the Tijuca neighborhood, got its own control center with cameras scrutinizing not only Tijuca, but also Maracanã, Vila Isabel, Grajaú, Alto da Boavista and Jacarepaguá, among other places. They hope these extra eyes will make them more effective.

The second robbery was committed in 1534 by Dom João III, who divided Brazil into 15 captaincies, turning them over to friends and political allies. Even today the Brazilian land remains the property of the descendants of those people and of the buyers of the lands taken in that epoch. They call this assault "private property."

Workers were needed to exploit the stolen lands. The solution was the assault of Africa in search of a workforce. For almost four centuries, millions of black people were brutally kidnapped and brought to Brazil without right to ransom. Even their children were kidnapped and subjected to a lifetime of forced labor. They called the assault "servile workforce."

After the slaves were freed, their jobs began to be kidnapped. The boss sold the worker’s product for an amount much greater than the salary paid and kept the difference. They call this assault "profit."

The slaves left their slave-quarter dwellings and went to live on land they invaded, in squats, in favelas. With time, they were expelled to make way for buildings and condominiums. The assault on those areas, occupied by descendants of slaves and other poor people, was called "urban development."

To promote development and industrialization, the administrations began to spend more than they collected in taxes and to request loans. As a consequence, prices started rising. They called that assault "inflation."

But so that the assault would not affect everyone, they created protection mechanisms: monetary correction; open market; investment funds. The poor were assaulted by the inflation; the rich had protective shields. A sort of monetary condominium.

The taxes, the irresponsibly emitted money, and the loans financed the infrastructure for the rich instead of education and healthcare for everyone. That assault is called "budget."

Part of the money was transferred to entrepreneurs with the excuse of job creation. They call that assault "fiscal incentives."

The National Bank of Habitation (BNH) and the Fund of Guarantee for Time of Service (FGTS) used the workers’ money to finance the construction of houses for the rich. That assault was called "habitation policy."

Many used subterfuges to avoid paying the tax they owed. That assault upon the treasury is called "tax evasion."

To create scientific and technological infrastructure, they created public universities for the children of the upper classes. The impoverished graduates of the public schools do not pass the Vestibular college-entrance exam. It is as if the private school students were assaulting the public-university placements. They call that assault "competition."

Besides that, part of the cost of private education is paid with public money, in the form of an income-tax deduction. That assault is called "educational discount."
Thanks to these policies, Brazil successfully achieved a rapid economic growth, with one part of the population appropriating the product. That assault is called "income concentration."

Brazil also succeeded in producing all the petroleum that it needs, depleting its reserves, which will run out in 20 years. That assault upon future generations is called "self-sufficiency."

These invisible assaults were called "economic growth." And this is what is provoking the visible assaults, those that occur daily in our cities. Those that lead to jail.

Cristovam Buarque has a Ph.D. in economics. He is a PDT senator for the Federal District and was Governor of the Federal District (1995-98) and Minister of Education (2003-04). You can visit his homepage – www.cristovam.com.br – and write to him at cristovam@senador.gov.br.

Translated from the Portuguese by Linda Jerome – LinJerome@cs.com.