Crime is a key issue in Brazil's upcoming Oct. 4 election RIO DE JANEIRO -- Crime is the top concern for Brazilians ahead of October’s presidential election, with candidates competing to offer the toughest — and most effective — approach to the deep-seated problem. Flávio Bolsonaro, son of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, is seeking to defeat President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, with a promise to loosen organized crime’s grip on Brazil, particularly in Rio de Janeiro. After Rio’s deadliest-ever police operation last year, in which more than 120 people were killed, polls indicated that the hard-line policies Sen.
Bolsonaro touts are popular. Lula, meanwhile, has argued for a more prominent role of the federal government in the fight against organized crime as well as greater coordination between governmental institutions. But while politicians trade barbs, residents in Rio de Janeiro have been designing their own responses, with ex-traffickers launching podcasts and grieving mothers stepping up to stop youth recruitment.
Many residents, community leaders and experts say that the current approach — which favors armed confrontations between police and the groups — is inefficient and often results in indiscriminate loss of life. They're taking on crime on their own to bridge that gap. Here is a look at some local initiatives.
Once a week, a group of former drug-traffickers gather in a small recording studio on the outskirts of Rio to dissect their past lives of crime and those of their guests. They air the episodes of 01 Sobreviventes, or 01 Survivors, on YouTube and streaming platforms. A painting of the four founders grinning hangs on the wall, while the podcast’s logo – a microphone breaking a chain – is projected on a screen over the desk.
"We want them to follow our current lives so that they don’t go through what we went through,” he added after recording a recent interview with a former gang member who is now a pastor. The podcast, launched in 2024 and followed by more than 225,000 people on Instagram, is both for those tempted by the allure of quick cash and for those who need convincing to course-correct. Crime leads to prison, a wheelchair or a coffin, they say repeatedly.
Santos says several people have said they have seen traffickers listening to the podcast and that he regularly hears about people who left the world of crime or didn't enter thanks to their work. Alan Duarte, 38, grew up in Complexo do Alemao, one of the two sprawling complexes of favelas targeted in Rio’s lethal police operation last year. He lost a brother, uncle and cousins — 10 family members in all — to violence.
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