Ain’t No Sunshine After Five: A closer look at the 3rd most dangerous city in the world

Up until now this blog has primarily focused on positive, unique, and albeit strange occurrences that I have experienced while living on the coast of the northeastern Brazilian city, Maceió.  However, there is a whole other reality in which the majority of Maceió’s residents face everyday.  This reality does not involve paying patronage to the beachside restaurants or ordering a passion fruit cocktail.  This other reality takes place in the interior of the city where the vice is much stronger and more dangerous than cachaça (sugarcane alcohol). 

I took this photo at one of the beaches in Maceió.  While this may be a lovely image of an incredible vacation spot, there are some things that are left unseen in a simple snapshot.  For example, many do not know that the sun sets early in Maceió compared to the rest the country and the world.  It gets dark by 5 o’clock or 5:30 at the latest.  This is something the guidebooks might not always share.  Something else you might not encounter when you look in Lonely Planet, do a Google Image search of Maceió, or even spend a vacation on the coast, is the outrageous crime rate.  Statistically speaking Maceió is ranked the 3^rd most dangerous city in the world, sandwiched between Mexican cities, Juarez and Acapulco. 

The violence is not random.  Much like these infamous cities in Mexico, the violence is directly linked to drugs.  In poor areas where children have far easier access to crack cocaine than a decent education, they get addicted early on.  Their addiction forces them to consume drugs they cannot afford.  When the drug dealers decide to collect and realize that their customers can’t repay their debts they often make an example of them by having them killed.  To get a better idea of the problems you can watch this video report by Brian Andrews that shows police going into shantytowns in Maceió and also interviews locals. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry7j6RJbqnw

In fact the crack problem has gotten so out of hand that in some areas of Brazil drug gangs are actually prohibiting the sell of crack.  An article in the Times Colonist explains how some drug dealers in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas have banned the sale of this addictive substance.  While crack brings in high profits for dealers, they have found that this drug in particular is simply too detrimental to their communities.  Many remain skeptical of this sudden change in drug dealers’ conscience.  Rather than concern for residents, they believe that this is a way to trick police or that crack is simply causing drug gangs more trouble than it’s worth.  But drug gang leaders insist that as community members they also feel the repurcussions of crack in their personal lives; one dealer explained, "The same crack I sell to your son is being sold to mine.  Everyone is saying we have to stop."
You can read the rest of the article at http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Drug+dealers+crack/7112756/story.html

While I fortunately I feel very safe here and have truly been enjoying my time in Maceió, it is important to remember that several, starkly different, realties exist within this city of about a million people.  In a place filled with stunning sandy white beaches and emerald hued waters, it can be hard to pull yourself away from the coast and draw your attention to the interior of the city.  It is hard to think that somewhere in the dark shadows of this city is a child taking his first hit of crack, a father is unable to pay his children’s debts, and a mother find her son’s murdered body.  Though it is hard, it is important to remember that there ain’t no sunshine after 5, and as stated in the Brian Andrews report, statistically speaking two more people will be murdered in Maceió before the sun comes up.