“This favela is one of the safest places in the whole of Rio,” claimed my guide, Johan Gama, a 22-year-old local resident. “The gangs have their own rule system to keep the peace. If someone dares to ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. With its ‘death squads’ and ...

Some 500 soldiers, some in armored vehicles, swept into Rio de Janeiro’s Rocinha favela Tuesday to support a police raid after gun fights broke out between rival drug gangs. Officials said the ...

Known as the setting of a Michael Jackson video clip in the late 1990s, Santa Marta is Rio’s best known favela, a hillside community perched between Sugarloaf and a colossal Christ the Redeemer. With ...

Michael Jackson's politically intense video shoot in Brazil's Santa Marta favela came close to never happening — until gangs supposedly intervened to make it a reality. Jackson and his production team ...

“In Rio de Janeiro, the term ‘public safety’ has become synonymous with ‘public massacre’,” said Tom Farias in Folha de S. Paulo. On 29 October, a square in the Penha neighbourhood was turned into an ...