From Social UPP coordinator Sílvia Ramos, in the Estado de São Paulo newspaper:

“It’s easier than I thought. I’m finding that it’s possible to be criticial from within the government. We have all the support we need. There’s money, priority, and media. If it doesn’t work, the blame will all be ours.”

Click here to read an interview in Portuguese with Sílvia Ramos, coordinator of the social UPP project, which is now moving in to consolidate “pacification”. Ramos was drafted into the project from her job as a social science researcher at the Cândido Mendes university’s Centro de Estudos de Segurança e Cidadania (Safety and Citizenship Study Center, Cesec).

In the interview, Ramos claims that Rio’s “pacification” project, currently extending to 12 of the city’s more than 1,000 favelas, is transforming the local police force. This is because money is at last being spent on training, uniforms and salaries, and because the Police Pacification Units (UPPs) are large groups that are constantly in action to prevent the return of the drug trade in the areas where they’re present.