by TARIQUE SMITH
The Two Faces of Brazil’s Development
According to The Economist, as a nation develops and its economy strengthens, violence should be expected to decline. [4] More development correlates with less crime. This hypothesis may not apply to Brazil, a nation vexed with vast inequalities between regions, racial groups, and economic classes. Brazil continues to confront chronic issues of inequality and poverty, with the worst-off region being the historically Afro-Brazilian Northeast. In addition to its poverty and inequality, the Northeast is now facing an overwhelming crime spree. While nordestinos–citizens of the Northeast–would like to effectively confront this host of issues, there is little to aid them in this herculean task. The Brazilian Northeast can be seen as a lawless territory with a deeply flawed judicial system, ineffective police forces, and a growing appetite for crack cocaine. With the combination of these challenges, the region’s criminal activity perpetually beleaguers its civilians.
In the past few years, Brazil saw its coffers explode with windfall revenue. Spurred by a commodity boom, Brazil rode a wave of rising commodity prices and increased exports, especially to China. The bonanza effectively reduced some of the nation’s appalling rates of inequality. Since 2002, Brazil has seen more than 35 million of its citizens raised out of extreme poverty. Over the past decade, the Northeast boasted the second largest increase in number of middle-class citizens, as defined by the World Bank. However, this definition includes as middle-class those families making an astonishingly low $3,000 to $6,000 USD per year.
The Northeast also suffers the highest homicide rate in the country. The state of Alagoas has the dubious honor of leading the pack, reporting a murder rate of more than 66 homicides per 100,000 people. [5] Among the 12 most populous countries in the world, Brazil has, by far, the highest homicide rate at 27 per 100,000. The second highest, Mexico, has 22. [6] The question remains of how a country can be defined as middle-class and yet exhibit such high murder rates.
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