Shanty Towns, Slums and Drug Gangs – Mexico’s Reality, The US Future – A Brazilian Example

Shanty Towns, Slum and Drug Gangs – Mexico’s Reality, The US Future – A Brazilian Example

Comment: Below are excerpts worth noting before reading the actual source article linked below. The article shows how the unpopular ‘counterinsurgency’ (COIN) remains a valid concept in areas plagued by violence, criminal activity, poverty as well as corrupt local officials. COIN is unpopular because it means slogging to peace; COIN means house cleaning; it means hard work and a dedicated focus; COIN is about constantly remaining in touch with the people, society and their needs or risk widespread social unrest.
Add the bad world economy, growing unemployment rate and you have desperate people trying to find ways to survive at the expense of law, order, self-respect and faith- moral relativism replaces ideals as survival for the fittest steps in. People, with a social Darwinistic ideal, become a majority and chaos ensues. Add the growing world population and we, human beings, find our own selves being the great plague against mankind.

Mexico already has a number of these areas existing already. There are no clear indications the drug problem in Mexico is improving…there are no indications the situation is stabilizing…instead, it appears the drug war is simply a part of the culture and way of life in Mexico. If America is not careful, she will have the same problems too.

There are a couple of things readers may want to take away:

-Not addressing local drug problems contribute to chronic ungovernable regions where other crimes can fester.

-Brazil’s gangs are often made up of “rogue off-duty police and firefighters”. In other words, when law and governance fail, so does social stability.

-Slums and shanty towns contain a silent population who hope for law and instability and are will to go public if they have a sense of security. However, when legal authorities are as brutal as the local thugs, people remain fearful.

-The authorities in Brazil are using counterinsurgency tactics to address the local problem…yes, counterinsurgency insights are applicable to counter-gang and counter-organized criminal activities. The Brazilian authorities are running “pacification” activities in slums in the form of “community relations”. Security forces are temporarily filling in the governance void until effective civilian authorities can take over. They will hopefully ensure the people have electricity, health and other basic necessities addressed to they can be brought into “the formal economy”.

-Last, this effort is part of a campaign plan for change that’s intended to reach “all of the remaining major gang strongholds by 2014”

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read Article: Brazilian commandos occupy Rio's biggest slum