Congrats Amonkey but Rio is going to need to do a lot of work at getting security tight. That city is dangerous and I would not doubt for a minute that some terrorist affiliation would look at Rio and Brazil as a prime and easy target to make a world wide statement against at the Olympics.
There's a lot of gangs in that city and crime is rampant. How tough would it be for a terrorist group to fund one of these gangs to do something? Probably not too tough.
I think it's a wonderful thing for Rio, Brazil and South America because all three are just beautiful places. I think this could have a great economic effect on the region and open up some lasting business afterward. I just worry if Brazil has the internal security to handle something this big in a very tough city.
Thanks. I don't think terrorism would be a problem because these are not worldwide gangs, meaning they are not expanding their network to other places or anything like that. For the most part, they are pretty local. They make money, but stay in the community and they actually invest in the community. Basically, what you have in the slums are communities of people that are forgotten by society. Society believes that as long it's not in their neighborghood, they don't care. So the gangs invest in jobs and schools, but in turn also recruit the young bucks that need money to survive. You give teenagers guns and drugs, and they go crazy.
However, they still have a sense of community. They don't care about police and the lives of the rich, but they are not making political statements or anything like that, they are just doing what it's necessary to survive. I don't think you can have just anybody penetrating the slums and starting groups. If you're not from the area, you're not welcome.
Now the solution they've done for this problem before was just to bring the military over and close off the slums. People would need IDs to get in and out, searched and all that stuff. They did that during the World Green Peace Conference in 1992, I believe. However, once the military violence continued. I think Rio has a real opportunity to invest in schools and job opportunities in these slums, really get the place out of the dark and weaken the gangs by steering away young teens from this destructive path.
