Feature: Successes, failures in purge of Brazilian slums

Slums have been part of Brazil's urban landscape for more than 100 years. However, Rio has managed to turn some of its slums into tourist destinations, something unthinkable a decade ago.

It was in the so-called Wonderful City that the first slum was born. In November 1897, 20,000 soldiers from Brazil's northeastern region, who had fought and won the bloody Canudos War in Bahia state, arrived in Rio.

The government had promised them homes in the city, but the red tape put them out of patience. The soldiers began to set up shanty houses on top of the closest hill in downtown Rio. They named their slum Morro da Favela (Favela Hill), after a plant called faveleira on the hill. In time, people began to refer to all slums as favelas.

By the 1930s, more favelas were built in Rio, Brazil's capital city at the time, as thousands of workers from other areas, especially the poorest north and northeast, were attracted to Rio by its prosperity.

Ten years later, between 1941 and 1943, the population of the slums grew significantly and the authorities lost control. Several urban planning actions were attempted by the Rio government and even by the federal government, but none of them were successful.

After all hills in the city were occupied, slums started to spread to any part of the city where there was enough space to build a few shanty homes.

The favelas over time became lawless land ruled by criminals and drug dealers. The drug dealers took up the role of civil administration, offering services such as electricity, gas, cable television. They organized rallies with the presence of guards with rifles and machine guns to demonstrate their power.

It was estimated that Rio had 450 favelas by 2008, where over 2 million people, or one-third of the total population, lived.

Against the background that both the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup were to be held in Rio, local authorities started an experimental plan in 2008 to curb violence in the slums. It was called pacification.

Police set up Pacifying Police Units in the slums to bring an end to the reign of terror by drug gangs. The authorities tightened the screw on drug trade and firearm control in the slums.

By late 2008, the small Santa Marta hill in southern Rio was the first to be pacified. The process slowly reached other 38 communities, and today almost 270 slums have Pacifying Police Units. Most of them are located in the south, where the beaches and most hotels and tourist attractions are located.

The results of the pacification process have varied in different slums. In slums like Santa Marta, Babilonia and Vidigal in the south, it can be said that pacification has completely transformed them. Taking advantage of their spectacular views, those areas have re-embraced tourism as business. In other slums, there is still an open war between police and criminals.

In general, small slums are easier to handle while in the big ones, like Rocinha, Complexo do Alemao and Complexo da Mare, all strongholds of drug lords, the pacification process is facing serious trouble.

The sheer size of those slums -- all with over 100,000 inhabitants -- makes the situation complicated and police abuses and errors in operations have resulted in the deaths of innocent people.

After a symbolic truce during the FIFA World Cup last year, drug dealers have started to attack police patrols and Pacifying Police Units.

Policing may be helpful in curbing drug trade, but it does not solve the problem of unemployment and poverty. Endi