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Unpacking Jacarezinho: Policing, Race, and Violence in Brazil

June 7, 2021

On May 6th, a police operation targeting gang members in Jacarezinho, in Rio de Janeiro, left 28 dead. It was the bloodiest police raid in the city’s history. But police violence is common in Rio’s favelas, with residents—often disproportionately Black and pardo—caught up in conflict between drug traffickers, paramilitary gangs, and the police. On this episode of the Brazil Institute podcast, host Anya Prusa speaks with Ilona Szabó, the co-founder and president of the Igarapé Institute, and a recognized expert on questions of public security, crime, and violence in Brazil.


Brazil Institute

The Brazil Institute—the only country-specific policy institution focused on Brazil in Washington—works to foster understanding of Brazil’s complex reality and to support more consequential relations between Brazilian and US institutions in all sectors. The Brazil Institute plays this role by producing independent research and programs that bridge the gap between scholarship and policy, and by serving as a crossroads for leading policymakers, scholars and private sector representatives who are committed to addressing Brazil’s challenges and opportunities.  Read more

Latin America Program

The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action.  Read more