SÉRGIO CABRAL became governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro in 2007 during one of its periodic security crises, with criminals attacking police stations, burning buses and hijacking cars. But rather than send trigger-happy police into the favelas (self-built slums) controlled by drug gangs in retaliation, he prepared the state’s first sensible security policy in decades, focused on community policing. Mr Cabral’s election coincided with an economic recovery in Brazil’s former capital after decades of decline. The award of the 2016 Olympics seemed to set the seal on Rio’s revival and its governor’s success.The state is safer than for many years. But Mr Cabral is now Brazil’s least popular governor. After being re-elected in 2010 with 66% of the vote, his approval rating has slumped to 12%. Protesters calling for his resignation were camped outside his home for weeks. He had intended to step down in April to campaign for Congress; now he may leave in December rather than continue to taint his deputy and would-be successor, Luiz Pezão.The street protests against poor public services and corruption that swept Brazil in June hurt the public standing of all...
via The Economist: The Americas http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21586322-sensible-security-programme-brazils-olympic-city-no-longer-enough-satisfy-voters?fsrc=rss%7Came
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