Child drug couriers court death in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Dec 14: For teenagers in Rio de Janeiro's mean slums, working in the drug trade is a lucrative way to make a living. It's also a fast way to dying.

Youths as young as 11 start off as messengers and look-outs for the drug gangs that control the packed shantytowns known as favelas, then earn promotion to soldiers or sellers.

Clashes with Rio's paramilitary police force erupt daily.

Battles between rival gangs over control of selling points add to the bloodshed.

''I've seen a lot of friends killed, a lot,'' said a young man called Joao in Rocinha, Rio's largest favela. ''People I grew up with.'' Joao said he had joined up four years ago when he was 17.

He began as a ''fogueteiro,'' letting off rockets to warn of a police invasion, and made his way up to a ''vapor'', or seller.

He quit last month with the help of Tio Lino, a Rocinha resident who runs a project teaching art to kids.

''Now I can sleep at night. I'm cool now. I'm with Christ,'' Joao said, showing a visitor his new Bible.

He is one of the lucky ones.

A study by Observatorio de Favelas social group said that of 230 adolescents in the trade that it surveyed from April 2004 to May 2006, 45 were now dead. Police killed 23 and nine died in fights with other gangs.

Some 57 per cent were aged 13 to 15 when they joined and most were black or mixed race, it said. Most had taken part in gunfights.

A 2002 study ''Children of the Drug Trade,'' by Luke Dowdney, estimated 5,000 teenagers worked in the Rio business and most were armed. The situation has since deteriorated, experts said.

''The talk is that younger people are coming in. The state makes it worse because it meets violence with more violence,'' said Ignacio Cano of Rio de Janeiro State University.

DRUG DEALERS, ROLE MODELS IN SLUMS

The problem has its roots in the poverty and deprivation of the slums. The favelas have long been marginalized from mainstream society in this city of 5 million people and their residents face discrimination from people living outside.

Although the teenagers volunteer for the job feeding the cocaine and marijuana habits of the whole city, they do not have many other options. Jobs and educational opportunities are few. The pay is also considerably higher than Brazil's minimum wage. And there is a certain glamour and prestige.

''These young kids, most of them are inspired by drug dealers,'' said Tio Lino, 55, speaking in his cramped art room in the warren of the hillside Rocinha. ''I ask them what they want to be and they say they want to be a famous drug dealer. But why? Good women, good gold necklaces, good jewelry, good motorcycles.'' Social experts and human rights groups say the military police is part of the problem. They confront traffickers with heavy firepower and often resort to summary executions.

Official figures show Rio police kill about 1,000 civilians each year, nearly all listed as suspected criminals. And corrupt officers often work in league with the traffickers.

Lt. Colonel Ruy Loury, commander of the 22nd Police Battalion which covers Mare favela, said he was well aware of the social issues that drive the children to the gangs.

''They are without jobs, without a future, they are from broken families,'' he said.

But his men were at war, he said. ''The military police deals with the effects, not the cause.'' As he spoke in the police fort on the favela's edge, the pop of rockets and gunfire could be heard from within the maze of red-brick houses.

GANG WARS

Three gangs -- the Red Command, the Friends of the Friends, and the Pure Third Command -- hold sections of Mare. Its only secondary school is in an area held by the Friends, so kids from other parts cannot attend, the colonel said.

Traffickers like to employ teenagers because they do not spend much time in detention if caught, he said.

They are also agile fighters, running swiftly through the alleys and hiding in shacks. Their weaponry ranges from Colt pistols to AK-47 assault rifles.

''It's a high-risk profession,'' Loury said.

Given the absence of state institutions in the favelas, gangs often provide community facilities. The teen gunmen believe they are protecting the people, studies say.

Social workers reject characterizing them as juvenile delinquents or child soldiers, saying that only stigmatizes them further and makes it harder to find real solutions.

''They look up to the drug dealers like a family. But it's a fantasy. The price is terrible,'' said Pedro Strosenberg of the Viva Rio non-governmental organization.

''Most people want the police to kill, to 'cleanse' them.''

REUTERS