The Rio das Pedras militia was created midway through the year 2000. At the time, these groups were seen as a positive thing—an answer from citizens to fill a void left by the state in gang-dominated favelas. As reporter Raphael Tsavkko Garcia explained last year in his article “How armed militias became part of Rio’s everyday life,” these groups were a kind of security patrol unit acting against drug traffickers. They were made up of police officers, firefighters, and prison guards. Even the authorities supported them.
Two decades later, it is...
