Candidate Watch: Look Who's Coming to Rio

So, guess who raids Caracas Chronicles for her travel schedule? Just days after we highlight Rio’s innovative barrio pacification strategy, MCM surfaces alongside Rio’s police chief, Marta Rocha....

So, guess who raids Caracas Chronicles for her travel schedule?

Just days after we highlight Rio’s innovative barrio pacification strategy, MCM surfaces alongside Rio’s police chief, Marta Rocha.

Coincidence?

Almost certainly.

And yet…

For my money, the most interesting bit of the N24 write-up on this is the Photo Credit: “Foto: Prensa María Corina Machado”. Erm, she has an in-house press shop? OK so she’s definitely running for president.

Oh and, I know our one Brazilian reader thinks Sao Paulo’s crime-fighting approach is far more serious than Rio’s. I have no reason at all to doubt that. But, from a Venezuelan point-of-view, that’s like having an impassioned Mac vs. PC argument in front of a guy who only has an abacus to do sums. We are so desperately, achingly far removed from having anything even beginning to ressemble a serious police response to urban violence, the terms of the Rio vs. Sao Paulo debate are barely comprehensible to us.

Oh and, I can’t help myself from pointing out that, according to this study, each additional student enrolled in a Conditional Cash Transfer program in Sao Paulo prevents 6.5 crimes, including 4.0 robberies, 1.1 thefts, and 0.9 violent crimes.