1988 Photo Contest, News Feature, 1st prize
Photographer

Carlos Humberto TDC

Contact Press Images for La República

01 January, 1987

Just 30km from the center of Rio de Janeiro three million people live in La Baixada Fluminense, an area the United Nations considers the most violent in the world. This is the hunting ground of death squads, also known as vigilantes, who can be hired to kill rivals and criminals. Displaying mutilated bodies is their trademark, and unofficially they are known to consist of off-duty policemen. When they started operating some decades ago, the squads relieved the overloaded legal system, but today they operate indiscriminately. Between March and August they killed 1,200 people.

About the photographer

Carlos Humberto TDC

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