Economy
The Challenge of Replacing Organized Crime with Governance
Governments are struggling to move into gang-dominated slums in the cities of Latin America
Largely dominated by drug gangs, the slums and favelas of cities like Medellin, Ciudad Juarez or Rio de Janeiro are often beyond the reach and control of the formal government. In efforts to relinquish power from these gangs, these cities are increasingly staging interventions, often in the form of militarized police invasions. But even after such actions, officials struggle to integrate slums into the formal city.
The trouble often lies in the fact that the government has never been a part of these areas. A recent report from the Brookings Institution explores how government entities have been ineffective at entering these informal parts of the city, and how they might be able to change their approach.