In Rio's favelas lack of property rights can be lethal for young men

[WorldNews]

By Chris Arsenault RIO DE JANEIRO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - It is mid-afternoon on a workday in a Rio de Janeiro slum when a young man in a tanktop crouches beside a building, walkie-talkie on his belt and a large black pistol openly drawn on a main road. As people walk by unperturbed, local residents say he is protecting turf for a drug gang in the Cantagalo favela, a bustling community on a hillside overlooking Copacabana beach in downtown Rio. With an average of 11 murders per day, violent crime remains a major problem in Rio, according to figures from Brazil's Public Security Institute (ISP), a government body.

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