São Paulo Struggles to Contain Spread of Cracklands Throughout the City

03/03/2015 - 10h09

The Cracolândias (Cracklands) in São Paulo have been expanding and spreading throughout the city.

With shacks being set up on the pavement and crowds of people taking over the streets, they increasingly resemble the original Cracolândia in the Luz area of downtown São Paulo.

A Folha team visited 15 areas that the São Paulo City Government identified at the end of 2013 with the aim of combating the spread of the drug.

At the time, the government identified nearly 30 areas. Just a year later, however, it is clear that they have expanded.

Local residents complain that the ghettos have grown, and comparison of Google Street View images from the two periods confirms that this is the case.

One of the biggest ghettos is located behind the General Warehouse Company of São Paulo (Ceagesp), in Vila Leopoldina, in the west of the city.

The expansion of the ghetto in recent years recalls the mini-favela (slum) of the Luz area in the city center.

Nearly 100 crack addicts have occupied the street Rua Prof. Ariovaldo Silva and the Manuel Bandeira, José César de Oliveira and Mofarrej avenues.

On the Rua Prof. Ariovaldo da Silva, in recent years companies working in Ceagesp have been leaving wooden crates on the sidewalk, according to images from Google. Now, almost 100 meters of the street is occupied by makeshift shacks where people smoke crack.

In July 2014, a team of street cleaners from the Lapa local council found a body inside a skip in the area.

On the nearby Avenida Manuel Bandeira, is located the area known as "flow" - where the most intense use of the drug occurs.

Here, the Folha reporter was approached several times by dealers offering crack, who peddle the drug not only to pedestrians, but also to drivers who pass by.

Several companies in the area have stepped up their security measures thanks to the increasing number of addicts and complaints of robberies.

The report spoke to a number of addicts who appealed for greater help from the local authorities.

SECURITY

In the south of the city, various shacks have appeared beneath the Jabaquara viaduct and at a nearby square.

"It's getting worse all the time", said hairdresser Marta da Cunha, 51, who has a salon in the area. "The customers get scared when the addicts approach them. It's hurting local businesses."

There are also shacks, garbage and drug users in the area around the Avenida Roberto Marinho and the Rua Doutor Estácio Coimbra, in Brooklin, in the south of the city. This has increased feelings of danger among local residents.

There are also little Cracolândias - both mapped and unmapped by the City Government - in other neighborhoods such as Tatuapé (in the east), Vila Maria (in the north) and even in the area around the Avenida Paulista, where there are drug users in the Noite Ilustrada tunnel.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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	Eduardo Anizelli/Folhapress
	On the Rua Prof. Ariovaldo da Silva almost 100 meters of the street is occupied by makeshift shacks where people smoke crack