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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 10 OcTOber 2017

Sao Paulo struggles to end ‘Crackland’ drug market

By SARAH DiLORENZO approach. It is expanding
Associated Press centers for out-patient sup-
SAO PAULO (AP) — Ev- port and offers basic social
ery day, the addicts who services in Crackland itself.
occupy “Crackland,” a Critics say Doria’s focus
square in the center of Sao on Crackland is symbolic
Paulo where drugs are sold of a larger campaign to
and smoked in broad day- “sanitize” the city: to slap
light, pick up their blankets a coat of paint over social
and tents and move across problems like poverty and
the street to let city sani- homelessness while pursu-
tation workers clean the ing a revitalization of the
area. dilapidated city center
And then every day, the that could push working-
group returns. All the while, class families out.Filipe
police look on. Sabara, the city’s social
This daily ballet persists development secretary,
four months after authori- rejects that characteriza-
ties launched a major op- tion, saying the previous
eration to end Crackland mayor’s policy stashed ad-
for good, arresting scores dicts in filthy hotel rooms
of dealers and sealing off and didn’t offer enough to
abandoned buildings they Drug addicts gather in an area popularly known as “Crackland” in downtown Sao Paulo, Bra- help them thrive.
had occupied — some- zil. Faced with the choice between hospitalization and staying on the street, most users would He said police actions in
choose Crackland. “I can’t be jailed again in a clinic, that’s a prison,” Denise, a 48-year-old
times using rubber bullets mother of three who would not give her last name. Crackland have made it
and tear gas in clashes in (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine) safer and thus more ac-
the area.For the two de- Inacio Bastos, a researcher drug and ample demand land has moved twice cessible to city services
cades that this city within a at the Fiocruz institute who for it among Sao Paulo’s and is now near its original — a claim Costa disputes.
city has existed, politicians led the last national crack downtrodden and home- location. Roberta Costa, Carlos Weis, the coordi-
have been trying to get rid study. “Without sustained less. an activist and a master’s nator of the human rights
of it: first by brute force and action, everything will The first thing visitors to degree candidate at the unit of the state’s public
more recently with a pro- come back again.” Crackland notice is the University of Sao Paulo who defender’s office, said the
gram that offered addicts Brazil is likely the world’s smell — of urine and body studies Crackland, said po- new program hasn’t hired
housing and cash hand- largest market for crack odor — which wafts as far lice operations may have enough therapists or social
outs in hopes of helping cocaine, according to the as a block from its edge. reduced its size — estimat- workers or opened enough
them kick their addiction U.S. State Department. Its From afar, it appears fore- ed at more than 1,800 peo- out-patient centers to suf-
and leave Crackland. largest city, Sao Paulo is boding. ple before the May action. ficiently address the social
Mayor Joao Doria, a me- home to intense poverty However, Crackland is But addicts are starting to issues surrounding drug ad-
dia magnate and political and homelessness and to also a vibrant community, come back, since it is rare diction.
newcomer who took of- the nation’s biggest crimi- where people sell food and for them to find anything “The idea of the mayor’s of-
fice in January, changed nal organization, which used clothing, catch up resembling community. fice, which we think is fine,
course again, with a pro- plays a vital role in moving with friends and joke with Doria, who is considering is to pull the person out the
gram that focuses on of- cocaine from the Andes social workers. a run for president, has place where they’re using
fering drug users in-patient producer countries to the This feeling of inclusion may walked back his declara- drugs, detox them, but you
treatment coupled with streets of Europe. Those contribute to Crackland’s tion that Crackland is gone, have to put them on the
the police raid in May in factors provide Crackland durability. In the wake of the and his administration has path of opportunity for a
which he declared Crack- with both its supply of the May police action, Crack- since tried a more varied new life,” said Weis.q
“would not come back.” Former Guatemalan VP tells judge she’s innocent
land was “finished” and

Yet it persists, and experts GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — the first time to a judge Baldetti told a judge Mon- ed witnesses, wiretaps and
say there is no simple way Guatemala’s former vice about charges related to day that she was angry to documents against Baldet-
to get rid of it. president has told a judge an alleged scheme to let be in court because she ti and other defendants.
“Any mayor or any presi- that she is innocent of cor- companies avoid customs fought against corruption Former President Otto Perez
dent or anyone can say ruption charges and had duties in exchange for while in office. Molina also faces charges
that the situation will be no role in a wide-ranging bribes. She calls the case a soap in the case.
solved overnight, but this criminal conspiracy. The fallout forced her resig- opera. The judge will decide if the
is not true,” said Francisco Roxana Baldetti spoke for nation in 2015. Prosecutors have present- case proceeds to trial.q