Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Santa Shot At in Rio

I still haven't made up my mind over whether this is kind of amusing or really sad (though I do take issue with the story's description of Rio as "the violent Brazilian city of Rio" - Rio has neither a monopoly on violence, nor is violence the first thing that characterizes the city as a whole). Apparently, a helicopter flying an actor dressed up as Santa to a favela in the North Zone was shot at by people in another favela, who mistook the helicopter for a police chopper. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, and Santa still made it to the children's party by car. Still, it's a rather bizarre story that says a lot about how police and favelas interact.