The Complexo do Alemão is an agglomeration of 13 favelas [slums] in the city of Rio de Janeiro and the former stronghold of the drug trafficking faction Comando Vermelho. In November 2010, the territory was recaptured by state security forces and subsequently occupied by the Brazilian military. It took 18 months to hand the power over to the new UPP pacification police. Since the ‘pacification’, violent crime rates have decreased but education, health and housing is still precarious and the area has one of the lowest Human Development Indexes of the city. The new cable car [portrayed in the background of the photograph] turned into a symbol of urban integration and social inclusion in Rio de Janeiro.