Although the Maré activists were simply trying to move the conversation forward, this meeting, and a handful of others, made them look like pro-pacification police collaborators in the eyes of gangs. That impression proved deadly. In September 2014, just over a year after taking a stand for favela residents, Camelo was murdered.
Various rumors circulated, but many residents believed traffickers had orchestrated his death, since he’d spoken out in favor of pacification. They interpreted the drug traffickers’ message as: Residents were not to support the police under any circumstances.
Between 2005 and 2014, state police in the city of Rio de Janeiro killed 5,132 residents, most of whom were young black men.
Outside the favela, Redes da Maré activists and their collaborators were criticized from all sides. Police accused them of preventing officers from doing their jobs. One police official complained, “I don’t know what the problem is in Maré. Good residents would open their doors.” He insinuated that people with nothing to hide would not mind if police searched their homes. In general, conservatives—including many public officials and mainstream media sources—supported this viewpoint, which was accompanied by calls for tougher, more pervasive policing.
Anti-violence activists throughout the city accused Maré organizers of selling out, saying that more policing—including the pacification program—would only lead to more police violence. Despite many people’s hopes for pacification, these activists felt that the police would merely continue longstanding patterns of abuse. Maré activists were not the only ones trying to find a middle ground in a polarized debate, but they were among the few looking for a more nuanced way through the “more policing” versus “down with police!” impasse.