Communities hold together despite gunbattles

In Rio, the communal spirit of the favelas persists even as the number of shootouts between cops and drug dealers grows. This article, in Portuguese, from Viva Favela shows how total strangers in the favelas share their homes with people desperate to get protection from the bullets. As one resident of City of God recounted, she was part of a group caught in the middle of the street on August 14th when a gun battle began. But a local resident saw the group through his window and let them into his house. In total, they were five families with 15 kids. No problem the squatter-owner said, "There's room for the whole world to sleep here."