Six months later, Crackland continues, just metres away from where it was cleared.Ī police operation against Crackland this summer. Doria, triumphant, declared: “Crackland is over and won’t come back.” Local government officials heralded the operation a success. Many took refuge in a nearby gas station others checked themselves in for treatment at government programmes, or were accompanied by city social services to packed homeless shelters.Īfter breaking up the crack market, police raided local properties, seized drugs and guns, and arrested dozens of suspected traffickers. “Thank god I wasn’t injured, but I was terrified.”ĭrumont and hundreds of other addicts scattered. “The police turned up throwing bombs at everyone,” she recalls. She says the police used rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the crowd. Early on a drizzly Sunday morning in May, Drumont watched as helicopters appeared overhead, and a veritable battalion of 900 armed police and security agents descended on the addicts. To some, including the current mayor, João Doria, that makes it an embarrassment.Īfter taking office in January, the business mogul declared war on Crackland. It is unlike nearly anything in any city in the world. Crackland is over and won’t come back Mayor João Doria Some exchange jokes or handshakes with each other, but most just look bewildered and lost. None of it makes much difference to the addicts.

The office of South America’s biggest newspaper, Folha de São Paulo, known sometimes as the New York Times of Brazil, is a few blocks away. There are private technical colleges nearby, and a leisure centre.

Less than 100m away is a neoclassical style concert hall that last year hosted a performance by American jazz legend Herbie Hancock.

It is next to Luz, the city’s biggest and busiest train station. Cracolândia sits on prime real estate in São Paulo’s downtown.

Brazil drug dealers live leak