Expat Community > Brazil

OutOfHereUSA
Joined 2016
Posts: 89

Crime in Brasil today

7 years ago

I see a lot of people mostly married to a Brasilian wanting to move to Brasil these days.
I went to Brasil in 2001 and lived there until 2008. This was what I call the glorious time for living in Brasil. The economy was great, people were making money, the exchange rate was high for foreign money, it was safe, things were good.
TODAY things are vastly different. Brasil is NO longer a safe place to live, the reai is at a decent exchange rate 3.2:1 but not great, everything is more expensive ; food, rents, transportation, restaurants.
You will spend about the same money as in the US going out to eat. Groceries cost the same, in some cases higher.
The BIGGEST PROBLEM I SEE is the huge increase in crime. The economy is in the trash, people have no jobs, no money. That is why they have taken to the street to rob people at gun point.
Petty theft is all over the place.
My wife who is in the Nordeste right now tells me that on a daily basis people in public busses are robbed of their cellphones, jewelry, money - everything. IF you don't have anything to give them, they get physical with you.
You can be easily shot and killed by some robber. They have nothing to loose. The government is in chaos, there are no jobs.
IS THIS the kind of Brasil you want to live in ? NOT ME.

On a rather ironic note my wife tells me the story of 2 young guys on a motorcycle riding through her small interior town robbing people at gun point. This continued for more than a year They robbed cellphones, money and everything they could. At least one of your friends had been hit by these guys.
One day they robbed a young girl who was working at a juice kiosk. They must have thought it was an easy mark and returned a second time. This time the male owner was running the place. Little did they know he was a local cop. He pulled out his REAL GUN and shot one of them and grazed the other one. The one who got shot went to the hospital then to JAIL. The second one escaped but was caught the same day and went to jail. Their TOY GUN was no match for a real one. It could have easily been a REAL GUN.
MY friends in the south of Brasil tell me theft is way up there too.
SO, give moving to Brasil some real thought because you could end up DEAD if you make the wrong move.
NEVER FIGHT with anyone on the street or anywhere, you will not come out well if you do. These robbers run in groups so if you think you can take out the one robbing you, his buddies just around the corner. They can be 10 year olds or 50 years old. IT'S NOT WORTH IT.

Until things change drastically there is NO way I'd even spend a vacation in Brasil. It's just not safe enough for me, and I am no stranger to Brasil, I've driven (in the good days) from Porto Alegre to Fortaleza without a problem.

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