ABSTRACT
“Leaving aside charity, the police remain.” With this ironic phrase, Uruguayan novelist and journalist Eduardo Galeano concluded his reflections on possible responses to the spread of poverty in Latin American cities. But we do not accept the inevitability of this result. Nor will we become engulfed by the prevailing fear of life in marginalized urban areas that makes such a response possible. It is evident that …
in our countries the terror industry pays dearly, like any other, for foreign “know-how.” U.S. repression technology, tested at the four corners of the earth, is bought and applied. But it would be unjust not to credit Latin America’s ruling classes with a certain creative capacity in this field. (Galeano 2005: 360)
