Operation Caronte and government vandalism in Cracolândia São Paulo

Abstract

After 25 years of government action in Cracolândia, the Operation Caronte (OC) appears as the perpetuation of violent actions
against the people who live and frequent the region. The most relevant practical effects of the OC were: 1) destabilizing the open scene of crack use; and 2) promote its enlargement by several points that had already ceased to be part of Cracolândia. Based on the idea of vandalism as a practical resource made by drug dealers in areas that they intend to degrade in order to make room for drug trafficking and consumption in the future; and considering that the so-called crime would be so important for capitalism to the point of, for Karl Marx, being incorporated into the system, by generating new services, such as security, and opportunities such as the construction of new, safer neighborhoods. Our article proposes the idea of government vandalism, seeking to cover, as best as possible, the interpretative challenges present in the OC. We conclude that, similarly to drug dealers, the OC promotes the decay of the city in a perennial process of government vandalism, with the aim of expelling residents, leaving them the option of withdrawing from the region or hiring security services.