HYBRID GOVERNANCE, URBAN VIOLENCE, AND LEGITIMACY IN TIMES OF PANDEMIC: THE CASE OF THE COMANDO VERMELHO IN THE COMPLEXO DO SALGUEIRO, RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

Abstract

This article uses the theoretical perspective of hybrid governance to understand how Armed Illegal Groups (aig), especially those related to organized crime, control territories and populations under their authority. When it comes to Brazil, the hybrid governance framework has been used to analyze local forms of interaction between legal and illegal actors in the political and economic fields. However, analytical limitations were found in this theoretical framework when applied to the empirical case of the governance of the Comando Vermelho (cv) in the Complexo do Salgueiro since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic (March 2020 to July 2021). Through combining participant observation, original statistics, visual and cartographic features, as well as the analysis of a survey submitted electronically to inhabitants of the Complexo, the paper proposes an explanation for the omission or inaction of the cv in the face of the pandemic, in opposition to its traditional practice of assistencialism toward people under its control.