Cracking under strain

The US-led war on drugs has caused social havoc in Latin America, which now wants to change track by treating it as a public health issue.

Even John Rambo didn't take himself so seriously. But these cops from Rio de Janeiro's anti-drug units were addicted to violence. They arrived over a shantytown in a chopper, tracking a car speeding through a lane. They were following Marcio Pereira, a trafficker known as 'Mathematician'. As the chase continued, a policeman began shooting at the car with his automatic. The bullets, streaking down like a hailstorm, hit houses, shops and street dogs but not the suspect, who escaped. Later, the cops found a bullet-riddled car, but they didn't bother to find out how many people in the crowded slum were struck by their bullets. 

Last week, one year after the incident, a video of the firing made it to a television network.