caught between heaven and hell

Porto da Pedra samba school final rehearsal before the Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro.

The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is one of the most important carnival celebrations in the world. This final rehearsal was done in Sao Gonçalo a large slum area in Niteroi where the school is based. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)

Beautiful beaches, sunshine, the Samba, caipirinhas and an undying love for God. These are the heavenly features of Rio, but where there is a heaven there is a hell. Drugs, gang wars, favelas, the BOPE and grieving mothers. The tourists and local middle class are the top drug consumers (mostly marijuana and cocaine) in the city. Drug money fuels the ongoing violence scene in the city for more then 20 years with an average of 18-22 people killed on a daily basis for the past two decades.

Tourists photograph Rio de Janeiro from the Sugar Loaf. One of the city's most touristy places for its views of the city. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)

Detail of a civilian police station in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)

A civilian police photographs the mugshots of Joao Paulo da Costa a suspected drug trafficker arrested during a police operation in Acari slum, Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)

An overview of the Sao Joao Baptista cementery in Botafogo. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)

"Vesguinho" (center) and his gang control the drug trafficking in Parque Royal a slum in Ilha do Governador, Rio de Janeiro. This gang is part of Terceiro Comando a major gang faction of Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)

Policeman salute the body of Luiz Fernandes Marques da Silva during his funeral. Mr Marques da Silva was a military policeman killed off duty when he tried to stop a car robbery in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)

Morro do Dende (Dende slum) a place were an estimated 45,000 people live with very little state support and poor conditions in northern Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)

A young drug trafficker plays foosball with another young man in Morro do Dende (dende slum) in northern Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)

Weslei de Oliveira Batista's funeral in Sulacap cemetery in Rio de Janeiro. Mr Batista was a 30 year old military policeman who was killed after receiving 5 gunshots while off duty. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)

Santa Marta slum in Rio de Janeiro, where due to a local problem half of its population did not have any water in their house for several days. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)

Children play along the heavily polluted waters of the Guanabara bay in Parque Royal slum, Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)

Preacher Sidney Aspino performing his evangelical techniques for young man involved with drug trafficking in Parque Royal slum in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)

Favela do Alemao in Alemao complex a major complex of slums were an estimated 200,000 people live. Between 1.5 and 3 million people live in Rio de Janeiro slums most of them under the de facto control of drug traffickers laws. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)

Civilian police operation in Mangueira slum to seize drugs and try to arrest the main traffickers. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)

Paqueta a civilian policeman looks from inside of a house during an operation in Mangueira slum to seize drugs and try to arrest the main traffickers. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)

Rio de Janeiro's forensic institute where most of the more then 5,000 victims of violent deaths in the city receive an autopsy. (Photo: Joao Pina/Redux/Hollandse Hoogte)