In Rio...From Mean Streets to Clean Streets

By SIDNEY URQUHART/

The road to Rio de Janeiro will soon be jammed with thousands of delegates attending the U.N.'s June Earth Summit. As green-minded summiteers ponder such now-or-never topics as global warming, the rain-forest crunch and the world's vanishing flora and fauna, the most endangered species of all may be Rio's street children. A Brazilian child-advocacy group reports that 470 juveniles were murdered in the Rio area last year, many of them by death squads made up of off-duty police hired by local shopkeepers. If the authorities can help it, Rio's most endangered species will not be on display at all during the summit. While busily filling potholes and beautifying parks, city officials are also beefing up efforts to keep roving bands of street children away from the pockets of the delegates.

With reporting by Wendy Cole