As in other parts of El Salvador da Bahia

The small community of Dona Aurora is still in shock. Periodic violence reaches young people from the neighbourhood still hit. Two of them have been eliminated the previous day. Police officers, members of a rival faction, settlement of accounts No one seems to want to decide. The law of silence is necessary. The fear in the stomach. As in other parts of El Salvador da Bahia. "There is an escalation of violence since a decade...". "Drug trafficking advances its tentacles throughout society," explains José Augusto Brito de Jesus, a large forecastle of forty-one years recruited by a Canadian NGO, Street Angels, in an attempt to help the local population. The case of Dona Aurora, a block of 2.000 people, less than a mile from a tourist beach, is typical of the local reality. Despite the "miracle" Lula, despite the growth of recent years and the social progress resulting, the daily challenges remain enormous at the Brazil.

Located in the heart of the Nordeste, deeply impoverished area dotted with a few patches of prosperity, El Salvador da Bahia is a poor town trying to find its place on the road to development. Inequalities are still in this metropolis of over 3 million inhabitants, the fourth largest of the Brazil, which was the first capital of the empire until the 18th century - at the time where one still wrote "brazil" with a "z" in Portuguese. The old town retains many treasures from the colonial era. The arid slopes of the "Pelourinho", the home of the writer Jorge Amado and the Pierre Verger Foundation attract every year some two million tourists, including some black Americans for their roots.

"Of the work to the Masons."

Tourism represents one quarter of the economic activity of the city, which, in the image of the country, experienced a great development. Over the past ten years, El Salvador registered an average growth of 6 per year, according to Gustavo Casseb, Director of studies at the economic service of the Government of the State of Bahia, governed by a relative of President Lula. "Lula policy has improved the lot of many Brazilians." The impact in the areas of the periphery is very important, insists the Economist. There is a reduction of social disparities through assistance programmes, directly related to the Federal Government.

Jussara Costa, a very active woman of forty-one years in the District of Dona Aurora, appears to give him reason. "With Lula, there was a lot of work for the masons", she welcomed. For its part, it is already managed to put some money aside and purchase a small field to two hours of El Salvador. Now, it continues to save in order to build housing. She also heard that women who received family allowances from the Government (Bolsa Família) had access to professional training courses.

Life improves, at El Salvador. As elsewhere in the country, those who live "odd jobs" have benefited from the increase of 70 of the minimum wage in real terms, under President Lula. The unemployment rate was declined in the city (11.7 according to official figures in August 2010, compared to 17.6 seven years), even if it remains the highest among all the other cities Brazilian (average there is currently at 6.7). Palpable progress. That is not transformed El Salvador city model... Poverty is obvious, and violence remains a cause for concern for many families.

"I have seen no improvement." "Everything is expensive and violence is everywhere," creaks a friend of Jussara, whose main concern is to move away from his son young person in the world of the drug. His daughter for five years, it has removed it from the neighbourhood crèche to the private sector, which cost him 90 réis a month (about 40 euros), because "it did there was nothing", she said.

Boost

Surprising remarks in full "Lulamania"... It is that, on the merits, the policy conducted by the outgoing President has made that initiate a virtuous circle in the social and educational fields. Every day, the feeling that dominates in the streets of El Salvador is that much to do...

The State of Bahia, whose El Salvador is the capital, has been a prime target of the Bolsa Família program, launched by Lula in 2003, just after his arrival in power. Near 1.7 million families receive a monthly stipend (equivalent to 40 euros per month on average), with a condition: that their children are attending school.

Before ending his second presidential term, Lula has also launched a programme entitled "my house, my life". Objective: promote the construction of a million homes across the country, including 60,000 in the single State of Bahia. Here again, priority to families in low income populations in areas at risk (46,000 subsidized housing). Some modest income families also have access to subsidized credit. Widow, Rita Gonçalves moved at the beginning of year in one of 40 flags of four-storey built 20 km from downtown. "I saw an ad on TV, and it appealed to me." "Even if to take the bus, it is not easy, because everything is far away", she says. In this subdivision, all is not rosy: some of its neighbors are water leaks. A youth of the area complained about the poor quality of construction. But the beneficiaries of the program now have a roof.

The major impetus given to the building industry made a most compelling to the population. It also directly benefits the local economy. The construction trades, which absorb a portion of unskilled, are more than 100,000 people in the city and represent 10 of economic activity. "30 of jobs are created in this sector," said Aristoteles Menezes, the regional head of the Caixa Economica Federal, public bank responsible for the funding of the programme. "Labour is often formed on the heap, but productivity increases." "Today, we get to build four units per day", he assures.

In the new business districts in Pituba, who was until recently a tourist area, the large modern office towers grow like mushrooms. Economists themselves are struggling to explain the real estate boom. But the proliferation of shopping malls in the city reflects the thirst for consumption of the new middle class bahianaise. "The salaries increase faster than inflation", notes Carlos Pereira, Director of the Union of the food sector, which welcomes the increase in the purchasing power of its citizens. Along the broad avenues of the city, motor dealers of Chinese brands (Chery), Korean (SsangYong) or Indian (Mahindra) have already emerged. A buyer fever which has its drawbacks... "Purchasing power may be increased." Today, the poor have access to almost all consumer goods, but people are starting to go into debt, concerned José Augusto Brito of Jesus. Everyone is unable to control its spending. Many are already on the red list of credit agencies.

Metro shadow

The rapid development of consumption should not also hide the magnitude of the task which remains to be done to improve everyday life. In particular in terms of urban infrastructure, which the State still leaves as much to be desired. At Dona Aurora, as in many favelas of El Salvador, the main street of the district is is even not paved, streets are poorly informed to the dark and clean water is precarious. The construction of a school and a dispensary could be achieved only through the intervention of a Canadian NGO. But, since the global financial crisis, the funds coming from the North are also starting to decrease.

The port below the old centre, idling. In the heart of the city, the work of a six km Metro line extend for almost ten years already. A true "arlésienne", which, according to economist Gustavo Casseb, has already cost EUR 240 million. Without that local is illusion: when it will be inaugurated, next year, should only weakly contribute to reduce chronic traffic congestion in the city, because it is not located in a strategic area. This phantom subway is a ground for outrage for the population of El Salvador, who shouts at the scandal with the feeling of insecurity. The old football of the Fonte Nova Stadium, with respect to him, was destroyed. In the hope that the future pregnant, to host matches of the cup of the world of football, in four years, will be ready in time.