Gang gunfights loom over Rio de Janeiro's World Cup preparations The catalyst appears to have been the case of Amarildo de Souza, a bricklayer from Rocinha, who disappeared in July when he was questioned by UPP police. Some 25 police officers have been charged with his torture and murder. "It's a thousand times worse since the UPP was installed," said Jacky Caetano, 46, who was one of de Souza's neighbours. Everyone is frightened. Every day there are shootings, close to my old home. I left because of the violence but my daughter still lives here. I worry about her but she will leave as well. So many families are doing the same. Sprawling over the hillside, Rocinha overlooks the affluent neighbourhood of São Conrado, where the England team will stay ahead of the World Cup. And with less than six months to go before the event starts, tensions are running high, particularly after the former Rocinha UPP commander, Major Edson Santos, was implicated in the Amarildo case. "Now, no one knows who is a criminal, who is police," Ms Caetano, a mother-of-five, added. People were happier here before the UPP arrived, even with the traffickers because there was respect here, but now, no one can trust anyone. Pacification is good if it brings good to the community, if it brings creches, more schools, people see progress. But we didn't. Her complaints echoed those voiced during widespread protests that swept Brazil earlier this year in light of the vast public spending on the World Cup. "We accept the World Cup, but we'd prefer health and education," she said. However, officials at the City Hall insist that quality of life in favelas is improving through the social welfare branch of the programme, UPP Social. Exam results have improved by 40 per cent in schools in pacified favelas. And the programme aims to eventually provide health coverage for 100 per cent of families in such communities. Pedro Paulo, Civilian Household secretary, said: "Pacification is perhaps the greatest public safety policy that Rio de Janeiro ever experienced. It's the principal mechanism to bring security. When a community is pacified, the quality improves. The greatest achievement is to allow quality public services to enter these communities, reducing the difference between favelas and urban neighbourhoods. The programme is widely accepted to have been successful in Santa Marta, the first favela to be pacified in 2008 and where there has not been a murder in the last five years. Antonia de Freitas, 53, who runs a canteen in Santa Marta where she has lived for 40 years, said: "It's changed a lot now it's pacified. It's not dangerous. We didn't see tourists before but now they pass by all the time. Before, there were shootings every night close to here; it wasn't secure. In Rocinha, it's dangerous - it's all started again. In early December, two police officers and three locals were injured during shoot-outs in Rocinha. Residents said gunfire could regularly be heard in the early hours. A police spokesman insisted the clashes were isolated incidents. "The climate in the community at this time is quiet," a spokesman said. There will be no retreat. The state will maintain their presence in the communities where the peace process has already started. But William de Oliveira, 42, who grew up in Rocinha and was the president of the residents" association, said pacification had not lived up to expectations. "Police can't solve our problems," he said. We don't accept living with trafficking nor through trafficking. Nor do we accept living with police who use oppression and repression. There are people here who have worked for years, and deserve respect. They deserve to be treated as real citizens. Pacification was a dream of the residents that became a nightmare.