these costumes are completely closed up, and so they guarantee anonymity.  

perhaps because of this fact these costumes have become particularly popular among gang members from a variety of favelas.

much caution is recommended when coming across a group of bate-bolas, and close-up photography is not encouraged.

to the untrained eye of a foreigner the beautiful costumes can be misleading, as the group of bate-bolas would look as of part of a carnival parade, while in fact they could be just about to engage a rival bate-bola group.