Rio de Janeiro

During a recent tour in Brazil, I visited the Rocinha Favela in Rio de Janeiro. Rocinha is the largest favela in Brazil and runs up a very steep hill near the centre of Rio. It is believed at least 70,000 people live in Rocinha (some estimates suggest more than double that number), living in houses made from concrete and brick. It is officially described as a neighbourhood and has very basic sanitation, plumbing and electricity. Rocinha also has shops, hairdressers, banks, art galleries and many other businesses.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Since the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro was reduced to ashes by a fire that broke out Sunday night, the country has been in the grips of not only grief but a powerful collective sense of outrage over their loss of the 200-year-old museum. The anger has manifested itself in major mass mobilizations, heaping further pressure and disrepute on the right-wing, neoliberal government of President Michel Temer that had gutted public spending to an unparalleled extent.

RIO DE JANEIRO —  “I don’t believe Brazil is made for change. Returning to my country, though I’d like to, is something that will take a long time, if it’s ever possible one day.”
The date was July 22, 2013. The blighted hope, part of a letter written by Wagner dos Santos, a survivor of the Candelaria Massacre in central Rio de Janeiro. Twenty years prior to the day, July 23, 1993, dos Santos bore witness to a night littered with as many bullet casings as there were kids forever lost to the so-called marvelous city.

RIO DE JANEIRO (Interview) — Brazil’s federal government, led by President Michel Temer, gave the green light for a military takeover of all police duties in the state of Rio de Janeiro on February 16. His justification for the move? The restoration of law and order. Criminal gangs and violence had, in his words, “virtually taken over,” and something had to be done.

Marielle was a child of the slums of Rio de Janeiro. She was black, beautiful, young and charismatic. She studied sociology and had an MA in public administration. She was a feminist, LGBT+, Black and human rights activist. Elected on a progressive agenda, she was an active councilwoman of the city of Rio de Janeiro since 2016. She was assassinated on the 14th. of March. Four bullets from a 9-millimeter gun transpierced her body. They also killed Anderson Pedro Gomes, her driver.

Less than two hours before she was murdered on the evening of March 14, Rio de Janeiro city councillor Marielle Franco was speaking at a roundtable of black women activists about “young black women moving the structures”.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a piece for DemocraciaAbierta, following this year’s political carnival in Rio where I reflected on resistance against –and repression from—the Brazilian government, and on how challenging the times that lay ahead were.
Unfortunately, shortly afterwards, I am here writing again in the wake of this tragedy that occurred last night in Rio.

The yellow fever outbreak currently sweeping the jungles of Brazil could be the next Zika virus in the United States, health officials say. The Latin American country has seen an increase in the disease over the past few weeks in some of its rural areas. [1]
Health officials with the Pan American Health Organization have confirmed 371 cases of yellow fever, including 241 deaths. The group is investigating hundreds of other potential cases.

(ANTIMEDIA) ‘You didn’t win that‘ might as well be the U.S. government’s official congratulatory platitude to American Olympians who succeed in Rio this summer.
This year, the IRS will impose a nearly 40% “victory” tax on athletes who take home gold, silver, and bronze medals for the United States.

(ANTIMEDIA) This year’s Olympics have a particularly romantic setting: Rio de Janeiro.