Forced Evictions

Forced Evictions in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro

  • Back in April of 2010, as many already know, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, announced that he would evict the entire community of Laboriaux without negotiation. In an April 8th 2010 O Globo article (page 14 – O Rio Em Colapso) Paes (PMDB) and others, including city council women Andrea Gouvea Vieira…

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  • On February 7th eleven residents of Laboriaux participated in an important meeting/reading with Dr. Francisco Horta Filho to study the Municipal DECREE (DECRETO) N°34522, published on the 3rd of OCTOBER of 2011. Francisco Horta Filho is the new coordenador of the Núcleo de Terras e Habitação (Nuth), or the Nucleus for Land and Housing, of the Defensoria Pública do Estado do Rio…

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  • On Sunday November 20th one of Brazil’s largest media corporations, Rede Record, was in Laboriaux filming for their hugely popular TV show Balanço Geral. They followed one of Laboriaux’s best known residents, Carlão, as he describe what the issues and what the major problems are. Balanço Geral came to Laboriaux at the request of persistent…

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  • On Thursday, November 17th there was an important meeting in Rocinha’s Sports Complex (Complexo Esportivo da Rocinha) at 6:30PM. The meeting was organized by the Community Board for Rocinha, São Conrado and Gávea (Câmara Comunitária da Rocinha, São Conrado e Gávea). The Community Board is a social movement that was formed in early 2011 with…

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  •   On Saturday October 22nd at the Colégio Estadual Brigadeiro Schorcht, A Fundação Centro da Defesa de Dirietos Humanos Bento Rubião (henceforth Bento Rubião) held the last of five workshops that focused on their proposal for the Municipal Plan of Social Housing (PMHIS) in Rio de Janeiro. Bento Rubião objective was to create a space…

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  •   Motor Taxis are a common form of transportation within favelas, especially in Rocinha where there are an estimated 2000 motorcycles in an area of .04 square miles. At the bottom of Rocinha, a concentrated crowd of motor taxis waits to pick up passengers before dispersing throughout the community. About two Saturdays ago, I rode…

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  • Andando pela comunidade de Muzema, localizado na zona oeste do Rio de Janeiro, vê-se muitos números ao lado das portas de muitas das casas. Esses números marcam as casas que serão demolidas após a sua residentes desocupar. O governo do Rio de Janeiro deu aos moradores uma série de opções. Primeiro, eles foram oferecidas compensações…

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  • The following is an interview with Raquel Rolnik – (Special Rapporteur of the United Nations (UN) on adequate housing) – by Manuela Azenha from the site Vi  O Mundo. The urban planner and teacher Raquel Rolnik says that residents are the last to know, after the government decides their communities must be removed to make way for projects related to the World Cup and in the case of Rio de Janeiro, the Olympics.…

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  • The rapporteur of the National Right to the City, Platform DHESCA, Orlando Jr., professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, spoke during a hearing at the Regional Attorney for Citizens’ Rights, on June 21, 2011 about the findings of DHESCA’s official report on Rio de Janeiro leading up to the 2014 World Cup…

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  • Tropa do Elite III The forced evictions in Rio are accompanied by two major resettlement projects, Morar Carioca and Minha Casa, Minha Vida. The majority of these settlements are in the far, far western suburbs where the presence of milícias is particularly strong. Milícias are the Rio equivalent of 19th century New York ward bosses…

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