FAVELA RESISTS
In 2013, Rio's mayor Eduardo Paes wanted to expropriate a favela located 1km away from Maracanã to “clean up” the area. The first excuse for this was that they would build a parking lot for the World Cup the next year - but that never happened.
The remotion of Favela Metrô Mangueira started in 2013 and a lot of families that lived there for decades had to leave their homes. But a group of residents resisted; they fought the police and the remotion was stopped.
These pictures were made for Reuters in this period when a lot of people had already left the favela but some families were still fighting for their homes. After five years, there are just a few families living there with no basic sanitation, almost no water system and still have to face a mountain of trash in the middle of the favela.
They had to fight again in 2016 before the Olympic Games, when the mayor wanted to start the remotion again and for the same reason. More resistance, more conflicts and the mayor had to stop after a judge’s decision.
The mayor never justified the remotion officially. There are no documents or studies to comprove that Favela Metrô Mangueira needed to be removed - like many others around the city were, and for the same reason: too close to the touristic areas.
2016, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
