EDIT: Corrected direction of the flight — which was headed FROM Rio De Janeiro to Paris.
Follow ShortFormBlog • Find us on Twitter & Facebook
jcoleknowsbest says: BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!! Brasil’s official position on the favelas/slums only changed with the World Cup and the Olympics.. Before then police never went in the favelas.. And even in that there is no real effort to actually help the people come out of poverty.. When I was in Rio Janeiro back in June, they were building huge screens along the highway from the airport. One of the taxi drivers was telling me that they were building them to hide the poor from the world cup/olympics visitors. This is crazy seeing as Rio has about 600 favelas.. They should mention that this war on the poor folks has claimed many lives….MANY LIVES… At least 23 people die per month by police violence.. This is a war against the poor.. They disguise it as a war against drugs but Like the United States it would be interesting to hear from the “Drug Lords” where they get their guns and drugs….. SMH!
» SFB says: A worthwhile counterpoint to our Brazil post. — Ernie @ SFB
(Source: shortformblog)
An attempt to clean up a big problem: Tanks rolled through Rio’s Rocinha neighborhood early Sunday morning, in an effort to show some authority in the region, which is a hotbed for the country’s drug trade. “We’re taking back this territory for the 100,000 citizens of Rocinha, people who have needed peace,” said Sergio Cabral, the governor of the Rio de Janeiro state. But there’s also a bigger goal happening — officials want to clean up the region ahead of two major events heading to the city in the next few years — 2014’s World Cup and 2016’s Olympics. Roughly a third of the city’s six million residents live in slums — of which Rocinha is the largest one. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP) source
It looks really funny until you realize the context: Rio de Janeiro’s carnival-building section of town, Samba City, just had a huge fire where lots of stuff got destroyed. Costumes, giant props: They were almost all destroyed. (Nobody was hurt, though.) “We are heartbroken,” said League of Samba Schools president Jorge Castanheria. “Everything was practically ready for the carnival.” It happened so close to the event, which draws hundreds of thousands of people each year, that they may not be able to get everything ready in time. source
Rio de Janeiro police, soldiers raid lawless drug haven: The Olympics may not be headed to Brazil until 2016, but they’re getting ready now by fighting against powerful drug gangs (who have been fighting back). With tanks! source
Copyright 2009-2013 Ernie Smith • Ask us stuff! • E-mail us • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook
