I was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. But not the touristy Rio, the tropical dream sold abroad as Brazil, but in the boondocks in a neighborhood called Realengo. I recall celebrating when Brazil was chosen to host the Olympic Games, not giving it a lot of thought at the time. I remember talking to my neighbors and the general feeling was positive.
There were promises that the Games would bring to the city important improvements through urban works such as mobility investments, depolluting the Guanabara Bay, better models of public security, increased employment and improvement of public areas for leisure and sports, increase of green areas, etc.
I lived 18 miles from the city center and used public transportation daily, suffering in trains that have no air conditioning (in a city with temperatures regularly over 100°F in the summer), with constant delays, running unsafely with broken doors open, so I let myself be seduced by the improvement promise. Since the official host city project foresaw projects distributed all around the city, including the forgotten West Zone, I believed that this time something good would reach it.
The celebration lasted as much as the one portrayed by the media, with the political leaders at the time celebration this “victory” for Brazil – all of them currently involved in corruption scandals, which should be dealt with in another piece. As soon as the TV was turned off, and especially once the construction work started, we understood the real question that should have been posed: victory for whom? Certainly, not for the residents of the favelas and poorest communities. Not for the working class. Not for black women. Not for black men.
During the city’s preparation to host the Games, the city administration reorganized the bus lines, diminishing by 25% the number of buses running and extinguishing several bus routes. A prize for anyone who guesses which part of the city was most impacted by the bus reduction: clearly, the outlying ghettos of Rio that already suffered with terrible public transportation. Bus itineraries were also reduced and therefore, people that lived distant from the city center had to take one or more extra bus to reach their destination. In other words, it became harder and more expensive to travel out of the outskirts.
The much talked about metro expansion connected the privileged South Zone to Barra da Tijuca – the wealthy and upcoming neighborhood in the West Zone – but did not contribute to improve public transportation issues in the West Zone. The expansion is located far from the residential areas and bus stops in the neighborhoods, including Barra da Tijuca. One of the metro stations is still under construction. That is, the improvements in transportation were distributed in a way that did not benefit the region that suffered the most with bad management and access: the West Zone.
In the preparation process for the many mega events hosted by the city, people were evicted from their residences in record numbers, reaching the highest number of evictions in Rio’s history. Over 77,000 people were evicted from their homes by the city administration, according to a study conducted by the World Cup and Olympics Popular Committee of Rio de Janeiro .
There are no official or detailed data on the evictions caused by the Olympic Games. Some of them were caused by expropriation in order to allow for public work to be completed. Many families were evicted with the excuse that they were residents of risky areas for mudslides, floods, or for living in unsanitary conditions. The risks were never proved and no one saw any expert report.
The majority of evicted families ended up relocating to the West Zone of Rio, according to a map produced by Agencia Publica. They relocated to areas with no infrastructure, bad public transportation, not enough schools and mainly, not enough job posts. There are several testimonies of the struggles for relocating families and the impoverishment the eviction brought.
If that was not enough, the West Zone of Rio is controlled by militias. In the Brazilian context, militias appeared in Rio de Janeiro first in the early 2000s with a modus operandi of paramilitary criminal organizations formed in low income urban communities, such as urban projects and favelas, initially justifying the criminal behavior as a way to fight narcotraffic. These groups, whose numbers often include off-duty or retired police, are maintained with funds collected by extorting the population and exploiting underground sales of cooking gas, cable, slot machines, agiotage, extra charge on real estate sales, etc.
The militias in Rio operate with the knowledge of the local authorities, having even been included in electoral debates and publicly praised by the likes of former Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes. If you talk to Rio residents, it is common sense that the militias were strengthened by the evictions. In my time growing up and living in my neighborhood of Realengo, I could see that growth with my own eyes, seeing neighboring policemen join militias and witnessing their growing economic power. The big legacy of the Games for the most poor population in Rio was the enhancement of militias, occupying the spaces in which the State refused to be present.
The precariousness of how the evictions were conducted and then the relocation of families as well made for fertile ground for the police to thrive. In 2015, journalists of local newspaper Extra documented that, at that time, all 64 residential projects built by a government program (Minha Casa, Minha Vida) and occupied by the lowest income bracket in the program were targeted by militia criminals. Again, in my experience of visiting family and friends in those condominiums and circulating in those areas, it is clear that the investigative observation was correct and alive. The reality of the militia presence is so flagrant that there is no denying it.
Through Rio’s bankruptcy after the corruption scandals revealed by the Car Wash operation, the monstrous expenses for the Olympic Games and the unwise spending of public funds, what we saw was the decadence of the State of Rio de Janeiro. In 2018, a federal intervention was called to Rio de Janeiro to support public security. It was a carte blanche, a free pass for the worsening of the violence and police lethality in Rio, including the ongoing permission for the armed forces to enter any home in areas considered under conflict. We watched a war being fought by organized crime, militias, armed forces and the police. There is not enough paper here to explore the results of that, but for the most poor and vulnerable residents of Rio, this intervention brought even more fear and more power to the militias.
The assassination of former Rio councilwoman Marielle Franco, killed on March 14, 2018, in a crime that also took the life of driver Anderson Gomes, can be understood amid this scenario of brutality found currently in Rio. The councilwoman was a loud critic of the militias and public security policies in Rio. There is still no complete conclusion to the investigation.
On November 2018, General Richard Nunes, Rio’s Public Security Secretary, declared that Marielle Franco was killed because militiamen believed she would hurt their land grabbing business in the West Zone of the city.
While police investigate the role of militias in Marielle Franco’s assassination, at the State Congress level, a measure to honor two former policemen investigated for land grabbing in the West Zone was presented. The author was Flávio Bolsonaro, the current president’s son.
On March 12, 2019, two former police officers, Ronnie Lessa and Elcio Vieira de Queiroz were arrested for the murder of Marielle and Anderson. Reportedly, Queiroz had been expelled from the force in 2011 after being arrested in an operation connecting police officers with militias and drug traffickers. Lessa retired after a bombing attempt against him. Before that, he received a distinction from Rio’s parliament.
The involvement of militia in her murder is the only public explanation to this tragedy given until now by authorities. Even though we now have people accused of pulling the trigger, the real question remains: Who ordered Marielle’s killing?
The predatory process instituted in Rio for the preparation of the Olympic Games deepened the inequalities of the city in so many ways that I believe we will still find other negative impacts to unravel. But the fact is that the bill for this party – a party many residents felt was beautiful in spite of the human rights violations it brought – was handed over to be paid by us, with blood, sweat and tears.
Allyne Andrade was born and raised in Realengo, a neighborhood in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro. She is a black feminist, lawyer, PHD Candidate at São Paulo University and LLM Candidate at UCLA 2019.