{"id":17177,"date":"2014-08-11T10:00:28","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T13:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=17177"},"modified":"2015-12-23T21:02:35","modified_gmt":"2015-12-24T00:02:35","slug":"diverging-paths-vila-autodromo-residents-divided-on-removals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=17177","title":{"rendered":"Diverging Paths: Vila Aut\u00f3dromo Residents Resist, Move On, Await"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cO meu lugar,<\/em>
\n \u00c9 cercado de luta e suor,<\/em>
\n Esperan\u00e7a num mundo melhor\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMy place,<\/em>
\n It is surrounded by struggle and sweat,<\/em>
\n Hope for a better world\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Maria do Socorro\u2019s 14-year-old daughter wrote these lyrics on her garage door, looking on and crying as the adjacent house was violently torn down, signaling the departure of her friend and neighbor<\/a>. It was April, the beginning of long-feared housing demolitions in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo<\/a>, and a buzz of journalists and photographers were documenting the scene. Several climbed Maria\u2019s outdoor stairway for a better view of the destruction; kitchen tiles shattered by sledgehammers, metal wires mangled, drilling equipment piercing through walls, and finally, a bulldozer flattening what was left of the skeletal structure.<\/p>\n

The demolitions have continued<\/a> systematically in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo for several months. By residents\u2019 own estimates, up to\u00a0half the families have left the community, the majority opting for resettlement in the Parque Carioca<\/a> housing complex and the rest accepting financial compensation.<\/p>\n

Activists assert the city is imposing unbearable conditions upon those families who remain<\/a> and continue to resist<\/a>. Many have been without regular water and electricity for months. Maria has stopped receiving phone and Internet service, and says the city even tried to remove the community\u2019s public telephones. Last\u00a0weekend, the city constructed a temporary partition wall down the main access road (supposedly for construction works), severely limiting residents\u2019 mobility and blocking access to the children\u2019s playground. Many residents argue that the relentless demolition of homes is intended to exhaust the resistance efforts by creating a climate of fear, uncertainty, and despair.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey kill you bit by bit<\/a>,\u201d Maria noted. \u201cThey tear down your neighbor\u2019s house, they pass in front of your house with a bulldozer breaking things. This is how they carry on, devastating and demolishing.\u201d<\/p>\n

“Ghost Town”<\/h3>\n

Jos\u00e9 Arimateia is a 30-year resident of the community and\u00a0owner of the local bakery. His successful business is putting two children through college<\/a>. After years of resistance, Jos\u00e9 has evidently been worn out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no hope left and it is sad,\u201d he said, adding that the once lively and peaceful community now feels like a \u201cghost town.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The streets are deserted on this day, except for construction workers circulating through partially demolished houses and piles of rubble. Empty lots and abandoned furniture leave an ominous and foreboding feeling. Though only a fraction of homes have been demolished, this appears to have had an effect on the\u00a0community psyche<\/a>. Bulldozers roll through the streets like war tanks and demolition crews have marked their permanence by setting up offices in containers at the community entrance.<\/p>\n

During a recent visit to Vila Aut\u00f3dromo, the prevailing feeling was that residents were \u201cjust waiting,\u201d whether it be for information, water, or another round of negotiations with the city.<\/p>\n

The dream of staying<\/h3>\n

Through multiple rounds of negotiation with the city, families are demonstrating their refusal to accept undervalued sums for their homes, titled two decades ago by the State government. Jos\u00e9 has asked for 1.3 million reais, market rate compensation for his home and bakery, his family\u2019s only source of income. To date, he has been offered less than half that sum and is waiting for the city\u2019s counter offer.<\/p>\n

Maria recalls that the Municipal Secretary of Housing tried to convince her that with the proposed compensation<\/a> she could buy a \u201cdream mansion\u201d in the\u00a0Recreio area, slightly further West.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo sir!\u201d she replied, \u201cThat is not my dream. My dream is to stay here in my house and your dream is to get me out of it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite this resistance<\/a>, in the face of\u00a0a well-documented sequence<\/a> of constantly shifting\u00a0rationales for removal, the coercion continues. City officials repeatedly tried to intimidate Maria by saying: \u201cWell, I am not threatening you, but if this goes to a legal battle, it will be much worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Resisting Until the End<\/h3>\n

Maria and her husband moved to Vila Aut\u00f3dromo 17 years ago and began building their life with great difficulty. She is committed to staying in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo, as per her legal right<\/a> and the Mayor\u2019s affirmation last year<\/a> that no one will be forced out. But she is also scared and frustrated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still haven\u2019t accepted [the city\u2019s proposed compensation] but we are afraid because at night it feels very strange here, with all the people leaving and houses being torn down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maria has asked their second-floor tenant\u2014who has already made rental arrangements in another community\u2014to continue living with them so that Maria\u2019s teenage daughter will not be alone in the house when she and her husband are working.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Maria is also scared about the insecurity of these negotiations, particularly after the injunction that prevented housing demolitions was overturned\u00a0in a highly controversial move<\/a> from within the Public Defender\u2019s office<\/a>. Internal tensions and conflicting information have exacerbated mistrust and uncertainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what do I do? Who am I going to trust? What guarantees do I have?\u201d she asks. \u201cThe Public Defender says we don\u2019t have to leave if we don\u2019t want to. But no one can guarantee to me what the Mayor is going to do. He is very Machiavellian, he says one thing and then does another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maria is on the verge of tears as she imagines her family waking up to a bulldozer at their door and an official informing them that the only remaining options are Parque Carioca or becoming homeless.<\/p>\n

A New Home<\/h3>\n

Meanwhile, former Vila Aut\u00f3dromo residents have started building a new community in the Parque Carioca<\/a> apartment complex, located one\u00a0kilometer away. Marivaldo de Jesus Silva walks me through the housing complex, passing out fliers to neighbors about the city-sponsored \u201cReuni\u00e3o de Esclarecimento\u201d (Clarifying Meeting) that will take place the following morning. He chats up neighbors and reprimands children for locking their bicycles up along the pedestrian walkway. We joke that he should run for a leadership position in the complex, one of the topics of the upcoming meeting.<\/p>\n

A few months ago in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo, Marivaldo expressed ambivalence about the resettlement housing and was waiting for certain rumors to be cleared up before moving with his 5-year-old daughter. Now, he says he has no regrets about his decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of struggles [in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo] over the years and it is tiring. People were exhausted living there without any infrastructure, which caused various problems in their day-to-day life. So the people resolved to move and everything is good here, thank God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Marivaldo has had a positive experience, opinions about the Parque Carioca housing are mixed. Maria do Socorro explains that several former neighbors she has visited regret their decision due to high utility costs, including electric bills upwards of 200 reais per month.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite O Globo<\/em> newspaper\u2019s glossy photos of children splashing around in the communal swimming pool, Parque Carioca looks and feels like a heavily surveilled public housing project<\/a>. Identical apartment blocks extend off a central road, each with its own gated entrance and security guard. Visitors can only enter if accompanied by a resident, in contract with Vila Aut\u00f3dromo,\u00a0where residents often boasted, “Here\u00a0anyone can come and go any time of day or night,” in reference to both safety and welcoming of outsiders.<\/p>\n

As I was toured around by Marivaldo, a city representative drove up and inquired who I was and why I was taking photos.<\/p>\n

The Final Hope<\/h3>\n

Back in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo, the resistance continues as leaders pressure the Mayor<\/a> to release the promised\u00a0upgrading\u00a0plans for the families that will remain. The Mayor maintains that he cannot publicize the plan until the families wishing to leave have done so, which many residents assert is a convenient excuse to obscure his true intentions and increase the climate of fear and uncertainty about the community’s future,\u00a0increasing chances of further capitulation\u00a0under pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all maquiagem<\/em> (make-up),\u201d Jos\u00e9 explained. \u201cI knew from the beginning that his plan was to do away with the entire community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Families continue to resist in diverse ways. Many are holding weekly meetings to strengthen resistance efforts and demand accountability in this moment of intense pressure from the city. Others remain strong in the face of an asymmetrical and often coercive negotiation process, receiving some of the first market-rate compensation of favela homes in the city\u2019s history. Others are carving out a new life and community for themselves in Parque Carioca housing, welcoming the stability after years of struggle and uncertainty.<\/p>\n

Maria\u2019s parting words to me are in the same spirit of determination that has fortified Vila Aut\u00f3dromo over decades<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy hope is that we are still living here the next time you come to visit,\u201d she tells me.<\/p>\n

Slideshow with images of Vila Aut\u00f3dromo street life, existing houses\u00a0and undergoing demolition in April, and Parque Carioca:<\/h3>\n