{"id":27750,"date":"2016-03-30T08:01:54","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T11:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=27750"},"modified":"2020-08-07T14:04:04","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T17:04:04","slug":"horto-protests-as-eviction-threats-intensify-in-rios-botanical-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=27750","title":{"rendered":"Horto Protests as Eviction Threats Intensify in Rio’s Botanical Gardens"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

On Sunday, March 27, the community of Horto<\/a>, located within the boundaries of Rio de Janeiro\u2019s Botanical Garden in Rio’s South Zone<\/a>, once again took to the streets to protest against the eviction<\/a>\u00a0of its\u00a0approximately 600 families.<\/p>\n

Around 200 residents and supporters gathered\u00a0at 8am at the\u00a0main gate entrance to the Horto communities of Caxinguel\u00ea and Grot\u00e3o. Adults, children, teenagers and elderly marched together along the\u00a0Rua Pacheco Le\u00e3o towards Rua Jardim Bot\u00e2nico street, making their way to the\u00a0Botanical Garden’s main entrance. Residents carried banners with the words, \u201cHorto Lives,\u201d \u201cHorto Will Remain,\u201d and \u201cThere will be no removal of the residents of Horto!\u201d The crowd blocked the garden’s main entrance and, after awhile, a smaller group entered the park for a peaceful protest inside.<\/p>\n

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

According to\u00a0Moacyr de Oliveira Paiva Jr.\u00a0of the Horto Residents Commission, this latest\u00a0protest was the last chance to prevent the eviction of\u00a0Vilmar da Silva Paulo, who has lived in the community for 40 years and\u00a0raised his children and grandchildren there. The community received news of Vilmar\u2019s eviction on January 18. It was scheduled to take place on Monday March 28, anytime from 6am on. Residents fear that once the eviction process begins, they will see no end to demolitions. However, Moacyr de Oliveira Paiva Jr. highlighted that they will fight every removal: “This will not be a peaceful eviction. We will do whatever we can.”<\/p>\n

Around 200 families have filed lawsuits against the Botanical Garden’s attempt to remove them from their homes. The residents have a number of lawyers and politicians supporting their case\u00a0in Bras\u00edlia. However, several explain\u00a0that due to the ongoing nature of this battle, all legal resources have now been used. Residents have\u00a0received notice of eviction without\u00a0any offers of compensation or alternative housing.<\/p>\n

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

According to Moacyr, the evictions are unconstitutional\u00a0and\u00a0have\u00a0no valid legal basis. The Botanical Gardens’\u00a0legal actions against Horto residents were first submitted in 1985 while Brazil was still a military dictatorship<\/a> and before the Brazilian\u00a0Constitution<\/a> was established.<\/p>\n

Residents have been fighting eviction for decades<\/a>. This latest threat was initiated after\u00a0Brazil’s Environment Minister,\u00a0Izabella Teixeira, announced the initial eviction of 130 families earlier this month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The history of Horto dates back to a 15th century sugarcane plantation that occupied the land before it was taken back\u00a0by King Jo\u00e3o VI in 1808, first for a gunpowder factory and then for the Garden. As the Botanical Garden’s’ workers were spread across Rio State, they were invited by the king to relocate and build homes within the park’s boundaries.<\/p>\n

One resident, who was born in the community and has now\u00a0lived there\u00a0for 42 years said: \u201cWe have always been so passionate about the Botanical Garden, we don\u2019t want to fight against them. My parents helped build it. My mother worked at the Botanical Garden her whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The day following the demonstration, Monday March 28, residents of Horto received conflicting information about an anticipated eviction of Vilmar da Silva Paulo. They were told by one police officer that the removal was not going to happen and then informed by another that Shock Troops<\/a> were on their way. As a\u00a0safety precaution, a large group of community members surrounded the entrance of the community and closed the gates to traffic.<\/p>\n

In a heated moment, the Horto Residents Commission president, Emilia de Souza, gathered community members and announced they should not leave the entrance until an official\u00a0confirmation that\u00a0the morning\u2019s eviction had been canceled:\u00a0\u201cWe are fighting for our housing rights<\/a>. We shall resist!\u201d Later they received phone confirmation from a representative in Bras\u00edlia.<\/p>\n

Community members have not been in communication with\u00a0representatives from the Botanical Garden. According to residents, the Garden’s committee refuses to discuss why the community needs to be removed. Given that Horto is located on some of Rio’s most\u00a0highly valued land and has powerful, wealthy neighbors, residents believe that real estate speculation<\/a> is the motive for eviction.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Tuesday March 29, Horto once again received news that the eviction of resident Vilmar da Silva Paulo would take place. Residents gathered at the entrance gates of the community on Rua Pacheco Le\u00e3o street at 6am in anticipation. After several hours they were informed that the eviction would not happen.<\/p>\n

It was reported this week<\/a>\u00a0that the Environment Minister, Izabella Teixera, confirmed there would be no immediate eviction of families in the short term and that eviction would only happen after negotiations. The community however remains alert and is\u00a0resolved to resist eviction entirely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas On Sunday, March 27, the community of Horto, located within the boundaries of Rio de Janeiro\u2019s Botanical Garden in Rio’s South Zone, once again took to the streets to protest against […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":27753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1293,1854,1288,1290,1333,335,336,1329],"tags":[756,449,1497,11,884,282,26,25,894,1105,18,270,156],"writer":[1807,1994],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-27750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-evictionswatch","8":"category-housingwatch","9":"category-highlight","10":"category-civilsociety","11":"category-event-reports","12":"category-policies","13":"category-violations","14":"category-by-international-observers","15":"tag-community-organizing","16":"tag-constitution","17":"tag-eviction-tactics-misinformation","18":"tag-forced-evictions","19":"tag-horto","20":"tag-housing","21":"tag-housing-rights","22":"tag-human-rights","23":"tag-jardim-botanico","24":"tag-military-dictatorship","25":"tag-protest","26":"tag-resistance","27":"tag-south-zone","28":"writer-clare-huggins","29":"writer-sabrina-norris"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27750"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=27750"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=27750"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=27750"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=27750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}