{"id":30692,"date":"2016-09-13T13:00:11","date_gmt":"2016-09-13T16:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=30692"},"modified":"2017-02-10T09:43:48","modified_gmt":"2017-02-10T12:43:48","slug":"rio-das-pedras-an-overview-of-the-bustling-west-zone-favela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=30692","title":{"rendered":"Rio das Pedras: An Overview of the Bustling West Zone Favela"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Esta\u00e7\u00e3o Azul, a lively 24 hour diner, is a hub of commotion\u00a0in\u00a0the heart of a large favela called Rio das Pedras<\/a>. Not formally mapped online, the expansive community<\/a> sits\u00a0in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone<\/a>\u00a0between\u00a0the neighborhoods of Itanhang\u00e1, Jacarepagu\u00e1<\/a>, and Anil.\u00a0Rio das Pedras\u2019 borders are defined by the Tijuca National Park<\/a>, the Tijuca Lagoon, and private land designated for the expansion of Barra da Tijuca<\/a>. But despite the prevalence of \u201cTijuca\u201d in defining its space and in its history, Rio das Pedras has created its own distinct identity.<\/p>\n

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

While the development of Rio’s favelas\u00a0cannot be traced to one specific common thread<\/a>, many grew as a result of particular construction projects, urbanization, job cycles or the expansion of an area:\u00a0Vila Aut\u00f3dromo<\/a>\u00a0evolved to meet housing needs among those constructing\u00a0a new race track, while Favela do Metr\u00f4<\/a>\u00a0served workers building the metro\u00a0station\u00a0at\u00a0Maracan\u00e3<\/a>\u00a0stadium. Rio das Pedras is no exception,\u00a0growing in tandem with Barra da Tijuca<\/a>\u00a0in the 1970s and 1980s as the suburb’s\u00a0demand for labor increased.<\/p>\n

Rio das Pedras was named after the river that begins\u00a0in the Tijuca Forest\u00a0and runs\u00a0directly\u00a0through the favela. Less than 30 years ago, the river was clean enough for children to play, people to bathe and others to wash their clothes in it. Today, the favela faces the same sanitation<\/a>\u00a0battle as many of Rio’s other communities; its river\u00a0resembles an open sewage canal\u00a0and\u00a0is lined with concrete\u00a0until it meets the Tijuca Lagoon.<\/p>\n

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

With over 55,000 residents located on an expanding 90 hectares of land, Rio das Pedras can be\u00a0divided into two main areas: a more consolidated northern area and a southern area with less developed infrastructure. But to residents, the main divisions within Rio das Pedras are the sub-communities of Areal 1, Areal 2, Areinha, Casinhas, Pinheiro, and Pantanal. The main roads are Rua Nova, Rua Velha, and Engenheiro.<\/p>\n

Rio das Pedras was\u00a0the site of one of the first militias<\/a>–vigilante off-duty ‘cop gangs’–in the state and, accordingly, still has an absence of\u00a0drug trafficking<\/a> gangs. Having observed traffickers gain control in other favelas, residents of Rio das Pedras were already aware and wary of what trafficking could do to a community as the\u00a0favela developed throughout the 1980s.\u00a0<\/strong>The original goal of militias in Rio<\/a> was thus to curb drug trafficking in the favelas in the absence of adequate formal security measures<\/a>. In the case of Rio das Pedras, homeowners are required to pay a “security fee” to the militia, which has kept drug trafficking at bay. But as militias expanded they also became associated with severe restrictions on\u00a0residents’\u00a0individual liberties, fostering corruption, and their\u00a0own particularly pernicious<\/a>\u00a0breed of violence.<\/p>\n

Historically attracting workers from northeastern Brazil<\/a>, today many of Rio das Pedras’\u00a0inhabitants are migrants<\/a>\u00a0who, prior to arriving, knew a relative\u00a0or\u00a0a friend living there\u00a0who highly recommended it. The area’s status as a migrant community continues, with more people from northeastern Brazil arriving via\u00a0the three-day Itapemirim<\/a> bus that travels\u00a0directly from the state of Cear\u00e1 to Rio das Pedras.\u00a0The original migrant generation was\u00a0responsible for weaving the area’s local culture<\/a>, which defines their community today.<\/p>\n

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

Northeastern culture in Rio das Pedras is palpable when visiting\u00a0the small businesses\u00a0lining the favela’s streets. Popular local haunts include Granjas (where you can\u00a0choose your chicken while it\u2019s still alive), Casas do Norte (a store with only northeastern products), and street vendors selling tapioca pancakes (a northeastern food that has been widely adopted by Cariocas).<\/p>\n

The local\u00a0economy<\/a> within Rio das Pedras thrives, acting as a central hub for smaller favelas like Muzema<\/a>\u00a0throughout the region\u00a0and even beyond.\u00a0With many residents owning businesses, working in local shops, and spending money in the favela, money is kept circulating within the community in a virtuous cycle of development. In this way, some residents say\u00a0that although Brazil is in an economic crisis, the crisis has not\u00a0hit Rio das Pedras as hard as other places.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas Esta\u00e7\u00e3o Azul, a lively 24 hour diner, is a hub of commotion\u00a0in\u00a0the heart of a large favela called Rio das Pedras. Not formally mapped online, the expansive community sits\u00a0in Rio de […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":116,"featured_media":34925,"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":[1268,1284,1329],"tags":[9,225,2203,504,427,221,291,188,309,569,33,412,431,103,1445,21],"writer":[2095],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-30692","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-favelaculture","8":"category-interviews-profiles","9":"category-by-international-observers","10":"tag-9","11":"tag-barra-da-tijuca","12":"tag-community-profile","13":"tag-culture","14":"tag-economy","15":"tag-favela-culture","16":"tag-food","17":"tag-history","18":"tag-immigration","19":"tag-jacarepagua","20":"tag-militia","21":"tag-muzema","22":"tag-northeast-of-brazil","23":"tag-profile","24":"tag-rio-das-pedras","25":"tag-west-zone","26":"writer-juliana-ritter"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30692","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\/116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30692"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=30692"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=30692"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=30692"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=30692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}