{"id":32349,"date":"2016-08-30T08:00:40","date_gmt":"2016-08-30T11:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=32349"},"modified":"2023-08-23T12:20:50","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T15:20:50","slug":"favela-residents-denounce-olympics-death-toll-on-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=32349","title":{"rendered":"Favela Residents Denounce Olympics Death Toll on Social Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Between August 5 and 21, over the course of the Olympic Games<\/a>,\u00a092 shootouts took place\u00a0in Rio de Janeiro, leaving at least 31 dead and 51 injured due to armed conflict, according to data<\/a> from\u00a0Fogo Cruzado <\/a>(Crossfire)\u2013an app launched in July by Amnesty International to track shootings in Rio via user-contributed reports.<\/p>\n

The violence<\/a>\u00a0experienced in many of Rio’s favelas during these two weeks\u00a0was not unprecedented, nor did it take place in\u00a0isolation.\u00a0Since 2009, when Rio de Janeiro was chosen to host the Olympics and Paralympics, Amnesty reports<\/a> that over 2,600 people have been killed by police in the city\u2013more than three quarters of whom are young, black men<\/a>. Even prior to the Olympic preparation process, Rio\u2019s mega-event militarized security program\u00a0began to take shape in anticipation\u00a0of the 2007 Pan-American Games<\/a> and 2014 World Cup<\/a>. Repeating the pattern observed in advance of both previous mega-events, extrajudicial killings escalated with the advent of the 2016 Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

Amid\u00a0concerted efforts to divert media attention\u00a0and control\u00a0public acts of\u00a0political protest, social media<\/a> offered a powerful platform for residents of favelas afflicted with Olympic violence to project their voices.\u00a0Many seized the opportunity to\u00a0denounce a public security<\/a> apparatus that prioritizes the safety of foreigners at the expense of the lives of\u00a0residents of favelas.<\/p>\n

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

In the early morning of August 3, just two days before the opening ceremony<\/a> of the Olympics, a mega-operation was carried out by both the Civil Police and Military Police in Complexo do Alem\u00e3o<\/a>, in Rio\u2019s North Zone.<\/a> Independent media group Coletivo Papo Reto<\/a> of Complexo do Alem\u00e3o recounted the situation via a Facebook post<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore 6am, residents were searched at different entrances of the favela. Around 6:30am, an armored vehicle enters the hill and houses shake, while we are awoken by the tremendous sound of the armored aircraft, flying\u00a0so close to the houses that it seemed like it was going to land on one of them. This is the reality in the favelas, different violations and the police as the only public policy. Just when you think it can\u2019t get any worse, they send more police. The participation of the favela in the OlimPIADAS<\/a> [wordplay between \u201cOlympics\u201d and Portuguese for \u201cjoke\u201d], is to have our life militarized, to live with the containment of poor classes<\/a>, under the rifle of the State.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Throughout the day, Papo Reto shared photos<\/a> of\u00a0homes invaded during police searches, sent by residents.<\/p>\n

In addition to Alem\u00e3o, North Zone favelas Acari<\/a>, Borel<\/a>, Del Castilho<\/a>, Manguinhos<\/a>, and Mar\u00e9<\/a>;\u00a0West Zone<\/a> favela City of God<\/a>;\u00a0and South Zone<\/a> favela Cantagalo<\/a> experienced intense police operations during the period in which the Games took place.<\/p>\n

In the midst of tension in\u00a0City of God, the gold medal won by judoka Rafaela Silva was widely celebrated<\/a> as source of pride and inspiration for the community. On August 8, resident of City of God and actor Ricardo Fernandes posted<\/a>: \u201cYesterday, in City of God, there were gunshots<\/a>, rushing and despair. Today we have the first gold of the Brazilian Olympic team. And this gold came from a black girl, resident of the City of God favela, the same favela\u00a0that had gunshots, rushing, and despair\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Rafaela\u2019s win was celebrated<\/a>\u00a0with a parade through the community a few weeks later. On the day of the celebration, resident of City of God and filmmaker Wagner Novais posted<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“When the match stopped, the shootout continued\u2026 Everyone knows that we are in a space of exception, this isn\u2019t anything new… It was beautiful to see the eyes of residents beaming with admiration for someone who was raised in the favela and, still in the face of great adversity, overcame it and won. This and other similar stories inspire, but we don\u2019t live only by them, it\u2019s the\u00a0exception that confirms the rule.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On August 10, residents of Alem\u00e3o were awoken to the sound of gunshots\u2013a phenomenon which has become routine in recent months. Thain\u00e3 de Medeiros<\/a> of Coletivo Papo Reto\u00a0shared an audio clip<\/a> of shots being fired,\u00a0captioned: \u201cGold medal in shooting #Rio2016 #OlympicCity.\u201d<\/p>\n

That same day, at the entrance of Vila do Jo\u00e3o<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Mar\u00e9, a National Force soldier was shot in the head and killed. The incident, which garnered widespread media attention<\/a>, was cited as a justification for a\u00a0series of police operations that unfolded in Mar\u00e9 over the course of the week.<\/p>\n

Community media group Mar\u00e9 Vive<\/a> posted a resident\u2019s \u201creport from the frontline<\/a>\u201d the following day:<\/p>\n

“Helicopter flying low, window intensely shaking. The day becoming light. The streets taken by the silence and by armed vehicles, war tanks. Tension. Favela da Mar\u00e9. Army, Special Operations Police Battalion [BOPE], National Force. Public Security…\u00a0Olympic City. Back to the streets. I cross paths with the BOPE. Lead medal in breaking down doors. Back home. On TV, \u2018live\u2019 coverage of police surrounding the community. We\u2019re in the media. A place to be avoided. I go to the window, first floor. The helicopter angles towards Vila do Jo\u00e3o. Ministry of Justice. Took the wrong route. Was shot\u2026 suspects identified. Hot coffee, cold wind. We hide in the shadow of fear. Horizon. Behind the helicopter, Christ the Redeemer, Pedra da G\u00e1vea and the Sugar Loaf. Tourist attractions. A smiling reporter. Close the window, the tank is coming\u2026”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

Despite constitutional protections against home invasions without a warrant<\/a> (except in exceptional judicially sanctioned circumstances, according to Article 5, Section XI<\/a>), residents of Mar\u00e9 reported frequent rights violations. Mar\u00e9 Vive posted a photo<\/a> of two camouflaged BOPE officers, one aiming his rifle and the other appearing to meddle with the gate to a house, with the caption: \u201cThis is the police in the Olympic City. Medal of lead in breaking down doors. Acting on impulse and putting the lives of many people at risk. Warrant? There isn\u2019t one. Here, invading people\u2019s homes is allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the same day, August 11, Mar\u00e9 Vive shared a post<\/a>\u00a0by photographer Bira Carvalho, describing the \u201ceveryday Olympic Games\u201d of living in a militarized space:<\/p>\n

\u201c100, 200 meter dash to save your own life, one detail, a shooting team has yet another uniform, there\u2019s black and there\u2019s camouflage, but here, the targets are not black silhouettes, here they are black people, living or dead from fear. I thought that like in ancient Greece, the Games were a way of bringing peace, of avoiding war. However here, that didn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Community journalist Gizele Martins<\/a> of Mar\u00e9 posted<\/a>: \u201c\u2018Olympic climate\u2019 on the asphalt and \u2018climate of war and fear\u2019 in the favela. We are paying with life so that you can have fun! A war invented by the State!\u201d<\/p>\n

\""Massacre<\/a>
“Massacre of black, poor favela residents and you shout goal!”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Also on August 11, an operation by the Military Police Shock Battalion in the Bandeira 2 favela in Del Castilho left three young men dead\u2013ages 14, 15, and 22. Photographer Carlos Coutinho of Coletivo Papo Reto captured the scene the following morning with blood streaming down the road. Papo Reto shared the photo<\/a> with the caption: \u201cOnly the blood of black, poor people from the favela flows!\u201d<\/p>\n

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

On August 16, a second intense operation was carried out in Mar\u00e9. The operation left three people dead, without so much as arrest warrants in their names. Mar\u00e9 Vive recounted<\/a> the ensuing\u00a0chaos:<\/p>\n

“Up to now, the toll has been five people dead, some shot and thousands of people impeded from working, studying, scared, terrorized, with their homes invaded\u2026 The name of this is genocide, extermination, massacre, abuse. And no one says anything…\u00a0Within the favelas of Rio de Janeiro weapons are not lacking. We need to live!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That same day, Raull Santiago<\/a> of Coletivo Papo Reto posted<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cNever forget\u00a0that \u2018police operations against the war on drugs<\/a>\u2019 and \u2018stray bullets\u2019 only exist in specific places in our city. It\u2019s in the favelas and peripheries that our homes and our bodies are found by the rifles that shoot racism, prejudice and exterminate our people daily, majority black and northeastern, with the justification of repressing drugs. Operations against the war on drugs is the violent control of a certain population and the \u2018stray bullet\u2019 is an instrument of extermination.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Camila Santos of Complexo do Alem\u00e3o posted a tribute<\/a> to Darlene da Silva Gon\u00e7alves, a 43-year-old woman shot and killed by a stray\u00a0bullet on August 18: \u201cPeople crying in Copacabana\u2026 For the gold. And us, crying here in Complexo do Alem\u00e3o, for the bloodshed of yet another innocent person. Rest in peace Dona Darlene.”<\/p>\n

On August 19, in the face of yet another day of intense shootings in Complexo do Alem\u00e3o, Coletivo Papo Reto posted a video of “the city at war” captioned<\/a>: \u201cWhile some celebrate, here we try to survive! Audio sent by a resident, a short clipping of the intense war today. Yesterday, a resident was injured and another died, found by those ‘stray bullets’ that only exist within the favelas. This needs to stop!!!!”<\/p>\n

Following Brazil\u2019s redemption against Germany in the mens\u2019 soccer final, resident of Complexo do Alem\u00e3o Mariluce Mari\u00e1 de Souza<\/a> posted on Facebook<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cI really wish we were as good in the quality of education, healthcare, security, policy, etc. Tomorrow everything returns to how it was before, our dear athletes will go back to the countries in which they live and we will remain here with our problems as always.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

Among spectators at the Maracan\u00e3 stadium<\/a> on August 20 was Carlos Henrique do Carmo Souza, father of 16-year-old Carlos Eduardo da Silva de Souza, known as Carlinhos\u2013one of the five victims gunned down by 111 bullets<\/a> in Costa Barros<\/a> in November 2015. In an act of peaceful protest, Carlos Henrique held a banner over the stadium railing with the faces of the five boys killed by police fitted within the Olympic rings, reading: \u201cRio, for 450 years the Olympic champion in assassinating black youth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ana Paula Oliveira<\/a>, whose 19-year old son Jonatha was killed by police in May 2014, shared a photo of Carlos Henrique’s demonstration at Maracan\u00e3, writing<\/a>: \u201cI wish that this full Maracan\u00e3 stadium would shout against the extermination of black youth. Indifference also kills.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Also on game day, residents of favelas and supporters took to the streets to carry out the first act of the social media-initiated #HungerToLive campaign<\/a> at\u00a0Pra\u00e7a Mau\u00e1, in the Port Region<\/a>, in an effort to draw attention to the atrocities committed under the pretext of guaranteeing\u00a0security during the Olympics. Demonstrators raised a large bright orange banner reading: \u201cHow many bodies of black favela residents does it take to make the Olympics?\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the closing ceremony, Acari resident Buba Aguiar wrote a Facebook post<\/a> criticizing the\u00a0narrative of Rio as an imperfect-but-beautiful host city, unashamed of its flaws,\u00a0propagated by some Olympic officials:<\/p>\n

“The evils of Rio de Janeiro have been exposed to the Olympic audience\u00a0not by the organizers of the celebration, but by the people afflicted behind the scenes, who were at no time invited to the event, and on the contrary, who were asked\u00a0to remove themselves from the scene. We, residents of favelas, during the Olympic Games, were attacked in innumerable forms by the State and its armed wing in our territory. And yes, it was us who denounced the evils, just as it was also us\u00a0who showed everything good that there is in our\u00a0favelas<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A few days after the closure of the Games, on August 23, Thain\u00e3 de Medeiros posted<\/a> a graphic from\u00a0The Intercept Brasil<\/em><\/a> with data on violence during the Olympics, commenting: “Great! The 107 shootouts, 34 dead, 58 injured helped to keep 90% of tourists safe! An important detail is that of the 34 dead, six were security agents and of the 58 injured 28 were public servants, in other words, the ‘security police’ didn’t even serve the very agents of the State. This is a choice, the option here is clear: investment in war in poor areas to secure\u00a0the rich. It doesn’t matter who dies. We’re replaceable.”\u00a0(The Intercept<\/em> data includes the two days prior to the opening ceremony within\u00a0its date range, thus differing slightly from\u00a0the previously cited numbers from\u00a0Fogo Cruzado.)<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of the Rio 2016 Olympics, international media\u00a0reflect upon the Games<\/a>\u2013some celebrate the evasion of a catastrophe wrought by Zika or terrorism, others evaluate the costs incurred: Were the Olympics successful? Was the city safe? Was it worth it? The approximate 85,000 security agents deployed throughout Brazil\u2013including 21,000 military\u00a0personnel endowed with policing powers in Rio\u2013are due\u00a0to patrol tourist corridors through\u00a0the Paralympics and until at least the municipal elections in October<\/a>. Meanwhile, the\u00a0militarization of urban space in many of the city’s favelas\u00a0will continue to be experienced as an Olympic legacy extending\u00a0far beyond these weeks of\u00a0sport and revelry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey achieved everything with perfection,” Complexo do Alem\u00e3o resident\u00a0Zilda Chaves posted<\/a>, “Only they didn\u2019t manage to put an end to the \u2018bullets found\u2019 in black bodies in Rio de Janeiro.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas Between August 5 and 21, over the course of the Olympic Games,\u00a092 shootouts took place\u00a0in Rio de Janeiro, leaving at least 31 dead and 51 injured due to armed conflict, according […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":32364,"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":[1736,1277,1288,336,1329],"tags":[1295,1087,555,2119,356,804,112,231,1606,280,32,1440,25,637,2160,1259,918,37,5,17,809,443,379,796,156,1142,21],"writer":[1695],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-32349","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-1736","8":"category-uppwatch","9":"category-highlight","10":"category-violations","11":"category-by-international-observers","12":"tag-securityupdate","13":"tag-voicesfromsocialmedia","14":"tag-acari","15":"tag-armed-forces","16":"tag-bope","17":"tag-borel","18":"tag-cantagalo","19":"tag-city-of-god","20":"tag-coletivo-papo-reto","21":"tag-complexo-da-mare","22":"tag-complexo-do-alemao","23":"tag-del-castilho","24":"tag-human-rights","25":"tag-manguinhos","26":"tag-mare-vive","27":"tag-mega-events","28":"tag-military-police","29":"tag-north-zone","30":"tag-olympics","31":"tag-police-brutality","32":"tag-public-security","33":"tag-security","34":"tag-shock-police","35":"tag-social-media","36":"tag-south-zone","37":"tag-vila-do-joao","38":"tag-west-zone","39":"writer-ava-rose-hoffman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32349","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\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32349"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=32349"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=32349"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=32349"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=32349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}