{"id":45767,"date":"2018-08-08T07:58:51","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T10:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=45767"},"modified":"2018-09-11T10:43:27","modified_gmt":"2018-09-11T13:43:27","slug":"after-five-years-residents-of-vila-hipica-still-without-electricity-in-passive-eviction-effort-by-federal-authorities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=45767","title":{"rendered":"After 5 Years, Vila H\u00edpica Still Without Electricity in ‘Passive’ Eviction by Federal Authorities"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

In 2013, the lights were shut off in\u00a0Vila H\u00edpica<\/a>, a community settled high in the mountains of Rio de Janeiro’s\u00a0Tijuca National Park<\/a> in Alto da Boa Vista<\/a>. Approximately five years later, residents are still without electricity. In what can be considered a\u00a0strategy to “passively” evict<\/a> the remaining families in the community, electricity is currently provided to facilities and restaurants in the park but selectively denied to residents of Vila H\u00edpica. In an act of resistance, one resident, Maria Hayd\u00e9e Alves da Silva Teruz, who goes by Hayd\u00e9e, recently traveled to Bras\u00edlia with a delegation from Rio\u2019s Popular Council<\/a> to plead her case to federal authorities. She was promised electricity, but it has yet to be delivered.<\/p>\n

The story of Vila H\u00edpica predates the official establishment of the Tijuca National Park. The Alto da Boa Vista region was settled by farmers in the 1800s; today, visitors can tour the “Slave Route<\/a>“\u2014a guided visit of plantation ruins where coffee was cultivated with slave labor. It wasn\u2019t until the 1940s that\u00a0the name H\u00edpica<\/a>\u00a0(meaning “horseback riding”) came into use; the\u00a0Brazilian Equestrian Society<\/a>\u00a0started using the area and the association’s employees gradually moved nearby to be closer to their workplace. Hayd\u00e9e remembers moving to H\u00edpica in the 1940s when her father worked with horses. \u201cWhen I came here, I was two years old.\u201d There was even a public school near H\u00edpica, now located on federal land, that children in the region attended. \u201cI studied here, me and my neighbors, everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The story of the Tijuca National Park is complicated. According to the Park’s website<\/a>, it is one of the oldest national parks in the world. Emperor Dom Pedro II declared the Tijuca Forest a protected area in 1861<\/a>\u2014even prior to the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in the United States (in 1872). However, the land was not officially demarcated at the time and as such, development by farmers and workers continued unabated. While large- and small-scale reforestation efforts<\/a> were undertaken during this time, the Tijuca National Park wasn\u2019t officially created until 1961\u2014a full century later. Over the years, the park has shifted between municipal, state, and federal control, with different agencies responsible for its protection\u2014the Brazilian Institute of Forest Development (IBDF)<\/a> gave way to Brazilian Institute of the Environment (Ibama)<\/a>, and today jurisdiction belongs to the\u00a0Chico Mendes Biodiversity Conservation Institute (ICMBio)<\/a>, a branch of the federal Ministry of the Environment<\/a>. Over the decades, while park management and conservation policies\u00a0have changed, the descendents of Vila H\u00edpica’s first residents have remained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere wasn\u2019t a school anymore after IBDF came, the school shut down. We continued studying, working, walking down, walking up\u2014we continued living. After, you could no longer have domestic animals, so they took away the horses. My father stayed here working. Once my father died, my brother continued working. When the Park [authorities] arrived, they didn\u2019t understand the area. They asked us for help, to do volunteer work. We did all of this. They didn\u2019t even know the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Like other communities<\/a> across Rio, residents of Vila H\u00edpica have been stigmatized as invaders and polluters<\/a>. To the contrary, through decades of life in the forest, residents have cultivated unmatched knowledge of sustainable practices<\/a>.\u00a0When the land was eventually handed over to the federal government, new regulations were put in place\u2014including the prohibition of individual residences, since national parks are classified as areas of public domain and\u00a0Full Protection Conservation Units.<\/a><\/p>\n

This was when the situation became complicated. After decades of living in the forest, officials now wanted the residents of Vila H\u00edpica out. In 2013, in what Hayd\u00e9e referred to as an attempt at “passive” eviction, Park officials cut off access to electricity. \u201cIn 2013, underground electricity cables were installed, and we couldn\u2019t use electricity anymore. They simply didn\u2019t want to give us electricity.\u201d\u00a0 Residents of Vila H\u00edpica were suddenly cut off from the grid, despite having duly paid for electricity for decades. To make matters worse, electric cables and generators supplying power to nearby establishments are visible from Vila H\u00edpica, but the families are not allowed to access them.<\/p>\n

Life without electricity<\/a> is difficult. The community, once composed of ten families, has dwindled down to three. Elderly residents’ health conditions have been drastically impacted; one resident<\/a> blames the lack of electricity for her father\u2019s premature death. Now barred from transporting building materials to the community, houses in Vila H\u00edpica have slowly deteriorated. Left with only generators to run gas-powered appliances, residents pay high gas bills and say that they are further polluting the very environment with which they have lived in harmony for so many years. Hayd\u00e9e\u2019s mother fell several years ago in the darkness of her home, permanently injuring herself. Now with Alzheimer\u2019s, she is bedridden with deteriorating health.<\/p>\n

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

Hayd\u00e9ee describes the challenges that residents face: \u201cThere was a type of massage pillow for circulation that my mother couldn\u2019t use anymore. All of the machines that she is supposed to use with electricity, she can\u2019t use. The nebulizer, she can\u2019t use. Our daily routine is complicated, especially for her because she is elderly and needs a refrigerator, a heater, refrigerated medicine, and machines to help with circulation and physical therapy. It\u2019s hard to take care [of children]. Eight years old without electricity, how is that for a child? They can\u2019t watch TV, they can\u2019t watch anything. It\u2019s really hard, really hard. You can\u2019t even clean in the dark. We can make some food with gas, but we don\u2019t have a refrigerator. Our situation is really sad. In the 21st century, what world are we living in?\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past several years, with help from the Pastoral de Favelas<\/a> and the Popular Council, the community has hosted protests and held meetings with public officials. A meeting with Park officials<\/a> in March of 2017 led to little other than frustration. According to residents, one ICMBio official was cited saying that he was just waiting for Hayd\u00e9e\u2019s mother to die so he could evict them. No alternative housing options have been put on the table, and residents are scared they will be moved far away from Vila H\u00edpica if evicted; confirming these fears, one evicted resident was displaced to a favela in Jacarepagu\u00e1<\/a>, in the West Zone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hayd\u00e9e, however, has not been silent. She recently traveled to meet with federal officials in Bras\u00edlia, where an ICMBio representative promised to turn the electricity back on. However, nothing has yet been done. \u201cRight now it\u2019s really hard to resolve the situation. Actually, when we went to Bras\u00edlia, it was mentioned that they would turn the electricity back on\u2014the coordinator of ICMBio said they would turn it on. After, he said he was trying but didn\u2019t succeed.\u201d Authorities then proposed turning the lights back on\u2014but only if the residents would agree to eventually leave their homes. \u201cWe didn\u2019t accept their idea, nobody will accept it. We will see what happens. Everybody lives in suspense. How can you live in a situation like ours?\u201d Hayd\u00e9e asked.<\/p>\n

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

While residents of Vila H\u00edpica continue living in uncertainty, we should ask ourselves: might evicting them go against the very purpose of protecting the park and preserving the region’s history? Wouldn’t ensuring their land rights make sense<\/a> for the community and<\/em> the forest?\u00a0Once guardians of the forest<\/a>, these families are now relegated to the darkness, forced to forgo electricity. Their story and the park\u2019s history is being systematically erased. \u201cThe Park didn’t ‘grow’\u2014to the contrary, the people left. We all have a story,\u201d says Hayd\u00e9e. While Vila H\u00edpica\u2019s case is tied up in federal courts, there is hope that the recent actions taken by the Popular Council will help. As for now, residents of Vila H\u00edpica remain in the dark.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas In 2013, the lights were shut off in\u00a0Vila H\u00edpica, a community settled high in the mountains of Rio de Janeiro’s\u00a0Tijuca National Park in Alto da Boa Vista. Approximately five years later, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":46035,"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":[1293,452,336,1329],"tags":[490,2735,226,474,1495,698,282,26,25,2791,2792,569,1033,485,37,2545,199,270,453,471,489,2383,21],"writer":[2431],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-45767","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-evictionswatch","8":"category-rio20","9":"category-violations","10":"category-by-international-observers","11":"tag-alto-da-boa-vista","12":"tag-conselho-popular","13":"tag-consequences-of-eviction-health","14":"tag-environment","15":"tag-eviction-tactics-canceled-services","16":"tag-federal-government","17":"tag-housing","18":"tag-housing-rights","19":"tag-human-rights","20":"tag-ibama","21":"tag-icmbio","22":"tag-jacarepagua","23":"tag-land-rights","24":"tag-light-electricity","25":"tag-north-zone","26":"tag-pastoral-das-favelas","27":"tag-reforestation","28":"tag-resistance","29":"tag-stigma","30":"tag-sustainability","31":"tag-tijuca-forest","32":"tag-hipica","33":"tag-west-zone","34":"writer-tyler-strobl"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45767","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\/151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45767"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=45767"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=45767"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=45767"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=45767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}