{"id":74053,"date":"2023-03-07T20:21:25","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T23:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=74053"},"modified":"2023-03-20T20:26:05","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T23:26:05","slug":"mare-residents-report-no-electricity-for-four-days-during-police-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=74053","title":{"rendered":"Mar\u00e9 Residents Literally In the Dark Amidst Violent Police Operations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A house in Parque Mar\u00e9 lit by candlelight due to a power outage. Photo: Resident archive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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

Over two days last week, the favelas of Mar\u00e9<\/a> in the North Zone<\/a> of Rio de Janeiro, suffered police operations carried out in at least 13 of the 16 communities which make up the complex. These raids affect lives across the entire territory in various ways, including the closing down of public health facilities, for example. Operations threaten residents\u2019 right to come and go<\/a>. Schools close or have their activities interrupted, which directly impacts children’s education, not to mention the trauma from experiencing violent police operations day in and day out.<\/p>\n

Another, unfortunately recurring, problem that Mar\u00e9 residents have to deal with is negligence by utilities contracted to provide public services such as water and electricity\u2014which are basic social rights. Although they impact residents negatively year round, the problems caused by the lack of water service from \u00c1guas do Rio<\/a> or electric utility Light<\/a> are always worse in summer, when it is hotter and more people are at home.<\/p>\n

In December 2022, for example, RioOnWatch<\/em> reported that the water shortage in Mar\u00e9 lasted at least two weeks<\/a>. Raniery Soares, 25, a resident of Parque Mar\u00e9<\/a>, had no water for 22 days. All this was due to \u00c1guas do Rio’s delay in repairing a leak in the Mar\u00e9 sub-main in the Parque Mar\u00e9 area. During this episode, there were reports of water shortages in the favelas of Parque Uni\u00e3o<\/a>, Rubens Vaz<\/a>, Parque Mar\u00e9, Nova Holanda<\/a>, Baixa do Sapateiro<\/a>, and Morro do Timbau<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This time, residents report that they have been without electricity for at least four days. With no response from Light, support from public agencies, or visibility in the mainstream media, residents find themselves alone in the dark and heat in the midst of two days of police operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cParque Mar\u00e9 has always been very vulnerable due to power outages. In some streets, transformers and lamp posts always catch fire due to lack of investment and maintenance in the territory.\u201d \u2014 Raniery Soares<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Parque Mar\u00e9 in the dark. View from the doorway of a home in the community. Photo: Resident archive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to resident reports, around 35 houses in Parque Mar\u00e9 are without electricity, located on the streets Princesa Isabel, Tatajuba, S\u00e3o Jorge, and Beira Mar. In addition to Light, residents sought help through the North Zone Sub-Mayor’s Office, which provided the contact of an advisor named F\u00e1bio Barbosa, supposedly responsible for Mar\u00e9, but that could not be reached. The Parque Mar\u00e9 Residents’ Association was also contacted, but its representatives declared they could not help. Beyond Parque Mar\u00e9, residents from some regions in Vila do Jo\u00e3o<\/a> are also reporting power outages.<\/p>\n

Even with the formal calls for repair by residents and numerous service request orders generated, Light still has not given a timeframe for restoring the power supply in these areas. According to the residents interviewed, they made on average ten calls over four days requesting repairs, with not a single response.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The power outage] affects everything! We can\u2019t sleep, it spoils the food in my refrigerator. I\u2019ve got no water because I live on the third floor and water doesn\u2019t reach me without a pump.\u201d \u2014 Renata Estev\u00e3o<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Renata Estev\u00e3o, 38, is a resident of Parque Mar\u00e9 and has two children. She explained she has spent a few hours of the day at a friend\u2019s house which has electricity. However, it is not enough. The buckets of water that Renata fetches for consumption at home are not enough for all the clothes she needs to wash, for cooking, personal hygiene, and cleaning the house.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not coming because they don\u2019t think it\u2019s important. It\u2019s inhumane to leave people for four days without electricity, children without electricity at home, not able to go to school due to the police operation. What are we expected to do?\u201d \u2014 Renata Estev\u00e3o<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Dark alleyway in Parque Mar\u00e9 due to the power outage. Photo: Resident archive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the second day of police operations, on Friday, March 3, residents reported that a team from Light turned up at the community. They had been assigned to carry out electricity repairs in the streets but were prevented from fulfilling the service by police on the grounds that the territory was in conflict.<\/p>\n

It is clear how, in the end, all the negligence that affects the territory is interconnected in some way. The three mentioned here\u2014police operations, lack of water, and lack of electricity\u2014are disruptions that deprive the favela of a normal routine. For example, if the resident has no electricity, they have no water, because the low quality of the water service requires almost all houses to use water pumps to bring the water from the street up to the water tanks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Houses in darkness in Parque Mar\u00e9 suffer a fourth night with no electricity. Photo: Resident archive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, even with water and electricity, if there is a police operation going on, residents are unable to follow their normal routine. And if there is a problem with water, electricity, Internet, cell phone signal, or any other service\u2014like last week in Parque Mar\u00e9\u2014residents continue to be cut off from services during the police operation due to the inability of the utility’s technicians to work. On occasion, as ocurred last week, police operations perpetuate the lack of services and access.<\/p>\n

Therefore, it is essential to discuss the scope of public policies for favela territories, besides drawing attention to the inequality in comparison with other spaces in the city. From a general Rio perspective, the idea of a middle class neighborhood in the South Zone spending four days with no electricity, no effective response from Light, and no exhaustive media coverage would be absurd. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for favela residents to find themselves in situations like this.<\/p>\n

This can never be normalized. It is important to be aware and demand that the the basic rights guaranteed to any Brazilian citizen are fulfilled by the authorities, agencies, and companies responsible.<\/p>\n

About the author:<\/em>\u00a0Juliana Pinho<\/i><\/a>\u00a0is a resident of Nova Holanda, one of the favelas that make up Complexo da Mar\u00e9, and is a sociologist (<\/i>UFRJ<\/i><\/a>) and journalism student (UCAM). A popular communicator and community organizer, Pinho co-founded the Mar\u00e9 Mobilization Front, is a member of the Palafitas Agency, and is responsible for management and planning of the\u00a0<\/i>For Her<\/i><\/a>\u00a0project. Currently, she manages NGO\u00a0<\/i>Fight For Peace<\/i><\/a>\u2018s portfolio and is a reporter for the\u00a0Entretetizei<\/a>\u00a0portal.<\/i><\/p>\n

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Support\u00a0<\/b>RioOnWatch<\/i><\/b>\u2019s tireless, critical and cutting-edge hyperlocal journalism, online community organizing meetings, and direct support to favelas\u00a0<\/b>by clicking here.<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas Over two days last week, the favelas of Mar\u00e9 in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, suffered police operations carried out in at least 13 of the 16 communities which […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":74056,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1288,1328,336],"tags":[3552,1144,371,280,182,485,1143,37,281,2263,362,2481,1025,1011,2418,1952,904,1142],"writer":[3434],"translator":[3561],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-74053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-highlight","8":"category-by-community-contributors","9":"category-violations","10":"tag-aguas-do-rio","11":"tag-baixa-do-sapateiro","12":"tag-cedae","13":"tag-complexo-da-mare","14":"tag-government-neglect","15":"tag-light-electricity","16":"tag-morro-do-timbau","17":"tag-north-zone","18":"tag-nova-holanda","19":"tag-parque-mare","20":"tag-parque-uniao","21":"tag-police-violence","22":"tag-poor-quality-services","23":"tag-right-to-come-and-go","24":"tag-right-to-water","25":"tag-rubens-vaz","26":"tag-utilities","27":"tag-vila-do-joao","28":"writer-juliana-pinho","29":"translator-felix-foot"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74053","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\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/74056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74053"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=74053"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=74053"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=74053"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=74053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}