{"id":80319,"date":"2025-01-15T12:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T15:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=80319"},"modified":"2025-01-23T15:58:39","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T18:58:39","slug":"without-dialogue-or-compensation-rio-de-janeiro-city-hall-gives-10-days-notice-to-forcibly-evict-the-santa-luzia-community-which-over-decades-has-fought-and-won-housing-rights-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=80319","title":{"rendered":"Without Dialogue or Compensation, Rio de Janeiro City Hall Gives 10 Days Notice to Forcibly Evict the Santa Luzia Community, Which Over Decades Has Fought\u2014And Won\u2014Housing Rights Battles"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rua<\/a>
Rua Professor Silvio Elias, on Side B of the Santa Luzia favela, between the neighborhoods of Vargem Pequena and Vargem Grande.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/i><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n

On January 8, 2025, residents of the Santa Luzia<\/a> favela, located between the neighborhoods of Vargem Pequena<\/a> and Vargem Grande<\/a> in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone<\/a>, were blindsided by a ten-day deadline to vacate their homes. The notice was issued by Rio de Janeiro City Hall’s Municipal Secretariat of Public Order (SEOP<\/a>) through posters put up across the community, with no prior warning or consultation with residents.<\/p>\n

Elis\u00e2ngela Dias*, 24, mother of Lu\u00edsa and Breno*, is expecting her third child and describes how critical this situation is for her family at such a delicate time:<\/p>\n

\n
\"Demolition<\/a>
Demolition notice issued by Rio de Janeiro City Hall for structures in the Santa Luzia favela, in the city’s West Zone.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis whole thing really upset me. I’m still nervous and desperate because of my kids, because of my son\u2019s and my daughter\u2019s mental health. They attend a public school. My girl only has one kidney and is under treatment at the Federal University Hospital. During Covid, I was living rent free, so I worked, saved money, and bought a little piece of land that someone with a claim to it sold me. So, OK. I did all that so my kids could have a dignified life, because the government wants kids in school, they want kids with up-to-date vaccination cards. If you check their vaccination cards, you’ll see everything is in order. But then, out of nowhere, this kind of news hits you. Because anyone who knows the SEOP knows that when they show up, it’s to kick people out. Where am I supposed to go with my kids? I\u2019m not even from here. I\u2019m from Minas Gerais, from Belo Horizonte. But my kids are Rio natives, they’re cariocas. I\u2019d have to uproot their whole lives\u2014their school, daycare, friends\u2014and where would I take them? It makes no sense. I\u2019m 36 weeks pregnant. I\u2019m about to give birth. I could go into labor and come back home to find that I have no home. How am I supposed to set up the crib if I don\u2019t even know if we can stay here?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Similarly, Marluce Santos*, 48, who has lived in the Santa Luzia community for decades, is distressed by the City Hall’s disrespect and the possibility of forced eviction:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are devastated, we are very sad. This is a community with a lot of people, and everyone here is poor. We need help and we\u2019re not getting any. I live with my children, with seven kids in the house, and though we need help, we\u2019re not getting\u2026 If you look around, you\u2019ll see this is a very humble place. I\u2019ve lived here for 38 years\u2014I\u2019m 48 now. I\u2019ve been through a lot here, only to now get this news that the community has just a few days to leave!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

City Hall argues that the community is occupying a marginal protection strip (FMP), areas of land along the margins of bodies of water designated for environmental protection and the conservation of springs, rivers, lakes, lagoons, and reservoirs.<\/p>\n

Contrary to what is stated in Article 285 of Complementary Law No. 270\/2024<\/a>, used in the forced eviction notice, the residents of Santa Luzia occupy an area established during the colonial period, when Portuguese-owned lands were granted to local workers\u2014mostly descendants of quilombolas<\/a> and migrants from the Brazilian Northeast\u2014who practiced subsistence farming<\/a> along the Portelo Canal, long before more recent laws were enacted. Furthermore, the community has been registered with the Land and Cartography Institute of the State of Rio de Janeiro (ITERJ<\/a>) since 1992 and recognized as a Special Area of Social Interest (AEIS<\/a>) since 2006.<\/p>\n

Santa Luzia’s official identity emerged in 1984, when a firefighter named Seu<\/em> Aroldo registered the community’s residents’ association<\/a> and became a local leader at the time. Throughout its history, Santa Luzia has faced numerous disputes driven by land ownership interests.<\/p>\n

Onset of Conflicts<\/h3>\n

In 2006, Santa Luzia residents organized a collective mobilization through an assembly called the Popular Union Movement (MUP), which resulted in the inclusion of a declaration signed by 29 communities as Special Areas of Social Interest (AEIS) in the Vargens Urban Structuring Plan (PEU), which at the time was being developed specifically to open up opportunities<\/a> for the real estate market.<\/p>\n

This action prevented residents from being forcibly evicted in the following year, 2007, during the administration of former mayor C\u00e9sar Maia<\/a> in preparation for the Rio Pan American Games<\/a>. During C\u00e9sar Maia’s administration, there was a proposal to implement the Carioca Venice project<\/a>, which aimed to turn all rivers and canals in the Vargens area into navigable water mirrors, with resorts and mansions along their banks. This project was once again brought to light in 2024 by the Lagunar Mar\u00edtimo Consortium<\/a>, but no timeline has been set for it to resume.<\/p>\n

Once again, in July 2020, during the worst phase of the coronavirus pandemic, the city’s Rio \u00c1guas Foundation<\/a> technicians, escorted by the Municipal Guard<\/a> riot squad and Military Police<\/a>, delivered forced eviction notices with a 30-day deadline. The claim was that homes were occupying an environmentally sensitive zone. However, an injunction obtained through the Public Defenders’ Office<\/a> prevented the residents’ removal.<\/p>\n

\"Rio<\/a>
Rio \u00c1guas Foundation technicians’ incursion into the Santa Luzia community in 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Silvana Medeiros*, 53, mother of Ant\u00f4nio*, 15, shares the emotional and psychological impacts of the forced eviction notice and her concern about her son being home alone if anything might happen:<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one has anywhere to go. So, that\u2019s keeping everyone up at night, you know? It’s not like they asked, \u2018Do you want a place to stay?\u2019 No! So how do you leave home with your kids? Where do you go? To the streets? Impossible! I can\u2019t pay rent, I don\u2019t have a job\u2014I\u2019m self-employed. How am I supposed to handle this? Only my husband earns a salary, so I don\u2019t think this is fair. And it\u2019s not just me, it\u2019s the whole community. They\u2019re pressuring us to leave. It\u2019s been hard for us, really, really hard. We don\u2019t know what to do. Sometimes I go out to work and leave my son at home. Then I keep calling: \u2018How\u2019s everything over there? Did anyone come by? If anyone rings the doorbell, don\u2019t answer it,\u2019 because he\u2019s underage, right? He can\u2019t answer the door. \u2018No, mom, everything\u2019s OK.\u2019 But how do you think I feel? My nerves are on edge! We sleep in fear. Every time the doorbell rings, I think, \u2018Are they coming to take us away?\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

During Mayor Eduardo Paes<\/a>‘ administration, which began in 2020, a process was launched allegedly aimed at regulating the real estate market within the UEP (Spatial Planning Unit) by establishing an environmental protection area called the Sert\u00e3o Carioca APA<\/a> (or the Vargens Conservation Unit). Although residents were enthusiastic about the prospect having an APA in their region, its boundaries were reduced by 40%, approximately 400 hectares, through Municipal Decree 49.695\/21<\/a>, without any scientific rationale offered.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the APA’s creation, the mayor issued two decrees: No. 50.411, dated March 18, 2022<\/a>, which established the boundaries of the protection area, increasing the APA\u2019s surface area, and No. 50.412, also dated March 18, 2022<\/a>, which defined its zoning regulations. Both decrees constitute urban policy measures that bypassed the municipal legislative body, in violation of items I, II, III, and IV of Article 2 of the City Statute<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Article 2 \u2013 Urban policy aims to regulate the full development of the social functions of the city and of urban property through the following general guidelines:<\/p>\n

I – Guaranteeing the right to sustainable cities, understood as the right to urban land, housing, environmental sanitation, urban infrastructure, transportation and public services, employment, and leisure\u2014for present and future generations;<\/p>\n

II \u2013 Democratic management through the participation of the population and representative associations from various community sectors in the formulation, execution, and monitoring of urban development plans, programs, and projects;<\/p>\n

III \u2013 Cooperation between governments, the private sector, and other sectors of society in the urbanization process, in accordance with social interests;<\/p>\n

IV \u2013 Planning the development of cities, the spatial distribution of the population, and the municipality\u2019s economic activities within its area of influence, in order to prevent and correct urban growth distortions and their negative effects on the environment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Municipal Decree No. 50.412\/22 allows, for instance, the construction of six-story buildings, with the possibility of increasing to eight or nine stories in areas deemed degraded. It also permits the isolated construction of houses or cluster-type developments on the hillsides of the Pedra Branca State Park<\/a>, with licenses for deforestation and tree cutting.<\/p>\n

In a meeting at the Recreio dos Bandeirantes Residents\u2019 Association<\/a> on June 18, 2022, Mayor Eduardo Paes announced he had approved a large development project involving land allotments and the construction of houses on the border of the Sert\u00e3o Carioca APA. According to him, the area corresponds to half the size of the South Zone neighborhood of Leblon. However, this project did not obtain an environmental license from the Municipal Secretariat of the Environment<\/a>, nor was its impact assessed by the State Environmental Institute (INEA<\/a>), the state-level licensing agency, or by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA<\/a>), at the federal level.<\/p>\n

Current Composition of Santa Luzia<\/h3>\n

The favela is currently located between the Pedra Branca State Park and the Portelo Canal in Rio de Janeiro\u2019s West Zone, spanning the neighborhoods of Vargem Grande and Vargem Pequena. The community occupies a four-kilometer strip of land along the Portelo Canal. Santa Luzia has a single street, Rua Professor Silvio Elias, which cuts the community right down the middle. This street is divided into Side A, which is two kilometers long, and Side B, measuring 1.8 kilometers. The community is home to over 7,500 residents, 1,500 families, as well as the Santa Luzia Residents’ Association<\/a>, positioned between the two sides.<\/p>\n

\nhttps:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Panorama-of-the-Santa-Luzia-favela-G1-platform-reproduction.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

The forced eviction aims to make way for the construction of an avenue along the Portelo Canal, in the area currently occupied by the favela. The plan is for this avenue to connect Rua Drumontina to Rua Benvindo de Novaes, running parallel to Estrada dos Bandeirantes.<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/a>
Map of the Santa Luzia favela. Reproduction: Google Maps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to residents, the only solution presented by City Hall was a social rent<\/a> of R$400 [~US$66] for a period of three months\u2014an insufficient and shameful amount, especially for a community that has been established for decades with a clearly documented history. All residents interviewed for this article agree that remaining in the community is the right path. However, in the event of expropriation, they demand compensation that reflects the value of the land and investments made in their land and buildings. This is what residents like Leonel Filho*, 40, who has lived in the community for ten years has to say:<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling very uncomfortable. We bought the land, we built our homes, and now we\u2019re at risk of losing everything we have. We have wives, small children. And all of a sudden, City Hall shows up, serving notices to everyone\u2026 Threatening to take us away, to demolish our homes in ten days. It’s really hard. There\u2019s no guarantee we\u2019ll get any compensation. We’re four people living in my house: me, my wife, my pregnant daughter, and my grandson\u2026 I think they should just legalize everything. They should do that and leave us alone. All we want is peace and calm. I\u2019ve lived here for ten years, and I\u2019ve spent everything I had on this place. I really think they should legalize the whole thing. We have the right to keep what\u2019s ours. We didn\u2019t occupy the land; we bought it, and I love it here. It\u2019s a quiet, peaceful place. To me, this place means everything!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Image<\/a>
Image of the Portelo Canal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rose Batista*, 24, lives with her four-year-old daughter Isabel* and her partner, and shares her outrage over City Hall’s last attack against the Santa Luzia community:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they should treat us like human beings and not just show up at your door with a notice and, bam: \u2018You\u2019ve lost your home,\u2019 the one you built with so much sweat and struggle. Because, seriously, things are hard to come by for everyone here. So, when someone shows up and says, \u2018You have ten days to take everything out,\u2019 you really think that’s what’s going to happen… And in that moment all you can think is: \u2018Where am I going?\u2019 My things, my daughter, my home\u2026 It\u2019s very sad. I think the least anyone here wants is another place to live, a chance to start over, from scratch. Even if it is from scratch, at least give a person the means of leaving their home behind. Not like: \u2018Grab everything you\u2019ve got and figure it out.\u2019 Because that place is really all people have.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Side<\/a>
Side A of Rua Professor Silvio Elias in the Santa Luzia favela.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Residents Seek Support from the Public Defenders’ Office<\/h3>\n

On January 13, around 60 residents gathered at Rio’s Public Defenders’ Land and Housing Nucleus (NUTH<\/a>) with public defenders Luis Gustavo and Paloma Lamego. After the meeting, the mobilization proceeded towards the City Council<\/a>, with the support of Councilor Rodrigo Vizeu<\/a>, and was concluded with a closed meeting between Santa Luzia leaders and representatives from SEOP.<\/p>\n

\"January<\/a>
January 13, 2025: the Santa Luzia community arrives in full force at Rio’s Public Defenders’ Office, seeking legal defense against Rio de Janeiro City Hall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to public defender Luis Gustavo, there is a municipal contradiction regarding the treatment and approach towards the area:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community was notified because there were, allegedly, structures built along the marginal protection area, which is indeed prohibited. However, since this is an area of special social interest, it is up to the municipality to relax the urban planning rules. It is pointless for the municipality to recognize the area as AEIS and then notify the entire community aiming to forcibly evict it, without offering any kind of housing solution. There are over 1,000 families. It is an area designated for housing disadvantaged people, an area in which the municipality can relax urban planning rules but does not do so. There is already a legal discussion underway, and the Public Defenders’ Office is monitoring it. Our intention is to have the community’s land rights recognized.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Residents'<\/a>
Residents’ mobilization at the City Council in downtown Rio de Janeiro.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All the residents of the Santa Luzia community wish for in the new year is dignity, a sentiment expressed through the words of resident Marta Oliveira*:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have the right to a minimum level of dignity. The moment each resident receives a notice\u2014’Leave your property in ten days and figure it out’\u2014the most basic thing, dignity, is missing. Every four years, it’s the same story. ‘We\u2019re going to take away the community, take it away, take it away,’ with the worst excuses possible. ‘The area needs to be expropriated due to environmental issues.’ Fine, bring us the report, the analysis that was done to prove the community can\u2019t be here. Today, the favela is completely different because the residents themselves did what the public authorities failed to do [for affordable housing development]… now they show up wanting to forcibly evict families, some of whom have lived here for over 60 years, to build new properties. If I can\u2019t live in this space for environmental reasons, why can they build apartment complexes in the same place? There are already over five luxury complexes here. So, if they remove the favela, they have to remove the luxury condos as well. This notice is completely incoherent: ‘Get out now.’ No! There’s no ‘getting out.’ We need to talk things over! The State has to protect us. They have to go to every single little house over there and talk to the owners, see what\u2019s rightfully theirs: ‘You\u2019ve lived here for so many years, your property is worth X, Y.’ It\u2019s about organizing, not about making a mess.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

*All names of residents mentioned in the text are fictitious to protect their privacy and safety.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Support\u00a0RioOnWatch\u2019s tireless, critical and cutting-edge hyperlocal journalism, online community organizing meetings, and direct support to favelas\u00a0by clicking here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas On January 8, 2025, residents of the Santa Luzia favela, located between the neighborhoods of Vargem Pequena and Vargem Grande in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone, were blindsided by a ten-day […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":245,"featured_media":80320,"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":[1293,1288,1328,336],"tags":[1787,1947,3767,1497,11,65,182,26,1948,1656,673,1170,2969,618,69,2413,10,3161,135,134,287,1868,3162,21,365],"writer":[3766],"translator":[3452],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-80319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-evictionswatch","8":"category-highlight","9":"category-by-community-contributors","10":"category-violations","11":"tag-aeis-zeis","12":"tag-eviction-tactics-concealed-threats","13":"tag-eviction-tactics-environmental-arguments","14":"tag-eviction-tactics-misinformation","15":"tag-forced-evictions","16":"tag-gentrification","17":"tag-government-neglect","18":"tag-housing-rights","19":"tag-iterj","20":"tag-lightning-eviction","21":"tag-misplaced-public-priorities","22":"tag-municipal-guard","23":"tag-municipal-secretariat-of-public-order","24":"tag-neighborhood-association","25":"tag-public-defenders","26":"tag-public-defenders-housing-nucleus-nuth","27":"tag-real-estate-speculation","28":"tag-santa-luzia","29":"tag-social-rent","30":"tag-zero-compensation","31":"tag-urban-agriculture","32":"tag-vargem-grande","33":"tag-vargem-pequena","34":"tag-west-zone","35":"tag-zero-participation","36":"writer-fernanda-delatorre","37":"translator-staff"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80319","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\/245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80319"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80345,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80319\/revisions\/80345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/80320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80319"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=80319"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=80319"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=80319"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=80319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}