Rio's Favelas

Hi there,
It has been a while again, hope you all are well. Since our last blog from Rio de Janiero, we have visited Natan in Ouro Preto, a beautiful organic coffee farm in the state of Sao Paulo, and Iguazu falls. We have also driven through Paraguay (spent some time in Asuncion), returned to Argentina and are currently trying to work our way down to say hi to the penguinos in Ushuaia, the most southern inhabited city in the world.


Seeing Natan was fun and those who know him, know that he has a lot going for him. Great heart, brains, and a handsome, tall Brazilian body:) . The coffee farm experience was probably the most enriching for me, personally. I won’t bore you with details, Todd will do that, but learning about the history of coffee plantations, its people, their hardships, the devastating impact of fertilizers and pesticides on coffee plants and farmers, as well as the change over to natural and organic farming was amazing. We had spent several days on Renata’s and Joao’s farm, listening to their philosophy of life and farming, drinking good Argentine wine and eating food produced by the farm. Anyway, you know how it is when you meet someone whose presence touches you so deeply that something inside of you changes for the better? Well that’s how it was for me when I met Renata and Joao, the guru of growing natural coffee (in the Brazilian coffee community).


Iguassu falls are way beyond description. They are so big and beautiful that one literarily needs to turn around 360 degrees to see it all. The pictures do not do it justice but check them out, we have also included a short video so you can hear how loud the water is.

Just a few words about Paraguay and then I will talk a little bit about Rio’s favelas just like I promised. Paraguay, hmm, very, very nice people, very cheap food ( they would not let me buy a loaf of bread in the grocery store I had to buy 3 because one does not cost anything!!!), and very, very hot and humid. However, it seemed to me that the difficult past times marked by wars and dictatorships were lingering in the air along with heavy smog.
What I found the most fascinating about Paraguay was learning about its women. In the Triple Alliance war, in which the “little puppy” Paraguay started a war against Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, the country lost 3/4ths of its population. This war left Paraguay with around 200,000 people ( 3/ 4 of the population died, 2/3 in the war and 1/3 due to illnesses related to war) from which only 20,000 were adult men!!! So the women of Paraguay shared the men (resigned themselves to a polygamous society) in order to rebuild the country while the Catholic church (kind of sort of) looked the other way. WOOW!!!! ( the women had to do this one more time in the Chaco war in 1932!)

Ok Rio De Janeiro‘s favelas.
As you all know, Rio has this reputation for being very, very dangerous. So we set ourselves out to learn why. The next few paragraphs are very subjective and based only on my observations. It is not my intention to impose any personal opinions here I just want to describe it as I understood it. ( Does it sounds like a school paper? I must be missing school:).

Ok there are about 900 something favelas in Rio de Janeiro. Favelas are illegally built houses on the hills of big cities, by people who came mostly from the northern part of the Brazil to search for a better life in the city after they were either freed from slavery, or laid off from farms due to lack of work. We were told that the first “ faveleros” were promised housing by the government for their participation in the army. When the government did not fulfill their promise after the war, they were left with no option but to build their own houses in the hills of Rio.

So, this is how a favela gets built: 1, your friend or family member either gives you or sells you their roof ( its always flat). 2, you build your house on their roof with, of course, the help of the whole community. 3, you sell your roof and with the money you buy simple furniture and if you have some money leftover, you paint the bricks. We visited one called the Empire State Building which was13 stories high.

The 900 favelas in Rio differ in size. The biggest favela has about 200,000 people and the total population of favelas are still growing ( about 1 mil inhabitants total) as people continue to move in. There are three gangs in Rio de Janeiro that have control or rule these favelas ( 400 favelas belong to 1 gang and the remaining 500 are divided in between the other two gangs). Some of the favelas are free of the drug trade and the gangs have no interest in them. This is mostly due to having only one entrance to get inside the favela, which would make it very easy for the police to track the drug dealers down.

The gang hierarchy is as follows from the top to the bottom: *the (drug) Lord, *2 managers one for marijuana one for cocaine. We were told that the Lord is “looking out” for his costumers as he believes that from other drugs, such as crack, or heroin, his customers die faster. Therefore, only marijuana and cocaine are available. There are *15 soldiers ( guys with guns) for each manager, *the drug sellers hang out by the entrances of favelas. Each seller hires *kids to watch for the police.
The Lord gives the orders that are strict and simple, which basically means no crime inside the favelas ( no stealing, no assaults, no rapes, etc..) He does not want the police to come to favelas so ironically life in favelas is safer than outside the favelas. The Lord is seen as a “good guy” by faveleros since he provides protection and services for the community. People go to him with a variety of requests. He often tries to help them, gives them money for medicine, housing, protects them, keeps their neighborhood ‘s safe, and resolves any disputes. The Lord and managers throw huge parties for the favela’s residents and provide food and drinks.

So far so good, hm? But the danger comes when the gang fights over the drug territory. However, interestingly enough the inhabitants of the favelas are warned ahead of time about the upcoming fight and either stay home or leave until the fight is over. They do not notify police as they do not have much trust in them. Often due to their experience with the police coming to the favelas and shooting innocent people. A common misunderstanding is that everybody in the Favela is a “bad guy, while in fact only 1% of Faveleros are involved in the drug business, the other 99% have regular paying jobs. That happened a week before we came to Rio. The gangs were fighting over their territory, and the police wanted to gain control over the fight . The gang fights are the only occasion/ reason that police come to the favelas and during that attempt a helicopter was shot down.

The upper and the middle class never go to any favela unless they want to buy drugs ( only to the entrance and never up the hill ). However 99% of Faveleros go down to the city to work everyday. During the carnival Faveleros throw parties and the middle and the upper class watch the show. No integration of children in schools. Favelas kids go to favela’s schools. Recently, the biggest contradiction has been caused by the governments decision to build brick walls around the favelas. The favelas constant growing population is a concern for the government as well as the cutting the trees from forest to build their houses. However, this policy would create an even bigger gap between poor and rich.

The other attempt of the government was to build an alternative housing project called “ The City of God” and force the favela’s residents to leave their homes and move outside the city. It only worked with one favela though. The rest of the time the Favela’s residents moved right back, since they could not afford going to and from work due to expensive bus fares. The government is constantly trying to help the favela’s residents to improve their difficult living conditions and is setting up new street names so the residents can have a post address, setting electricity, water run off channels, building
schools, and medical centers. However, the government can only work in 40 favelas at a time. The completion time takes several years.

It was my experience when visiting the favelas, that people were very friendly, sticking together, trying to make the best of their lives, and looking happy and smiling. I am sure that they have their own crosses of huge social stigmas to bear and that the situation is very complex. However, I know for sure that from those hills, they are “looking down” on all of the rich peoples homes while having the best view of that beautiful city.

PS: a short note for people in the psychology business. I have became so obsessed with the idea of meeting the “LORD” of one of the most powerful gangs in Rio. I have heard that he is about 30 years old, and he has to move to a different location every 3 days ( we have something in commonJ ). Not many people have seen him as he has to constantly hide. I imagined all sorts of scenarios of how can I possibly get an interview with him. I would love to assess him. I was thinking a short narrative interview to hear his story, an IQ test, MMPI, and maybe Rorschach. Or I would just love to listen to what he has to say. Or, holy cow, what if I could be his therapist!!!!
Ok that’s enough for now,
Love,
Kristina