The situation in Brazil has changed radically since I wrote this a week ago. Most obviously, the protests are much bigger, perhaps around 200 times bigger. Importantly, many of the 5,000 people I was on the street with last Thursday no longer have much do with what we’re seeing on the streets, and the original(…)
Arquivo - Tag: Rio
Post-Carnaval – bloco party
Claire Rigby takes us behind the televised spectacle and into the free and fluid world of the street party – Rio’s true Carnaval. Above: The outskirts of a bloco in Leblon, on Tuesday morning. By Claire Rigby From the world-class razzle-dazzle of the sambadrome to the endless, hedonistic celebration that takes place in its streets, Brazil(…)
Pre-Carnaval
Dom Phillips walks us through the joyful insanity of Rio Carnaval costume etiquette, and the pre-celebration celebrations that are often better than the real thing. By Dom Phillips Ambling through the blazing heat and Saturday afternoon crowds on Rio de Janeiro’s SAARA street market, I was getting nowhere in my search for a crucial purchase:(…)
Happy New Year from euphoric, chaotic Rio
Fireworks blast over closely packed crowds on Copacabana Beach on New Year’s Eve, and this year, things turned out much like most mega-events in Rio. By Dom Phillips New Year’s Eve in Rio: it has a certain ring to it. This is the city that specialises in giant set-piece events that draw enormous crowds –(…)
Rio wants their oil money
Rio’s politicians mounted a cleverly-staged piece of political street theatre last week, in order to drive home the message that the state’s residents wants to keep oil royalties for themselves. It worked. By Dom Phillips According to police, some 200,000 people turned up to Sérgio Cabral’s demonstration on Monday in opposition to a new bill(…)
What it feels like to take over a favela these days
Dom Phillips reports on the tension, cautious optimism, and small media circus involved in the recent invasion of the Manguinhos favela, one of the latest to be re-taken by the state. By Dom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro 2,000 heavily armed police and marines, with 13 armoured cars and helicopters, set off at dawn Sunday(…)
Comando Vermelho leader seeks voluntary amnesty program
I recently interviewed Marcelo Piloto, head of the Comando Vermelho drug-trafficking criminal faction in the Mandela favela in Northern Rio de Janeiro. In the interview, he asked me to announce that he and many others want to give themselves in and turn over their weapons and territory in return for amnesty. This was going to(…)
Municipal elections Sunday – a quick guide
Brazilians go to the polls on Sunday to elect their municipal representatives. These posts are quite important, as mayors have a great deal of power here. For those of us that live in Brazil, these campaigns can often drag on forever, but have turned out to be quite interesting this year. For those living abroad,(…)
Brazil under construction
South America’s largest country is finally, hopefully, on its way to patching up its woefully lacking infrastructure. But fixing one problem sometimes means dealing with others. By Dom Phillips Living in Rio can at times feel like living on a construction site. Construction is all around: a new metro line, new highways, the whole decayed(…)
To understand Brazil, understand novelas
Know who this is and what she stands for? The soap opera is a devastatingly important part of Brazilian culture. And life here imitates art just as often as these shows depict an exaggerated version of reality. By Dom Phillips IF you want to try and understand a country or a culture, you could do(…)
