An Olympic Truce? It's Not Found in Alemao

(ATR) Anna Paula, 33, shook her head in disbelief when hearing of the Olympic Truce.

"Mentira! Mentira!" -- "Lies! Lies!" -- she said to Around the Rings when hearing of the initiative backed by the IOC and United Nations. Lies, indeed. Residents in one of Rio’s most notoriously dangerous favelas have lived with violence for years, only to have it increase during the 2016 Olympic Games.

Complexo do Alemão, in truth, is no different from most of the city’s favelas. Located in the city’s north zone, Alemão grew in size after a leather factory opened in the area during the 1920s. Workers flocked to the area, leading to the sprawling community that exists today.

As the favela grew, so did the drug trade. Alemão became known for the heavy presence of drug traffickers in the area. Six years ago, military police stormed the favela in a televised raid in an effort to stamp out the drug trade during a security crisis in the city.

Soon after, the Police Pacifying Units (UPPs) began operating in Alemão. Like many other communities, when the pacification programs ran low on money violence between traffickers and the police returned.

The Olympic Truce is an Ancient Greek tradition to stop all wars to ensure safe passage for athletes to the Olympic Games. Now, the truce is under the auspices of the United Nations, the IOC, and a foundation to promote peace and sport worldwide. Every two years member states sign on to a UN resolution calling for the ceasefire of wars between countries during the Games. The 2016 truce revived 180 signatories of 193 countries in the UN.

Such a truce was called for August 5 to 8, in Alemão to coincide with the beginning of the Games. ATR visited Alemão during the second Saturday of the Games to speak with residents, to see if they felt any connection with the Olympics, and if the violence the community is known for had let up. From the top of the community, Engenhao, the Olympic Stadium, is visible. In reality, to many residents, the Games could have been taking place in another country.

"There are days when we can’t even go to the bakery to buy bread because of the shootouts," Paula said to ATR. "Yesterday, I got locked inside my house because the armored car came, and then the shootouts started between the police and drug dealers.

"I don’t think it was a good idea for Rio to have the Olympics. It is true that this type of event is important, but for example, Alemão didn’t receive effective social projects. I am sure the Olympics are showing nice things about Brazil, but authorities should’ve prioritized the needs of its people. It doesn’t make sense to invest in events and let people perish, like what is happening now."

Paula lives near the bottom, a relatively safer area, of Alemão, but is a teacher in the community. Years ago, she, along with many other residents built houses in an abandoned area of the favela. That area, where her home is still located, was selected to be urbanized, funded by the state government. She was given 15 days to leave her house, and given a monthly rent stipend to find alternate housing until the project was completed. The stipend is small and rarely enough to cover rent for where she is living. This means she has to move around constantly with her three kids to find new housing in her budget.

"Like many things in Brazil, that project started but wasn’t finished; according to the last meeting we had, in the next two years nothing will be built," Paula added. "There are two Rios: one that is in south side; it is beautiful, colorful and nice, and one that is hidden and suffocated which is where people live. In order to maintain that beautiful Rio, we have in the ‘kitchen’ the ‘[favela dwellers]’ who are washing the dishes and cooking."

The current economic climate in Rio remains too bleak to be hopeful in the short term. Paula believes she will return to her house, but when that will be is unclear.

Watching the interview was Mariluce Souza, 34, a community leader in Alemão, and one of Paula’s close friends.

Souza is well respected in Alemão, inheriting a community activist role from her grandmother. Seeing a dearth of social programs helping the children of the community, she began teaching them to paint. She then goes and teaches them how to sell their paintings in the streets of Rio. Half of the money earned goes to funding more supplies. The children keep the other half to buy food for their families and other necessities such as school supplies.

The program also goes around and paints different buildings in the favela. Driving through the streets in Alemão, the children's paintingsappearintermittently . They are a welcome sight, but the reality of the life in Alemão shines through when in some cases, the murals have scars from bullet holes.

"Five years ago, my husband and I, and a huge number of residents from Alemão, and from other favelas, started working hard on getting ready for this moment," Souza said. "We participated in lots of training courses, entrepreneurship fairs, met a lot of people from the tourism sector, expecting to get some benefits from these changes.

"Since the World Cup we’ve been losing more and more, and we don’t receive anything. Because of the Olympics, these authorities and organizers brought a speech of peace that actually doesn’t exist. Peaceful and united people are a reality just in the Olympic areas."

Like Paula, Souza believes that Rio should be helping its own citizens instead of pursuing mega events like the Olympics. She made it clear that the city did receive a number of transportation upgrades, including some that directly benefited the favela. She spoke to ATR under one of the transport stations of the Alemão cable car system, which started service in 2011. The project has allowed for residents high up in the favela to commute to the city’s train network. Useful for many, the cable car serves as a reminder of when Rio was flush with cash, and how government showed up periodically to put band aids on gaping wounds.

"The Olympic Games could be very useful if they give support to the projects that already exist here," Souza said." I can’t see a solution; the Government didn’t organize its house before receiving the guests.

"Now I think things will just get worse. People are about to revolt. If authorities hadn’t prohibited the use of guns, we would’ve been in war by now."

Claudia Maria Correia, 40, lived in Alemão most of her life before moving to Cascadura, another neighborhood in Rio’s north zone. Missing her home, she decided to open a salon in Alemão. Unlike Paula and Maria, Correia told ATR she and her coworkers feel a real connection to the Olympics because many of the residents want Olympic themed manicures.

Correia remains much more hopeful for the future of Alemão than her friends. She says that she may be making less money than working in Rio’s south zone, but she is happier with life in the community. The shootouts no longer scare here, and her customers know that her store is a haven during the violence. Still, she understands the reality that the violence will not be going away any time soon.

"People say that after the Olympics the situation will get worse, but I don’t think so," Correia said. "I think people who live up here suffer a bit, but at the same time, they got used to this situation.

"There is no such thing as a truce; the [policemen and drug dealers] didn’t change their routines, and they do the same thing every day. The tendency is that violence will get worse, and I believe there is a lack of investment in education. I think everyone needs to take responsibility."

While Correia has a thriving business, not everyone in Alemão has seen success during the Olympic period. Julio Cantas, 54, sells fish at the bottom of the favela. He aired his frustrations to ATR about how the Olympics have caused nothing but hardship for his business.

"Because of the Olympics they changed the schedule of the market where we buy fish," Cantas said. "It used to open at 3 am and now it opens at 10 pm so we are having more problems and everything is much more expensive.

"Things are worse now and there are shootings every day and everything is messed up. The Olympics didn’t bring anything, for many people life is much worse now."

Paula, like everyone interviewed, steadfastly believes in the potential of the people of Alemão. As a teacher she is working with limited supplies, hoping to inspire and help the youth of her community. On top of that, she longs for a world where she does not need to sleep outside her bedroom holding her youngest daughter to calm her through routine gunfights outside the family’s door.

"I don’t know who this interview will reach, but my intentions are not just to get my house, but actually to be seen and heard," Paula said. "I think there are people who can invest and bet in education. The fact that you were born poor doesn’t mean that you are doomed to have a bad life. We need a chance."

As Souza will continue to work with the children of Alemão, she wants the world to know that the focus on security in Rio has had the effect of subjugation within the favela.

"There isn’t humanization in the security sector," Souza added. "Security is still the same like in the old days; poor people are the slaves, rich people the lords, and the policemen the foremen who keep hunting the slaves so the event can happen."

Still, she believes the idea of the Olympic Games can bring meaningful change to whatever city it brings into its orbit. To do so in a productive manner, Souza says, means the IOC and organizing committees must look outside of sporting legacy and the bubble the event creates.

"Before considering bringing any event to the city, don’t take in consideration the aesthetic side, but instead, think how to humanize what you are doing," Souza pleads. "It’s very convenient to make an outstanding opening ceremony, and show the union of people, when all people face stratification. It is time to humanize."

Written by Aaron Bauer in Complexo do Alemão

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