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The Affects of Pacification in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Andreona and one of her children as they lead me through the Planatu Hotel. These families having been occupying buildings for quite a long time in Rio de Janeiro. Some of them have been moving around for years while others have just now had to hold space to have a shelter for themselves and their children. Due to the rampant gentrification that's been spreading through Rio in the wake of the World Cup and the up coming Olympics many have been shoved to the edge financially and have been forced out through rising rents or being evicted by the Brazilian Military Police. They are occupying these buildings to use them as a bargaining tool with the city government. These buildings are all in desirable areas for development so the families are hoping that they can argue their case for social assistance by holding these spaces. They know the city wants to be able to demolish and sell the land the building are on to developers that are gentrifying Rio de Janeiro. By holding these spaces they effectively holding on to something the city wants and they believe they can use that as a bargaining tool to get more social assistance. Many were promised money when they left the favelas. The vast majority have not received the money or have had the city government try to divide them so that only some will get the money. The families have stuck together and have refused partial payments because they believe that the government will with hold the rest of the payments to the other families. After refusing payments the state and city of Rio de Janeiro has reacted violently and evicted them from various other occupations. Most of the evictions are either dawn or midnight raids with tear gas and rubber bullets being shot at the occupations or those dwelling inside the occupations. The families currently occupying the Planatu hotel and the FIST occupation say they will continue to resist the attacks of the Brazilian Military Police. Many of the members of both occupations have said th

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