Franco was an activist and a rising political star, fighting for women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, as well as for those living below the poverty line. And last year, a Rio de Janeiro councilwoman named Marielle Franco-who came from the Maré neighborhood, located near the international airport-was assassinated. Concerns are mounting over the far right ideology of Brazil’s newly elected president, Jair Bolsonaro.
Pacification efforts to curtail crime in these communities (also called favelas, though this term has developed a derogatory connotation over time) have not entirely worked. It presents vast and acute socioeconomic polarization, where expensive flats may be just steps from impoverished hillside communities. Rio de Janeiro is postcard pretty, but for many it is far from paradisiacal. It has to be said that there is some-though nowhere near total-truth to its reputation as being dangerous. It’s impossible to capture its complexity quickly, but, in an attempt: Rio is coruscating, complicated, extreme and tranquil as a humid morning, all gliding between its vaporous summits and shaded lagoons. The ocean-cradling, mountain-spiked city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is known for everything from resplendent samba to the beautiful game (soccer) to its brilliant and diverse Carioca spirit to being a global pop culture icon ( The Girl from Ipanema, the 2016 Summer Olympics, et al).
