The human cost of staging Rio 2016 Olympics is a dark story

Heavy price: the Vila Autodromo with the Olympic Aquatics Centre in the background
Pim Ras/Terre des Hommes

The dates are etched on the minds of two Rio de Janeiro residents for very different reasons. For one, it was the day her home was bulldozed to make way for the Olympic Park. For another, it was the day her son was shot in the back by a police officer and killed.

In spite of all the carnival atmosphere taking over the city over the next two and a bit weeks, there are those whose lives have been irrevocably changed by Rio’s desire to become a sporting hub by hosting the World Cup and the Olympics in the space of just two years.

The key date for Maria da Penha was March 8, when her home in Vila Autodromo was bulldozed to make way for a road to the Olympic Park. Once an oasis of nature, covered in guava and mango trees, now Penha says “it is a war zone”.

“Those behind the Olympic Games have demolished houses, left debris and there’s health issues with rats and cockroaches,” she says, via a translator. “They cut the water and lights, the air was bad because the debris was so dusty.”

She had lived there for 22 years, one of 600 families in the favela next to the Olympic Park, which officials had been trying to move for two decades. Residents believe the Olympics were used as an excuse to clear the area.

“I was put under psychological, physical and territorial pressure,” adds Penha. “I was trying to defend a family being forced out of their house with two children, a couple and an elderly person.”

Without a home, she was forced to sleep in a church. Last week, however, she was among 20 families rehoused on the site after they had fought a bitter campaign against being moved.

Despite that victory, the lead-up to the Olympics has left a bitter taste.

Penha, who took her plight to the United Nations, courtesy of Amnesty International and children’s rights charity Terre des Hommes, says: “I’m very sad the Olympics are coming to Rio. I can’t share in any of the joy as my community was destroyed. How can I celebrate a thing that’s done no good for me?

“The International Olympic Committee and others responsible for the Olympics should take care of the people that are living in these cities, especially those in favelas or communities and they should respect their space before they take them out. Before removing them, they could consult with them. My human rights were violated.

“The word Olympics comes from the union of people but where it goes in the world it just destroys people. The legacy of the Olympics should be for everyone, not just a few.”

For Ana Paula Oliveira, the date that haunts her is May 14, 2014. The tragedy was related to the World Cup rather than the Olympics but she fears other parents will lose a child unless lessons are learned in the days leading up to Rio and during the Games themselves.

Campaigners: Maria da Penha and Ana Paula Oliveira at the UN

Her son Jonathan was just 19 when he was shot in the back and killed in the favela where he lived while returning after a night out.

“It’s important to retell again and again his story,” she says. “He’s not the first victim of police violence in Rio — a lot of youths have been killed by the police and he won’t be the last. Eight youths have been killed by police since Jonathan.

“Brazilian authorities are not interested in changing this reality. They take away lives of the youth.

Rio 2016 Olympic Games Venues - In pictures

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“Nothing happens to them. The police officers won’t get punished for their crimes. The police officer who pulled the trigger should be held responsible and those above him. And it’s important to say that these are kids that have never involved in criminal activity and never touched a gun but end up with a bullet in their head.”

Like Penha, Oliveira travelled to Geneva to address the UN. One death she highlighted was that of a 17-year-old killed in a police operation a week before she travelled to Switzerland. Her concern is that more violence and tragedy will ensue.

According to figures from Brazil’s Public Security Institute, 40 people were killed by police in May in the city of Rio alone, an increase of 135 per cent from the same month a year ago, while statistics from the city itself stated the number had nearly doubled, from 44 to 84.

In 2015, 307 people were killed by the police in Rio, accounting for one in five homicides there while 65,000 police officers and 20,000 soldiers have been deployed for the Games, the biggest security operation in Brazil’s history.

In one favela, Mare, the military moved in on the eve of the World Cup but then stayed another year. Other communities now have an increased police and military presence, and Oliveira is concerned for fellow favela dwellers.

“There’s no death penalty in Brazil but there is for the favelas and the residents of the favelas,” she says. “I fear it’s going to be repeated at the Olympics with more police on the streets; they want to sell the image of security but it’s a police that’s so violent. Increased police operations means an increase in the number of people being killed.

“The police in Rio are very violent; the way they fact in the favela is very different to how they act outside the favela. Nearer a major sporting event means an increase in police action, and thereby deaths.

“I’m fighting to ensure other mothers don’t go through this with the Olympics and for other future major sporting events; and I want to give my son a voice.”

Standard Sport contacted both the Games organisers and the Rio police for comment but was referred to the State Government before being redirected to the Government Department of Public Security, who at the time of going to print had not responded. The IOC were also contacted but, similarly, did not reply.

However, Amnesty International and Terre des Hommes were today attempting to put further pressure on the authorities with a press conference in the capital featuring a young victim of forced evictions and a survivor of a shooting by security forces.

Andrea Florence is a lawyer for Terre des Hommes and helped both Penha and Oliveira fight their cause.

“For the people that are living in the communities, they’re going to have to live with huge amounts of security which translates to human rights violations,” she said. “For them, the Olympics is not a good thing.”

Team GB medal targets for Rio Olympics

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Amnesty International has also worked closely with the two women but highlighted that their cases are not the only ones.

“We had one man who came home from work to find his home demolished,” explains Renata Neder of Amnesty Brazil. “Evictions aren’t new but some people are getting evicted with nothing, others are moved to worse places when it should be the same or better.

“In one case, a community was moved 30 kilometres away with no infrastructure - no school, no health centre, no supermarket and a 40-minute walk to the nearest bus stop.”

And Neder fears the implications of Rio in the next few weeks and beyond could be wider felt yet for the city’s residents.

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