Social movements support resistance of the neighborhood Vila Autódromo in Rio de Janeiro

For Luis Zarref, leader of Via Campesina, the neighborhood Vila Autódromo is a symbol of resistance of all communities who are suffering from mega events or large investments. The so declared development projects are contrary to the interests of the people living there. The act that symbolizes the struggle of the deterritorialized people that are being pushed out not only in urban areas, but also on the countryside and out of traditional communities.

The act began June 19, with a vigil in the community initiated by social movements. In the morning, the protesters made a symbolic march across the community, followed by speeches. Finally, the act of a closed several streets in the center of Rio where, in which the meetings and negotiations are taking place in Rio +20.

The police presence during the entire act was constant. The residents say that since five in the morning, helicopters flew over the community. Moreover, the police created a barricade to prevent the act go forward to the center of Rio. According to Zarref, the police’s role is to intimidate the community. Many people did not come from fear and the community is afraid of reprisals.

The leader of Via Campesina believes that the police presence to intimidate and represses “is synonymous with a process of militarization that Rio has suffered since the Pacification Police Units (UPP), and comes in order to prevent community massifies the struggle. But they were not able to do that because the masse presence of social movements in solidarity with the community”.

Vila Autódromo began in the 1960s as a fishing village. After the construction of the Jacarepaguá Speedway in 1975, laborers working in construction start living in the fishing village. The residents were pushed in an area located in the middle of the Speedway and the margin of a pond. In 1992, the City of Rio de Janeiro called for the removal of the community, claiming that it caused “aesthetic and environmental damage”. In 2007, on behalf of the Pan American Games, the community suffered another threat of removal for real estate projects in the region. Now the thread comes from the Olympic Games intending to drive about 4000 people living in the area from their homes.

According to Maria Motta, a member of the Association of Residents of the Vila Autódromo and living there for ten years, “The project of the prefecture of our removal dates many years ago. It is done in coalision with contractors who finance the campaigns of mayor Eduardo Paes. The community area is highly valued, subject to the greed of big real estate developers. “

Maria points out that if the dumping actually occurs, the population is without a new location. “A project of the mayor would relocate to an area whose lands were purchased by the city. The land belonged to the player Ronaldo and then worth 250 thousand dollars. The city paid 19 million and 900 thousand dollars for the land. Therefore, most residents refused to make the registration to go there. We do not know what will happen, it will be a war. “

Vila Autódromo has an urbanization project jointly developed by the community in partnership with the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The project reaffirms the right to housing in the community and has proposals for housing, sanitation, transport, infrastructure, environment and cultural development. According to Maria “The project has the support of the community and is therefore opposed to that of the mayor, which is top to bottom developped and the result of the interests of large construction companies.”