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Vidigal is a small favela in Rio de Janeiro’s rich south side. It hugs the steep slope of the Dois Irmãos (Two Brothers, in Portuguese) hills, one of the city’s most iconic postcards, climbing up directly from the Atlantic ocean.
Home to an estimated 30 thousand people, it had a fearsome reputation. It was controlled by a drug gang known for its viciousness. They had a habit of starting bloody wars against the gang controlling the bigger neighbor on the opposite side of the hill, Rocinha, the biggest favela in Rio. The battles, some lasting days, forced some of the main traffic arteries in the city to close for traffic, while the police, outgunned, stayed clear. In the meantime, some of the areas of Rio most visited by tourists hunkered down to the sound of assault rifle fire and grenades.
In preparation for the two major global events it would soon host, the 2014 Fifa World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, authorities in Rio devised a policy to attempt to put an end to the reign of drug lords over several of the city’s favelas, among them Vidigal. For a while, it was a major success.
The new peace allowed residents of Rio to finally discover another side of Vidigal: its feisty mellow vibe and the stunning views of the city below.
Soon gentrification followed.
Young locals and foreigners moved in after the low rents and the fun atmosphere. A famous architect built a boutique hotel on the place where the former drug lord had his headquarters. Across from it, an entrepreneur from São Paulo built a fancy lounge bar, where famous DJs often kept crowds dancing well past sunrise. The artist Vik Muniz opened an art school for local kids. Several locals started hostels and restaurants to cater to the mobs of tourists roaming through its narrow alleyways. Others began to make a good living as local guides. Celebrities became regulars to the thriving local cultural scene.
There were rumors that David Beckham had bought a house there, others that Madonna had joined Beckham in the neighborhood.
For a time Vidigal seemed to be the trendiest place in Brazil, a novelty that both Rio’s locals and visitors were thrilled to discover. Longtime residents felt the change was disorienting, some seeing it as a threat while others saw it as a blessing, if not both at the same time.
Between 2015 and early 2016, at the peak of the buzz, I spent a few months immersed in the life of Vidigal. That project became a long feature published by Geo magazine, from Germany.
It was a privilege.
Just as soon as the Olympic Games were finished, the successful policy that brought a fragile peace to Vidigal and other favelas was dismantled. A series of major corruption scandals engulfed Rio’s government, sending to jail all of the state's living former governors. The city descended into a deep economic crisis, from which it still has not recovered, and Vidigal went back to its old violent past.
16 imagesBarroso x Lithium: the green economy threatens to destroy a World Heritage way of life As countries fiercely compete to see who will lead the post-carbon economy, a World Heritage way of life in Portugal is under threat, in the name of the new green future, by the same vices of the old order: the reliance on the environmentally destructive extraction of non-renewable natural resources. In this case lithium, the main component for the batteries that promise to free the world from the need to burn oil to produce energy and move people around. The Portuguese government hopes the large deposits of lithium found in the Barroso region in the north of the country will give it a chance to transform its perennially struggling economy and become a manufacturing hub for the batteries used by electric cars. The plan has strong support, and funding, from the European Union, which fears it is lagging behind the US and China in the race to dominate the new technology. In 2018 the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) declared the Barroso a World Agriculture Heritage Site, the second region to receive such designation in Europe. The region is one of the most isolated, and poorest, in the country, known for its harsh climate, rough terrain, and stunning beauty. Over the centuries, its residents have developed a complex system of agriculture and cattle ranching that relies on the collective management of its water resources and of the pasture areas used by their animals. This method has kept the region’s soil fertile, its rivers and springs clean, the landscape unblemished, and its communitarian cultural traditions alive. The lithium mines could forever damage this protected environment and way of life.
15 imagesVidigal is a small favela in Rio de Janeiro’s rich south side. It hugs the steep slope of the Dois Irmãos (Two Brothers, in Portuguese) hills, one of the city’s most iconic postcards, climbing up directly from the Atlantic ocean. Home to an estimated 30 thousand people, it had a fearsome reputation. It was controlled by a drug gang known for its viciousness. They had a habit of starting bloody wars against the gang controlling the bigger neighbor on the opposite side of the hill, Rocinha, the biggest favela in Rio. The battles, some lasting days, forced some of the main traffic arteries in the city to close for traffic, while the police, outgunned, stayed clear. In the meantime, some of the areas of Rio most visited by tourists hunkered down to the sound of assault rifle fire and grenades. In preparation for the two major global events it would soon host, the 2014 Fifa World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, authorities in Rio devised a policy to attempt to put an end to the reign of drug lords over several of the city’s favelas, among them Vidigal. For a while, it was a major success. The new peace allowed residents of Rio to finally discover another side of Vidigal: its feisty mellow vibe and the stunning views of the city below. Soon gentrification followed. Young locals and foreigners moved in after the low rents and the fun atmosphere. A famous architect built a boutique hotel on the place where the former drug lord had his headquarters. Across from it, an entrepreneur from São Paulo built a fancy lounge bar, where famous DJs often kept crowds dancing well past sunrise. The artist Vik Muniz opened an art school for local kids. Several locals started hostels and restaurants to cater to the mobs of tourists roaming through its narrow alleyways. Others began to make a good living as local guides. Celebrities became regulars to the thriving local cultural scene. There were rumors that David Beckham had bought a house there, others that Madonna had joined Beckham in the neighborhood. For a time Vidigal seemed to be the trendiest place in Brazil, a novelty that both Rio’s locals and visitors were thrilled to discover. Longtime residents felt the change was disorienting, some seeing it as a threat while others saw it as a blessing, if not both at the same time. Between 2015 and early 2016, at the peak of the buzz, I spent a few months immersed in the life of Vidigal. That project became a long feature published by Geo magazine, from Germany. It was a privilege. Just as soon as the Olympic Games were finished, the successful policy that brought a fragile peace to Vidigal and other favelas was dismantled. A series of major corruption scandals engulfed Rio’s government, sending to jail all of the state's living former governors. The city descended into a deep economic crisis, from which it still has not recovered, and Vidigal went back to its old violent past.
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