Rio Pro Copa (Brazil, 2014-ongoing)
Since Rio de Janeiro was named at the host city for the World Championship Football in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016, a remarkable scenario of political and social reform has been underway, reports Marcelo Enrique Londoño Alvarez. These sports events have been and are being used as an excuse for justifying the clearance of parts of the favelas, Rio’s poor neighbourhoods. Their residents are being driven out to the edges of the city, to improve security, while the violent actions of masked police in the favelas strike fear into Brazilians. That also applies to the conduct of the police outside the favelas: social protests by citizens receive considerable attention in Brazil and internationally, but the demonstrators are treated as hooligans.
