WEBVTT 00:00:03.056 --> 00:00:11.026 When the government announced on national TV that the World Cup and Olympics would be here, 00:00:11.079 --> 00:00:19.077 everyone thought it would bring progress, that was everyone's first reaction - rich or poor. 00:00:20.007 --> 00:00:28.271 Then, the manner in which things started being done is what turned out to be wrong. 00:00:29.034 --> 00:00:34.015 8,000 people have already lost their homes in Rio de Janeiro since preparations began for the 00:00:34.015 --> 00:00:36.094 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games. 00:00:37.575 --> 00:00:39.980 This is one of their stories. 00:00:44.042 --> 00:00:50.030 I've lived in Pavãozinho since I was 7 or 8 years old. 00:00:50.030 --> 00:00:53.027 It's peaceful and calm here, as you can see. 00:00:53.027 --> 00:00:57.015 The people are nice, everyone is friendly. 00:00:59.091 --> 00:01:04.069 I like it here very much, I wish my mom could get the house so I could live with her. 00:01:05.078 --> 00:01:09.018 I love my community, and I want to stay here. 00:01:09.018 --> 00:01:11.251 No one will take me away from here. 00:01:22.094 --> 00:01:27.034 Everything started here in the community in January of 2011. 00:01:27.034 --> 00:01:32.001 I wasn't even home at the time, only my daughter and niece. 00:01:32.001 --> 00:01:38.010 They asked for the owner of the house, and I told them my mother wasn't home. 00:01:38.010 --> 00:01:42.016 And then they said they were going to tear the house down, right then and there. 00:01:42.016 --> 00:01:44.093 So I said: 'No, you can't, my mom isn't even home' 00:01:44.093 --> 00:01:47.072 (And they said): 'so you have to call her, because it has to happen now'. 00:01:47.072 --> 00:01:50.081 And then I called my mom and she came up right away, running. 00:01:51.019 --> 00:01:59.067 When I got here, the house was already flooded, they had removed the water pipes. 00:01:59.067 --> 00:02:03.013 There were several men from the city government, with sledgehammers. 00:02:03.013 --> 00:02:06.096 So I tried to negotiate a deadline to leave, 00:02:06.096 --> 00:02:11.014 so that I could find another place for us to stay, we had no other place to go. 00:02:11.014 --> 00:02:14.007 Where were we supposed to stay, in the middle of the street? 00:02:14.007 --> 00:02:17.562 So he told my daughter: 'Talk to your mother, she's being too stubborn, tell her to leave, 00:02:17.562 --> 00:02:21.069 or else she's going to end up getting hurt. 00:02:21.069 --> 00:02:24.092 And at that moment I was very scared, 00:02:24.092 --> 00:02:27.081 because a bunch of police officers, city guards, 00:02:27.081 --> 00:02:32.046 all of them pressuring me, saying that if I didn't leave on good terms I would leave on bad terms, 00:02:32.046 --> 00:02:39.014 so I realized what was happening was dishonest, something outside of the law. 00:02:39.014 --> 00:02:42.039 And my daughter was asking me to go, so I did. 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:46.033 I don't like to remember that. 00:02:57.068 --> 00:03:02.048 After Elisângela lost her house, her daughter had to go live with her grandmother, 00:03:02.048 --> 00:03:05.042 and ended up missing six months of school. 00:03:05.042 --> 00:03:10.018 Over a year later, the family still hasn't been compensated or ressettled by the government. 00:03:10.018 --> 00:03:13.014 Mother and daughter are still living separately. 00:03:13.046 --> 00:03:16.093 And then they promised to give me another house. 00:03:16.093 --> 00:03:27.086 After two months of me going (to City Hall) every day, they offered a house in Campo Grande. 00:03:27.086 --> 00:03:38.066 So we got the address and went to visit the condo where they had built these houses. 00:03:38.066 --> 00:03:43.050 We got to Campo Grande after two and a half hours. 00:03:43.050 --> 00:03:48.052 And then to get to the house we had to take another bus, 00:03:48.052 --> 00:03:54.078 because there's only one line that goes all the way there. (60km from downtown Rio) 00:03:54.078 --> 00:03:58.020 There's not a single shop on the street, there isn't a school, 00:03:58.020 --> 00:04:00.052 so we had to consider all of this, 00:04:00.052 --> 00:04:03.040 and I decided not to accept the house. 00:04:05.090 --> 00:04:10.092 Every day I would go to City Hall, sometimes they wouldn't meet with me, 00:04:10.092 --> 00:04:15.004 or they would say no one was there, tell me to come back. 00:04:15.004 --> 00:04:23.012 So I stood in the hallway to wait for (Housing Secretary) Jorge Bittar to go to lunch. 00:04:23.012 --> 00:04:26.038 When he goes to lunch, I'll stop him. 00:04:26.038 --> 00:04:28.064 And that's what happened! 00:04:28.064 --> 00:04:31.091 When he was going to lunch, I grabbed his arm and said: 00:04:31.091 --> 00:04:38.038 'I live in Pavão-Pavãozinho, SEOP (government agency) went to my house and demolished it, 00:04:38.038 --> 00:04:43.067 without giving me any prior notice, without any compensation or resettlement, 00:04:43.067 --> 00:04:52.599 they gave me this piece of paper saying I would get another home in three months at most, 00:04:52.599 --> 00:04:55.093 and up to now nothing has happened. 00:04:55.093 --> 00:05:01.053 So he took down my contacts and said one of his secretaries would get back to me. 00:05:01.053 --> 00:05:04.076 That secretary never answered my calls. 00:05:04.076 --> 00:05:10.000 It's been more than a year now since they promised the resettlement, and still nothing. 00:05:11.060 --> 00:05:16.096 Despite stories like Elisângela's, Rio's municipal government continues to say that all expropriations 00:05:16.096 --> 00:05:22.041 are being done according to the law and in respect of human rights. 00:05:23.038 --> 00:05:25.074 (Jorge Bittar, Municipal Housing Secretary - Nov/11) 00:05:25.074 --> 00:05:28.091 "Nothing will be defined without dialogue with the (affected) residents." 00:05:28.091 --> 00:05:31.064 "Nothing. There will not be any impositions." 00:05:31.064 --> 00:05:33.069 (Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes - March/11) 00:05:33.069 --> 00:05:37.050 "We've already done more than 3,000 expropriations of houses, buildings, shops." 00:05:37.050 --> 00:05:40.633 "The expert makes an assessment and the government pays an adequate and fair amount." 00:05:40.633 --> 00:05:42.746 "In fact we've paid very adequate amounts." 00:05:44.006 --> 00:05:48.077 How do you respond to someone who reads the paper or watches TV and believes 00:05:48.077 --> 00:05:52.028 the assertions being made by Mayor Paes and Secretary Bittar? 00:05:52.028 --> 00:06:00.019 Even I believed that before it happened to me and my neighbors! 00:06:00.019 --> 00:06:04.064 We believed it, because we see all the commercials... 00:06:04.064 --> 00:06:12.005 We don't know if it's true or not, but the way they present it makes it seem real. 00:06:12.491 --> 00:06:22.000 My feelings after all that happened, one year after my house was demolished, 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:25.004 are of indignation. 00:06:25.004 --> 00:06:35.086 I get angry because, as you see, I have all the documentation, all the receipts 00:06:35.086 --> 00:06:40.050 that prove how much I spent and invested in my home. 00:06:40.927 --> 00:06:46.038 Nothing was given to me for free. 00:06:46.038 --> 00:06:52.016 Everything was bought with lots of sweat and years of work. 00:06:52.016 --> 00:06:59.028 If I walked into an elevator and ran into Mayor Paes, I'd have a lot to say to him. 00:06:59.028 --> 00:07:11.007 I'd tell him my story, and say that it's similar to millions of other families in Rio. 00:07:11.007 --> 00:07:17.012 I'd also say that he won my vote (last time). I campaigned for him, I believed him, 00:07:17.012 --> 00:07:21.084 and next time that's definitely not going to happen again. 00:07:21.084 --> 00:07:29.004 I won't vote for him or whoever he's supporting, and I'll campaign against him, for sure. 00:07:29.004 --> 00:07:34.019 Everyone from the communities will do the same, because no one is stupid. 00:07:34.961 --> 00:07:40.081 Still living away from each other more than a year later, mother and daughter see each other on weekends. 00:07:44.761 --> 00:07:48.565 My dream for my daughter is something she's already told me she wants. 00:07:48.565 --> 00:07:56.840 When she finishes high school, she wants to study French or Italian culinary. 00:07:57.701 --> 00:07:59.447 She's the one who wants that. 00:08:00.124 --> 00:08:06.462 She's seen me cook since she was 7, and today she cooks very well too. 00:08:06.847 --> 00:08:15.045 I miss my mom sometimes, of course, I had always been raised by her and close to family. 00:08:15.045 --> 00:08:18.114 But I hope to live with my mom again. 00:08:18.114 --> 00:08:20.954 I'm going to keep fighting until the end. 00:08:20.954 --> 00:08:31.971 Until the courts say I win or lose, it doesn't matter, I'm going to keep fighting. 00:08:32.233 --> 00:08:35.884 I handed it over to justice, and I'm confident I will win. 00:08:49.824 --> 00:08:53.809 More than 20,000 people are still at risk of losing their homes in Rio. 00:08:53.809 --> 00:08:58.612 We demand an end to forced evictions, respect for our laws, and the guarantee of the right to housing in our city. 00:08:58.612 --> 00:09:03.045 Share this video and join the fight for a #RioWithoutEvictions 00:09:03.045 --> 00:09:06.923 http://rio.portalpopulardacopa.org.br 00:09:07.384 --> 00:09:13.596 A special thanks to Elisângela and Angel for sharing their story and for the courage to keep fighting. 00:09:14.088 --> 00:09:20.784 Produced by