Brazil under fire for World Cup slum evictions

[liberal N proud]

'We aren't garbage': Brazil under fire for World Cup slum evictions
Looming soccer tournament, Olympics spur multi-billion dollar drive to upgrade creaking infrastructure

RIO DE JANEIRO — Like his house, Jose Santos de Oliveira is an island of resistance.

The middle-aged gardener and his home stand amid the sea of rubble that remains of the slum community of Vila Recreio 2 in the west of Rio de Janeiro.

The mistake of the around 200 families who used to live here? They were in the way of Brazil's make-over to host the world's biggest sports events in the coming years — in this case, one of three new bus routes aimed at easing congestion.

The 2014 soccer World Cup and the Olympic Games in Rio two years later are spurring a multi-billion dollar drive to upgrade Brazil's creaking infrastructure. But as work gets under way it has run up against a barrier — Brazil's unequal society and chaotic urban planning that has seen hundreds of slums spring up throughout cities like Rio in recent decades.

Rights groups say poor residents appear to be losing out, raising early questions over whether the double-header of sporting "mega-events" will help heal Brazil's deep social divisions or worsen them.

Both Amnesty International and a United Nations rapporteur have condemned Brazil over evictions related to World Cup and Olympic building work, a potential embarrassment for center-left President Dilma Rousseff who has vowed to eliminate dire poverty in Latin America's largest economy.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42984776/ns/world_news-americas/

[enid602]

1. Brazil

Brazil is the future, and always will be.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

2. Eminent domain is the same here

We build roads, sports arenas, shopping centers, and how many civic leaders' mansions are razed?

The poor are just in the way of our bulldozers. True in Brazil, true everywhere.

I'm just thankful Brazil won the Olympics, and they're not coming to the U.S. any time soon.

:hi:

[charlie and algernon]

3. World Cup should've come here

we've already got DOZENS of large stadiums perfect for World Cup Soccer.

Meadowlands, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas, Rose Bowl, Kansas City, Seattle, St. Louis, Tampa, Miami

Well more than enough stadiums required for all the games and WITHOUT having to destroy poor areas to build NEW stadiums.