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A favela of Complexo do Alemão.

Complexo do Alemão (Portuguese for German's Complex) is a group of favelas in northern Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

History

An article published by O Globo in 2007 ^[1] revealed the origin of Complexo do Alemão. After World War I, a Pole named Leonard Kaczmarkiewicz bought the land. It was not long before the place became known as Morro do Alemão (German's Hill) due to Kaczmarkiewicz's physical looks. The rural area began to change its appearance in the late 1920s, when the leather factory Curtume Carioca was founded. It attracted hundreds of workers to the region. When Avenida Brasil was inaugurated in 1946, the region started to progress and soon became the city's main industrial pole. However, the illegal occupation began in 1951, when Kaczmarkiewicz divided his land in plots and eventually sold them. The occupied places evolved into favelas during the military dictatorship. The number of occupations peaked towards the end of the dictatorship. the best place to live according to revised Carta Capital of October 15, 2005 ed. 213.

Demographics

• Area: 296.09 ha (2.96 km²) (2003)
• Population: 65,026 (2000)
• Homes: 18,245 (2000)

Social issues

Police executions

Police cars in Complexo do Alemão in June 27, 2007 as shown by a Rede Record report about the operation.

Mother and child running during the police operation, as shown in the same report.

In June 27, 2007, just a few days before the Live Earth concert in Copacabana and the opening ceremony of the XV Pan American Games, Complexo do Alemão was the stage of a huge operation led by the Military Police against the gangs formed by drug dealers. Official numbers shows that the police executed almost twenty people in the region. Some sources claim (it is just as likely) that most of the people executed had no relations with the drug traffic whatsoever, since state violence towards Favelas has happened countless other times. Until the end of the Pan-American Games, Complexo do Alemão was under siege. On its website, the United Socialist Workers' Party criticized the operation, saying its purpose was to suppress the dealers of the Complexo do Alemão favelas only during the Pan-American Games since Brazil's international image could have been hurt if anything had happened during the Games ^[2]. At the Games opening ceremony, president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva was booed, but it did not have anything to do with him sanctioning the operation. The United Nations Children's Fund also criticized the operation, which injured four under aged and left thousands without access to school. ^[3].

References