![]() Shops without cash to spare offered staples like cooking oil and rice.Īs a frontline worker, he knew he was a potential vector, even after contracting and recovering from COVID-19. In the same way Unidos solicits contributions for its Carnival parade from local businesses, Baracho asked for help paying for food kits. Food kits from UNICEF were deposited at the school’s court, and people helped distribute them to homebound residents. He brought bread from the bakery next to his house. One day he deployed it to fetch 80 donated sacks of oranges. Everyone wants to go out, yes – that’s part of being from Rio, part of our people, our country – but we’re going to hold on a little longer.”īaracho also used the ambulance to check on Vila Vintem’s residents, hoping to keep them from leaving home. We’re seeing relaxation out there, we see on TV that bars are super full, and that will have a price. “We’re going to follow the guidance, use hand sanitizer, avoid social contact – that’s important. ![]() “This is far from over,” Baracho, standing in the near-empty court, warned the thousands watching the contest on social media. But during Unidos’ competition to choose its 2021 Carnival anthem, Baracho pleaded with participants to minimize avoidable risks. The favela’s streets became crowded with residents who – watching their pantries empty, eager to resume their lives – heeded the president’s call.īaracho sympathized. His words resonated in Rio’s west zone, where he has his private home, won almost three-quarters of the 2018 vote and remains popular, according to Henrique Santos, who is a professor of social services at the Castello Branco University adjacent to Vila Vintem. The poor, he said, would suffer immense hardship. He called it “a little flu” and encouraged people to refuse to stay cooped up. While Rio’s governor and mayor had imposed restrictions in line with health experts’ recommendations, President Jair Bolsonaro scoffed at COVID-19. City Hall had set up another field hospital that was still ramping up to full capacity. Months after the governor promised eight such facilities, only two had been delivered. Rio state’s former health secretary had been arrested amid accusations of fraud in the emergency purchase of ventilators.Īnd federal police raided the governor’s mansion on May 26 in connection with alleged irregularities in the construction of COVID-19 field hospitals. ![]() The government response to the pandemic was in disarray. “One day there was so much lack of air, I thought I’d be gone,” she said. Still, the hospital sent her home to isolate. An X-ray showed COVID-19 had claimed a quarter of her lung, she said in an interview months later. Luzilene Viana, a 44-year-old bakery employee, was coughing and weak when Baracho dispatched her to the hospital on May 24. After medical school, he got a job at a nearby hospital, then moved away after a shootout erupted as he picked up his toddler from daycare, right next to Vila Vintem. Government neglect allowed a drug gang to take root.īaracho, 49, grew up just outside the favela, playing pick-up soccer on its dirt fields. Decades passed before basic services arrived, sometimes only after residents agreed to do the work themselves. Its name reflects its undesirable location: When first settled, the swampy area was said to be worth not even a vintem – the cheapest coin at the time, akin to a penny. Vila Vintem is home to more than 15,000 people. “We’re talking about saving lives, and our own lives.” _ This is a mission,” said Baracho, Unidos’ vice president, on April 8 as a team of seamstresses turned out medical gowns. “Carnival is a different kind of happiness, it’s playful and pleasurable. ![]() Once again, one of Rio’s underserved communities pulled together rather than waiting for help from authorities that arrives late, if at all. ![]()
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