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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Daiene Mendes

Daiene Mendes lives in Nova Brasilia, in the Alemão favela complex in Rio de Janeiro, and works with a literacy project

August 2017

  • Uma menina indica buracos da bala na sua casa em Complexo do Alemão, Rio de Janeiro.

    Rio voices: our Olympic odyssey
    A visão das favelas: 'O legado para Rio deveria ser paz, mas estamos em guerra'

    Daiene Mendes em Alemão
  • A young girl points to bullet holes in the front of her house in the favela Complexo do Alemao in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Rio voices: our Olympic odyssey
    View from the Rio favelas: 'We're often scared to leave the house in case we're hit by a stray bullet'

    Daiene Mendes in Alemão

December 2016

  • People walk past closed shops at the Complexo do Alemao slum in Rio de Janeiro May 23, 2013. Drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro ordered shops shut in Complexo do Alemao slum, one of its biggest, early Thursday, forcing school closures, defying efforts to restore order to the city's vast shantytowns and renewing safety concerns in Brazil before it hosts the World Cup, Olympics and other big upcoming events.

    Rio voices: our Olympic odyssey
    View from the favelas: A legacy of corruption, neglect and repression

    Daiene Mendes in Alemão
  • O Complexo do Alemão, onde se fechou o Teleférico depois dos Jogos.

    Rio voices: our Olympic odyssey
    A visão das favelas: 'Para nós, o legado é de abandono, indiferença e corrupção

    Daiene Mendes no Alemão

2 August 2016

  • The Mare favela. Mare is located close to Rio’s international airport and has been mentioned as a pacification Likely target for the police amid the city’s efforts to Improve security ahead 2016 Olympic Games.

    Rio voices: our Olympic odyssey
    ‘The only Olympic legacy I see is repression and war’ – a year in Rio’s favelas

    Few visitors to Rio 2016 will see behind the ‘wall of shame’ – colourful murals that screen off the city’s poorer communities. Here, young journalists from favelas look back on 12 months scarred by Zika, landslides and police violence
  • Um policial caminha residentes passado durante um confronto com traficantes de drogas, no Complexo do Alemão, Rio de Janeiro.

    Rio voices: our Olympic odyssey
    Jogos Olímpicos do Rio: A visão das favelas – 'Porque de legado, eu só vejo repressão'

    Daiene Mendes no Alemao
    No nosso diário da vida no Alemão antes das Olímpiadas, Daiene Mendes escreve que a favela quer antes do todo uma policia que ‘nos respeite como cidadão’
  • In this July 7, 2016 photo, a police officer walks past residents during a clash with drug traffickers in the “pacified” Alemao slum complex in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Tourists coming for the Olympic Games will likely be spared from the violence lived daily in slums in the west, north and outlying areas of the city. The 85,000 soldiers and police who will be dispatched represent a force double that of the 2012 Games in London.

    Rio voices: our Olympic odyssey
    Rio Olympics: view from the favelas – 'I can't leave the house. The shots are too close'

    Daiene Mendes in Alemão
    In her latest diary entry on life in Alemão before the Games, Daiene Mendes describes the tense atmosphere in a favela where gunfire is frequently heard

July 2016

  • View of graffiti reading ‘I want to live’ at a shantytown of the Alemao complex in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Rio voices: our Olympic odyssey
    Jogos Olímpicos do Rio: A vista das favelas – ‘No Alemão, as mortes não são investigadas'

    Daiene Mendes no Alemão
  • Graffiti reading ‘I want to live’ in Rio’s Alemão favela

    Rio voices: our Olympic odyssey
    Rio Olympics: view from the favelas – ‘In Alemão, deaths aren’t investigated'

    Daiene Mendes in Alemão

March 2016

  • A resident stands in front of an advertisement for online combat games on the streets of Complexo do Alemao, Brazil

    Rio voices: our Olympic odyssey
    Rio Olympics: view from the favelas – 'The closer the gunshots, the stronger my heart beats'

    Daiene Mendes in Alemão
    Daiene Mendes reflects on continued violence but also on the success of the annual Circulando street event in celebrating all that is good within the favela

December 2015

  • A resident flees during a raid in the Alemão favela complex, where shootouts are common between gangs and the Police Pacifying Unit (UPP).

    Rio voices: our Olympic odyssey
    Rio Olympics: view from the favelas – 'Many deaths go unexplained here'

    Daiene Mendes in Alemão
  • The Alemão favela complex in Rio de Janeiro, viewed from the cable car.

    Rio voices: our Olympic odyssey
    Rio Olympics: view from the favelas – 'Hopes of pacification are shattered'

    Daiene Mendes in Alemão
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