Major favelas

Complexo da Maré

Sixteen historically distinct communities in Rio de Janeiro's North Zone that together form one of the country's largest contiguous favela complexes, hemmed in by motorways, the bay, and the access roads to Galeão international airport.

Geography and setting

The Maré complex is bounded by some of Rio's busiest road infrastructure. The Linha Amarela cuts through its core; the Linha Vermelha runs along its inland edge; the Avenida Brasil bounds its southern side; and Guanabara Bay borders its eastern flank. The two expressways are the principal route from Galeão international airport to the city center, which makes the complex unusually visible to arriving travelers.

History

The earliest settlements in what is now the Maré complex were stilt houses (palafitas) built over the bay's tidal flats from the 1940s. State programs in the 1960s and 1970s, including projects under the BNH and the state of Guanabara, built consolidated housing on landfill and replaced much of the original stilt construction. Through the 1980s the area continued to expand through both informal building and additional state housing projects (Vila do João, Vila do Pinheiro). The 1994 designation as a bairro consolidated administrative recognition.

Population and demographics

The IBGE Census 2010 counted around 130,000 residents across the complex; the local research and advocacy organization Redes da Maré conducted its own 2013 community census, which produced a similar order-of-magnitude figure (around 130,000 across sixteen communities). The population is concentrated in younger age groups and is predominantly self-identified preta and parda.

Economy and infrastructure

The complex has a developed local economy with arterial commerce, services, and small industry. Water, electricity, and mobile internet are widely available; sewerage is uneven. Public schools, clinics, and a federal university campus (the Centro de Estudos e Ações Solidárias da Maré has hosted UFRJ extension activities) are present in or adjacent to the complex.

Public security

Maré has been a site of recurring large-scale security operations and is widely understood to be territorialized by armed groups associated with multiple factions, including the Comando Vermelho, the Terceiro Comando Puro, and militias in particular sub-areas — a pattern documented by researchers including those at the Federal Fluminense University's Grupo de Estudos dos Novos Ilegalismos. The complex did not receive a UPP; instead it was the site of a federal military occupation in 2014 and 2015, in the run-up to the World Cup. Lethal-violence indicators have been the subject of monitoring by Redes da Maré itself through its Boletim Direito à Segurança Pública.

Culture and notable residents

Marielle Franco, the Rio city councillor assassinated on 14 March 2018, grew up in Maré and made the complex central to her political work. The community is the home of Redes da Maré, founded by Eliana Sousa Silva, one of the most influential community-research organizations in Brazil. The Lona Cultural Herbert Vianna, an outdoor cultural venue named for the Paralamas do Sucesso musician, sits at the entrance to the complex.

Further reading

See Marielle Franco, Eliana Sousa Silva, and Organizations.