wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Underreported: Eco-Barriers in Brazil

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Walls are going up around the slums of Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilian government is calling them "eco-barriers," designed to prevent Rio’s shantytowns from spilling into the city’s heavily forested hillsides, but opponents of the walls see them as a form of "geographic discrimination" that imprisons the residents. On today’s second Underreported we’ll talk to Antonio Regalado,The Wall Street Journal’s correspondent in Brazil about the walls and the controversy surrounding them.


Comments

  • [1] Renata from NY June 18, 2009 - 12:16PM

    "Walls" have been going up for a long time now, throughout Brazil, not just in Rio. After living in America for 24 yrs, we moved back and lived there for 2 yrs, and I couldn't believe all the fancy "gated communities" that have taken over the landscape in Brazil. Huge walls with electrical fences and barbed wires, securities guards with shot guns, you name it! The wealthy are segregating themselves by living in these high security "prisons", with all the amenities of a high end resort. It is the society's way of separating the rich from the poor, although all their "servants\ slaves", live in the "Favela" next door and get paid $10 dollars per day!


  • [2] Enrique from Elizabeth, NJ June 18, 2009 - 02:00PM

    ...this happens through all Latin-America. Is a disgrace.


Leave a Comment

Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. WNYC reserves the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the WNYC.org Comment Guidelines before posting.

Your comment


* required
The information entered into this form will not be used to send unsolicited email and will not be sold to a third party.
 
Back to Episode