Christ The Redeemer

Sunday 28 November 2010

It's beautiful in Rio, despite the battle for control of the city's Favelas which is still going on. In most areas, people are going about their lives as normal while 24 hour television news is being accused of sensationalising the whole thing.

It is deadly though: 35 people dead, including a couple of bystanders, as the police and army wrestle control of the slums away from the drug gangs in preparation for the World Cup and Olympics, both of which are due to be staged here in the next few years. If the police do drive the gangs out, they will probably resurface elsewhere, though most people here support the action, including those living in the Favelas, who have always been too afraid to speak out against the gangs until now.

Above it all stands Christ The Redeemer, surveying the mayhem from his vantage point.