Residents of Rocinha, West Zone of Rio, closed the Zuzu Angel tunnel, on Thursday (16/11), in protest at the lack of electricity in the region, which, according to them, has already reached the ninth consecutive day. People from other neighborhoods in the city, who are also without power, are part of the mobilization, which began at 17:00.
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Lack of Electricity in Rocinha
In front of the tunnel, a red banner expresses the residents’ dissatisfaction: “Rocinha and Rio’s favelas need urgent electricity. Where’s the Light?” On video, it is possible to hear residents stressing that they have been without electricity for nine days.
What Light Says
According to Light, in the last week alone, there were 127 incidents in the community, caused by overload on the electricity grid due to the high rate of clandestine connections, where energy theft is 83.74%. Light’s transformers burn out, causing a lack of light. The company is responsible for supplying electricity to 31 municipalities in Rio.
Protests in Vidigal Too
The Residents of Morro do Vidigal held a demonstration on Wednesday (15/11), for the second night in a row, against the lack of electricity in parts of the community on Avenida Niemeyer. CET-Rio decided to close the road in both directions after residents blocked the lanes with pieces of wood and other objects. According to the president of the Vidigal Residents Association, Márcio Mazola, since 23:00 on Tuesday, around 400 families living on Rua Doutor Sobral Pinto at the top of the community have been without electricity. The Military Police were called to the scene.
The day before, another protest took place due to a blackout, in the section of the community closest to Niemeyer, which had already lasted four days. The road was also closed and in this case the power supply on that stretch has already been restored. Light reported that the problem is caused by an excess of illegal connections that overloaded the network and technicians are already working to restore energy.
