Aug 9, 2016

The world’s attention is naturally focused upon the athletes at the Rio 2016 Olympics. But in the shadows of the bright lights of the games is a country facing deep political unrest and social inequality.

: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 09: The Olympic Rings seen in front of the favela Morro da Mineira on Day 4 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Sambodromo on August 9, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 09: Youngsters fly kids outside an occupied building in the Mangueira ‘favela’ community on August 9, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Hundreds of residents who live in the surrounding structures must collect water from hoses as there is no running water in the buildings. Much of the Mangueira ‘favela’ community sits about a kilometer away from Maracana stadium, the site of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The stadium has received hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations ahead of the World Cup and Olympics. The Morar Carioca plan to urbanize Rio’s favelas, or unplanned settlements, by 2020, was one key social legacy project heralded ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The plan has mostly failed to materialize. Around 1.4 million residents, or approximately 22 percent of Rio’s population, reside in favelas which often lack proper sanitation, health care, education and security due to gang and police violence. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 09: People gather outside an occupied building in the Mangueira ‘favela’ community on August 9, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Hundreds of residents who live in the surrounding structures must collect water from hoses as there is no running water in the buildings. Much of the Mangueira ‘favela’ community sits about a kilometer away from Maracana stadium, the site of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The stadium has received hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations ahead of the World Cup and Olympics. The Morar Carioca plan to urbanize Rio’s favelas, or unplanned settlements, by 2020, was one key social legacy project heralded ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The plan has mostly failed to materialize. Around 1.4 million residents, or approximately 22 percent of Rio’s population, reside in favelas which often lack proper sanitation, health care, education and security due to gang and police violence. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 09: A woman sweeps outside an occupied building in the Mangueira ‘favela’ community on August 9, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Hundreds of residents who live in the surrounding structures must collect water from hoses as there is no running water in the buildings. Much of the Mangueira ‘favela’ community sits about a kilometer away from Maracana stadium, the site of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The stadium has received hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations ahead of the World Cup and Olympics. The Morar Carioca plan to urbanize Rio’s favelas, or unplanned settlements, by 2020, was one key social legacy project heralded ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The plan has mostly failed to materialize. Around 1.4 million residents, or approximately 22 percent of Rio’s population, reside in favelas which often lack proper sanitation, health care, education and security due to gang and police violence. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 09: Children try to pull down a kite caught on a line outside an occupied building in the Mangueira ‘favela’ community on August 9, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Hundreds of residents who live in the surrounding structures must collect water from hoses as there is no running water in the buildings. Much of the Mangueira ‘favela’ community sits about a kilometer away from Maracana stadium, the site of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The stadium has received hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations ahead of the World Cup and Olympics. The Morar Carioca plan to urbanize Rio’s favelas, or unplanned settlements, by 2020, was one key social legacy project heralded ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The plan has mostly failed to materialize. Around 1.4 million residents, or approximately 22 percent of Rio’s population, reside in favelas which often lack proper sanitation, health care, education and security due to gang and police violence. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 09: Kids walk and gather outside an occupied building in the Mangueira ‘favela’ community on August 9, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Hundreds of residents who live in the surrounding structures must collect water from hoses as there is no running water in the buildings. Residents often must burn trash due to a lack of public services. Much of the Mangueira ‘favela’ community sits about a kilometer away from Maracana stadium, the site of the opening and closing ceremonies for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The stadium has received hundreds of millions of dollars in renovations ahead of the World Cup and Olympics. The Morar Carioca plan to urbanize Rio’s favelas, or unplanned settlements, by 2020, was one key social legacy project heralded ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The plan has mostly failed to materialize. Around 1.4 million residents, or approximately 22 percent of Rio’s population, reside in favelas which often lack proper sanitation, health care, education and security due to gang and police violence. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 05: Fireworks explode over Maracana stadium with the Mangueira ‘favela’ community in the foreground during opening ceremonies for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on August 5, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Rio 2016 Olympic Games commenced tonight at the iconic stadium. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 05: Fireworks explode over Maracana stadium with the Mangueira ‘favela’ community in the foreground during opening ceremonies for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on August 5, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Rio 2016 Olympic Games commenced tonight at the iconic stadium. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

: BRASILIA, BRAZIL – AUGUST 09: Protesters hold banners against the interim president of Brazil Michel Temer during the Women’s First Round Group F match between Germany and Canada on Day 4 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Mane Garrincha Stadium on August 9, 2016 in Brasilia, Brazil. (Photo by Celso Junior/Getty Images)

: BRASILIA, BRAZIL – AUGUST 09: Police disperse a protest against President of Brazil Michel Temer during the Women’s First Round Group F match between Germany and Canada on Day 4 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Mane Garrincha Stadium on August 9, 2016 in Brasilia, Brazil. (Photo by Celso Junior/Getty Images)

: The damages to the window of an Olympic journalists bus hit while driving on the transolympica highway are seen in Rio de Janeiro on August 9, 2016. (GASTON SAINZ/AFP/Getty Images)

: The damages to the window of a Olympic journalists bus hit while driving on the transolympica highway are seen in Rio de Janeiro on August 9, 2016. (GASTON SAINZ/AFP/Getty Images)

: The damages to the windows of an Olympic journalists bus hit while driving on the transolympica highway are inspected by an official in Rio de Janeiro on August 9, 2016. (MAXIMILIANO AMENA/AFP/Getty Images)

: Police officers detain a man during a protest against the Rio’s 2016 Summer Olympics near the Maracana stadium before the opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Mauro Pimentel)

: Two boys sit on the sidewalk as they attend a protest against the Rio’s 2016 Summer Olympics near the Maracana stadium before the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 5, 2016. The sign reads in Portuguese “Rio 2016 Games of exclusion.” (AP Photo/Mauro Pimentel)

: A man selling plastic Olympic torches jokes as he waits for costumers while waiting for the Olympic torch on its way to Rio de Janeiro for the opening ceremony of Rio’s 2016 Summer Olympics, in Niteroi, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016. The three-month torch relay across Brazil will end at the opening ceremony on Aug. 5, in Maracana stadium. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

: Demonstrators scuffle with riot police during a protest against the money spent on the Rio’s 2016 Summer Olympics on the route of the olympic torch in Niteroi, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016. The three-month torch relay across Brazil will end at the opening ceremony on Aug. 5, in Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

: Police officers round up a group of protesters detained during a march against the money spent on the Rio’s 2016 Summer Olympics and the interim Brazilian president Michel Temer in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine)

: People pose for photos holding a banner that reads in Portuguese ‘What’s the legacy to the poor?’ as part of a protest organized by the NGO ‘Rio de Paz,’ or Rio of Peace, in the the Mandela slum of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016. Members of the NGO walked through slums asking residents about the Olympic legacy; the same areas visited by members of the International Olympic Committee in 2014, where they asked the IOC to request their city government make improvements in their neighborhoods. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

: Security officers try to take from a woman away a sign against Brazil’s interim Michel Temer during a F match of the women’s Olympic football tournament between Germany and Canada at the National Stadium, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016. A Brazilian judge has order Olympic organizers to allow peaceful protests inside venues after several fans were escorted out of stadiums for holding up anti-government signs. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

: A fan with a Brazil national football team jersey with the text that reads “Say No To The Coup” written on it, watches a women’s water polo preliminary round match at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016. A court ruling banning the removal of protesters from Olympic venues is fueling debate on whether Brazil’s political crisis should be kept out of the athletic competition. The ruling Monday came after a Brazilian Olympic volunteer defaced his official credentials to demonstrate his opposition to orders to escort out of stadiums fans holding up signs against interim President Michel Temer. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Around 1.4 million of the city’s residents reside in favelas which often lack proper sanitation, health care, education and security due to gang and police violence. Though plans for the Rio 2016 Olympic games had included initiatives to urbanize the favelas surrounding the stadium, those plans have mostly not materialized.

In the shadows of the Rio 2016 Olympics

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