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  • [ July 21, 2025 ] What is River Health? Exploring Rio de Janeiro’s Rivers and Their Connection to Human Health [REFERENCE] Interviews & Profiles
  • [ July 17, 2025 ] Tenth Edition of ‘Black July’ Connects Rio Favelas and Palestinians Against State Terrorism #UPPWatch
  • [ June 21, 2025 ] ‘We’re Working at the Micro Level Because There Are People Destroying Things on a Macro Scale’: In Rio de Janeiro, ‘Green Roof Favela’ Engages Popular Culture on World Environment Day *Highlight
  • [ June 20, 2025 ] Get to Know ‘Gaia Space’, A Network of Women Fighting for Environmental Justice and Obstetric Dignity in Greater Rio de Janeiro *Highlight
  • [ June 10, 2025 ] Groundbreaking Oral History Project—‘Favela Climate Memory’—Launches Final Exhibition, Fostering Emotional Connection Between Climate, Nature and Community [Video] *Highlight
HomeWritersHeloisa Helena Costa Berto

Writer: Heloisa Helena Costa Berto

*Highlight

Urgent Letter to International Journalists and Organizations: Afro-Brazilian Religions Under Attack

By Heloisa Helena Costa Berto • October 11, 2017

Clique aqui para Português The letter below, recently circulated among international media and human rights bodies, was written by Vila Autódromo’s Heloisa Helena Costa Berto. It follows a disturbing rise in violent attacks on followers […]

#EvictionsWatch

Letter from Vila Autódromo’s Heloisa Helena to the UN Human Rights Commission

By Heloisa Helena Costa Berto • Translation by Sheila Taylor • March 23, 2016

Clique aqui para Português This is a letter from Heloisa Helena Costa Berto/Luizinha de Nanã of Vila Autódromo to Mr. Ulrik Halsteen, member of the Business and Human Rights working group of the United Nations Office of the […]

#EvictionsWatch

Candomblé Priestess in Vila Autódromo Received Death Threats to Make Way for 2016 Olympics

By Heloisa Helena Costa Berto • Translation by Christopher Owens, Emma Platais, Luana Gama • February 23, 2016

Clique aqui para Português This is the second letter sent by Heloisa Helena Costa Berto and published on RioOnWatch. Read her first letter, published on September 17, 2015, here. I have spent the past month […]

#EvictionsWatch

Candomblé Priestess from Vila Autódromo Describes the Terror of the Eviction Process

By Heloisa Helena Costa Berto • Translation by Carolyn Oliveira • September 17, 2015

Clique aqui para Português Vila Autódromo evictee, Heloisa Helena Costa Berto, shared the letter she wrote documenting her painful ordeal with the City of Rio, with RioOnWatch. Here it is published in its entirety. Following is an urgent […]

RioOnWatch’s anti-racist reporting series won silver in the 2022 inaugural The Anthem Awards, in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion category among Best Local Awareness Programs.
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In May 2010, Catalytic Communities launched what was originally Rio Olympics Neighborhood Watch (hence RioOnWatch), a program to bring visibility to favela community voices in the lead-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics. This news site, RioOnWatch.org, grew into a much-needed and unique reference featuring favela perspectives on the urban transformation of Rio. With diverse and deeply interlinked articles by a mix of community reporters, resident opinions, solidarity reporters, international observers, and academic researchers, we work to engender a more accurate picture of favelas, their contributions to the city, and the potential of favela-led community development in Rio and around the world.

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Fundação Heinrich Böll Brasil
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Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation
SDSU Behner Stiefel Center
The Rio Times
Forum Grita Baixada
Beto Paixão Graphic Design
Architecture Museum of Vienna
Yale School of Architecture

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