Brazil scales back Carnival festivities as drought and weak economy persist
Severe drought and an ailing economy have forced cities and towns across Brazil to abandon or scale back their plans for Carnival, which is due to start on Friday.
In Brasília, the capital, the local authorities have cancelled the samba school parade for the first time since 1983, in an attempt to plug the R$4bn (£900m) hole left in the accounts by the previous administration.
“It was a really unpleasant surprise,” said Geomar Leite, the president of Brasília’s Union of Samba Schools, said. “We had all the programme ready; the music, the costumes. We feel really frustrated.”
Even the world-famous Carnival of Rio de Janeiro is not immune. The state oil company, Petrobras,though mired in a massive corruption scandal, has promised to continue its funding of the main samba schools. But this year’s street parties, known as blocos, which rely on private-sector funding, will be more modest affairs.
Rita Fernandes, the president of Sebastiana, an association representing street parties in Rio’s wealthy southern zone, said there had been a massive reduction in the interest of sponsors this year.
“We have suffered a lot. Normally brands are desperate to be associated with us. This year that didn’t happen.” As a result, the organisation has had to cancel two dance events.
Elsewhere in Brazil, the shortage of water is the main problem. The south-east is experiencing its worst drought in 80 years, and its two most populous states, São Paulo and Minas Gerais, have seen the biggest cutbacks, with 10 towns cancelling celebrations.
In the town of Cordeirópolis, whose water supply has come from a mining pit for the past three months, the council issued a statement arguing that using water to clean up after the party would be “even more controversial” than cancelling.
In Itapecerica residents have been without running water for up to five days each week. Although supply has now been restored, Welliton Cruz, the town’s tourism secretary, said the decision to cancel came after the local utility company said it could not guarantee water to the thousands of tourists that usually visit each Carnival.
“The town approved of the decision,” he said. “Even though there will be a negative economic impact for the bars, the hotels and the transport sector.”
Flávio Pires, the president of the Association of Gastronomy, Entertainment, Art and Culture in Vila Madalena, a fashionable district in western São Paulo, said his members were worried. “The bars don’t even have water in their toilets at night. We are having to use buckets,” he said.In the city of São Paulo, three hundredblocos, attracting an estimated two million, have been registered with the authorities. But with many receiving no running water for several hours each day, some question whether the city can cope.
The mayor’s office has announced that street cleaners will use untreated water to wash the streets afterwards. In the sambadrome, where tens of thousands gather to watch the samba schools parade, water pressure to the bathrooms has been reduced fivefold to avoid wastage.
With water rationing in effect in some places, Brazilians have been stockpiling water. But improperly covered water tanks are a fertile breeding ground for mosquitoes. Nationwide, cases of dengue fever were up 57% year-on-year this January. Now some local authorities have chosen to spend cash earmarked for street parties on disease control.
Catanduva, a town 250 miles north of São Paulo, usually attracts 100,000 visitors to its Carnival. This year, however, a mass-spraying programme will replace the street parties.
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