World Cup 2014 News: Rio De Janeiro Favelas To Host Foreign Visitors During Soccer Tournament

Businessweek reports that some foreign visitors to Brazil, faced with a shortage of hotel rooms and skyrocketing prices during this year’s World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, are turning to the city’s favelas (or slums) for accommodation. About 300,000 people are expected to stay in Rio, which has about 55,400 hotel beds, for the tournament this June. Visitors are already scouting out cheaper rooms in private homes, some of which are located in favelas, where about 1.4 million of the city’s 6.3 million residents live.

While a three-bedroom apartment in the exclusive neighborhood of Leblon is going for about 3,500 reis ($1568) per night during the World Cup, the site writes, places in Rocinha -- the largest favela in the city -- go for about 200 reis, or $89. One broker, who’s charging 25 percent commission on such deals, says guests’ safety is more of an issue in the heavily touristed beachside areas than the hillside slums. But security remains a top priority for the city and federal government as it prepares for its hosting duties. On Tuesday, riots broke out in the Pavao-Pavaozinho favela after 26-year-old dancer Douglas Rafael da Silva Pereira was allegedly beaten to death by police; they’ve continued all this week.

The city has been trying to bring favelas, which are often controlled by drug gangs, under police control since 2008, when it launched a sweeping “pacification” program in the slums. Lately, operations have intensified. This week in the Complexo da Mare favela, about 2,500 members of the army and marines were deployed after a series of attacks against police posts there, according to CNN.