Combat Photography in Rio de Janeiro’s Favela City of God

By C.H. Gardiner

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Early this year news Photographer and Journalist C.H. Gardiner covered a Military Police Operation in Rio’s Cidade de Deus (City of God) favela.

The Cidade de Deus is a West Zone neighborhood of the Rio de Janeiro city. It is also known as CDD among its inhabitants.

The neighborhood was founded in 1960, planned and executed by the government of Guanabara State as part of the policy to systematically remove favelas from the center of Rio de Janeiro and settle their inhabitants in the suburbs.

It was used as the backdrop in the 2002 film City of God. In 2009, it was occupied by a Pacifying Police Unit.