Meeting Determines No Street Carnaval in Rio in 2021

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – An online meeting on Tuesday evening, October 27th, determined that there will be no street Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro in 2021. The meeting was attended by street block representatives, Riotur and specialists in health and public safety.

All agreed that it would not be feasible or safe to hold an event of the magnitude of Rio’s street carnaval during the Coronavirus pandemic, a disease that has killed over 150,000 people in the country.

“Directors and marchers had already considered that they would not parade unless they had the vaccine. Our position is that there will be no Carnaval in 2021. It will be deferred to 2022, and only if we have conditions to hold it then” said Fabrício Villa Flor, Riotur’s acting president.

“The blocks’ position was very responsible and I congratulate them for that. We are still in the Covid-19 pandemic, so our position is: with no vaccine, we cannot estimate the Rio 2021 Carnaval. When the vaccine comes, we will be able to plan and discuss dates,” he added.

Health experts endorsed the decision. Infectologist and professor Roberto Medronho, from UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), does not rule out a version of the celebration next year, if the population is immunized.

“I believe that, once we have the vaccine and adequate vaccine coverage, and if it is safe and effective, we could hold it not in July, but in the middle of the second semester, like October,” Medronho proposed.

Promoter Andréa Amin also supports the decision to not hold a street carnaval next year. “I keep hearing about it, and it saddens me greatly because I don’t think we can hold a carnival in 2021. No matter how hard we try to provide safety in its execution, it will ultimately be a spontaneous celebration. And many people are irresponsible, and if there’s a carnaval, they will take to the streets,” said the promoter.

The blocks representatives will consider campaigns and alternatives for next year’s celebration. “We can work on a shared campaign. We can work in the field of prevention. And, among us carnaval groups, we can think about what we can do in the symbolic area of live streams and other events,” said Rita Fernandes, president of the Independent Association of Street Carnaval Blocks of Rio de Janeiro.

Samba school parades had already been deferred

The Rio Samba Schools Special Group parade had already been deferred by a decision in late September. At a meeting of the Independent League of Samba Schools (LIESA), association representatives decided to defer the Rio Special Group’s Carmaval parades until next year. The decision was unanimous, following a meeting at the league’s headquarters in downtown Rio.

There is still no date for the parade – the schools have only defined that it will not be held in February. According to LIESA’s president, Jorge Castanheira, any consideration of a new date hinges on the scheduling of a vaccination campaign.