This article originally appeared on VICE.
This was life at the open market Feira de São Joaquim (link in Portuguese) in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. It was a chaotic market where people from the slums bought their groceries, but it no longer exists since it’s now being “cleaned up” for the World Cup.
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It was the largest open market in Brazil, or perhaps all of South America.
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Its history goes back hundreds of years, and it was originally one of the slave capitals of the world.
The vast majority of Salvador’s people, who live in slums, are not allowed inside the city’s new shopping malls.
So this became the key place for the poorer 85 percent of the population to buy food and other groceries.
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In 2011, I set out with another local photographer and photographed the marketplace over a period of six weeks.
Two weeks after we finished, the police carried out a large raid in the market.
They succeeded in capturing more than 60 drug dealers and other petty criminals, and in shutting the market down completely.
Today, the planned renovation is stalled (link in Portuguese), and the project’s completion in time for the World Cup is in question.
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What was originally sold as a cleanup effort that would improve the quality of life for the people who do business there has instead scattered the workers and former vendors across the city.
Now, many of these people are unemployed, or struggling to scratch out a living.
Those who held out hope for the reopening of the market are now faced with the stark reality that after almost three years, the “seven stage plan” for revitalization hasn’t even left stage one.
The vendors have staged protests, and was eventually permitted an audience with the local government.
Officials blamed unions and planning difficulties.
View more of Lennart Maschmeyer’s photos here.
