From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or ...

Cosme Felippsen, a community-based favela tour guide in Rio (Photos by Kiratiana Freelon) This is your first of three free stories this month. Become a free or sustaining member to read unlimited ...

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — As authorities in Brazil tackled crime earlier this decade, opening Rio de Janeiro’s hillside favelas to tourists seemed like a winning idea. The views are breathtaking, the slum ...

Brazilian tour guide Thiago Firmino notices that the two cable cars servicing the working-class neighborhood of Dona Marta, on a steep hillside overlooking Rio, are out of order. He quickly snaps a ...

On Monday, our group with the Boston Archdiocese was split into smaller groups of 12 or so and we were taken by van to the favela Santa Marta in Rio. “Favela” means plant and it is the word for the ...

Rio de Janeiro is a hotbed of tourism at the moment, full of visiting athletes and Olympic spectators taking in the Summer Olympic Games but these visitors aren't just taking in the Olympic village.

“This favela is one of the safest places in the whole of Rio,” claimed my guide, Johan Gama, a 22-year-old local resident. “The gangs have their own rule system to keep the peace. If someone dares to ...

Ever wondered what goes on in Rio when the Olympics aren't there? A new Google Arts & Culture project gives a glimpse into life in the city's favelas, the informal, largely unmapped slums that house ...