For the fifth time, Porto Velho will not have a Samba School Parade due to lack of public funding

Iury Lima – Cenarium Magazine

VILHENA (RO) – Porto Velho, capital of Rondônia (RO), will have less to offer to revelers, residents and tourists during this year’s Carnaval. For the fifth consecutive time, the city will not have the animation and colorfulness of the Samba Schools Parade. In the announcement of the cancellation, the League of Samba Schools of Rondônia (Lieser) states that the reason is the lack of public funding from the city government to support the event.

According to the president of Lieser, Ana Lúcia Barroso, the cost of the parade depends exclusively on the support of the City Hall of Porto Velho, which should happen through the Cultural Foundation of the city (Funcultural). She says that she learned of the lack of resources when she contacted the entity.

Frustrated expectations

According to Lieser, the news had bad repercussions and generated sadness among the seven League associations, which are affiliated groups spread throughout Rondônia.

The expectation was high, according to Barroso, for the return of the parades, after a “dark time” left by the Covid-19 pandemic. The last time the member schools of Lieser took to the avenues of Porto Velho was in 2018, two years before the arrival of the Coronavirus.

Questioned by CENARIUM MAGAZINE, the Porto Velho City Hall did not clarify the reason for the lack of resources to sponsor the parade of the samba schools until the publication of this story.

The report asked about the average amount invested by the government in the attraction, if the funds were in cash or not, and if the money would be reverted to another portfolio of the municipal administration, but got no response.

Economic and cultural impact

The traditional Samba School Parade has been held since the 1950s in the capital of Rondônia. Several sectors of the local economy survive from the big party, such as street vendors, restaurants, snack bars, and artisans, now damaged by the cancellation.

To mitigate the impacts, the Samba Schools League announced that it will make several actions possible. The list foresees, initially, a feijoada (bean stew) sale with the participation of all the groups that are members of the association. The money will be used to pay for the schools’ parade in 2024.

Consecutive cancellations

Cancellations are nothing new. Last year, there was neither a parade nor the Street Carnival. That’s because the city government cancelled all festivities due to the explosion of Covid-19 and H3N2 influenza cases that Porto Velho was facing.

The cancellation, in fact, was in character of prohibition determined by decree, preventing the holding of public and private parties, allowing only bars, nightclubs and restaurants to open their doors.

Cities in Rondônia countryside also continue canceling festivities. Vilhena, 705 kilometers from Porto Velho, is one of them. The city, with more than 100 thousand inhabitants, will not have a Carnaval party in 2023, a year that marks almost a decade without attractions in the streets, offered for free by the city government.

The estimate of the Fundação Cultura de Vilhena (FCV) is to resume the party next year. The reason, according to FCV, is the lack of time to program the preparations and the necessary budget for the event.

Carnaval without Samba Schools

Despite the lack of resources for the League of Samba Schools of Rondônia, the city government of Porto Velho announced the return of the Street Carnival, in the city, after the last edition, held in 2020.

The administration says that there is an “extensive program” which will have the participation of the League of Carnival Blocks of the city and that the event “continues as one of the most anticipated festivities of the year.”

The opening of Carnaval 2023 in Porto Velho is scheduled for February 4, the first Saturday of next month.