Renato Thor, president of the Samba school Paraiso do Tuiuti, has hailed this year's carnival procession as the best ever. “This was the best carnival in Tuiuti's entire history,” he said, referring to the cavalcade's procession replete with socio-political connotations plaguing Brazil.
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“It was a carnival of resilience after everything that happened last year. We're looking to chart the same path of large (samba) schools. They made mistakes in the past as well," said the samba school organizer, referring to last year's accident when one of their floats struck 20 people. Elizabeth Ferreira Joffe, a radio broadcaster also known as Liza Carioca, died two months later due to her injuries.
Thor reiterated that this year's cavalcade “was a good job. Our work was serious. We dedicated ourselves, and the recognition followed.”
Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff also attended and praised Tuiuti's procession, which depicted Senate-imposed president, Michel Temer, as a larger than life doll called “Big Neoliberal Vampire.” She said: “In Rio, the samba school Paraiso do Tuiuti lifts the bleachers as people sing against slavery and the injustice of an oppression that has never ended,” according to Brasil 24/7.
Paraiso do Tuiuti paraded to an inquisitive theme titled, “My God, My God, is slavery extinct?” In doing so, the samba school's procession along the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí, the purpose-built parade runway in downtown Rio de Janeiro, was marked by representations of rural slave labor, slave trafficking, informal work and recalling “the Mulato,” the first newspaper published by Black people in Brazil in 1833.