Pelourinho asks for help against post-summer abandonment – 04/23/2023 – Guia Negro

Pelourinho, Salvador’s biggest tourist and cultural attraction, which pulsates in the summer, now takes on an abandoned air. When the light falls, the coming and going of people gives way to empty streets, closed stores and little or no cultural attraction. In a post-coronavirus pandemic country, which has contributed to more people out of work and increased hunger, reports of thefts and robberies, some with violence, become even more frequent.

Black merchants who opened businesses and helped to transform the scene in the last two years still complain about the lack of incentives from the public authorities and hold back their ends to keep their businesses open.

It is important to remember that despite having 80% of the population declaring themselves black, Salvador has a very whitened power and business community. Afro-entrepreneurs are, therefore, part of a generation with racial awareness, which seeks autonomy and does business in which there is circulation of money among black people, the so-called black money.

The place known to have been the economic center of the first capital of Brazil and which gained the nickname of the pole where black people were flogged, became a tourist and cultural site, unable to abandon the cries of pain and the necessary resistance to go through the periods difficult.

The publicist Paulo Rogério Nunes, co-founder of the business accelerator Vale do Dendê, which is headquartered in the historic center, made a post on the social network last week expressing indignation at the neglect of the authorities with the place that is listed as a World Heritage Site by the Unesco. “I’m tired of receiving calls from small businesses looking for support in desperation, because they need to fire people and even close their doors (…). The reason: Pelourinho squares without a fixed schedule, the security that only ‘works’ in the summer, lack of planning and coordination among public entities”, he points out.

The lack of promotion of Pelourinho’s attractions ends up alienating tourists and residents. Paulo Rogério also questions why public authorities do not hold their meetings and activities in the historic center and reinforces that Salvador cannot be just a summer city. “The situation is dramatic and we cannot accept any more excuses”, he reinforces.

For him, Medellín, Colombia, and New York are examples of cities that managed to circumvent violence and transform places considered dangerous into tourist, cultural and creative places, with great economic potential.

The actor and businessman Erico Brás remembers that even before opening the Ó Pai Ó Restaurant, he has an umbilical relationship with the place, since his great-grandmother was freed and lived there and that he himself was born as an artist in the Bando do Teatro Olodum, which is based in the historic center. “Today there is neglect. Pelourinho is dirty, abandoned, has no programming and there is insecurity due to the lack of policing”, he details.

The situation of growing violence has driven tourists and residents away. “I cannot understand how the Public Security Secretariat does not take measures. Who is interested in the historic center remaining like this?”, he asks, remembering that many businessmen are closing their doors. “I’ve laid off a few people, but I’ve kept my business open even without a profit,” she reveals.

Throughout history, recalls Brás, international artists such as Jimy Cliff, Paul Simon and Michael Jackson identified the nobility and helped publicize the beauties of the small cobblestone alleys lined with colorful old mansions. “But the government of Bahia is not able to value it. It is necessary to understand that tourism brings money and movement”, he emphasizes.

Erico Brás’s dream is to see Pelourinho as a place where tourists can go, a tourist spot that tells and preserves its history, in addition to promoting culture and generating jobs. “It is a place with many artists, Afro blocks, businessmen, as well as residents. At the same time, there are a number of buildings closed due to lack of political will”. Even with the adverse scenario, the businessman says he will not give up on the business. “We are going to launch the ‘Pelourinho is ours’ campaign calling on artists and the population to declare the importance of this space”, he says.

For businesswoman Mônica Tavares, who is a partner at Malembe Bar e Restaurante and Restaurante Roma Negra, the military police have not acted effectively and there is a sense of impunity and insecurity. “It’s getting worse every day,” she describes herself.

In addition, she misses cultural programming in public squares. Today, Monica’s two businesses are undergoing restructuring. While Malembe is closed and is studying a resumption starting in May, Roma Negra ended its daily service and will host special events and reservations, as a measure to contain costs.

Restructuring is a reflection of the low movement in the region and the complexity of maintaining business, being a black entrepreneur, since there is no guaranteed credit and not enough cash to go through the low moments like the current one.

Even in a complex moment, the businesswoman remembers that the Bahian capital has a unique technological and creative potential, which needs to be extended to the whole year. “We are going to fight to keep our enterprises open, to continue employing people, to be spaces of culture and affection for the black population”, she says.

Entrepreneur and film theater director Rodrigo França points out that the situation in Pelourinho is similar to that of other shopping centers in large Brazilian cities. “There is impoverishment, misery and violence, with no counterpart from the government to be able to organize, which causes a great abandonment”, he evaluates.

In the case of Salvador, France believes that the government only invests in major festivities, such as Carnival and Festa Junina, but pays less attention than it should to the rest of the year in a place with a natural vocation for having tourists all year round. “The private power is doing the work of the State to attract tourists, while the public power has corroborated the stereotype created that Pelourinho is an unsafe place”, he says.

The lack of support from governments is seen as a decisive factor for businesses not to go ahead. “Black entrepreneurs find it difficult to receive resources, which means that we enter the ring unevenly”, she considers.

The Consulado Rosa Malê Restaurant, which operated for eight months, closed its doors. “We are evaluating the scenario, but we believe that the community needs to embrace these places, exercise black money (money circulation in the black community). If we cannot count on public power, we have to encourage consumption in black enterprises”, says França .

So, here’s the invitation: how about consuming from Salvador’s black entrepreneurs?

Other side

The City Hall of Salvador states, through a note, that since the worsening of the situation in the Historic Center of Salvador, it has been working on a robust plan to reinforce all the municipality’s activities in this region. “This set of actions, which involve all the municipal departments, will be announced in the next few days”, he says, recalling that public safety is a prerogative of the state government.

Salvador’s Secretary of Culture and Tourism, Pedro Tourinho, who is a resident of the region, called the column to emphasize that the situation is complex and that the program that will be announced will have different fronts: cultural, social, tourist, housing, among others. “You can’t go to just one point”. The expectation now is that the program will deal with the complexities of Pelourinho and that it will include among its mottos the encouragement of entrepreneurs in the historic center.

The Secretary of Public Security of Bahia points out that Pelourinho and the Historic Center of Salvador have a large apparatus of police forces. “In the region there is the 18th Battalion of the Military Police, with personnel distributed on foot and also in vehicles (Mobile Bases of the van type, conventional cars and motorcycles), in addition to the Tourist Protection Police Station (Deltur)”, he informs, remembering that there is a facial recognition system, in addition to daily actions and denying the increase in occurrences in the region in recent months.