Liesa decides not to send down any escola in 2011

News release from Liesa, 7 Feb 2011:

The three escolas-de-samba affected by the fire that hit the Cidade do Samba on Monday morning - Grande Rio, Uniao da Ilha and Portela - will not be judged on their parades this year. And Grupo Especial of the Carnaval of Rio de Janeiro will not have any escola sent down in 2011. This decision was made by the Independent League of Escolas de Samba (LIESA) on Monday night.

In addition to this, there will be a change in the order of parades. Portela, which was to have paraded on Monday - along with all the other affected escolas - will parade on Sunday.

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Another brief report from O Globo, 7 Feb 2011:

The head of the Cidade do Samba, Aílton Guimarães Jorge Júnior, announced that the escolas are mountaing volunteer work parties to help their brothers who were hit by fire. For now, União da Ilha will use warehouse 7, which was unoccupied. According to him, Portela will use the central tent. Portela's floats will remain in the burned warehouse, with the approval of the Civil Defense.

On Monday evening at 7:00 pm, there was a meeting at Liesa's headquarters in Centro to decide the course of Carnaval 2011. According to Guimarães Júnior, no escola will be sent down this year.

Although Mangueira was not affected by the fire, Mangueira president Ivo Meireles offered assistance to the affected escolas. "It's horrible. It's heartbreaking, it's a true catastrophe. Anything Mangueira can do to help the other escolas, with materials or with labor, Mangueira will do. I'm here to offer my solidarity."

The honorary president of Beija-Flor also offered assistance from the escola of Nilópolis. "The work of a whole year was lost. You can't rebuild that in a day. Grande Rio doesn't have a chance of recovery. Whatever Beija-Flor can do, we will do to help the escolas that were hit."

Other escolas were also offering assistance in making the tripods (small three-wheeled floats) inside their own warehouses.

LIESA president Jorge Castanheira, who is in Minas Gerais, said in an interview with Bom Dia Rio that the scale of this loss, just a month from Carnaval, is unfathomable. According to him, each escola had probably invested about 5-7 million reais. But he added, "The problem is not just financial, it's the time needed to rebuild everything."