Rio Carnival takes a stand - 4th March 2020

Carnival was celebrated in Rio de Janeiro last week with the usual excitement.

This year, Carnival also came with a big political message.

Brazil's far-right government won power last year. It's run by President Jair Bolsonaro and has divided the people. It's against everything that Carnival supports - diversity, LGBT rights, and the arts.

Carnival also focused on environmental issues. The Brazilian Amazon is being cut down. This has increased 85.3 percent since Bolsonaro took power.

City mayor since 2016, Marcelo Crivella is against Carnival. This year, he stopped giving samba schools city money. This didn't stop the schools teaching. They spent the year practising and making costumes. They all want to win the Carnival Champions prize. This year's winners were Viradouro Samba School.