This article is an edited translation. You can read the original on Agencia Pública's website, in Portuguese, here.
Former army captain Jair Bolsonaro is no longer seen alone in the halls of Brazil’s congress, as was once common. Now the representative from Rio de Janeiro makes lightening speeches for passing visitors and students. He is always surrounded by cell phones, further fueling...
The small town of Quedas do Iguaçu, in southern Brazil close to the border with Paraguay, awoke to the sound of helicopters on November 4 last year. After eight months, a police investigation aimed at an alleged criminal conspiracy within the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) was about to come to fruition. Sixteen arrest warrants were issued - 14 of them against...
23 September 2017
Dear LAB Supporter and Friend,
Apologies for the long hiatus since our last newsletter. We'll try to make them more regular in future.
Brazil
We’ve published a spate of articles on Brazil in recent months. In case you missed them, there were 15 articles in the extraordinary series by LAB Editor Sue Branford and Mauricio Torres, written for Mongabay and...
Sāo Paulo, 16 September: Like a tropical King Canute, president Michel Temer defies the waves of accusations battering his government, even when they are presented by the chief prosecutor himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR2ZsDt9SPk
credit: Metropoles.com
In a 240-page indictment, Rodrigo Janot, the chief prosecutor, has accused the president, his closest ministers and allies, all members of the PMDB, of forming a ‘quadrilhão’ – big criminal...
This is the final post in a series of four written for Christian Aid and LAB by distinguished journalists João Peres and Moriti Neto
4. Company policy: Divide and Rule
MRN, or Mineração Rio do Norte, the bauxite mining company which dominates the extractive industry in Pará, improved the process of 'stakeholder mapping' in 2015, according to the company's financial report....
The Fórum Bem Viver (Good Life Forum) met earlier this month to bring together indigenous leaders, military police, a federal judge, television actors, musicians, journalists, scientists and activists from eight countries and 14 Brazilian states.
The event, organized by the eco-cultural education nonprofit Rios de Encontro, utilized arts performances and workshops to seek common ground between participants regarding...
This is the third in a series of four blog-posts, written for Christian Aid and LAB by distinguished journalists João Peres and Moriti Neto
3. David vs Goliath
one public document states that since 1995, the aluminium mining company MRN (Mineração Rio do Norte) has been transferring R$495,000 per year for the maintenance of the local unit of the Chico Mendes...
This is the second of a series of four blog-posts, written for Christian Aid and LAB by distinguished journalists João Peres and Moriti Neto
2. Conservation: double standards
The lands sought by quilombolas and the mining company, Mineração Rio do Norte (MRN) belong to the federal government, which means they are 'public', but not entirely so. In 1979, president João Figueiredo,...
The Movimento de Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (Landless Rural Worker's Movement, MST) has a gender-balanced national directorate of 52 individuals, with two people elected periodically in each of its 26 state assemblies. Gilmar Mauro is a member of the national directorate of MST, representing the state of São Paulo. Brian Mier, COHA research associate and Brasilwire contributor, caught up...
This is the first of a series of four blog-posts, written for Christian Aid and LAB by distinguished journalists João Peres and Moriti Neto
1. Land: no title, no respect
The quilombolas, former slaves who live in the municipality of Oriximiná, in the state of Pará, in the North region of Brazil, first escaped from farms and hid behind wild waterfalls.
In...