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...
On 27 August, Guatemalan president Jimmy Morales made a special TV broadcast to the nation.
In the broadcast, he declared that Iván Velásquez, the head of the UN-appointed CICIG (Commission against Impunity in Guatemala) was ‘persona non grata’ in the country, and that the ‘competent authorities’ would see that Velásquez was immediately deported.
Morales’ move came less than 48 hours after...
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...
This article was written for BrasilWire. You can read the original here.
The political situation in Brazil is getting confusing, even for people who study it. To summarise recent events:
In April the organized left held the largest general strike in Latin America this Century, demanding for a halt to the austerity reforms and for illegitimate president Michel Temer’s immediate...
Vitória lives in a small two-room house with her baby son Lucas and mother Laura in Jardim Guarani, on the northern periphery of São Paulo, Brazil. She welcomes us for a coffee in her small kitchen that also serves as a lounge. The family store their belongings next to a bunk bed in the only bedroom, where they all...