Writer, geographer and former development professional who has lived in Brazil for 26 years. Former directorate member of the Fórum Nacional de Reforma Urbana (National Urban Reform Forum). Has lived in São Luis, Recife, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Author of “Os Megaeventos Esportivos na Cidade do Rio de Janeiro e o Direito á Cidade” (CEPR: Porto Alegre. 2016). Editor of "Voices of the Brazilian Left" (Sumare: São Paulo. 2018). Editor of "Year of Lead: Washington, Wall Street and the New Imperialism in Brazil" ((Sumare: São Paulo. 2019) Irregular correspondent for the Chicago radio show This is Hell.
In the early hours of Saturday Morning, April 28th, as hundreds of protesters were sleeping in their tents at the Lula Livre Democratic Vigil outside the Parana Federal Police headquarters where Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is being held in solitary confinement, gunmen opened fire injuring two activists, one critically. As in the case of […]
Guaruja, São Paulo. This morning a group of activists from the Homeless Workers Movement (Movimento de Trabalhadores Sem Teto/MTST) and People Without Fear (Povo Sem Medo) the popular front to which they belong, occupied the penthouse apartment that Operation Car Wash prosecutors claim belongs to ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The claim, based entirely […]
On Saturday night a video started circulating around the social media of an airplane control panel with on-board conversation in which one of the passengers, presumably a Federal Police agent, threatened to “throw this garbage out the window” and to “get rid of him and never come back”. Today the Brazilian Airforce confirmed that the conversation […]
Six facts currently being censored through omission in the Northern media about Lula’s Supreme Court Judgement. by Brian Mier 1) The issue at stake is not related to a “battle against corruption” but whether the Supreme Court will uphold the 1988 Constitution, which stipulates that the accused have the right to play out their appeals processes […]
Netflix series, the Mechanism, premiered on Friday, March 23. The new feature by Narcos and Elite Squad director José Padilha was immediately received with criticism for, in the guise of being “based on a true story”, slandering ex-presidents Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, during an election year in which Lula is the […]
On the night of March 18th, Alfredo Jacinto Mello was pulled out of his bar, the legendary Bip Bip in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, arrested by an armed, off duty highway policeman and taken to three police stations for the “crime” of giving a speech praising assassinated city councilwoman Marielle Franco. Alfredo does not drink […]
The Brazilian military took over the state of Rio de Janeiro in 1964 and quickly consolidated its power in a national military coup that ended democratic rule for 25 years. At first, it allowed some democratic processes to continue. Street protests, labor unions and social movements were allowed to continue operating as usual and there […]
In his academic paper, “The uncomfortable truths and double standards of bribery enforcement,” legal scholar Mike Koehler shows how the US government selectively uses the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to advance its own objectives. According to Koehler uncomfortable truths related to US use of the FCPA include: (i) how the U.S. government actively participated […]
This article is the first of a new partnership between Council of Hemispheric Affairs and Brasil Wire which will investigate allegations of lawfare against the Lava Jato prosecuting team. As ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva continues his appeal against charges of bribery that revolve around the gift of a beachfront apartment which courts were unable to prove he […]
When Luis Inacio Lula da Silva took office in 2003, one of his first moves was to prioritize open source software for the federal government computer systems in order to reduce costs, increase competition, generate jobs and develop the knowledge and intelligence of the country in this area. Although it was never fully adopted by all […]