“October may be too late”, international monitors told. UOL report that “International bodies will not wait until October to monitor Brazil’s electoral process, considered by foreign observers to be one of the most tense in decades in the country”. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, OAS (Organisation of American States) and the regional office of […]
As the first meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro is announced, Journalist Jamil Chade urges Biden to sieze a “historic opportunity to support democracy”, and not follow in the footsteps of predecessor Lyndon Johnson. In a letter to Joe Biden, Brazilian journalist Jamil Chade warned the president of the “historic […]
Until recently US lawmakers and officials had warned of “democratic decline” in Brazil. Now emerges a new official insistence that the coming election will be “free and fair”. There are few examples in Latin American history that suggest anyone should take such a statement at face value. Over the the past twelve months, National Security […]
Monica Bergamo reports in Folha de S.Paulo newspaper that UN Special Rapporteur for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Diego Garcia, received a document on the 17th May in which 85 Brazilian professors and jurists warn of “an unprecedented campaign of mistrust and threats” against the country’s superior courts. With the imminent presidential election under explicit […]
By Atilio Borón I must admit, Vargas Llosa is, as Jorge Luis Borges would say, “incorrigible.” The passage of time is implacable and in his case, unlike others, it has accelerated his physical but above all mental degradation. The Peruvian storyteller has already succumbed to what Alejo Carpentier, in his extraordinary novel (The Kingdom of […]
By Guilherme Boulos Bolsonaro, after a “sabbatical period” in which he stopped talking about electronic voting machines, returned to threaten the integrity of the electoral process. In the last few weeks, he attacked the Electoral Court (TSE) again, spoke again about the “secret room”, and demanded military personnel in the investigation process… As October approaches […]
The first impeachment process against a city councilor in the 329-year history of Curitiba – the Brazilian city that most cherishes its “European heritage” – is underway, and it has nothing to do with any crime. On January 24, Mugenyi Kabagambe, a 24 year-old Congolese immigrant, was beaten to death behind the beach kiosk where […]
Analysis of Brazil’s conjuncture is rendered useless by pretense that the 2022 election is business as usual. On April 9 Brazil’s Workers Party (PT) and the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) held a special press conference. It was a quietly sensational event. After months of rumour and noise, it was the first official confirmation that Lula’s […]
The Supreme Court is still operating as usual. The “coup” was getting everyone to think one was about to happen. By Brian Mier On the afternoon of September 6th I headed to Guarulhos airport to catch a flight to Brasilia, where I would cover the planned Independence Day protest, announced by President Bolsonaro and his […]
Regardless of what happens next Tuesday, this September 7th has already gone down in history as the saddest September 7th of all times. By Marcelo Zero Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro just appropriated Brazil’s September 7, Independence Day holiday for his own political purposes. If he had appropriated Rio’s Cristo Redentor statue or Petrobras state petroleum […]