On March 18, Brazil’s extreme-right President Jair Bolsonaro made history. Outside the official agenda of his first official trip to the United States he paid a visit to CIA Headquarters, becoming the first ever Brazilian President to do so. In contrast, Bolsonaro has never visited ABIN, Brazil’s moribund equivalent of the CIA. On the agenda, it is […]
In a measure that bypasses Brazilian transparency legislation and governmental oversight, the US Department of Justice awards 80% of Petrobras fines to Brazilian partners to set up a privately managed fund to “fight corruption”. Petrobras profits were initially earmarked for Public Education and Health systems. By Brian Mier Over the past 4 years, as most […]
Admiral Craig Faller announces an unprecedented joint military operation with Brazil to the US Senate Armed Services Committee. What does it mean for national sovereignty? By Marcelo Zero Brazil’s participation in US SOUTHCOM is part of a broader process that began with the coup of 2016. The aggression against our sovereignty is much more serious […]
On the morning of 11th January, a 44 year old Bell B06 JetRanger helicopter carrying TV Bandeirantes News Anchor, Ricardo Boechat crashed in São Paulo, near Anhanguera, as it brought the veteran journalist back from a speech in the neighbouring city of Campinas. Boechat’s death became the latest in a succession of national tragedies to hit […]
Charges so flimsy that they could only be upheld in a State of Exception. by Brian Mier On February 6, interim judge Gabriela Hardt, who recently replaced Sergio Moro in the Operation Car Wash investigation, convicted Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on corruption charges related to alleged illegal reforms on a vacation property in Atibaia, […]
Right wing extremist Jair Bolsonaro’s Justice Minister violates article 120 of the Brazilian Criminal Code and denies Lula a right that was respected even during the repressive Military Dictatorship. by Brian Mier On January 29, Genival Inácio “Vavá” da Silva died of cancer at the age of 79. Vavá was former President Lula’s older brother and […]
“All of this talk about democracy in Venezuela, about Maduro being a dictator, in reality, masks very strong commercial interests in accessing the petroleum. It’s the same thing that happened in Iraq. Nobody discusses whether Iraq has democracy or whether the Iraqi people are doing well these days, they have simply forgotten.” Gleisi Hoffmann grew […]
On December 19th 2018, Brazil was sent into a frenzy at the news that Supreme Court Judge Marco Aurélio had accepted a petition from PCdoB (Communist Party of Brazil) that called for the freeing of prisoners jailed while their appeals processes were still underway. This meant that former President Lula da Silva, recognised internationally as a political […]
by Brasil de Fato Brazil’s Supreme Court justice Marco Aurélio Mello issued a ruling this Wednesday, Dec. 19, ordering the suspension of prison sentences for all convicts who have appeals pending after having their conviction upheld by an appeals court. The decision could lead to the release of former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da […]
Rio Governor Luiz Fernando Pezão was not very popular, but his evidence-free preventative imprisonment by the Federal Police may be an ominous foreshadowing of what to expect under a totalitarian, militarized Bolsonaro government. By Gabriel Deslandes In an unprecedented show of power, the Federal Police arrested the standing governor of Rio de Janeiro, Luiz Fernando […]