Selling strategic state-owned enterprises to private capital is a sensitive issue in Brazil’s upcoming elections This article has been reprinted, with authorization, from Brasil de Fato . Twenty years ago, on July 29th, 1998, the Rio de Janeiro Stock Exchange held an auction for the largest privatization move ever made in Brazil, selling 12 companies of then […]
“An illegitimate government in its final months of power hurries to liquidate as much of the nation’s assets and sovereignty as possible – the pre-salt petroleum reserves, gas pipelines, energy distribution companies and petrochemical plants – and opens the Amazon region to foreign troops. While hunger resurfaces and children’s vaccination levels plummet, part of the judiciary fights […]
“The law can destroy reputations, it can destroy assets, it can destroy freedom and it can end people’s lives. So when it is misused it is extremely violent.” by Brian Mier On July 8th, 2018, Brazil’s 4th Regional Federal Court Chief Judge Rogerio Favreto ordered ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s immediate release from prison. From […]
Brazilians do not scare easily, but a media narrative saying so paves the way for northern acceptance of a return to fascism. by Brian Mier In the seminal book, Manufacturing Consent, Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman depict the commercial media as “powerful ideological institutions that carry out a system-supportive propaganda function, by reliance on market […]
Unions claim partial victory as top PSDB insider and Shell executive resign from Petrobras leadership by Brian Mier On May 30th, as a trucker’s strike that paralyzed the country for 9 days began to wind down, Brazilian petroleum workers initiated a 3 day, nationwide “warning strike.” Their demands were: 1) the immediate firing of Royal […]
By Larissa Jacheta Riberti* I have been writing for a truck driver’s trade newspaper for the past six years but would not risk making a thorough analysis of the current strike. However since many opinions (most notably by people on the “left”) circulating on the social media are beginning to make me feel uncomfortable, I would like to […]
by Paulo Kliass* Truck drivers tend to be conservative, but their demands are fair. About the coup, Petrobras’ price policies meet investors wishes but don’t serve the needs of the nation. Note: Petrobras is commonly referred to in the media as a state oil company, but it was partially privatized during the Fernando Henrique Cardoso […]
Manifesto to the Brazilian People The Frente Brasil Popular* (Brazil Popular Front/FBP) denounces the persecution and injustice against Lula and defends his right as a candidate in free and democratic elections 1. A man is being unjustly persecuted because, together with the Brazilian people, he proved that it is possible to build a free, just, […]
Over the past three years the Lava Jato investigation has come under sharp criticism for its apparent refusal to prosecute any politician from the conservative PSDB party, despite mountains of material evidence showing tens of millions of dollars in bribes, while ex-President Lula languishes in solitary confinement for the crime of “undetermined acts” with no […]
By Brian Mier. For the past 25 years, Celso Amorim has been Brazil’s most important diplomat, serving as Foreign Affairs Minister in the governments of Itamar Franco (1993-1995) and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), and Minister of Defense for Dilma Rousseff (2011-2015). Born in 1942 in the port city of Santos, Amorim graduated at […]