Tag: Brazil

NOVANEWS By Sue Branford and Thais Borges Mongabay President Jair Bolsonaro appears intent on decriminalizing Amazon deforestation, ending most fines, straitjacketing law enforcement, and gutting environmental agencies with mass firings. *** The Brazilian government’s environmental agency, IBAMA, has so far this year imposed the lowest number of fines for illegal deforestation in at least 11 years, while the country’s other leading environmental agency and its federal parks’ protector, ICMBio (the Chico Mendes Institute), did not carry out any operations at all to monitor deforestation in May. These developments, reported by the organizations themselves, reflect the extent to which the country’s environmental policies and law enforcement agencies are being dismantled by the govern...

NOVANEWS BY: Amy Goodman Democracy Now! Voters in Brazil head to the polls on Sunday in an election that could reshape the political landscape of South America. Polls show the current frontrunner is the far-right Jair Bolsonaro, a former army officer who has openly praised Brazil’s military dictatorship, which lasted from 1964 to 1985. Bolsonaro has a long history of making racist, misogynistic and homophobic comments, and has risen in the polls since September 8 when he was stabbed while campaigning. His campaign directly benefited from the jailing of former President Lula Inácio da Silva in April, who had been leading in all presidential polls before being forced to drop out of the race. Lula’s hand-picked successor, Fernando Haddad, is currently placing second in mos...

NOVANEWS The burden of losing four consecutive elections turned Brazil’s elites inside out. They would resort to, as an efficient yet obvious mode of attack, all out lawfare, stirring their already agitated base along the way. A police officer is seen while students and friends of Marcos Vinicius, 14, a boy who was shot and killed in a police and military operation at the Mare slum, protest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 21, 2018. Silvia Izquierdo | AP By Haxi Yeyerban  RIO DE JANEIRO —  “I don’t believe Brazil is made for change. Returning to my country, though I’d like to, is something that will take a long time, if it’s ever possible one day.” The date was July 22, 2013. The blighted hope, part of a letter written by Wagner dos Santos, a survivor of the Candelaria Massac...

NOVANEWS By Party for Socialism and Liberation Lula (right), pictured with now-deposed President Dilma Rousseff after her election. Photo: Fabio Rodrigues Pozzebom/Agência Brasil (Agência Brasil) [CC BY 3.0 br (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/br/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons The Party for Socialism and Liberation stands in solidarity with Brazilian workers and larger communities who are taking to the streets in São Bernardo, São Paulo and across the rest of the country in repudiation of the order for the arrest of former President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva and in defense of their democratic rights. We further denounce the threats of intervention from General Eduardo Dias da Costa Villas Bôas, Commander of the Brazilian Army and other high-ranking commanders of the Bra...

NOVANEWS By Toya Mileno All over the country the landless movement (MST) blocked roads in support of Lula. Line of buses going to Porto Alegre for Lula trial Jan. 24 In August 2016, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and her Workers Party government were removed from office through a parliamentary coup d’etat carried out in the name of ‘fighting corruption.’ Since then, Brazil has suffered an intense rightwing backlash, with major attacks on social gains and even on the country’s own sovereignty. Now, with presidential elections scheduled for October, millions of Brazilians see former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula) as their only hope to reverse this process and bring back democracy. Lula, also a member of the Workers Party, served as president from 2003-11. On Jan. 2...

NOVANEWS Brazilian President Michel Temer attends a ceremony for several new top diplomats at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil | Photo: Reuters Criminal charges against a sitting president have to be approved by around two-thirds of the lower house of Congress. Brazil's President Michel Temer says nothing will destroy him, as he faces suspension and a possible impeachment. On Monday, Temer became the nation's first sitting office holder to be charged with graft and is now awaiting a final decision by the Supreme Court. RELATED: Brazil Police Present Evidence President Temer Took Bribes Attorney General Rodrigo Janot formally accused President Michel Temer and his aide Rodrigo Rocha Loures of corruption, charging them with receiving bribes from the head of the...

NOVANEWS Brazilian President Michel Temer | Photo: Reuters Loures admitted that he had accepted bribes from JBS, Brazil's largest meatpacking company, and that the funds were intended for Temer. Early Saturday morning Brazilian federal police arrested Rodrigo Rocha Loures, a lawmaker and former aide to embattled Brazilian president, Michel Temer. RELATED: Over 100 Diplomats Call to Restore Democracy in Brazil Loures admitted that he had accepted bribes from JBS, Brazil's largest meatpacking company, and that the funds were intended for Temer. The order to arrest Loures was made by Supreme Court Justice Luiz Edson Fachin, who is responsible for the investigations into the corruption scheme undertaken by Brazil's national oil company, Petrobras. Brasil 247 reporte...

NOVANEWS By: Ted Snider  Brazilians protest the institutional coup against President Dilma Rousseff and the de facto government of Michel Temer. | Photo: AFP They are protecting themselves from prosecution for corruption and carrying out neoliberal shock therapy for the country. Source: Truthout The social democratic, left-wing government of Brazil was removed in a coup. RELATED: Brazil: Crisis and Societal Fascism Though that striking statement could be ripped from the headlines of newspapers today, it also describes the headlines of half a century ago, in April of 1964. The Brazilian coup gets forgotten in the crowd of Latin American coups. In discussions of Latin American interventions, it often gets lost in the press of the 1954 Guatemalan coup against Jacob...