Brazil Remembers 50 Years of Its Militar Coup

In São Paulo, protesters graphite former army colonel’s home accused of torture during the military dictatorship/ Photo: EBC- Agência Brasil

 

Exactly 50 years ago, the military took power in Brazil and forced President João Goulart into exile in Uruguay. Planned with the support of the United States, which feared the influence of Cuba and the Soviet Union in Latin America, the coup caused the death or disappearance of 329 Brazilians, and the imprisonment of many others, including the current President Dilma Rousseff, who at 22 years fought against the dictatorship, and later the union leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Lula, who  commanded, 25 years before reaching the presidency, the largest strike in the history of the country, in support of better wages and conditions of work and laid the foundation for the creation in 1980 of the largest left-wing party of the Americas, the Workers’ Party.

Brazil Eases Adoption of Children by Foreigners

Brazilian authorities decided on Monday, 24, allowing foreigners registered to apply for adopting children in the country on equal terms with the locals. Until now, foreigners had to expect that children should first be offered to all Brazilians registered on the waiting list.

The objective is to facilitate the adoption of children between seven and 17 years who have difficulty finding a new family. Statistics indicate that Brazilians prefer without mostly children under seven, white and does not come accompanied by brothers or sisters.
The level of requirements causes still exist 5,440 children available for adoption throughout the country, while more than 30 thousand Brazilians are willing to adopt a child.

To understand how the National Register of Adoption of Brazil works is necessary to read the website in Portuguese

The Islamic History of Salvador, the City where Bosnia and Iran will Meet up in the World Cup

Mouraria Neighborhood: name taken from Romans distracted as Muslims

One of the most charming and bohemian neighborhoods of Salvador, Brazil’s third largest city and capital of the state of Bahia, is called Mouraria (the Moorish quarter), a small area full of old houses where there is an army headquarter, some university buildings and many bars. The name inherited from traditional Lisbon neighborhood brings actually a mistake. As explains local historian Cid Teixeira actually the little neighborhood of Salvador, that is just a few meters from the Arena Fonte Nova,  was initially occupied by Romans, who at that time were seen as Muslims.
But they, the Muslims, were here,  brought from Africa as slaves, and in the first half of the nineteenth century almost turned the city , that had been the Brazil’s capital, an independent Islamic republic.

In 1835, Salvador had just over 65,000 inhabitants and 40% of them were slaves (slavery was completely abolished in Brazil in 1888). Adding the mulattoes and free blacks, Afrodescendants reached 78% of the residents. And among the blacks who had achieved freedom through manumission letter provided by their masters, were the “malês”, as they were called Africans who could read and write and who dominated the Arab.

The renowned historian João José Reis, author of “Slave Rebellion in Brazil: The Muslim Uprising of 1835 in Bahia (Taylor & Francis, 1995), explains in his book that most of the slaves sent to city of Salvador in previous years came from the ports of Luanda, Benguela and Cabinda, which currently comprise the territory of Angola. But at the time of the rebellion, 30% of the slaves who lived in Salvador came from the Gulf of Guinea, through the ports of Porto Novo, Lagos and Badagri, the last two of the current Nigeria, (which is coincidentally in the same group of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iran).

Forte de São Marcelo, where Malês leaders were detained

Arriving at Bahia, these new slaves were called different names, depending on the language thy spoke. The largest of these groups was formed by Nagôs, that although they were supporters of Orisha worship professed the Muslim faith.

Besides the struggle against slavery, common to all blacks and some whites, nagôs maintained resistance to the imposition of the Catholic faith and to the extent that they could buy their freedom began to meet and discuss strategies for liberation. The nagôs planned a revolt that would explode on January 25, 1835. Under the leadership of Muslims Manuel Calafate, Aprígio, Pai Inácio, bought weapons and wrote their plans in Arabic to avoid detection. But they were betrayed by a black woman who reported their plans to the authorities.

Even with bared plans, the Malês went on the attack against the dominant forces in January, 6. A group of between 600 and 1,500 men (the amount varies in historical documents) faced police and National Guard, who were much more numerous. No one knows exactly what the movement’s leaders had in mind, if only iberation of all black people or the proclamation of independence in relation to Brazil, but some historians see evidence that under the Malês, Bahia could have become an Islamic republic.

Dozens of Malês were killed in combat, four leaders were executed and others were detained at Fort Sea (Forte de São Marcelo, one of the attractions of Salvador). And the Revolt of Malian went down in history as the greatest rebellion led by Muslims in the Americas.

Paraguay Announces Privatization of Asunción’s International Airport

Paraguay’s government announced this Monday, 17, that Asunción International Airport, will be privatized, reports the AP. This measure aims to create jobs and fight poverty in the country, according officials.

“The priority projects of concession to the private sector (for the next 30 years) are the expanding domestic routes linking Asunción to Argentina and Brazil, the reactivation of rail service in the metropolitan area, navigating the rivers Paraguay and Paraná and drinking water, among others, “said Minister of Public Works, Ramón Jiménez.

Pope Francis to Meet Cristina Kirchner With “Open Agenda”

With her popularity at lower level, the Argentinean President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner,  meet the most popular person in her native Argentina, next monday. She will arrive at Rome Fiumicino International Airport and will be staying, as usual, in Eden hotel, located near the Vatican.

Kirchner went on Saturday at 16 of Argentina from the military sector aeroparque aboard the Tango 01, accompanied by Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman, Secretary of Worship, William Olivieri, and Public Communication Secretary Alfredo Scoccimarro .

As officially reported, Monday’s meeting is scheduled for 13 in the Santa Marta residence of the Vatican, where the pope was staying, and consist of a lunch.

Yesterday, Secretary of Worship, William Olivieri, forward, told Telam, the official press, that the meeting with the president to keep the Pope will be “alone already open agenda”.

“The meeting will be open agenda, alone. Will talk which they consider necessary.I ‘ll Be a very good meeting because both will appreciate each other,” said Olivieri.

Recent polls shows Pope Frances has more than 93% of popularity among argentineans, even those are not catholics.

(With Telam)

Under severe strain in their country, Ukrainians play friendly with the United States in Cyprus

On this Wednesday, 5 at 2pm (ET), the U.S. team faces strong team of Ukraine in Cyprus, in the first friendly of the year aiming the preparation for the World Cup in Brazil.
The game was originally scheduled to Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, but due to political tension experienced in that country, the game was relocated to Cyprus.
In a statement to the British newspaper The Guardian, Ukraine Anatoliy Konkov football association president said the match would also be carried out of respect to the United States, which declared support to the country in crisis with neighboring Russia

The “Black Stars”, first US rival in the world cup, plays a friendly against Montenegro without its defender Lee Addy, who is injured and not going to Brazil

First opponent of the United States in the FIFA World Cup, Ghana team have a friendly game on Wednesday, 5 in the city of Pogdorica, Montenegro, against the national team of this country.
But the week did not start well for the Black Stars, as the Ghanaian national team is also known as the defender Lee Addy suffered a left knee injury during a match of your team, Dinamo Zagreb, the Croatian championship, and will not able to compete in Brazil.
Until the beginning of the competition, the coach Akwasi Appiah will have two more friendlies to test a substitute for Addy.
United States and Ghana debut on June 16 in the city of Natal.

Fernandinho and Rafinha in Brazil’s team in friendly against South Africa

Convened for the first time by coach Luiz Felipe Scolari to play for Brazil, Fernandinho (Manchester City) and Rafinha (Bayern München) will start the game this Wednesday, 5 in Johannesburg against South Africa as holders. It is the great opportunity that the two players have to get a spot in the group that will debut at the World Cup on June 12 against Croatia, in São Paulo.

They replace Luiz Gustavo and Dani Alves, respectively. But in fact Rafinha should be struggling for the position of Maicón, once Dani is probably the first choice for the position.

Full team roster that starts the game today is as follows: Julio Cesar; Rafinha, Thiago Silva, David Luiz and Marcelo; Fernandinho, Paulinho and Oscar, Hulk, Neymar and Fred.

“It Would be Terrible if Outside Winds Overthrow a Democratically Elected Government”, Says Kirchner, Regarding Venezuela

Photo: Cristina Kirchner Oficial/Facebook

The President of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner, made ​​an emotional defense of the maintaining the mandate of his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, who faces growing opposition in his country with violent street protests.
Shortly before ending his annual opening speech of the legislative work in Congress, this saturday, 1, Kirchner addressed what he called soft coup attempt and said he was not defending President Maduro or his government, but the will of the people who elected him, regardless of their ideological affiliation.
“It would be terrible if outside winds overthrow a democratically elected government,” said Kirchner, saying it would have a disastrous effect on the regional integration process underway in South America.

Kirchner emphasized that the defense of democracy in Venezuela is following the same path of the Argentine government in crises such in Bolivia and Ecuador, but that she would do the same if there was a tryinf of a coup in countries under other political ideologies. “If there was an attempt to overthrow the government of President (Sebastian) Piñera of Chile, or the president (Juan Manuel) Santos, I would defend democracy in the same way,” she said.

The President made ​​a mea culpa regarding Peronism, stating that in the past this movement created by Juan Domingo Perón not always advocated the importance of democracy and exalted the importance of the rival party, Radical Civic Union, to defend democracy.

A Happy End for Maduro? One Year After Chavez Passed Way, Oliver Stone Releases His Film on Former President as Venezuela Seeks Support From Neighbours

The Oliver Stone’s film “Hugo, mi amigo” , which tells the story of former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, will debut next March 5, in simultaneously airing by Telesur, Caracas, and the TV Publica of Buenos Aires. The launch takes place on the first anniversary of the death of Chavez.

The 51 minutes long film includes testimonies of relatives and friends of the “comandante” about his life and his role in Latin America. The film comes to television a few days later that the streets of Caracas were shaken by a massive wave of demonstrations against the govern of Nicolás Maduro, friend and successor to Chavez, that already caused the death of 17 Venezuelans and left 261 others injured since the beginning of clashes between pro-government and opposition, last Feb. 12.

But the president of Venezuela will need more than the friendship of the American filmmaker to pacify an increasingly divided country not only by ideological differences, but by a growing hatred between the two parts of society, the richest and poorest , a phenomenon that also deepens in other Latin American countries that have experienced some social mobility of those who had not many opportunities and found some hope in governments labeled as “populists”.

No wonder that the Chancellor of Venezuela, Elias Jaua, took some days to make your schedule a tour through Argentina, Brazil, Paraguau, Uruguay and Bolivia in search of political support, something that had already been expressed jointly in a statement of Mercosul, but to Caracas, need to become more explicit.

No wonder that the Chancellor of Venezuela, Elias Jaua, took some days to make  a tour through Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia in search of political support, something that had already been expressed jointly in a statement of Mercosul. But  Caracas has a need to it become more explicit, especially from Brazil, whose statements regarding Venezuela have been considered timid, both for those expecting a more effusive support of Dilma Rousseff toward Maduro, as critics of mandatory Brazilian and such “populist governments”, which require a conviction on the part of Brazil to repressions against anti-Chavista demonstrators.

In a meeting with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Alberto Figueiredo, this Friday, 28, Jaua rallied support for the holding of a special meeting of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) to discuss the crisis in his country. But it will be difficult to get from Rousseff more than the statement made two weeks after the start of the conflict: “We believe, always, in any situation, is much better dialogue, consensus, democratic work than any other type of institutional breakdown ”

Unlike its predecessor Lula , Rousseff not exactly stands out for her role in the diplomatic field and hardly will launch its government in attempts to mediate between government and opposition in Venezuela , the way that Uruguay , Colombia and the United States have been willing to do.

With the whole continent , in general, observing what happens in Venezuela Maduro one year after the death of Chavez, Brazil and Argentina have in fact increased interest in the outcome of the Venezuelan situation , even as they face within their territories similar clashes between an impoverished part of the population that supports the government that brings them some social assistance , and a high-middle and middle class that sees abandoned by the government and complaining about insecurity , corruption and the rising cost of living .

From Buenos Aires, Cristina Kirchner faces the “panelazos” in the streets of the Argentine capital at the same time that her government makes effusive statements of support for partner that Venezuela under Chavez and the height of oil prices, was the first country to extend the hand then to Argentina in crisis with the IMF.

From Brasilia, Rousseff, who last year had its popularity severely affected by gigantic street demonstrations, does not seem very willing to go beyond a discrete institutional support.

In this sense, the offer made by the U.S. president, Barack Obama, to mediate the crisis in Venezuela, and the launch of the Oliver Stone film are ways to remember that without Chavez and Lula out of power in Latin America, which made ​​a certain global leadership over the past two decades, runs the risk of returning to have a supporting role even in solving their own problems.