allthebrazilianpolitics

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Message from the mod

Hello, fellow Tumblrs! Just warning that this month, until the 22nd, I'll be on a trip and won't have time at all to blog the news. I haven't even brought my PC for y'all to have an idea. I apologize for the inconvenience and might still try to Break News if something Huge happens. During this time, take care of yourselves!

-Mod Nise da Silveira

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[allthebrazilianpolitics]

U.S.-Brazil Agricultural Initiatives Battle Evolving Challenges

The United States and Brazil are world leaders in agriculture. Together they feed 25% of the global population and serve as close partners in agricultural research. Two new U.S. government-sponsored initiatives are expanding this partnership to develop more efficient use of fertilizers. Fertilize 4 Life (F4L), which began in February 2022, is a five-year research initiative to improve fertilizer-use efficiency, reduce nutrient losses to the environment, and improve farmer profitability. The Department of State’s Office of the Special Envoy for Climate is supporting F4L with a $1.2 million grant under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Fertilize Right Initiative.

Aligned with F4L, the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS), launched by U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security Dr. Cary Fowler in February 2023 and championed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, provides a unique opportunity to strengthen and expand the U.S.-Brazilian partnership by leveraging the unique and complementary strengths of both countries to support innovation in soil health management and developing climate-resilient crop varieties. In 2022, Embassy Brasília helped to recruit four world-class institutions—the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, the University of Florida, and the International Fertilizer Development Center—to develop research projects to improve fertilizer-use efficiency.  

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[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil’s dictatorship: Repression, torture, slaughter of Indigenous people and censorship

On the night of March 31, 1964, the Brazilian military deposed the legitimate president, the leftist João Goulart, in a bloodless coup. A dictatorship began that would last more than two decades. In the midst of the Cold War, the elites were furiously anti-communist and Goulart promised agrarian reform and public policies for the working class. Four years later, the generals closed Congress and toughened repression through Institutional Act number 5. Brazil would not return to democracy until 1985.

For the many supporters of the coup, it was a revolution so that Brazil did not fall into the clutches of communism, in an interpretation of the constitutional breakdown backed by far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro. During his presidency, the 1964 coup was officially celebrated in the military. The current president, the leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, wants the events of 60 years ago to be marked with a low-key anniversary so as not to ruffle any feathers in the Armed Forces. The president is treading carefully, as Bolsonaro and several military officials have been accused of plotting a coup in the most serious attack on democracy since the end of the dictatorship. Their alleged actions indirectly resulted in the assault on the headquarters of the three branches of government in Brasília in January 2023.

This is a review of some of the key moments from the military regime and the transition to democracy.

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[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Argentina builds case for exporting natgas to Brazil through Bolivia

Energy companies from Argentina and Brazil have begun talks on reversing the southerly flow of a Bolivian natural gas pipeline network that connects the three countries as a regional gas deficit could force Brazil to pay up for alternative supplies of the fuel.

A preliminary proposal on the pipeline shift has failed to gain traction with Bolivia, according to executives and sources, leaving Brazil increasingly exposed to volatile prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Brazil has made clear in recent months that gas from Argentina, which has the world's second largest shale gas reserves, will be needed to balance supplies. Exports from Bolivia, which once was a prominent producer in the region, have declined rapidly and may not be available after 2029, say experts.

The fastest and cheapest option to address the regional shortfall may be to export gas from Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale formation by reversing a network of Bolivian pipelines that has brought gas south.

But Argentina's government under new President Javier Milei must first complete key transport projects to bring its gas to the border with Bolivia and build the commercial framework needed for negotiating tariffs, according to executives and experts involved in the talks.

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[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Bahia state water utility unveils US$1.3bn investment plan

Embasa, the water utility of Brazil's Bahia state, unveiled a 2024-28 plan to invest 6.70bn reais (US$1.34bn) in its operations.

For this year, the company is planning to invest around 1.70bn reais, with 68% coming from its own cash generation.

Of the 2024 total, it will invest 863mn reais in water supply, 628mn reais in sewage services and 214mn reais in institutional development, the company said in a statement.

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Investigation: Hong Kong’s role in illegal deforestation of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil

If major import markets, such as China and Hong Kong, were to restrict trade to slaughterhouses with more transparent supply chains, industry experts believe it could have a major impact on the sustainability of the Brazilian meat sector. 

At first glance, there is little to link a handful of featureless Hong Kong office spaces to the world’s largest tropical rainforest. But supply chain data – obtained by non-profit organisation Repórter Brasil and shared with HKFP – reveals that at least four businesses in the city have imported beef products farmed by a man whom Brazilian police have called “the greatest devastator of the Amazon.”

Cattle farming is “the number one culprit of deforestation in virtually every Amazon country,” according to environmental NGO the World Wide Fund for Nature. Roughly 17 per cent of the Amazon rainforest has already been lost to habitat conversion, with trees felled to make way for cattle pastures and the dusty roads that transport Brazilian beef from the forest to the global marketplace.

Among those profiting from the degradation of the Amazon is rancher Bruno Heller, whose family owns farms that have been fined US$5 million for illegal deforestation, and who has been accused by Brazilian federal police of clearing 6,500 hectares of forest – an area almost five times the size of Lamma Island.

Through a process known as “cattle laundering,” where cows raised at illicit locations are transported to those with a clean record, Repórter Brasil tracked cattle from Heller’s family farms to a slaughterhouse, 163 Beef Industria & Comercio De Carnes Ltda, and traced beef products from that slaughterhouse to Hong Kong.

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Colombia and Brazil Take Unusual Step of Criticizing Venezuela Over Elections

Colombia and Brazil took the unusual step of criticizing Venezuela after the country’s opposition said it was blocked from registering for the July 28 election.

Preventing opposition candidates from taking part in the vote could undermine the international community’s trust, Colombia’s foreign affairs ministry warned the government of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in a statement Tuesday.

“Colombia expresses its concern about the recent events that occurred on the occasion of the registration of some presidential candidates,” the foreign ministry said.

In a statement on X, Venezuela’s foreign affairs minister Yvan Gil called the comments a “gross interference” in his nation’s internal affairs.

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Brazil: Lula bans official commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the coup d'état

The organizations that work to preserve the memory of the crimes of the military dictatorship are outraged by the former opponent's decision, which is also causing a stir within Lula's political party.

"Lamentable and dangerous!" A dejected Joana D'arc Fernandes Ferraz didn't mince her words when it came to describing Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's attitude. Ferraz, a sociologist and left-wing activist, is a member of the organization Tortura Nunca Mais ("Torture never again"), which fights to preserve the memory of the crimes committed by Brazil's military dictatorship (1964-1985). But the president's recent statements on the subject have disgusted her. "How can he say such a thing when Brazil is going through such a critical period?" she asked.

Her anger stems from Lula's decision to ban any official commemoration of the coup d'état that took place 60 years ago, on March 31 and April 1, 1964. The head of state has forbidden members of his government to speak publicly on the subject, even when it comes to the victims of the dictatorship. However, the human rights minister, Silvio Almeida, had planned an awareness-raising campaign on the subject, entitled "Without memory, there is no future." It has been shelved.

"I'm not going to continually rehash [the past]," Lula said firmly on February 27 in an interview with the RedeTV! channel. He said he was "more concerned about the January 2023 putsch," which saw thousands of far-right militants ransack Brasilia's institutions, "than about the one in 1964." The latter "is part of history, it has already caused the suffering it caused. The people have already won the right to democratize this country," he concluded.

Lula has not stopped at banning official ceremonies. He has also abandoned the idea of a museum of memory and human rights, focusing on the dictatorship. Furthermore, he has not reinstated the Special Commission on Political Deaths and Disappearances, abolished by his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, a former captain nostalgic for the dictatorship who had no qualms about celebrating the 1964 putsch. Yet this measure was one of the left-wing president's campaign promises.

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Emmanuel Macron in Brazil: Amazon funding, submarines and scientific research

Brazil bid adieu to French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday as his three-day visit — his first to the South American country — ended. Alongside his counterpart, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the two countries signed more than 20 cooperation agreements in areas such as the environment, artificial intelligence (AI), human rights, and gender equality.

Macron began his trip to Brazil on Tuesday in Belém, the northern city known as the gateway to the Amazon, which was handpicked by the United Nations to host the COP 30 climate summit in 2025. Met by Lula, the two traveled to Combu Island, where the French president took part in his first official engagement: a meeting with local indigenous leaders.

Among the delegates was Chief Raoni Metuktire, the leader of Brazil’s Kayapo Indigenous people and a global symbol in the fight for rainforest preservation and Indigenous rights. Macron bestowed Raoni, 92, with his nation’s highest military and civilian award, the Legion of Honor. The medal was created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 in recognition of merits in these areas and is the most prestigious honor awarded by the French government.

“Dear Raoni, this moment is dedicated to you. You went to France several times and I committed myself to coming here to your forest, to be with you,” said Macron. “This forest, which is so coveted, but which you have always fought to defend for decades. Today, President Lula and I are making common cause with one of our friends.”

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Dengue epidemic declared over in Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro City authorities Friday announced that the dengue fever epidemic in the country's former capital was over, Agencia Brasil reported. The worst part of the outbreak was recorded between Feb. 18 and 24.

Rio's Municipal Health Secretary Daniel Soranz said that during the crisis seven deaths and 82,000 cases were confirmed, but with a a significant reduction in number in recent weeks.

At the peak of the crisis a little over a month ago, 13,511 cases were registered. But between March 17 and 23, there were 5,395 cases, a 33% reduction from the previous week.

“There has been an emptying out of the dengue care centers, so we can already say that we have left the epidemic period and the dengue emergency in the city,” said Soranz.

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Brazil: Judge rejects Bolsonaro's request for Israel travel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has invited the former far-right president of Brazil to visit Israel in May. Bolsonaro's rival and successor, Lula, has been barred from entering Israel.

Brazil's Supreme Court denied a request by former President Jair Bolsonaro for the return of his passport so he could travel to Israel, an official document revealed on Friday.

Bolsonaro's lawyers said in a statement on Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had invited Bolsonaro to an event in May. The attorneys asked the Supreme Court to restore his passport earlier this week.

Bolsonaro's passport was seized in February amid a probe into his alleged attempted coup that came after  he lost the 2022 election to his rival and successor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

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Under Shadow Of 2023 Riot, Lula Plays Down Brazil's '64 Coup

Ahead of the 60th anniversary of Brazil's last military coup, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has canceled events honoring its victims, seeking to show unity with the army after several officers were linked to an alleged plot to keep him from power.

"We need to bring Brazilian society and the armed forces closer, not treat each other as if we were enemies," the leftist president told reporters in late February.

On March 31, 1964, the Brazilian military ousted then-president Joao Goulart and went on to hold dictatorial power for 21 years.

The era, long a flashpoint in Brazilian politics, still counts among its defenders the far-right Jair Bolsonaro, a former army captain who served as president from 2019 to 2022.

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In Visit With Brazil's Lula, France's Macron Announces Amazon Investment Fund

It was the head-of-state photo session seen round the internet. On Tuesday, the official social media accounts for Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and French President Emmanuel Macron shared images of the two leaders together on a trip through the Amazon. In one photo, Lula and Macron grasped hands, smiling and peering out over the bow of a ship; in another, they bounded through the sun-dappled rainforest.

The subtext was clear: The trade agreement between South American customs union Mercosur and the European Union may be on life support, but Brazil and France are still doing big things together. That day, the two leaders announced a bilateral plan to invest $1.1 billion over four years in conservation and sustainable agriculture in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil and French Guiana, the latter a French overseas territory.

Macron’s visit to Brazil lasted until Thursday, when the French leader and Lula held an official meeting at Brazil’s presidential palace and signed a series of cooperation agreements.

“We are living in a Franco-Brazilian moment,” Macron’s office said. His delegation included officials from some of France’s biggest companies, including Carrefour and Airbus. Their meetings in Brazil intended to back up Macron’s assertion that the two countries can still grow their bilateral business in the absence of a new trade deal.

Whether they will be successful remains to be seen. Regardless, business is not the only reason Macron and Lula have sought closer ties. “Today, France is one of the developed countries that is most open and sensitive to certain demands of the global south,” said Maiara Folly, the executive director of Plataforma CIPÓ, a Brazilian think tank.

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Brazilians Marry Later and Stay Together for Less Time

Data indicates that the number of marriages increased in 2022 compared to 2021; same-sex unions grew by 19.8% in the period

Brazilians are getting married at increasingly older ages, according to the new survey by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). Data released on Wednesday (27) shows that the country recorded 970,000 marriages in 2022, which represents a 4% increase in unions compared to 2021.

Since 2015, Brazil has been recording a decrease in the number of marriages. The pace of decline increased in 2020, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, when the country saw the largest drop compared to the previous year (-25%) —from over 1 million marriages in 2019, the country dropped to 700,000 in 2020. In 2021, the number of unions rose to 932,000 before reaching 970,000 in 2022. However, according to IBGE, the number of marriages is still below the annual average from 2015 to 2019, of 1.07 million unions.

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Lula-Macron: A diplomatic rapprochement in the Amazon

France and Brazil unveil sweeping accords as rainforest collaboration enters new era

In an audacious bid to resuscitate global efforts to save the Amazon rainforest, the presidents of Brazil and France unveiled a sweeping new pact that could reshape the region's destiny and reverberate across the climate crisis. 

After years of hostility and neglect under Jair Bolsonaro's administration, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Emmanuel Macron moved to hit the reset button on rainforest diplomacy through a flurry of environmental accords capping the French leader's symbolically charged visit to Brazil.

The dramatic diplomatic rapprochement marked an about-face from the antagonistic era of insults and boycotts that derailed conservation campaigns during the Bolsonaro presidency. With soaring ambitions matched only by the scale of the Amazon's ecological importance, Lula and Macron cast their partnership as a frontline stand to protect the ecologically sensitive Amazon Forest from further pillaging in the escalating climate emergency.

As clouds spread thin to reveal patches of a blue sky over Brasília's modernist architecture Thursday, Presidents Lula and Macron strolled side-by-side, bonhomie emanating from their relaxed body language, one man near the other in a noticeable closeness. The images underscored the unifying spirit of a diplomatic reunion steeped in rich cultural ties dating back two centuries. Yet their daring environmental agenda faces formidable political and economic headwinds that could imperil its aspirations.

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Amid legal woes, Brazil’s Bolsonaro seeks passport return for Israel trip

The former president’s passport had been seized as part of a police raid in February amid allegations of coup-mongering.

Brazil’s embattled former President Jair Bolsonaro has requested the return of his passport in order to visit Israel, fuelling speculation that he could be seeking respite abroad from his domestic legal troubles.

Defence lawyer and Bolsonaro spokesperson Fabio Wajngarten addressed his request in a social media post on Thursday.

“The defence team of President [Jair Bolsonaro] petitioned the Supreme Court last Monday, on March 25, to request the return of the president’s passport, albeit for a fixed period, with a view to accept an invitation to visit Israel next month,” Wajngarten wrote.

“As is publicly known, international relations are a part of political activity, as well as building dialogue with global leaders.”

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Macron joins online jokes about cuddly 'wedding' pics with Lula

French President Emmanuel Macron joined social media users Thursday in their jokes that likened his cozy pictures with Brazilian President Lula to those from a wedding album.

Images of the pair smiling and warmly embracing during Macron's three-day visit to Brazil circulated online this week alongside light-hearted captions and montages suggesting a loving relationship between the leaders.

"Some have compared the pictures of my visit to Brazil to those of a wedding," Macron wrote Thursday on X.

"I tell them it was one. France loves Brazil and Brazil loves France," he said.

Macron's tweet was accompanied by picture of himself and Lula smiling during the visit, overlaid on the background of a poster for the romantic 2016 film La La Land.

Lula responded to Macron's tweet, which was also shared in Portuguese, with emojis of the Brazil and France flags alongside two small love hearts.

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