In six months time the world’s biggest sporting event will get underway in Rio de Janeiro. Here, Jules Boykoff, author of “Power Games: A Political History of the Olympics” takes a look at the winners and losers in the race for financial, rather than Olympic, gold.
Arquivo - Tag: corruption
Tristes Tropiques – Brazil’s gloomy 2015 in review
The economy tanked, President Dilma Rousseff faced toxic approval ratings and the threat of impeachment, the shoddy, megalomaniacal caperings of the likes of Eduardo Cunha, the Speaker of the country’s Lower House, dragged an already grubby political landscape further into the mire, and the internet reflected back a society that often seemed riven by social(…)
As politicians fight in Brasília, reality bites in the periferia
Once a symbol of growth and rising confidence, the sprawling suburbs outside Brazil’s urban centers are feeling the pinch as the economy nosedives. And there are few places in the country where it is so obvious how out of touch the bickering politicians in Brasilia are with the realities of daily life. By James Young Belo Horizonte(…)
Who’s who in the battle for Brazil?
Why do ‘pro-government’ protesters battle cops, while pro-impeachment protesters hug them? Which team are these guys on, again? A guide to the current crisis Vincent Bevins São Paulo I just spent a month away from Brazil, which served to remind me of just how inscrutable the struggles currently rocking this country are to foreign observers. They may know(…)
A bad week for Brazil’s powerful women
Not long ago, Dilma Rousseff and Maria das Graças Foster were widely praised as the new faces of Latin America. Now, the billion-dollar corruption scandal has finally brought down Petrobras CEO Maria das Graças Foster (above). She had to go. But with President Dilma Rousseff also against the wall, 2015 is shaping up to be(…)
Terror in Brazil’s prisons
A gruesome video recently released is only one example of a penitentiary system often dominated by medieval conditions and shocking violence, Dom Phillips reports, and quasi-feudal political arrangements in the state of Maranhão have done little to improve the system there. By Dom Phillips It cannot have been an easy decision for this newspaper to(…)
Corruption – it’s the private sector
Corruption isn’t mostly about politicians. In its present form, it means that powerful companies dominate Brazil. Above, what corruption looks like. In Brazil, one simple image of corruption is often dominant: some politician, usually an overweight middle-aged man, grabs money from the public coffers, stuffs it into a big sack, and takes off to spend(…)
Congress vs. the Supreme Court
After months of conflict, some in Congress (above) proposed a surprising bill to limit Supreme Court powers. It was quickly laughed aside, but we do still have an interesting fight over Brazil’s messy democracy on our hands. A battle has been heating up between two branches of Brazil’s government. So far, it’s culminated in legislative(…)
Blue murder: São Paulo police accused of massacres
Death squads within São Paulo’s military police are widely suspected of mass killings and extra-judicial executions in poor neighborhoods on the city’s outskirts. Above, police inspect the scene of a bloodbath in Jardim Rosana that six of their colleagues are now accused of carrying out. By Claire Rigby With a grim tally of almost 100(…)
Brazilian Justice – front and center
Joaquim Barbosa, the new authority in Brazilian justice. Mensalão, The PCC, and Caso Bruno – the messy reality of Brazil’s justice system has dominated news recently. Despite obvious problems, some things seem to be improving. Last week, the Brazilian Minister of Justice said he would rather die than do time in the Brazilian prison system.(…)
