US National Security Strategy and Fighting Corruption in Latin America
Under the motto, “Another World is Possible” Fórum Magazine was founded by a group of intellectuals and social movement leaders during a democratic assembly at the first World Social Forum in Porto Alegre in 2001. In this article which originally ran in Portuguese on March 6, 2018, Dr. Cláudio Puty writes that it is not a coincedence that 9 Latin American center-left presidents or vice presidents have recently been arrested in joint anti-corruption investigations sponsored by the US government.
The institutional cooperation programs between the US and the judiciaries in the region appear to be producing the results that were hoped for by the USA. Today there are 9 ex-presidents or vice presidents in prison or on trial for corruption and what draws attention is that nearly all are political leaders that were not aligned with American interests in Latin America.
By Cláudio Castelo Branco Puty
In an event that was barely noticed in Brazil, the US government announced its National Security Strategy (NSS) in December 2017. A document that has been published ever four years since the Reagan government, the NSS, in general terms, lays out the priorities for American national defense policy and serves as a tool for the executive to inform Congress of future orientation about the paths that will be taken in the area of national security.
The 2017 version of the NSS inaugurated new priorities and came with new features. In addition to a change of style, there was a considerable change in the content in relation to the documents published in 2010 and 2015 during the Obama government. In relation to the western hemisphere, the fight against corruption in Latin America and the “Chinese Threat” to the free market seem to replace the traditional defense of human rights, democracy and the environment while ideologically justifying interventions in countries in our region. One sign of the change in the times is that whereas in 2010 the US praised Brazil’s rise onto the international scene, it now commemorates the advances of the judiciary.
The highlight given to “fighting corruption” draws attention, because it is generic enough to guide a numerous group of institutions dedicated to the task of defending US interests around the World. In order to have an idea of the operational capacity of of our neighbor to the North, in the so-called intelligence community alone there are 16 different government agencies that have a reasonable level of independence from each other. Furthermore, according to a 2010 Washington Post article, in the US alone there are 1271 governmental organizations, 1931 private companies and 854,000 people involved in ongoing intelligence activities, not including the armed forces. Furthermore, these numbers don’t include the institutions that follow the orientation of the US national security policies without executing specific tasks of espionage and intelligence, such as the thousands of non governmental organizations connected to American interests through business or business foundation funding, as well as the famous revolving door between NGOs and the government, including the CIA.
The US national security policy for Latin America was explained clearly on February 2, 2018 by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a speech at his Alma Mater, the University of Texas at Austin. On the verge of a trip to 5 Latin American countries, Tillerson used and abused cold war era combat rhetoric to talk about the various enemies of the Americans.
In tune with the December document, the speech by the ex-CEO of Exxon Mobile Petroleum Company raised, by various decibels, the tone in relation to the Chinese (and Russian) presence in Latin America, which caused an immediate protest by the Chinese Minister of Foreign Relations. Nevertheless, what called the most attention in his presentation was the emphasis that was given to two apparently unrelated aspects: the role of the US in the combat of corruption in Latin America and the importance of energy resources in our region.
Uncle Sam’s priorities in the region look clear. The word “corruption” was cited 16 times, second only to “energy” (22 times) and in front of good old “democracy” (7 times) and “poverty” (twice). In the words of Tillerson, “we have a number of initiatives and funding programs working directly with individual countries – the U.S. directly but also using other UN and other international organizations to, first and foremost, strengthen the judicial systems. He also said, “Recent steps taken against corruption in Guatemala, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Brazil underscore the importance of directly addressing it.”
Tillerson appears to be correct. The institutional cooperation programs between the US and the judiciaries in the region appear to be producing the results that were hoped for by the USA. Today there are 9 ex-presidents or vice presidents in prison or on trial for corruption and what draws attention is the that in their near totality they are political leaders that were not aligned with American interests in Latin America. It appears to be no coincidence that the 8th Roundtable of the America’s in Lima will have the theme of “Democratic governance in combating corruption”.
If it is not sufficiently suspicious that the national defense policy of a superpower is strongly focused on the Judiciary as an instrument of moral cleansing of neighboring nations, the rough complements by Tillerson to Argentine President Mauricio Macri confirm that, as with the subject of human rights, the American government seems to be blind to the abuses of its allies. Macri is currently charged with dozens of crimes including contraband, money laundering, influence peddling and tax dodging.
Trump and his advisers are definitively not only masters in the art of putting private interests under the shining form of universal values, but their rude rhetoric gives us a rare opportunity to make a nearly literal reading of their ignoble goals of Empire. We, Latin Americans, who know that the American military-business complex has historically sponsored some of the most corrupt, violent and antidemocratic governments in World history in its crusades to conquer and maintain markets, may have perceived too late that the stadiums may have changed but the game remains the same.
Cláudio Castelo Branco Puty has a PhD in economics from the New School for Social Research. He is a professor at Federal University of Pará and is currently teaching at the BRICS Center at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.
http://www.brasilwire.com/us-national-s ... n-america/
Brazil
Re: Brazil
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Brazil
The Revolt Against Foreign Capital’s Pillage Of Brasil
In his landmark work, “A Fantasia Organizada”, legendary developmentalist economist Celso Furtado described the modern history of Brazil as a conflict between internationally-backed monetarist economic strategies and efforts to implement a national development policy. As it becomes probable that US-sponsored lawfare attacks will succeed in preventing Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva, who is leading all popularity polls with double the support of his nearest rival, from running for president this year, Marcio Pochmann argues that it is time for Brazilians, once again, to make a stand for sovereignty. Pochmann, author of 27 books, is one of Brazil’s most renowned living developmentalist economists. This article, translated from Portuguese, originally appeared in Rede Brasil Atual.
By Marcio Pochmann.
Temer throws out Brazil’s sovereignty and protaganism, which picked up steam in the 2000s. On the other hand, he has reignited the rebel spirit which ended the old republic in 1930.
When the first steps were made towards a national industrial development project with the Revolution of 1930, the opposition built a a political and ideological vision of submission to foreign capital. Since then, it’s primary goal has been to uphold the elitist form of societal reproduction that is associated with international interests, in opposition to the interests of the majority of the Brazilian people. During the 1940s, for example, this servility took shape in the liberalism of Eugênio Gudin, in defense of the primitive model of agrarian society that was installed by the Portuguese in the 1500s. It recuperated the backwards spirit that was imposed on the country, during the reign of Emperor Dom Pedro II, which stifled the Baron of Mauá’s industrialist emergence, from 1850-1870, and continued through the Old Republic (1899-1930) under the rule of agrarian elites who buried the positivist national modernization project.
In reaction to the “Petroleum is ours” campaign in the beginning of the 1950s, the movement to defend systematic privatizations of the productive system at the service of foreign capital established its national dimension. In this manner, it promoted a growing embarrassment with Brazilian development and the prevalence of the status quo among the elites and servile governments.
Currently, the Temer government’s submission to international capital domination and the exploitation of natural resources and national projects has returned with undeniable force. Brazil is throwing away it’s entire strategy of sovereignty and protaganism that was built on new foundations during the beginning of the 2000s.
The dismantlement of the national defense system, with the canceling of the Brazilian nuclear program, the delivery to foreign interests of the Alcantara rocket base, which is one of the World’s best geographical locations for launching satellites, and the ending of production projects with shared technology, such as the military fighter jet project are examples of this process. The selling off of Embraer, the third largest aerospace conglomerate in the World, to Boeing, is one more nail in the coffin of national sovereignty. Another example is the Petrobras petroleum company’s privatization process and the immediate delivery of the pre-salt petroleum reserves, with an estimated worth of $1 Trillion dollars, to foreign companies like Chevron and Shell for only $ 6.5 billion. This has caused a paralyzation of the ship building industry, which had been rebuilt in recent years due to Petrobras’ demand for ships needed for the unprecedented and daring extraction of petroleum from the offshore, pre-salt fields.
Glysophate, which is being banned in Europe, will now be legalized in Brazil for Monsanto. The migration of the government computer systems from open source software, used since 2003, exclusively to Microsoft products will raise public spending by R$140 million/year and destroy the security of Brazilian government information. The government is moving to deliver Latin America’s biggest energy utility, Electrobras, to the private sector for R$20 billion, when it has been appraised at R$370 billion. It is also dismantling private Brazilian energy companies and attacking the largest national meat producers.
The asphyxiation of State financing for constitutional amendment 95, the dismantlement of national social and labor policies through so many reforms, such as the labor law reforms and the pension reforms, which are still underway, illustrate that the economic interests which run the country didn’t just produce the coup of 2016 to sustain the moribund Temer government. It still needed to destroy the possibility of Lula running for president and deconstruct the chances for the PT party, through a democratic process, to interrupt Brazil’s submission to foreign capital. With these moves they may be fostering the rebirth of the same vanguard spirit of 1930 that, perceiving the impossibility of dispute through democratic channels, did not accept the election results and led the revolution which freed Brazil from the Old Republic’s submission to international capital. Could this represent an opportunity to overcome the coup of 2016, which ended the democratic cycle of the New Republic? Now, the personalities who ran the Republic’s institutions possess the historic responsibility of guaranteeing the continuity of the fragile Brazilian democracy.
Marcio Pochmann is a professor at the Institute of Economics and researcher at the center for Union and Labor Economy Studies at Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)
http://www.brasilwire.com/the-revolt-ag ... of-brasil/
In his landmark work, “A Fantasia Organizada”, legendary developmentalist economist Celso Furtado described the modern history of Brazil as a conflict between internationally-backed monetarist economic strategies and efforts to implement a national development policy. As it becomes probable that US-sponsored lawfare attacks will succeed in preventing Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva, who is leading all popularity polls with double the support of his nearest rival, from running for president this year, Marcio Pochmann argues that it is time for Brazilians, once again, to make a stand for sovereignty. Pochmann, author of 27 books, is one of Brazil’s most renowned living developmentalist economists. This article, translated from Portuguese, originally appeared in Rede Brasil Atual.
By Marcio Pochmann.
Temer throws out Brazil’s sovereignty and protaganism, which picked up steam in the 2000s. On the other hand, he has reignited the rebel spirit which ended the old republic in 1930.
When the first steps were made towards a national industrial development project with the Revolution of 1930, the opposition built a a political and ideological vision of submission to foreign capital. Since then, it’s primary goal has been to uphold the elitist form of societal reproduction that is associated with international interests, in opposition to the interests of the majority of the Brazilian people. During the 1940s, for example, this servility took shape in the liberalism of Eugênio Gudin, in defense of the primitive model of agrarian society that was installed by the Portuguese in the 1500s. It recuperated the backwards spirit that was imposed on the country, during the reign of Emperor Dom Pedro II, which stifled the Baron of Mauá’s industrialist emergence, from 1850-1870, and continued through the Old Republic (1899-1930) under the rule of agrarian elites who buried the positivist national modernization project.
In reaction to the “Petroleum is ours” campaign in the beginning of the 1950s, the movement to defend systematic privatizations of the productive system at the service of foreign capital established its national dimension. In this manner, it promoted a growing embarrassment with Brazilian development and the prevalence of the status quo among the elites and servile governments.
Currently, the Temer government’s submission to international capital domination and the exploitation of natural resources and national projects has returned with undeniable force. Brazil is throwing away it’s entire strategy of sovereignty and protaganism that was built on new foundations during the beginning of the 2000s.
The dismantlement of the national defense system, with the canceling of the Brazilian nuclear program, the delivery to foreign interests of the Alcantara rocket base, which is one of the World’s best geographical locations for launching satellites, and the ending of production projects with shared technology, such as the military fighter jet project are examples of this process. The selling off of Embraer, the third largest aerospace conglomerate in the World, to Boeing, is one more nail in the coffin of national sovereignty. Another example is the Petrobras petroleum company’s privatization process and the immediate delivery of the pre-salt petroleum reserves, with an estimated worth of $1 Trillion dollars, to foreign companies like Chevron and Shell for only $ 6.5 billion. This has caused a paralyzation of the ship building industry, which had been rebuilt in recent years due to Petrobras’ demand for ships needed for the unprecedented and daring extraction of petroleum from the offshore, pre-salt fields.
Glysophate, which is being banned in Europe, will now be legalized in Brazil for Monsanto. The migration of the government computer systems from open source software, used since 2003, exclusively to Microsoft products will raise public spending by R$140 million/year and destroy the security of Brazilian government information. The government is moving to deliver Latin America’s biggest energy utility, Electrobras, to the private sector for R$20 billion, when it has been appraised at R$370 billion. It is also dismantling private Brazilian energy companies and attacking the largest national meat producers.
The asphyxiation of State financing for constitutional amendment 95, the dismantlement of national social and labor policies through so many reforms, such as the labor law reforms and the pension reforms, which are still underway, illustrate that the economic interests which run the country didn’t just produce the coup of 2016 to sustain the moribund Temer government. It still needed to destroy the possibility of Lula running for president and deconstruct the chances for the PT party, through a democratic process, to interrupt Brazil’s submission to foreign capital. With these moves they may be fostering the rebirth of the same vanguard spirit of 1930 that, perceiving the impossibility of dispute through democratic channels, did not accept the election results and led the revolution which freed Brazil from the Old Republic’s submission to international capital. Could this represent an opportunity to overcome the coup of 2016, which ended the democratic cycle of the New Republic? Now, the personalities who ran the Republic’s institutions possess the historic responsibility of guaranteeing the continuity of the fragile Brazilian democracy.
Marcio Pochmann is a professor at the Institute of Economics and researcher at the center for Union and Labor Economy Studies at Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)
http://www.brasilwire.com/the-revolt-ag ... of-brasil/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Brazil
The Assassination Of Socialist Marielle Franco
On March 14th in the Estácio area of Rio de Janeiro, Councilwoman Marielle Franco of the Socialism & Liberty Party (PSOL) was executed with 5 shots to the head. Her driver, Anderson Pedro Gomes, also died in the attack. Witnesses say that they could not hear the shots, indicating that the excecution was committed with a silencer.
The Chevrolet Vehicle in which Franco was targeted
Franco, 38, was one of the city’s most outspoken critics of the Military Occupation and police violence. When, on the outset of the February 16 Military Occupation, General Braga Neto announced that he didn’t want another Truth Comission set up to investigate military human rights abuses, the city favela residents association federation set up a people’s committee to monitor the action, and nominated Franco as its reporter. On March 10th she publically criticized the Rio Military Police’s 41st Battalion for a series of police excecutions of teenagers in Acari favela that had taken place the previous week.
Resident of Acari favela tells of the terrorisation of activists who had denounced violent police abuses in the neighbourhood
Born and raised in Rio’s Maré neighborhood, Franco was a long time activist and the first black female Councilwoman from a favela. On the night of her excecution she was returning from an event on how young black women can change power structures.
This event, coupled with the rise in murders of leftist activists since the 2016 coup, the military takeover of Rio de Janeiro’s security apparatus, the violent crackdown on striking public sector workers yesterday on São Paulo and former President Lula’s impending imprisonment with no physical evidence are raising worries that Brazil is moving into a second, more repressive stage of the Coup, mirroring the clampdown of 1968. History teaches us that acts of governmental violence against the left are rarely revenge, they are tactical.
Friends, colleagues and supporters gathered to mourn Marielle Franco near the crime scene
Whoever ordered the killing of Marielle Franco clearly thought they could do it with impunity, either despite or because of the Military Intervention in Rio.
Some have pointed to statistics and Franco will no doubt become an emblem of the wider struggle against the ongoing massacre of young black Brazilians. But statistics alone do not explain the targeted killing of a politician explicitly critical of military actions in her community.
As Brasil wakes up in horror, sadness and dismay at Franco’s killing, a wave of protests have been organised around the country.
The day before hear death Marielle took to social media, about a boy killed as he was leaving church, asking “How many more need to die before this War will end?”.
She leaves behind a 17 year old son.
Marielle Franco 1979-2018
http://www.brasilwire.com/marielle-franco-assassinated/
"But ya know it couldn't happen here!"
Yup, uhuh, sure. Just ask BLM.........
On March 14th in the Estácio area of Rio de Janeiro, Councilwoman Marielle Franco of the Socialism & Liberty Party (PSOL) was executed with 5 shots to the head. Her driver, Anderson Pedro Gomes, also died in the attack. Witnesses say that they could not hear the shots, indicating that the excecution was committed with a silencer.
The Chevrolet Vehicle in which Franco was targeted
Franco, 38, was one of the city’s most outspoken critics of the Military Occupation and police violence. When, on the outset of the February 16 Military Occupation, General Braga Neto announced that he didn’t want another Truth Comission set up to investigate military human rights abuses, the city favela residents association federation set up a people’s committee to monitor the action, and nominated Franco as its reporter. On March 10th she publically criticized the Rio Military Police’s 41st Battalion for a series of police excecutions of teenagers in Acari favela that had taken place the previous week.
Resident of Acari favela tells of the terrorisation of activists who had denounced violent police abuses in the neighbourhood
Born and raised in Rio’s Maré neighborhood, Franco was a long time activist and the first black female Councilwoman from a favela. On the night of her excecution she was returning from an event on how young black women can change power structures.
This event, coupled with the rise in murders of leftist activists since the 2016 coup, the military takeover of Rio de Janeiro’s security apparatus, the violent crackdown on striking public sector workers yesterday on São Paulo and former President Lula’s impending imprisonment with no physical evidence are raising worries that Brazil is moving into a second, more repressive stage of the Coup, mirroring the clampdown of 1968. History teaches us that acts of governmental violence against the left are rarely revenge, they are tactical.
Friends, colleagues and supporters gathered to mourn Marielle Franco near the crime scene
Whoever ordered the killing of Marielle Franco clearly thought they could do it with impunity, either despite or because of the Military Intervention in Rio.
Some have pointed to statistics and Franco will no doubt become an emblem of the wider struggle against the ongoing massacre of young black Brazilians. But statistics alone do not explain the targeted killing of a politician explicitly critical of military actions in her community.
As Brasil wakes up in horror, sadness and dismay at Franco’s killing, a wave of protests have been organised around the country.
The day before hear death Marielle took to social media, about a boy killed as he was leaving church, asking “How many more need to die before this War will end?”.
She leaves behind a 17 year old son.
Marielle Franco 1979-2018
http://www.brasilwire.com/marielle-franco-assassinated/
"But ya know it couldn't happen here!"
Yup, uhuh, sure. Just ask BLM.........
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Brazil
Ammunition used to kill Marielle is lots sold to the Federal Police
Federal and Civilian police will start joint screening work. Marielle's car was hit by 13 shots, four hit the councilwoman.
By Leslie Leitão, RJTV
03/16/2018 12h13 Updated less than 1 minute ago
Ammunition that killed Marielle Franco and driver are sold to PF in 2006
The ammunition used by the criminals who killed councilwoman Marielle Franco (PSOL) with shots of a 9mm pistol on Wednesday (14) is from lots sold to the Federal Police of Brasília in 2006. According to the expertise of the Homicide Division , the UZZ-18 ammunition lot is original, ie it has not been recharged.
Agents came to this conclusion after the completion of the skill. Now, the Civil and Federal police will start a joint tracking job. The Federal Police has opened an investigation to determine the origin of the munitions and the circumstances surrounding the capsules found at the scene of the crime. The information was obtained exclusively by RJTV 1st edition this Friday (16).
According to the investigation, the ammunition lots were sold to the PF of Brasília by the company CBC on December 29, 2006, with invoices number 220-821 and 220-822.
The Cobalt model car, with Nova Iguaçu license plate, which was used by the killers to kill the alderwoman Marielle, was cloned. According to police, the original vehicle was located in Duque de Caxias, in the Baixada Fluminense, but the agents are still searching to find the cloned car.
Shortly before she died, the councilwoman mediated the debate "Young Black Movements Structures", organized by her party in the House of Blacks, in the Center of Rio, which lasted about 2 hours. According to investigators, a car with a Nova Iguaçu sign was already standing at the door of the Casa das Pretas, in Lapa, when the councilwoman arrived and parked. At this point, a man got out of the car and spoke into his cell phone.
About two hours later, Marielle left the car with an aide and the driver. The vehicle that was parked there also left, blinked the beacon and followed Marielle's car. According to the investigation, in the middle of the way, a second vehicle entered the chase. The images were not released by the police.
In a new test done late this Thursday (15), it was verified that 13 shots hit the vehicle in which Marielle was: nine in the body and four in the glass.
Protests across the country marked Thursday (15) (Photo: José Marcelo / G1 PI) Protests across the country marked Thursday (15) (Photo: José Marcelo / G1 PI)
Protests across the country marked Thursday (15) (Photo: José Marcelo / G1 PI)
Throughout Thursday, police gathered information at the scene of the crime and with witnesses, such as an advisor to Marielle who was also in the car and was not hit by the shots.
Marielle Franco and Anderson were shot dead in a car on Rua Joaquim Palhares, Estácio, Centro do Rio, around 9.30 p.m. The main line of investigation of the Homicide Office is execution, because the criminals fled without taking anything.
Rio Civil Police believe the killers followed Marielle's car for about 4 km from the moment she left the event to the crime scene.
According to the investigation, Marielle was not in the habit of riding in the backseat of the vehicle, which has dark film on the windows. On Wednesday night, however, she was in the backseat when the crime occurred, which would be further evidence that the killers had been watching the victim for some time.
https://g1.globo.com/rj/rio-de-janeiro/ ... eral.ghtml
Google Translator
Federal and Civilian police will start joint screening work. Marielle's car was hit by 13 shots, four hit the councilwoman.
By Leslie Leitão, RJTV
03/16/2018 12h13 Updated less than 1 minute ago
Ammunition that killed Marielle Franco and driver are sold to PF in 2006
The ammunition used by the criminals who killed councilwoman Marielle Franco (PSOL) with shots of a 9mm pistol on Wednesday (14) is from lots sold to the Federal Police of Brasília in 2006. According to the expertise of the Homicide Division , the UZZ-18 ammunition lot is original, ie it has not been recharged.
Agents came to this conclusion after the completion of the skill. Now, the Civil and Federal police will start a joint tracking job. The Federal Police has opened an investigation to determine the origin of the munitions and the circumstances surrounding the capsules found at the scene of the crime. The information was obtained exclusively by RJTV 1st edition this Friday (16).
According to the investigation, the ammunition lots were sold to the PF of Brasília by the company CBC on December 29, 2006, with invoices number 220-821 and 220-822.
The Cobalt model car, with Nova Iguaçu license plate, which was used by the killers to kill the alderwoman Marielle, was cloned. According to police, the original vehicle was located in Duque de Caxias, in the Baixada Fluminense, but the agents are still searching to find the cloned car.
Shortly before she died, the councilwoman mediated the debate "Young Black Movements Structures", organized by her party in the House of Blacks, in the Center of Rio, which lasted about 2 hours. According to investigators, a car with a Nova Iguaçu sign was already standing at the door of the Casa das Pretas, in Lapa, when the councilwoman arrived and parked. At this point, a man got out of the car and spoke into his cell phone.
About two hours later, Marielle left the car with an aide and the driver. The vehicle that was parked there also left, blinked the beacon and followed Marielle's car. According to the investigation, in the middle of the way, a second vehicle entered the chase. The images were not released by the police.
In a new test done late this Thursday (15), it was verified that 13 shots hit the vehicle in which Marielle was: nine in the body and four in the glass.
Protests across the country marked Thursday (15) (Photo: José Marcelo / G1 PI) Protests across the country marked Thursday (15) (Photo: José Marcelo / G1 PI)
Protests across the country marked Thursday (15) (Photo: José Marcelo / G1 PI)
Throughout Thursday, police gathered information at the scene of the crime and with witnesses, such as an advisor to Marielle who was also in the car and was not hit by the shots.
Marielle Franco and Anderson were shot dead in a car on Rua Joaquim Palhares, Estácio, Centro do Rio, around 9.30 p.m. The main line of investigation of the Homicide Office is execution, because the criminals fled without taking anything.
Rio Civil Police believe the killers followed Marielle's car for about 4 km from the moment she left the event to the crime scene.
According to the investigation, Marielle was not in the habit of riding in the backseat of the vehicle, which has dark film on the windows. On Wednesday night, however, she was in the backseat when the crime occurred, which would be further evidence that the killers had been watching the victim for some time.
https://g1.globo.com/rj/rio-de-janeiro/ ... eral.ghtml
Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Brazil
Not only Marielle: 10 human rights activists assassinated in last 5 months
The cowardly murder of socialist councilwoman Marielle Franco, on March 14, has all the hallmarks of political assassination. The protests that swept across Brazil on the night of March 15 were mobilised at short notice in outrage at a political act, and not merely a spontaneous outcry over Brazilians’ frustration with “one more gunfire death” as some Anglo media companies tried to frame it. Marielle was assassinated by a trained shooter with a common Military Police weapon. Rio de Janeiro is currently under military occupation, and she was its most prominent critic.
Franco was also a living example of everything the neo-fascist Brazilian military hates: a black, lesbian, feminist, socialist from a favela.
In the wake of this, commentator Brian Winter, of Wall Street lobby AS/COA, posted, then later deleted a tweet which depicted Marielle’s political assassination as an unusual occurrence in Brazil, which is preposterous. And this reflects a general trend, journalists who either ignored, obfuscated or denied Brazil’s 2016 coup now face great difficulty in trying to explain what has been happening in the country since.
Brazil is one of the World’s most dangerous countries for leftist activists. According to the Catholic Church’s Pastoral Land Commission, there have been 1833 political assassinations of agrarian reform activists in the Brazilian countryside since the end of the Military Dictatorship. Most of these were committed by agribusiness plantation and ranch owners involved in monoculture production and export of goods like beef and soy to the American and European markets.
Regular Brasil Wire contributor Fernando Horta compiled the following list of Brazil’s last 10 political assassinations:
Marielle Franco, city councilwoman from the Partido de Socialismo e Liberdade (Socialism and Freedom Party/PSOL). March 15, 2018
The sociologist, feminist and black movement activist was executed in Rio de Janeiro. Marielle, who was elected to the city council with the 4th highest vote tally in 2016, worked in the Maré favela, where she was born and raised and, the week before she was murdered, publicly denounced police violence against teenagers in Acari favela.
Paulo Sergio Almeida Nascimento, community leader in Pará. March 12, 2018
Nascimento was one of the leaders of the Association of Mestizos, Indigenous peoples and Maroon community descendents of Amazonia (CAINQUIAMA). According to the civil police, he was shot in front of his house in the city of Barcerena. Nascimento was a vocal critic of a recent toxic waste disaster committed by the Norwegian-owned Hydro Alunorte aluminum plant earlier that month.
George de Andrade Lima Rodrigues, community leader in Recife, PE. February 23, 2018
Rodrigues’ body was found with bullet holes and barbed wire wrapped around his neck, after three days of searches. His body was found in a patch of forest on the edge of a dirt road. He had been kidnapped by four men who are believed to be police officers.
Carlos Antônio dos Santos, Carlão, community leader in Mato Grosso. February 7, 2018
Carlão was one of the leaders of the PDS Rio Jatobá agrarian reform settlement in Paranatinga, Mato Grosso and was shot to death by a man on a motorcycle in front of the Mayor’s Office in broad daylight. He was in a car with his daughter and wife, who was also injured in the attack. Carlão had made a series of complaints about police violence and had received death threats.
Leandro Altenir Ribeiro Ribas, community leader in Porto Alegre, January 28, 2018
Ribas was a community leader in Vila São Luis, a favela in Porto Alegre’s North side. He had stopped sleeping in his house a few days earlier due to a battle between neighborhood drug gangs. On the day he was assassinated, he returned home to pick up some clothes, but ended up being murdered. The police suspect that Ribas was executed by gang members because he was a community leader who criticized their actions in the neighborhood.
Márcio Oliveira Matos, Landless Rural Workers Movement (Movimento Sem Terra/MST) leader in Bahia. January 24, 2018
Matos, 33, was one of the youngest state leaders of the MST and lived in the Boa Sorte agrarian reform settlement. He was killed in his home, with three gun shots, in front of his son.
Valdemir Resplandes, MST leader in Pará. January 9, 2018
Resplandes was executed in the town of Anapu, Pará. He was stopped on his motorcycle by two men. One of them shot him in the back and, as he lay on the ground, the other man shot him in the head. American missionary Dorothy Stang was assassinated by loggers in the same town in 2005.
Jefferson Marcelo do Nascimento, community leader in Rio. January 4, 2018
Nascimento was a community leader in the Madureira neighborhood. His body was found with signs of hanging one day after he disappeared. He had made a series of complaints against a paramilitary militia gang days before his execution.
Clodoaldo do Santos, union leader in Sergipe – December 14, 2017
Santos was a leader of the SOS-Jobs social movement in Sergipe and was shot in the head by two men who came to his house saying that they wanted to give him their resumes. After suggesting that they deliver their resumes directly to a company that is building a thermoelectric plant in the region, he was assassinated.
Jair Cleber dos Santos, squatters camp leader in Pará. September 22, 2017
Santos was shot while in the company of four other landless rural workers. The man accused of the assassination is the foreman of a plantation that was occupied by workers connected to the Federação dos Trabalhadores de Agricultura do Estado do Pará (Pará State Federation of Agricultural Workers/FETAGRI). The police were at the location moments beforehand and the workers who witnessed the crime accuse them of helping the foreman and the other gunmen escape the crime scene.
Fabio Gabriel Pacifico dos Santos, “Binho dos Palameres”, Maroon community leader in Bahia. September 18, 2017
Binho, as he was known as, was a leader of Pitanga dos Palmares, a community of descendents of escaped slaves in Simões Filho, Bahia. He had just dropped his son off at school and was going to the funeral of a friend when he was stopped by a car. A man got out and fired several shots at Binho.
Say their names.
http://www.brasilwire.com/not-only-mari ... -5-months/
The cowardly murder of socialist councilwoman Marielle Franco, on March 14, has all the hallmarks of political assassination. The protests that swept across Brazil on the night of March 15 were mobilised at short notice in outrage at a political act, and not merely a spontaneous outcry over Brazilians’ frustration with “one more gunfire death” as some Anglo media companies tried to frame it. Marielle was assassinated by a trained shooter with a common Military Police weapon. Rio de Janeiro is currently under military occupation, and she was its most prominent critic.
Franco was also a living example of everything the neo-fascist Brazilian military hates: a black, lesbian, feminist, socialist from a favela.
In the wake of this, commentator Brian Winter, of Wall Street lobby AS/COA, posted, then later deleted a tweet which depicted Marielle’s political assassination as an unusual occurrence in Brazil, which is preposterous. And this reflects a general trend, journalists who either ignored, obfuscated or denied Brazil’s 2016 coup now face great difficulty in trying to explain what has been happening in the country since.
Brazil is one of the World’s most dangerous countries for leftist activists. According to the Catholic Church’s Pastoral Land Commission, there have been 1833 political assassinations of agrarian reform activists in the Brazilian countryside since the end of the Military Dictatorship. Most of these were committed by agribusiness plantation and ranch owners involved in monoculture production and export of goods like beef and soy to the American and European markets.
Regular Brasil Wire contributor Fernando Horta compiled the following list of Brazil’s last 10 political assassinations:
Marielle Franco, city councilwoman from the Partido de Socialismo e Liberdade (Socialism and Freedom Party/PSOL). March 15, 2018
The sociologist, feminist and black movement activist was executed in Rio de Janeiro. Marielle, who was elected to the city council with the 4th highest vote tally in 2016, worked in the Maré favela, where she was born and raised and, the week before she was murdered, publicly denounced police violence against teenagers in Acari favela.
Paulo Sergio Almeida Nascimento, community leader in Pará. March 12, 2018
Nascimento was one of the leaders of the Association of Mestizos, Indigenous peoples and Maroon community descendents of Amazonia (CAINQUIAMA). According to the civil police, he was shot in front of his house in the city of Barcerena. Nascimento was a vocal critic of a recent toxic waste disaster committed by the Norwegian-owned Hydro Alunorte aluminum plant earlier that month.
George de Andrade Lima Rodrigues, community leader in Recife, PE. February 23, 2018
Rodrigues’ body was found with bullet holes and barbed wire wrapped around his neck, after three days of searches. His body was found in a patch of forest on the edge of a dirt road. He had been kidnapped by four men who are believed to be police officers.
Carlos Antônio dos Santos, Carlão, community leader in Mato Grosso. February 7, 2018
Carlão was one of the leaders of the PDS Rio Jatobá agrarian reform settlement in Paranatinga, Mato Grosso and was shot to death by a man on a motorcycle in front of the Mayor’s Office in broad daylight. He was in a car with his daughter and wife, who was also injured in the attack. Carlão had made a series of complaints about police violence and had received death threats.
Leandro Altenir Ribeiro Ribas, community leader in Porto Alegre, January 28, 2018
Ribas was a community leader in Vila São Luis, a favela in Porto Alegre’s North side. He had stopped sleeping in his house a few days earlier due to a battle between neighborhood drug gangs. On the day he was assassinated, he returned home to pick up some clothes, but ended up being murdered. The police suspect that Ribas was executed by gang members because he was a community leader who criticized their actions in the neighborhood.
Márcio Oliveira Matos, Landless Rural Workers Movement (Movimento Sem Terra/MST) leader in Bahia. January 24, 2018
Matos, 33, was one of the youngest state leaders of the MST and lived in the Boa Sorte agrarian reform settlement. He was killed in his home, with three gun shots, in front of his son.
Valdemir Resplandes, MST leader in Pará. January 9, 2018
Resplandes was executed in the town of Anapu, Pará. He was stopped on his motorcycle by two men. One of them shot him in the back and, as he lay on the ground, the other man shot him in the head. American missionary Dorothy Stang was assassinated by loggers in the same town in 2005.
Jefferson Marcelo do Nascimento, community leader in Rio. January 4, 2018
Nascimento was a community leader in the Madureira neighborhood. His body was found with signs of hanging one day after he disappeared. He had made a series of complaints against a paramilitary militia gang days before his execution.
Clodoaldo do Santos, union leader in Sergipe – December 14, 2017
Santos was a leader of the SOS-Jobs social movement in Sergipe and was shot in the head by two men who came to his house saying that they wanted to give him their resumes. After suggesting that they deliver their resumes directly to a company that is building a thermoelectric plant in the region, he was assassinated.
Jair Cleber dos Santos, squatters camp leader in Pará. September 22, 2017
Santos was shot while in the company of four other landless rural workers. The man accused of the assassination is the foreman of a plantation that was occupied by workers connected to the Federação dos Trabalhadores de Agricultura do Estado do Pará (Pará State Federation of Agricultural Workers/FETAGRI). The police were at the location moments beforehand and the workers who witnessed the crime accuse them of helping the foreman and the other gunmen escape the crime scene.
Fabio Gabriel Pacifico dos Santos, “Binho dos Palameres”, Maroon community leader in Bahia. September 18, 2017
Binho, as he was known as, was a leader of Pitanga dos Palmares, a community of descendents of escaped slaves in Simões Filho, Bahia. He had just dropped his son off at school and was going to the funeral of a friend when he was stopped by a car. A man got out and fired several shots at Binho.
Say their names.
http://www.brasilwire.com/not-only-mari ... -5-months/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Brazil
The Mechanism: Character Assassination, Election Propaganda & Entertainment
Netflix series, the Mechanism, premiered on Friday, March 23. The new feature by Narcos and Elite Squad director José Padilha was immediately received with criticism for, in the guise of being “based on a true story”, slandering ex-presidents Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, during an election year in which Lula is the leading presidential candidate.
The first episode opens in 2003, as Selton Mello portrays Federal Police special agent Marco Ruffo, a character clearly based on Gerson Machado, as he uncovers a money laundering scandal involving Banestado bank. 2003 was the first year that Lula assumed the presidency, but the Benestado scandal was uncovered in 1996, during the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government. Associating the scandal with Lula is the first act of character assassination in a episode that is full of lies and manipulation. Mello is one of Brazil’s finest actors and has a history of participating in some of the best underground films of the last 2 decades, frequently skirting Globo Films near hegemony in the industry to appear in important Indy films such as Cheiro do Ralo and Garotas do ABC. It is disappointing, therefore, to see him here, merely imitating Wagner Mauro’s Captain Nascimento character from the Elite Squad films, never smiling as he gruffly deadpans his way through a series of plot holes that Padilha seems unable to link together without constant voiceovers.
Ruffo’s character is a Hollywood archetype- the Dirty Harry style honest cop, getting by on a working class salary as his frustration grows at the bureaucracy and corruption that surrounds him. Like Dirty Harry, he frequently takes the law into his own hands through illegal acts of vigilante justice. As the fragmented plot develops he continually complains, “I’ve been on the force for 20 years. During this time I’ve managed to buy a used car for my wife, and a small house in the country.” This raises the question, “does he have a gambling problem”? Whereas buying a used car for his wife and a small house in the country would be an achievement for an honest member of the Rio de Janeiro Military Police, who make around three times the Brazilian minimum wage of $300 USD/month, Ruffo is a Federal Police agent and, therefore, a member of Brazil’s wealthy, primarily white elite. The average Delegado in the Federal Police earns around R$23,000/a month, placing him firmly in the Brazilian upper class, a category which starts at 20 times the minimum salary of R$954 and represents less than 1% of the population. Why does a guy making 25 times the minimum wage act like shelling out two weeks pay to buy a used car for his wife is such a big achievement? The fact that Brazilian Federal Police Delgados make more than their American FBI counterparts in a country where average salaries are roughly 1/3 of what they are in the United States is, in itself, an example of corruption. The average Federal Police officer has at least two house servants but Ruffo lives in a working class neighborhood and, apparently in one of Brazil’s only upper class families that does it’s own chores and looks after its own children. Ruffo is a working class everyman. He’s an honest cop, who starts breaking the law in the first 10 minutes of the program, frustrated that working class white guys like himself are powerless to do nothing as the nation is plagued by the “cancer” of corruption.
As the action moves 10 years forwards, to 2013, we are transported to Brasília. As a mousy, simpering version of Lula appears on the screen, being scripted through a campaign commercial for a cartoon caricature of Dilma Rousseff, the holes in the plot are smoothed over through a second narrator. She is a female member of Brazil’s elite, another Federal Police agent, who tells us that she never saw any changes in Brazil during the PT governments, “it was all just more of the same”. This is actually a common complaint from members of the Brazilian elite, who grew increasingly frustrated by measures implemented by the Federal Government that forced them to pay minimum salary to their kitchen maids and nannies, and forced their children to have to study harder to make it into free public universities after the government began reserving 50% of the berths for the mainly Afro-Brazilian graduates of the public school system. The average member of the elite could care less that 36 million people rose above the poverty line. They were more angry that they had to sit next to “poor people” on airplanes, with the term “poor” commonly used as a racist code word to describe Afro-Brazilians and Northeasterners.
Dilma Rousseff published a public statement calling the program “underhanded and full of lies”, listing several instances in the first episode where words or deeds done by members of the Coup government are attributed to herself and Lula. The most glaring example is the word for word reproduction of a conversation by Senator Romero Jucá, one of the key architects of the illegal impeachment, placed into the mouth of Lula. In the conversation, which was widely publicized in Brazil at the time, Jucá said that it was time to “stop the bleeding” caused by Lava Jato and “make a big national deal” to protect the coup actors in the Michel Temer’s Partido do Movimento Democratico Brasileiro (Democratic Movement Party/PMDB). In a year in which Lula is the leading candidate for the presidency, regardless of whether a program claims to be merely “based” on a true story, it is incredibly dishonest to put these words into his mouth.
Why would Netflix be so interested in committing character assassination against the PT party? A good starting point is to follow the money. One of Netflix largest shareholders is BlackRock, an investment management corporation that has assets totaling more than the value of the Brazilian GDP. It is the majority shareholder in two petroleum companies that benefited immensely from the 2016 Coup and the illegitimate Michel Temer government’s subsequent privatization of off shore petroleum reserves and $300 billion USD in tax abatement, Shell and Chevron. It is important to note here that all center left candidates in the 2018 presidential elections, from Guilherme Boulos to Ciro Gomes and Lula, are promising to undo Temer’s privatizations if elected.
As Dilma Rousseff said in her open letter about The Mechanism, “Whoever wants to make fiction has all the right in the world to do so. But it is a stretch to say that this is a work of fiction. To the contrary, what is being done is not based on real facts, but on real distortion as a new fake news story.”
Stretching the truth in films and TV shows based on true stories is as old as Hollywood and is a practice that is generally considered to be legal. At what point, however, will billionaire corporations begin to be held accountable for deliberately meddling in foreign elections under this cover?
http://www.brasilwire.com/the-mechanism ... rtainment/
Netflix series, the Mechanism, premiered on Friday, March 23. The new feature by Narcos and Elite Squad director José Padilha was immediately received with criticism for, in the guise of being “based on a true story”, slandering ex-presidents Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, during an election year in which Lula is the leading presidential candidate.
The first episode opens in 2003, as Selton Mello portrays Federal Police special agent Marco Ruffo, a character clearly based on Gerson Machado, as he uncovers a money laundering scandal involving Banestado bank. 2003 was the first year that Lula assumed the presidency, but the Benestado scandal was uncovered in 1996, during the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government. Associating the scandal with Lula is the first act of character assassination in a episode that is full of lies and manipulation. Mello is one of Brazil’s finest actors and has a history of participating in some of the best underground films of the last 2 decades, frequently skirting Globo Films near hegemony in the industry to appear in important Indy films such as Cheiro do Ralo and Garotas do ABC. It is disappointing, therefore, to see him here, merely imitating Wagner Mauro’s Captain Nascimento character from the Elite Squad films, never smiling as he gruffly deadpans his way through a series of plot holes that Padilha seems unable to link together without constant voiceovers.
Ruffo’s character is a Hollywood archetype- the Dirty Harry style honest cop, getting by on a working class salary as his frustration grows at the bureaucracy and corruption that surrounds him. Like Dirty Harry, he frequently takes the law into his own hands through illegal acts of vigilante justice. As the fragmented plot develops he continually complains, “I’ve been on the force for 20 years. During this time I’ve managed to buy a used car for my wife, and a small house in the country.” This raises the question, “does he have a gambling problem”? Whereas buying a used car for his wife and a small house in the country would be an achievement for an honest member of the Rio de Janeiro Military Police, who make around three times the Brazilian minimum wage of $300 USD/month, Ruffo is a Federal Police agent and, therefore, a member of Brazil’s wealthy, primarily white elite. The average Delegado in the Federal Police earns around R$23,000/a month, placing him firmly in the Brazilian upper class, a category which starts at 20 times the minimum salary of R$954 and represents less than 1% of the population. Why does a guy making 25 times the minimum wage act like shelling out two weeks pay to buy a used car for his wife is such a big achievement? The fact that Brazilian Federal Police Delgados make more than their American FBI counterparts in a country where average salaries are roughly 1/3 of what they are in the United States is, in itself, an example of corruption. The average Federal Police officer has at least two house servants but Ruffo lives in a working class neighborhood and, apparently in one of Brazil’s only upper class families that does it’s own chores and looks after its own children. Ruffo is a working class everyman. He’s an honest cop, who starts breaking the law in the first 10 minutes of the program, frustrated that working class white guys like himself are powerless to do nothing as the nation is plagued by the “cancer” of corruption.
As the action moves 10 years forwards, to 2013, we are transported to Brasília. As a mousy, simpering version of Lula appears on the screen, being scripted through a campaign commercial for a cartoon caricature of Dilma Rousseff, the holes in the plot are smoothed over through a second narrator. She is a female member of Brazil’s elite, another Federal Police agent, who tells us that she never saw any changes in Brazil during the PT governments, “it was all just more of the same”. This is actually a common complaint from members of the Brazilian elite, who grew increasingly frustrated by measures implemented by the Federal Government that forced them to pay minimum salary to their kitchen maids and nannies, and forced their children to have to study harder to make it into free public universities after the government began reserving 50% of the berths for the mainly Afro-Brazilian graduates of the public school system. The average member of the elite could care less that 36 million people rose above the poverty line. They were more angry that they had to sit next to “poor people” on airplanes, with the term “poor” commonly used as a racist code word to describe Afro-Brazilians and Northeasterners.
Dilma Rousseff published a public statement calling the program “underhanded and full of lies”, listing several instances in the first episode where words or deeds done by members of the Coup government are attributed to herself and Lula. The most glaring example is the word for word reproduction of a conversation by Senator Romero Jucá, one of the key architects of the illegal impeachment, placed into the mouth of Lula. In the conversation, which was widely publicized in Brazil at the time, Jucá said that it was time to “stop the bleeding” caused by Lava Jato and “make a big national deal” to protect the coup actors in the Michel Temer’s Partido do Movimento Democratico Brasileiro (Democratic Movement Party/PMDB). In a year in which Lula is the leading candidate for the presidency, regardless of whether a program claims to be merely “based” on a true story, it is incredibly dishonest to put these words into his mouth.
Why would Netflix be so interested in committing character assassination against the PT party? A good starting point is to follow the money. One of Netflix largest shareholders is BlackRock, an investment management corporation that has assets totaling more than the value of the Brazilian GDP. It is the majority shareholder in two petroleum companies that benefited immensely from the 2016 Coup and the illegitimate Michel Temer government’s subsequent privatization of off shore petroleum reserves and $300 billion USD in tax abatement, Shell and Chevron. It is important to note here that all center left candidates in the 2018 presidential elections, from Guilherme Boulos to Ciro Gomes and Lula, are promising to undo Temer’s privatizations if elected.
As Dilma Rousseff said in her open letter about The Mechanism, “Whoever wants to make fiction has all the right in the world to do so. But it is a stretch to say that this is a work of fiction. To the contrary, what is being done is not based on real facts, but on real distortion as a new fake news story.”
Stretching the truth in films and TV shows based on true stories is as old as Hollywood and is a practice that is generally considered to be legal. At what point, however, will billionaire corporations begin to be held accountable for deliberately meddling in foreign elections under this cover?
http://www.brasilwire.com/the-mechanism ... rtainment/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Brazil
Fascist Militia Fire On Lula’s Presidential Election Convoy
Bus carrying Journalists hit, fails to stop campaign
On the night of March 27, in the conservative state of Parana, a small group of militia men opened fire on a bus full of journalists that was traveling in ex-president Lula’s Caravan, a whistle stop tour of Southern Brazil in preparation for the 2018 presidential campaign in which he is leading all polls. The attack was carried out ambush style, after spikes were laid in the road to give the bus a flat tire. The shooters used low caliber weapons, appear to have aimed at the bus fuselage and nobody was injured. This was the latest in a series of episodes along the tour in which gunmen hired by wealthy ranchers and plantation owners have tried to scare and humiliate the hundreds of thousands of primarily poor and working class people who have come out to see Lula. During the course of the caravan right wing militias associated with the Koch-brothers supported Movimento Brasil Livre and neofascist presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro have incrementally increased the levels of violence and harassment, frequently focusing their aggression on women in attacks with whips, clubs and rocks.
Leonardo Fernandes, a reporter for Brasil de Fato, was on the bus as it was ambushed. “We had just finished a rally in Quedas de Iquaçu (Parana), which was the second to last stop on Lula’s tour of the South. We were about 15 minutes out of town when we heard a noise that sounded like a rock hitting the side of the bus. This didn’t surprise us because during the entire southern tour our bus had been hit with rocks and eggs. We kept going but as we arrived near the next town the driver realized that one of the tires was flat. The militias had thrown spikes in the road hoping that it would cause the buses to slow down and they fired shots at our bus, carrying the journalists and another bus that had some of Lula’s guests on it. I have to emphasize that we have seen a growing level of violence along the tour. Our buses were pelted with rocks and they tried to block off the road in Bage, Rio Grande do Sul. Yesterday we were stopped near Francisco Beltrão in Parana and some men, who haven’t been identified yet, tried to shoot fireworks at our bus. So what we can see is that they have made several attempts to force us to cancel the tour, and since the organizers are determined to keep going until the end, which is marked for March 28 in Curitiba, the level of violence against us has increased, culminating with this ambush by an armed militia.”
Journalist Lucia Helena Issa compares the strategies used by the militias in this region of heavy Italian immigration to those of Mussolini’s Black Shirts.
http://www.brasilwire.com/fascist-milit ... gn-convoy/
Bus carrying Journalists hit, fails to stop campaign
On the night of March 27, in the conservative state of Parana, a small group of militia men opened fire on a bus full of journalists that was traveling in ex-president Lula’s Caravan, a whistle stop tour of Southern Brazil in preparation for the 2018 presidential campaign in which he is leading all polls. The attack was carried out ambush style, after spikes were laid in the road to give the bus a flat tire. The shooters used low caliber weapons, appear to have aimed at the bus fuselage and nobody was injured. This was the latest in a series of episodes along the tour in which gunmen hired by wealthy ranchers and plantation owners have tried to scare and humiliate the hundreds of thousands of primarily poor and working class people who have come out to see Lula. During the course of the caravan right wing militias associated with the Koch-brothers supported Movimento Brasil Livre and neofascist presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro have incrementally increased the levels of violence and harassment, frequently focusing their aggression on women in attacks with whips, clubs and rocks.
Leonardo Fernandes, a reporter for Brasil de Fato, was on the bus as it was ambushed. “We had just finished a rally in Quedas de Iquaçu (Parana), which was the second to last stop on Lula’s tour of the South. We were about 15 minutes out of town when we heard a noise that sounded like a rock hitting the side of the bus. This didn’t surprise us because during the entire southern tour our bus had been hit with rocks and eggs. We kept going but as we arrived near the next town the driver realized that one of the tires was flat. The militias had thrown spikes in the road hoping that it would cause the buses to slow down and they fired shots at our bus, carrying the journalists and another bus that had some of Lula’s guests on it. I have to emphasize that we have seen a growing level of violence along the tour. Our buses were pelted with rocks and they tried to block off the road in Bage, Rio Grande do Sul. Yesterday we were stopped near Francisco Beltrão in Parana and some men, who haven’t been identified yet, tried to shoot fireworks at our bus. So what we can see is that they have made several attempts to force us to cancel the tour, and since the organizers are determined to keep going until the end, which is marked for March 28 in Curitiba, the level of violence against us has increased, culminating with this ambush by an armed militia.”
Journalist Lucia Helena Issa compares the strategies used by the militias in this region of heavy Italian immigration to those of Mussolini’s Black Shirts.
In Parana, where the final event of the tour is scheduled to take place tonight, Governor Beto Richa, from the PSDB Party, has refused to provide police protection to the caravan. Richa became known internationally in 2016, when he ordered his police to open fire with rubber bullets on a crowd of striking school teachers, injuring 200. Parana is the headquarters of the US-backed Lava Jato investigation, which has systematically ignored all corruption allegations against PSDB party members while trying to arrest Lula on charges that he acquired a beach front apartment, with no evidence showing he ever owned or set foot in the place. Lava Jato director Sergio Moro has been accused of conflict of interest because his wife Rosangela served for years as legal council to Beto Richa’s vice governor Flavio Arns.The Black Shirts attacked women and children, beat strikers, intellectuals, peasant activists and any other group that thought differently from the fascists. The Black Shirts killed 600 Italians during the 1930s, while the police refused to intervene. But in the beginning these militias used whips and clubs because their goal was to humiliate their enemies and not kill them. In attacking women who were participating in a political rally the similarities between the MBL and its militias with the young Italian fascists of the 1930s is frightening.
http://www.brasilwire.com/fascist-milit ... gn-convoy/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Brazil
Minrex: We express our solidarity and support to compañero Lula
Statement by the general director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Minrex, Eugenio Martínez Enríquez
Author: MINREX | internet@granma.cu
April 5, 2018 19:04:22
Lula is once again the hope of a better Brazil. Photo: TELESUR
The Supreme Federal Court of the Federative Republic of Brazil rejected Habeas Corpus 'appeal filed by the defense of the former president of that country and leader of the Workers' Party Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva.
As confirmed in the last minutes, this decision opens the way to a possible and imminent arrest of Lula, an act that would be very serious.
The decision is a new expression of the long and unjust campaign against Lula, against the Workers' Party and the leftist and progressive forces in Brazil.
Lula is shaping up as a favorite for the elections. Photo: Prensa Latina
Lula continues to enjoy broad popular support, sympathy and international recognition, as a result of the successes of his government's management that benefited the great majority, which today is trying to deprive them of the right to elect him again as their president, to open step to a neoliberal wave and reverse their conquests.
Once again we express our solidarity and support to compañero Lula
http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2018-04-05/mi ... 8-19-04-22
Google Translator
Statement by the general director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Minrex, Eugenio Martínez Enríquez
Author: MINREX | internet@granma.cu
April 5, 2018 19:04:22
Lula is once again the hope of a better Brazil. Photo: TELESUR
The Supreme Federal Court of the Federative Republic of Brazil rejected Habeas Corpus 'appeal filed by the defense of the former president of that country and leader of the Workers' Party Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva.
As confirmed in the last minutes, this decision opens the way to a possible and imminent arrest of Lula, an act that would be very serious.
The decision is a new expression of the long and unjust campaign against Lula, against the Workers' Party and the leftist and progressive forces in Brazil.
Lula is shaping up as a favorite for the elections. Photo: Prensa Latina
Lula continues to enjoy broad popular support, sympathy and international recognition, as a result of the successes of his government's management that benefited the great majority, which today is trying to deprive them of the right to elect him again as their president, to open step to a neoliberal wave and reverse their conquests.
Once again we express our solidarity and support to compañero Lula
http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2018-04-05/mi ... 8-19-04-22
Google Translator
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Brazil
April 5, 2018
Under Threat of Military Coup, Brazil's Supreme Court Sends Lula to Prison
SHARMINI PERIES: It's the Real News. I'm Sharmini Peries coming to you from Baltimore. Brazil's Supreme Court in a 6-5 ruling informed the former president Lula Ignacio Da Silva that he must begin serving his 12 year prison sentence immediately. In 2017, Lula was convicted and sentenced to a 12 year prison sentence. President Da Silva supposedly accepted a bribe from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht while he was still president, where no evidence was actually produced of this crime. The Supreme Court's ruling does not exhaust Lula's appeal but it probably puts an end to his presidential campaign, in which he is the frontrunner. The ruling was limited to whether Lula was to be imprisoned while he continued his appeal of the conviction. Both supporters and opponents of the former president hit the streets this week in tens of thousands. Also shortly before the ruling, two generals urged the court to rule against Lula. General Luis Gonzaga Schroeder Lessa even threatened with the possibility of a military coup should Lula be allowed to remain free.
Joining me now to analyze the consequences of this court decision is Brian Mier. Brian is an editor for the Web site of Brasil Wire and is also editor of the book "Voices of the Brazilian Left." Thank you so much for joining us, Brian.
BRIAN MIER: Thanks, Sharmini.
SHARMINI PERIES: Brian, it's been a suspenseful night. Too many people stayed up waiting for the Supreme Court decision to come down. In early wee hours this morning it was finally rendered. Give us a sense of the mood, the waiting, the anticipation of all of this, and what was the conditions under the decisive vote was delivered?
BRIAN MIER: OK. Well, the mood is pretty dismal right now because it's just one more in a series of blows against Brazilian democracy. Now, leading up to the decision by the Supreme Court yesterday, a lot of people thought that they would rule in Lula's favor because it's a, it wasn't a question of the absurd corruption charges that were raised against them in the first place by U.S.-backed, Department of Justice-backed investigation team led by Sergio Moro. He's been charged, I want to make this clear here, he's been charged with indeterminate acts because there is no material evidence linking him to any kind of corruption any kind of personal enrichment. They're saying he received illegal reforms on an apartment, a beachfront apartment, but they can't prove that he ever owned it or was ever there. So his official conviction was over indeterminate acts.
The decision of the Supreme Court was over the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, which stipulates that a defendant has the right to appeal his conviction in liberty. And so the decision was were they going to go against the constitution and undo this this law that stipulates that defendants are allowed to appeal in freedom? And if they had done that, if they'd gone and reversed the constitutional law, they would have had to guarantee liberty for all kinds of corrupt politicians who are being tried right now. And so Chief Justice Carmen Lucía restricted the decision to Lula's individual case. OK, so in ruling that Lula can't wait out his appeal process in freedom, it applies only to him. All of the other conservative politicians who are on trial for serious corruption charges involving millions of dollars with material evidence can keep keep guarding their appeal process and freedom.
So it was a very narrow decision by the Supreme Court. But even so it looked as if it was going to go in Lula's favor. And then the night before, the night before the decision, the commander of the Brazilian Armed Forces tweeted out that he expected the Supreme Court to rule against impunity and that the military was very conscious of its institutional role. These tweets were read over the air by Brazil's most popular anchorman on its most popular news show the night before the Supreme Court ruling. And it was interpreted widely as a threat by the military. And this threat was exacerbated by comments of other military generals who said that if Lula was allowed to run for president the military would have to step in and guarantee order and prevent it from happening, which is tantamount to saying military coup.
And so what most analysts who looking at yesterday's events believe is that Rosa Weber, who in her decision she said she was going against her personal beliefs and siding with the majority, that she felt threatened. That she reacted to the military threat and changed her decision to go against Lula.
SHARMINI PERIES: And of course this evokes certain memories in terms of Brazilian's history and having experienced military coups and dictatorships. Tell us very briefly what that history is about.
BRIAN MIER: OK. Well, Brazil's had a lot of coups. In 1954 after President Vargas doubled the minimum wage and created the state petroleum company, he committed suicide in office to avoid a coup. And then in 1964 there was a U.S.-backed military coup against the democratically elected government of Joao Goulart. And at that time the military said, oh, we're just coming in to maintain order. There'll be regular elections in two years. And so a lot of, and during that two year period protests were allowed to continue. Union activity was allowed to continue. But then two years later they clamped down. And they clamped down even further in 1968 with Institutional Act 5, which outlawed unions and outlawed any kind of social movements. And that's when they really stepped up with torture and disappearances, and things like that.
And so what a lot of people who I've talked to here are saying is that we're in a similar period, whereas in 2016 there was an illegal impeachment for a non-impeachable offense against Dilma Rousseff. A new government came in and immediately started privatizing billions and billions of dollars worth of petroleum to U.S. petroleum companies. It set up selling the largest aviation company in Brazil to Boeing, and dismantled 80 years of labor rights laws, and cut social spending and things like that. But people have been allowed to continue the protests. The PT party is still in office. They still have a very large bloc of congressmen and senators. And what a lot of people I've spoken to are saying is that this situation is reminiscent of what happened back in the 1960s where in the initial period after this illegal regime change people are allowed to protest and resist. But we see now a growing clampdown against leftists. Ten left activists have been assassinated in the last five months. It's not just Marielle Franco. And Lula's campaign rally caravan was shot at in Parana state last week.
You know, he's still the most popular politician in Brazil, so this is a devastating blow for democracy and removing the left from the 2018 presidential elections. It means that there's no chance that the privatizations, the massive handover of Brazilian natural resources to foreign capital can be undone.
SHARMINI PERIES: So Brian, then, Justice Rosa Weber's concern that her decision could evoke this kind of reaction on the part of the military is very real, and very real for Brazilians as well, for her to actually go against the constitution itself in rendering this decision. Has she spoken about her decision after the verdict was delivered on the part of the Supreme Court?
BRIAN MIER: I haven't seen her, any statements from her yet. Keep in mind she spoke for over an hour, so she's probably out of breath like all these other justices. The process didn't end until midnight. They were just going at it for hours and hours in this very technical, old-fashioned legal Portuguese. So they haven't, she hasn't made an official statement that I've seen yet. But she's already turned into a meme that is circulating all over the Internet, because basically she said, I'm going to vote against my personal beliefs and side with the majority that only became a majority because I changed my vote. That's the gist of the meme. You know, she was the swing vote. It only became a majority when she sided against the constitution.
SHARMINI PERIES: So Brian, what does this mean now for Lula's candidacy for president? He has been campaigning but not necessarily has declared his candidacy yet. What will all this mean?
BRIAN MIER: Well, that's an interesting question. According to Brazilian law if you have a conviction underway, that appeal process underway, you can't run for office. But if you're already in jail you can run for office. So Lula has announced that he is going to declare his candidacy anyway. And it's not unprecedented for political prisoners to win elections. We know that in 1981 while Bobby Sands was on his hunger strike in the Maze Penitentiary H-Block in Northern Ireland he was elected to British parliament. So Lula's supporters are still saying he's going to run, Lula 's saying he's going to run. So it's going to be a tumultuous couple of months right now. If there was actual real rule of law in place in Brazil he wouldn't even be convicted of anything, and even less so there would have been a Supreme Court ruling like that.
So the worry is that even though he's legally allowed to run for office they're just going to step in and cancel it because there's no more valid rule of law in Brazil. We're living in a state of exception.
SHARMINI PERIES: And who has the right to make that decision, whether he is or he is not a candidate for the presidency and can go on a ballot?
BRIAN MIER: The judiciary. You know, the U.S.-tied judiciary and the same Supreme Court. But the problem is the process to canceling his candidacy could take longer than the time period between now and the election. So he there's a chance he could declare his candidacy and they wouldn't be able to cancel it on time, and he would still run normally. He would have a hard time participating in the debates.
But there's so much love for Lula among the labor unions and the social movements and poor farmers out in the countryside that he's guaranteed of still being one of the top runners in the election if he runs.
SHARMINI PERIES: Brian, has Lula responded to the decision of the Supreme Court?
BRIAN MIER: Yeah Lula said that if he's ordered to go to jail, he'll go. He's not going to hide, he's not going to try and escape to a council or something like that. And that he continues to plan, on planning to run for the presidency.
SHARMINI PERIES: All right, Brian. I thank you so much for joining us today.
BRIAN MIER: Thanks a lot, Sharmini. See you later.
SHARMINI PERIES: And thank you for joining us here on the Real News Network.
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?opt ... hI.twitter
Under Threat of Military Coup, Brazil's Supreme Court Sends Lula to Prison
SHARMINI PERIES: It's the Real News. I'm Sharmini Peries coming to you from Baltimore. Brazil's Supreme Court in a 6-5 ruling informed the former president Lula Ignacio Da Silva that he must begin serving his 12 year prison sentence immediately. In 2017, Lula was convicted and sentenced to a 12 year prison sentence. President Da Silva supposedly accepted a bribe from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht while he was still president, where no evidence was actually produced of this crime. The Supreme Court's ruling does not exhaust Lula's appeal but it probably puts an end to his presidential campaign, in which he is the frontrunner. The ruling was limited to whether Lula was to be imprisoned while he continued his appeal of the conviction. Both supporters and opponents of the former president hit the streets this week in tens of thousands. Also shortly before the ruling, two generals urged the court to rule against Lula. General Luis Gonzaga Schroeder Lessa even threatened with the possibility of a military coup should Lula be allowed to remain free.
Joining me now to analyze the consequences of this court decision is Brian Mier. Brian is an editor for the Web site of Brasil Wire and is also editor of the book "Voices of the Brazilian Left." Thank you so much for joining us, Brian.
BRIAN MIER: Thanks, Sharmini.
SHARMINI PERIES: Brian, it's been a suspenseful night. Too many people stayed up waiting for the Supreme Court decision to come down. In early wee hours this morning it was finally rendered. Give us a sense of the mood, the waiting, the anticipation of all of this, and what was the conditions under the decisive vote was delivered?
BRIAN MIER: OK. Well, the mood is pretty dismal right now because it's just one more in a series of blows against Brazilian democracy. Now, leading up to the decision by the Supreme Court yesterday, a lot of people thought that they would rule in Lula's favor because it's a, it wasn't a question of the absurd corruption charges that were raised against them in the first place by U.S.-backed, Department of Justice-backed investigation team led by Sergio Moro. He's been charged, I want to make this clear here, he's been charged with indeterminate acts because there is no material evidence linking him to any kind of corruption any kind of personal enrichment. They're saying he received illegal reforms on an apartment, a beachfront apartment, but they can't prove that he ever owned it or was ever there. So his official conviction was over indeterminate acts.
The decision of the Supreme Court was over the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, which stipulates that a defendant has the right to appeal his conviction in liberty. And so the decision was were they going to go against the constitution and undo this this law that stipulates that defendants are allowed to appeal in freedom? And if they had done that, if they'd gone and reversed the constitutional law, they would have had to guarantee liberty for all kinds of corrupt politicians who are being tried right now. And so Chief Justice Carmen Lucía restricted the decision to Lula's individual case. OK, so in ruling that Lula can't wait out his appeal process in freedom, it applies only to him. All of the other conservative politicians who are on trial for serious corruption charges involving millions of dollars with material evidence can keep keep guarding their appeal process and freedom.
So it was a very narrow decision by the Supreme Court. But even so it looked as if it was going to go in Lula's favor. And then the night before, the night before the decision, the commander of the Brazilian Armed Forces tweeted out that he expected the Supreme Court to rule against impunity and that the military was very conscious of its institutional role. These tweets were read over the air by Brazil's most popular anchorman on its most popular news show the night before the Supreme Court ruling. And it was interpreted widely as a threat by the military. And this threat was exacerbated by comments of other military generals who said that if Lula was allowed to run for president the military would have to step in and guarantee order and prevent it from happening, which is tantamount to saying military coup.
And so what most analysts who looking at yesterday's events believe is that Rosa Weber, who in her decision she said she was going against her personal beliefs and siding with the majority, that she felt threatened. That she reacted to the military threat and changed her decision to go against Lula.
SHARMINI PERIES: And of course this evokes certain memories in terms of Brazilian's history and having experienced military coups and dictatorships. Tell us very briefly what that history is about.
BRIAN MIER: OK. Well, Brazil's had a lot of coups. In 1954 after President Vargas doubled the minimum wage and created the state petroleum company, he committed suicide in office to avoid a coup. And then in 1964 there was a U.S.-backed military coup against the democratically elected government of Joao Goulart. And at that time the military said, oh, we're just coming in to maintain order. There'll be regular elections in two years. And so a lot of, and during that two year period protests were allowed to continue. Union activity was allowed to continue. But then two years later they clamped down. And they clamped down even further in 1968 with Institutional Act 5, which outlawed unions and outlawed any kind of social movements. And that's when they really stepped up with torture and disappearances, and things like that.
And so what a lot of people who I've talked to here are saying is that we're in a similar period, whereas in 2016 there was an illegal impeachment for a non-impeachable offense against Dilma Rousseff. A new government came in and immediately started privatizing billions and billions of dollars worth of petroleum to U.S. petroleum companies. It set up selling the largest aviation company in Brazil to Boeing, and dismantled 80 years of labor rights laws, and cut social spending and things like that. But people have been allowed to continue the protests. The PT party is still in office. They still have a very large bloc of congressmen and senators. And what a lot of people I've spoken to are saying is that this situation is reminiscent of what happened back in the 1960s where in the initial period after this illegal regime change people are allowed to protest and resist. But we see now a growing clampdown against leftists. Ten left activists have been assassinated in the last five months. It's not just Marielle Franco. And Lula's campaign rally caravan was shot at in Parana state last week.
You know, he's still the most popular politician in Brazil, so this is a devastating blow for democracy and removing the left from the 2018 presidential elections. It means that there's no chance that the privatizations, the massive handover of Brazilian natural resources to foreign capital can be undone.
SHARMINI PERIES: So Brian, then, Justice Rosa Weber's concern that her decision could evoke this kind of reaction on the part of the military is very real, and very real for Brazilians as well, for her to actually go against the constitution itself in rendering this decision. Has she spoken about her decision after the verdict was delivered on the part of the Supreme Court?
BRIAN MIER: I haven't seen her, any statements from her yet. Keep in mind she spoke for over an hour, so she's probably out of breath like all these other justices. The process didn't end until midnight. They were just going at it for hours and hours in this very technical, old-fashioned legal Portuguese. So they haven't, she hasn't made an official statement that I've seen yet. But she's already turned into a meme that is circulating all over the Internet, because basically she said, I'm going to vote against my personal beliefs and side with the majority that only became a majority because I changed my vote. That's the gist of the meme. You know, she was the swing vote. It only became a majority when she sided against the constitution.
SHARMINI PERIES: So Brian, what does this mean now for Lula's candidacy for president? He has been campaigning but not necessarily has declared his candidacy yet. What will all this mean?
BRIAN MIER: Well, that's an interesting question. According to Brazilian law if you have a conviction underway, that appeal process underway, you can't run for office. But if you're already in jail you can run for office. So Lula has announced that he is going to declare his candidacy anyway. And it's not unprecedented for political prisoners to win elections. We know that in 1981 while Bobby Sands was on his hunger strike in the Maze Penitentiary H-Block in Northern Ireland he was elected to British parliament. So Lula's supporters are still saying he's going to run, Lula 's saying he's going to run. So it's going to be a tumultuous couple of months right now. If there was actual real rule of law in place in Brazil he wouldn't even be convicted of anything, and even less so there would have been a Supreme Court ruling like that.
So the worry is that even though he's legally allowed to run for office they're just going to step in and cancel it because there's no more valid rule of law in Brazil. We're living in a state of exception.
SHARMINI PERIES: And who has the right to make that decision, whether he is or he is not a candidate for the presidency and can go on a ballot?
BRIAN MIER: The judiciary. You know, the U.S.-tied judiciary and the same Supreme Court. But the problem is the process to canceling his candidacy could take longer than the time period between now and the election. So he there's a chance he could declare his candidacy and they wouldn't be able to cancel it on time, and he would still run normally. He would have a hard time participating in the debates.
But there's so much love for Lula among the labor unions and the social movements and poor farmers out in the countryside that he's guaranteed of still being one of the top runners in the election if he runs.
SHARMINI PERIES: Brian, has Lula responded to the decision of the Supreme Court?
BRIAN MIER: Yeah Lula said that if he's ordered to go to jail, he'll go. He's not going to hide, he's not going to try and escape to a council or something like that. And that he continues to plan, on planning to run for the presidency.
SHARMINI PERIES: All right, Brian. I thank you so much for joining us today.
BRIAN MIER: Thanks a lot, Sharmini. See you later.
SHARMINI PERIES: And thank you for joining us here on the Real News Network.
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?opt ... hI.twitter
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."
Re: Brazil
Federal Police say Lula will not be arrested by police Friday
Negotiations between defense and FP continue.
By Natuza Nery, GloboNews
04/04/2018 20h13 Updated 5 hours ago
PF informs that it will not execute Lula's arrest warrant this Friday (6)
The Federal Police has ruled that it will not execute the arrest warrant against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday night, Natuza Nery told GloboNews.
The negotiations between defense and FP, however, continue, so that the arrest takes place as safely as possible, starting tomorrow.
There is also no expectation that Lula will present this Friday - he remains at the headquarters of the Metalworkers' Union of ABC, in São Bernardo do Campo (SP).
After filing a habeas corpus petition denied by Minister Felix Fischer of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), Lula's defense appealed to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to try to avoid arrest. The rapporteur for the request is the Minister Edson Fachin.
The arrest warrant against Lula was issued by Federal Judge Sergio Moro late on Thursday (5), minutes after the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region (TRF-4) sent a letter to the magistrate authorizing the execution of the sentence .
The document was sent to Moro after a decision by the Federal Supreme Court (STF), which at dawn of the fifth rejected the request for precautionary habeas corpus filed by Lula's defense. The score was 6 votes to 5.
Lula was sentenced to 12 years and 1 month in prison for corruption and money laundering in the case of the triplex in Guarujá (SP). He is accused of receiving the property as a covert tip from construction company OAS, to favor the company in contracts with Petrobras.
https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/p ... ampaign=g1
Google Translator
And in case a reminder is needed, there is no evidence whatsoever of Lula being involved. But then there is no evidence of Russian turncoat & daughter being poisoned with nerve gas either but that ain't stopping anything either. There is an increasing wanton-ness to the propaganda game of late. It's like they don't care, not even a little, if they're seen lying. In this I think our prez is the trailblazer but they're all re-setting their 'truthiness' gauges or just throwing the damn things out as it becomes apparent that you really can get away with anything.
For now, anyways
Negotiations between defense and FP continue.
By Natuza Nery, GloboNews
04/04/2018 20h13 Updated 5 hours ago
PF informs that it will not execute Lula's arrest warrant this Friday (6)
The Federal Police has ruled that it will not execute the arrest warrant against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday night, Natuza Nery told GloboNews.
The negotiations between defense and FP, however, continue, so that the arrest takes place as safely as possible, starting tomorrow.
There is also no expectation that Lula will present this Friday - he remains at the headquarters of the Metalworkers' Union of ABC, in São Bernardo do Campo (SP).
After filing a habeas corpus petition denied by Minister Felix Fischer of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), Lula's defense appealed to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to try to avoid arrest. The rapporteur for the request is the Minister Edson Fachin.
The arrest warrant against Lula was issued by Federal Judge Sergio Moro late on Thursday (5), minutes after the Federal Regional Court of the 4th Region (TRF-4) sent a letter to the magistrate authorizing the execution of the sentence .
The document was sent to Moro after a decision by the Federal Supreme Court (STF), which at dawn of the fifth rejected the request for precautionary habeas corpus filed by Lula's defense. The score was 6 votes to 5.
Lula was sentenced to 12 years and 1 month in prison for corruption and money laundering in the case of the triplex in Guarujá (SP). He is accused of receiving the property as a covert tip from construction company OAS, to favor the company in contracts with Petrobras.
https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/p ... ampaign=g1
Google Translator
And in case a reminder is needed, there is no evidence whatsoever of Lula being involved. But then there is no evidence of Russian turncoat & daughter being poisoned with nerve gas either but that ain't stopping anything either. There is an increasing wanton-ness to the propaganda game of late. It's like they don't care, not even a little, if they're seen lying. In this I think our prez is the trailblazer but they're all re-setting their 'truthiness' gauges or just throwing the damn things out as it becomes apparent that you really can get away with anything.
For now, anyways
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."