Thanks to everybody who attended the Christmas get-together at Tche Bar in Intermares, everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves. We will add the pictures from this event to the next newsletter.
We would also like to thank everyone for bringing along some non-perishable food that we donated to CEDIN (Center for Integral Development) a new local nongovernmental agency who work in Bairro Sao José, Joao Pessoa, Paraiba.
Below is a letter of thanks from Rodrigo Serrão of CEDIN as well as some information about the work they do:
Hello,
I would like to thank you all for your donations. Famine is still a major problem in Brazil especially in poor communities spread all over the Northeastern part of the country. CEDIN is a nongovernmental agency that seeks to develop such communities in all areas of human life: physically, socially, intellectually, and spiritually.
Your help is extremely appreciated and will help us to meet the physical needs of the poor who live at St. Joseph neighborhood (Bairro Sao José).
Again, thank you and God bless you,
Rodrigo Serrão
CEDIN
Access my blog: http://www.rodrigoserrao.com/
Access CEDIN site : http://www..cedin.org.br/
Access PIB Miramar site : http://www.pibmiramar.org/
Information about the work CEDIN is currently doing in Sao José and how you can help and get involved with this great project: (more…)
President Lula
Brazil’s outgoing President Lula da Silva said he might run for president again some day, Folha de S. Paulo newspaper reported, a revelation that could weaken his chosen successor.
Lula da Silva, who will leave office on Jan. 1 with a popularity rating over 80% thanks to Brazil’s economic boom, was forbidden by Brazil’s Constitution from running for a third consecutive presidential term this year.
Asked in a TV interview if he might run for president again in the future, Lula da Silva replied: “I can’t say no, because I’m still alive. I’m honorary president of a party, I’m a born politician, I have built extraordinary political relationships.”
Though Lula da Silva, 65, has never ruled out running again, it was his most explicit statement to date that he could be a candidate again in 2014 or later.
Seemingly aware his statements would cause a stir, Lula da Silva told the interviewer: ”I’m a little afraid that tomorrow somebody will see your interview and say that Lula said he could be a candidate (again).“ (more…)
Inter-American Court for Human Rights
A human rights court said that a Brazilian amnesty law covering crimes during the country’s 21-year dictatorship was invalid and that the country was responsible for the forced disappearance of at least 70 peasants and militants who were part of a resistance movement.
The ruling was announced Tuesday by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; the court adheres to the American Convention on Human Rights, to which Brazil is a signatory.
While Argentina and Chile have begun more vigorously investigating and prosecuting human rights violations committed during those countries’ dictatorships, successive Brazilian governments have refused to investigate and find those responsible for crimes committed during the dictatorship that ended in 1985. And Brazil’s Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the amnesty law, which protects military officials from prosecution for abuses committed during the military regime.
But the Inter-American Court, based in Costa Rica, found that Brazil was responsible for the actions of state agents who carried out disappearances of members of the Araguaia guerrilla movement.
The court said Brazil must conduct a criminal investigation into the Araguaia case, bring the guilty parties to justice, search for those who have disappeared and provide medical and psychological treatment to their surviving relatives. It also said 42 direct relatives of the victims should receive $45,000 each in compensation for their suffering. (more…)
Thomas A. Shannon, the American ambassador in Brazil
In an interview with Brazil’s leading weekly newsmagazine Veja, Thomas A. Shannon, the American ambassador in Brazil revealed that Washington is very interested in eliminating the need of visas for Brazilians traveling to the United States.
Nowadays Brazilians are submitted to a serious check of their economic background in order to guarantee they won’t try to stay illegally in the US once their visa expires.
They also have to pay a US$ 140 fee to get the document. Brazil in retaliation charges the same amount and gives American citizens similar hard time to grant a Brazilian visa.
300,000 Brazilians apply for a US visa every year. Only China, India and Mexico have more applications. Ninety five percent of these applicants get their visa approved.
This is not enough, however, to make Brazil exempt of the visa requirement. Shannon says Brazil still have to improve in this area. According to him, the country is still 2% shy of a threshold created by Washington: (He doesn’t mention, however, that the 5% rejected are subject to not-always-objective criteria that might be changed in order to pass this artificial barrier.)
“Reaching 97% approval is a prerequisite for a country to be included in the visa waiver program,” said Shannon. “There is great interest in granting Brazilian such status, especially among Americans connected with the tourism industry.”
The Yankee diplomat stressed that receiving Brazilian travelers in the US creates job for Americans. Last year alone Brazilians spent US$ 785 million in Florida, for example. But he doesn’t know when the new policy might become a reality: “I cannot give dates but I can say that we’re seriously studying the issue.” (more…)
The VSB 30 V07 took off from the Alcantara base next to the equato. Picture MercoPress
Brazil announced over the weekend it has successfully launched a medium sized rocket developed in the country which included several micro-gravity test instruments all of which were rescued from the sea following an 18 minutes flight.
The VSB-30 V07 rocked developed with Brazilian technology at the Aeronautics and Space Institute (IAE) was launched from Brazil’s Alcantara space launching base, close to the equator, in the state of Maranhao, according to an official report from the Brazilian Air Force.
The rocket took off at 12:35 local time and reached 242 kilometres altitude. Following an 18 minute flight, as was planned the VSB 30 V07 dropped into the Atlantic 145 kilometres from Alcantara. The experiment was tracked all along its flight, points out the release.
“The VSB 30 rocket took into space a capsule with ten different experiments presented by Brazilian universities and other institutions referred to micro-gravity”.
The capsule sea-landed with a parachute and in a combined operation of the Brazilian Air Force and Navy, with all the experiments data and equipment recovered safely.
The rocket has flight autonomy of 250 kilometres and a net payload of 400 kilos.
Colonel Eudy Carvalhaes da Costa e Silva, coordinator of the Maracati II Operation said that most of the experiments are linked to technology and biology and others directly to systems for future space activities.
The micro-gravity environment (for the experiments) was reached once the rocket flew past the 100 kilometres altitude mark.
The previous attempt of a similar experiment was in July 2007 but at the time the capsule was not recovered and the experiments lost at sea.
Mercopress
