December 6, 2016
Thousands of Brazilians took the streets of Rio de Janeiro last Sunday to protest against amendments to the controversial anti-corruption bill. The new bill, a watered down version of the original proposal, will undermine the authority of judges.
December 2, 2016
While Brazilians mourned the victims of the recent plane crash in Colombia, legislators held a marathon session this past Wednesday. The goal was revising the controversial anti-corruption bill that led to the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff earlier this year. The new bill could significantly undermine the authority of prosecutors investigating politicians in corruption cases.
November 29, 2016
A plane carrying 81 people crashed yesterday outside of Medellin, Colombia. Among the victims were members of the Brazilian football team Chapecoense, flying to play in the final of the Copa Sudamericana tournament. Nearly all passengers died and five survivors are currently in the hospital. Brazil’s President Michel Temer has declared three days of national mourning.
November 21, 2016
The Wolrld Health Organization announced last Friday that Zika no longer constitutes an emergency, nine months after declaring that the virus was an issue of international concern. The emergency was originally declared in February, in an effort to determine whether the virus outbreak was linked to reports in Brazil of the severe birth defect microcephaly. There have been some 2,300 confirmed cases worldwide of babies born with microcephaly, most in Brazil.
November 17, 2016
Sergio Cabral, former governor of Rio de Janeiro state, was arrested on Thursday on corruption charges. Federal prosecutors accuse Cabral of leading a criminal organization that took millions of dollars in bribes from construction firms working on a World Cup project. Cabral is a member of President Michel Temer's Brazilian Democratic Movement Party.
November 14, 2016
Michel Temer, President of Brazil, has been accused of taking a large bribe from a former political ally. Lawyers have already filed court documents which they say back their claims. They argue that the material could justify the impeachment of the President. Mr Temer has denied the accusations.
November 8, 2016
The Brazilian government has frozen bank accounts in Rio de Janeiro, in an effort to pressure the state to pay overdue debt. According to Rio’s governor, Luiz Fernando Pezao, the federal government will maintain accounts frozen until the state fully pays back its debt. Rio has been struggling with a severe financial crisis and has been unable to pay many public workers for months. Governor Pezao recently announced new austerity measures to deal with the crisis and will travel to Brasilia to negotiate with federal government representatives.
November 3, 2016
Volkswagen has appointed Professor Kopper to examine claims that the German car company collaborated with the military government from 1964 to 1985. A group of former employees filed a law suit against the firm, claiming they were arrested and tortured at the VW factory during the military dictatorship. The company is now investigating such claims.
October 31, 2016
Marcelo Crivella, an evangelical bishop, has been elected as the new mayor of Rio de Janeiro. His victory underscores the strengthening of rightwing parties across Brazil at the expense of the Workers Party in the post-impeachment era. Crivella, who openly opposes to Catholic and LGBTQ groups, won the elections with 59.4% of the votes. His policies contrast with those of Marcelo Freixo, a respected human right activist with the Socialism and Freedom party, who came second in the elections.
October 28, 2016
Professor James N. Green discusses the parallels between Dilma Rousseff and Hillary Clinton, in light of the upcoming US elections and the recent impeachment process in Brazil.
October 27, 2016
Brazilian scientists are launching a new project, funded by a team of international donors and national governments, which would release millions of modified mosquitoes in various regions of the country. The unusual approach is an effort to provide protection against mosquito-borne diseases such as Zika.
October 20, 2016
In past three years, protest in Brazil have intensified. People have taken the streets to demonstrate their discontent with various issues ranging from the severe economic crisis to corruption, the impeachment process, the World Cup and the Olympics. But with the rise of mobilizations has also come a rise of violent policing. The intensification of police repression has costed the lives of at least four Brazilians in the last couple of years and added to the climate of the political tension in Brazil. Amidst the political turmoil, Brazilian police has acted with near impunity.
October 19, 2016
Brazil’s new government has introduced a series of controversial constitutional amendments that will reduce public spending. According to the government, the measures are a response to the severe economic crisis that the country is facing. But critics argue that budget caps will have a negative effect in several areas, including scientific research. Luiz Davidovich, president of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences in Rio de Janeirio says that the expected budget reduction will be “a disaster” for Brazilian science. So far, public agencies have already reduced scholarship and grants for science, technology, and innovation work in the country.
October 17, 2016
At least 25 inmates died as a result of clashes between two rival gangs in a prison in Brazil’s northernmost state, Roraima. The fight erupted during visiting hours, and over 100 visitors were held hostage. Brazil has the fourth largest prison population in the world, and riots are usual in the commonly overcrowded facilities.
October 13, 2016
In Brazil, the world's largest producer of coffee, the effects of climate change have started to become visible. Three years of drought have afflicted regions such as Sao Gabriel da Palha, part of Brazil’s coffee belt. Coffee farmers are already feeling the economic effects of this change, with some producers reporting having lost 90% of their crops. Some others fear that coffee production in this region may vanish in the coming years.
October 11, 2016
Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is facing new corruption charges from federal prosecutors over dealings in Angola, where Brazilian companies have aggressively entered the oil market. These charges add to previous scandals around the national oil company Petrobas, and are the latest blow to Silva’s political career. And yet, despite the scandals, Lula remains among the leading contenders ahead of the presidential election, and one of the favorite politicians in Latin America.
October 7, 2016
Marcelo Freixo, a history teacher and political activist, may become Rio de Janeiro’s new mayor. Freixo, who is running with the Socialism and Freedom Party, may have a chance to win in a city in which conservative parties have held power for many years. The leftist mayoral candidate, Marcelo Freixo, is headed to the second round against evangelical senator Marcelo Crivella in Rio de Janeiro.
October 5, 2016
Michel Temer’s administration introduced to Congress a controversial constitutional amendment to reduce public spending, aimed at limiting growth in spending to the rate of inflation for up to 20 years. Opponents are seeking a court injunction to block the amendment as, they argue, it violates the spirit of Brazil’s 1998 constitution, which heavily emphasizes social expenditure.
September 20, 2016
Michel Temer is facing a legitimacy challenge as the new President of Brazil. Many Brazilians are skeptical of the fact that Temer assumed the Presidency not through a democratic election but rather through the contentious impeachment process that ousted former leader Dilma Rousseff. Recent protests in the country along with low approval ratings are testament to the unpopularity of the new President.
September 20, 2016
Michel Temer is facing a legitimacy challenge as the new President of Brazil. Many Brazilians are skeptical of the fact that Temer assumed the Presidency not through a democratic election but rather through the contentious impeachment process that ousted former leader Dilma Rousseff. Recent protests in the country along with low approval ratings are testament to the unpopularity of the new President.
September 12, 2016
Brazilian politician Eduardo Cunha was accused of lying about undeclared Swiss banks accounts and is currently being investigated by the Brazilian Supreme Court. Cunha is widely regarded as the master head behind the impeachment process against President Dilma Roussef. Cunha has denied the accusations and call them an act of revenge from Dilma’s supporters. Cunha’s potential dismissal is the latest in a series of events causing severe political instability in Brazil.
September 1, 2016 Democracy Now!
Jim Green, Director of the Brazil Initiative, talks with Democracy Now! on Dilma Rousseff's impeachment.
August 30, 2016 The Independent
With the chamber set to decide later this week whether former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff is guilty of corruption charges, professor James Green comments on the political upheaval in South America's largest economy.
June 1, 2016 MWC News
Jim Green, Director of the Brazil Initiative, comments on Brazil's Transparency Minister Fabiano Silveira leaving his position over a corruption probe.
May 19, 2016
Wednesday May 18 - The indigenous community of Guarani people protested outside of Michel Temer's office and demanded that the interim president take action to demarcate their tribe's lands. For lack of English news coverage about this event, the Brazil Initiative invites you to read more about the Guarani people and their history of resistance, in honor and support of their efforts to attain justice this week.
May 17, 2016 Global Independent Analytics
Jim Green in Global Independent Analytics, "The epicenter of this enormous imbroglio is the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff."
May 17, 2016
The Brazil Initiative's own Dr. James N. Green recaps the political proceedings that lead up to Dilma Rousseff's effective suspension from the Presidency. Voting from Lower-House to Senate, along with the removal from office of former Speaker of the House Eduardo Cunha, all seemed to have contributed to the legitimacy of the impeachment proceedings making Rousseff's removal seem less like an arbitrary coup. These proceedings might additionally improve the image of a possible future government led by Michel Temer.
May 10, 2016
The new speaker of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies, Waldir Maranhão, declared invalid the vote by the lower house of Congress in favor of impeaching President Rousseff, claiming that procedural rules were broken during the process. This decision follows a Supreme Court order for Eduardo Cunha, the former speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, to step down due to the corruption charges against him. It also comes just two days before the Senate is schedueld to take vote on wether or not Dilma Rousseff will be suspended of her presidential duties. Mr. Maranhão defends his decision as an effort to “save democracy,” while others see it as a joke to democracy that is further creating chaos in times of political crisis in Brazil.
May 5, 2016
Brazil presidential potential Bolsonaro and other conservative politicians in the country are wishful of a return to military rule, seemingly prefering right-wing dictatorship to a democratic government run by the left. It might be that their supporters miss the security and order the military provided them during its rule. However, others might argue that what conservative forces miss is a time when elites faced few challenges and minorities and the poor were left at the margins of political participation.
May 3, 2016
The popular massaging service application WhatsApp is tangled in a drug trafficking investigation in the northeastern state of Sergipe. When WhatsApp executives failed to provide the courts with user data to aid in the investigation, Judge Marcel Maia Montalvão ordered telecom companies in Brazil to suspend WhatsApp nationwide for 72 hours. These actions have sparked a larger debate on law enforcement's access to tech company data, and Brazilians are becoming increasingly concerned that Congress may pass laws that weaken digital privacy.
April 28, 2016
Munduruku Peoples achieved a landmark victory for indigenous land rights in Brazil with the protection and demarcation of their 700 square-mile ancestral territory. The decision was announced by Brazil's National Foundation for the Indian (FUNAI) on April 19, 2016, and it follows a two year battle by the Munduruku People against the construction of the São Luiz do Tapajós dam. With the official demarcation of their territory, Munduruku Peoples are protected under existing Brazilian legislation from the construction of a hydro dam project that previously threatened to flood their lands on the Tapajós River basin.
April 26, 2016
After the lower house vote to impeach President Rousseff, Veja magazine, Brazil’s right-leaning mainstream media outlet, published a profile spread featuring Vice President Michael Temer's wife Marcela. The piece portraying the prospective First Lady as "beautiful, maidenlike, and a housewife" has been widely criticized for promoting a patriarchal image of a "model woman." In response to the Veja magazine publishing, Brazil's social media outlets have erupted with images mocking the idea of the "beautiful, maidenlike, and a housewife" woman. The cultural backlash has highlighted the discussion surrounding sexism as a factor in President Rousseff's impeachment process by Brazil's predominantly male congress.
April 21, 2016
Earlier this week, the lower house of Brazil's congress voted favorably to impeach President Dilma Rousseff. Now the spotlight has turned to the man who could succeed her, Michael Temer from the centrists Democratic Movement party. Vice President Temer, however, also faces accusations of corruption and the possibility of impeachment.
April 19, 2016
Sunday, April 17, 2016 - with a vote of 367 to 146 led by house speaker Eduardo Cunha, Brazil's lower house of congress pushed forward the impeachment of President Rousseff. The Senate is expected to consider the motion within weeks, at which point Dilma Rousseff will have to step away from the presidency for 180 days. In the midst of this political climate, supporters of the Rousseff government continue to demand that their votes from the 2014 election be respected and that the democratic election process be held above impeachment processes.
April 14, 2016
Brazil's Progressive Party (PP) and Republican Party (PRB) announced on Tuesday April 12, 2016 that their Member's of Parliament (MPs) would vote in favor of impeaching president Rousseff. Debates in congress will begin Friday, with MPs taking a vote on Sunday. If two-thirds of this lower-house vote for impeachment, the motion will be passed up to the Senate. President Rousseff, who faces claims of manipulating government accounts to artificially enhance Brazil's budget surplus, says she "will fight to the last minute" against the "coup" her opponents are planning against her.
April 12, 2016
A 38 to 27 vote by memebers of Brazil's Congressional Committee pushes President Dilma Rousseff's impheachement process one step forward. Rousseff supporters claim the impeachement process of a president who has committeed neither crime nor fraud, is an act against democracy. Nevertheless, a full vote in the lower house is expected within the week, where a two-thirds majority is needed before the motion advances to the Senate.
April 7, 2016
Rio de Janeiro - Students have occupied two public high schools to protest spending cuts on education. These efforts parallel those of teachers currently striking from public schools for similar problems in public education funding. Student and teacher speculations point to cuts on education being linked to the Summer Olympics and Brazil's corruption scandal.
April 5, 2016
On Sunday, April 3 2015, a massive leak of files from Panaminian law firm Mossack Fonesca, known as the Panama Papers, linked world leaders to bribery and off-shore money laundering. Politicians from Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), who last week announced they were leaving the Rousseff coalition, have been implicated in the scandal. No one from Rousseff's Workers Party (PT) has so far been named as clients of Mossack Fonesca.
March 24, 2016
Brown University is preparing to host the 13th International Conference of the Brazilian Studies Association (BRASA). The BRASA conference is scheduled to kick-off on Thrusday, March 31 and close on Saturday, April 2. BRASA XIII is expected to include the participation of close to 600 Brazilian studies scholars from the United States, Brazil, Europe, and other parts of Latin America. Members of the Brown community are especially ecouraged to attend the panels beginning next week.
March 22, 2016
Dilma Rousseff's government has faced serious scrutiny in the media, as corruption scandals are raised at all levels of her administration. Last weekend, mass protests broke out throughout the country as "the people" once again demanded her impeachment. But who really is behind Brazil's opposition? The continuing class disparities and social inequalities threaten to subvert the country's democracy.
March 18, 2016 Bloomberg
Mark Blyth, professor of political science, commented on an article about the corruption scandals threatening to end the political careers of Brazil and South Africa's leaders, Dilma Rousseff and Jacob Zuma.
March 17, 2016
March 16, 2016 - Brazil President Dilma Rousseff appointed her predecessor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as her Chief of Staff. According to Rousseff, this is a move to "strengthen [her] government." However, the appointment comes at a time of turmmoil, and offers to protect Lula da Silva from ongoing investigations against him.
March 15, 2016
People from across Brazil mobilize to demonstrate against the Rousseff presidency and calling for her impeachment. Corruption scandals involving Petrobras and former president Lula da Silva, the deepening economic resession, are all sweeping Brazil into political turnmoil. On Sunday, March 14, demostrations across the country organized in opposition of these conditions, and to call for the impeachment President Dilma Rousseff.
March 11, 2016
Continuing to commemorate International Women's Day on March 8, we celebrate some of the Women Warriors of Vila Autódromo. These women have been fighting to save their families, homes, and communities from evictions due to construction works as Brazil prepares for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
March 8, 2016
March 4, 2016 - In Sao Paulo, Brazil former President Lula da Silva was held for questioning as his home was raided, all under an ongoing investigation of possible corruption during his time in office. The accusations against the beloved ex-President were met with both protest and support, but in either case, the events were another blow to the weakening Rouseff administration.
March 3, 2016
The mining companies responsible for the November 5, 2015 dam disaster signed an agreement wtih Brazilian authorities to repair the damages. More than establishing a fixed monetary figure, the settlement addresses the responsibility of the companies to restore the socioeconmic and environmental conditions in the affected areas.
March 1, 2016
Feb. 24, 2016 - Amnesty International's annual Human Rights Report was launched in Rio de Janeiro. The 2015/2016 report covers topics of police brutality, indigenous communities, forced evictions, children's rights, sexual and reproductive right, and the state capacity to deal with these issues. We welcome you to read the full report.
February 25, 2016
Some have called the Aedes aegypti mosquito "democratic," because it can bite anyone and infect them with Zika. However, the rates of infection in the city of Riberao Preto demonstrate how inequalities in public infastructure and health resources keep Zika concentrated in lower-income populations.
February 23, 2016
On Monday February 22, prosecutors arrested João Santana, election campaign advisor to President Rouseff and her predecesor Lula da Silva. Evidence found against Santana indicates that might have taken corruption money to fund both campaigs, and this puts President Rouseff at a new risk of being inpeached in two upcoming cases before Congress and Brazil's Electoral Court.
February 18, 2016
The office of Brazil's attorney-general hopes to close the civil lawsuit against Samarco, the mining company responsible for the November 2015 dam disaster in the state of Minas Gerais, by Friday February 19, 2016. The settlemet would grant Samarco license to continue operations and cost the company R$20bn in damages, but some prosecutos say this is not enough.
February 16, 2016
On January 19 Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes announced that only one more family had to be removed from Vila Autódromo to carry out the city's Olympic building plans. However, on February 11 citizens woke up unable to interve as municipal authorities demolished three homes in this favela. The actions were in violation of a city decree that legally protected these properties.
February 11, 2016
LGBT people at the margins of Rio de Janeiro have not benefited from the advances across the country that other members of the community have seen. In an interview with BBC Brasil, Gilmara Cunha talks about being a transexual activist in Rio's favelas.
February 9, 2016
Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes accused the Popular Committee of "dramatization or exaggeration" regarding their "fradulent" reports of state perpetrated human rights violations surrounding the 2012 Wold Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics. The Popular Committee releazed a video denouncing the Mayor's claims, because they "have nothing to hide."
February 4, 2016
The outbreak of Zika in Brazil has infected an approximate 1.5 million Brazilians. Presently, infectious disease specialists are considering the prospects of the virus spreading to other parts of the globe during the Summer Olympics in August when 500,000 people are expected to travel to Brazil.
February 2, 2016
The Brazilian government blames the incidence of microcephaly in newborn infants on an outbreak of the mosquito-spread Zika virus sweeping the Americas. However, detecting the Zika virus in parents who might have been previously infected is tricky, and Brazilian researchers collaborating with the worldwide Zika network are working to develop a more accurate test.
January 28, 2016
A report by the Rio de Janeiro Truth Commission denounces that the militarization and violence to remove residents from favelas associated with the civil-military dictatorship of the past (1964-1985) are similarly continued violations by the state today.
January 26, 2016
Brazil in general and favela residents in particular have not only embraced social media, but use it vigorously for sharing news about their communities, becoming "citizen journalists."