Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega announced yesterday that the country will cut 28bn reales (US$13.7 bn) in spending for this year’s budget, mainly due to slower economic growth than expected.

Finance Minister Guido Mantega announced budget cuts (photo by Wilson Dias/ABr)

“The scenario of the international economic crisis has led the government to adopt and maintain measures to stimulate the economy, which, at this time, include a reduction in taxes and increased costs,” he said.

Mantega stressed that these cuts will not affect social programmes, plans to modernise the country’s infrastructure, public housing, health programmes, education, poverty eradication, science, and technology. It also will not affect any funds for the 2014 World Cup or the 2016 Olympics. He said the sectors most affected by the cuts will be Defence and National Integration, and that previously made investment plans will not be altered.

He said the government took steps in recent months to reduce taxes to stimulate key sectors of the economy, while public investment increased. “Investments are what drive the national economy, and they will be preserved from the cuts,” he said.

Inflation will hit 5.2% this year, higher than the original projection of 4.9%. “We are not maintaining a fiscal government of inflation,” the minister said, denying that the government’s policies are causing the inflation.

The government had set a goal of 3.5% economic growth for this year, up 0.9% from 2012. However, given the slowing of growth, Mantega said the government is revising this goal and will announce the new goal on 29th May.

Despite the cuts, the minister said the government’s original surplus target of 3.1% will not be possible, and it is more likely that GDP surplus will be around 2.3%.

Argentina is no longer a world leader in beef exports. Of the countries that make up the trading block Mercosur, Argentina exports the least amount of beef, trailing behind the likes of Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

Beef cattle
(Photo: www.geograph.ie)

This is a startling decline. Back in 2005, Argentina was the third largest exporter of beef, shipping to more than 70 countries. Now it ranks 10th in the world. Mexico, which has half the amount of bovine stock, has overtaken it with Brazil coming in at number one.

According to the most recent statistics from the Economic Research Institute of the Socieded Rural Argentina (SRA), in 2012 Argentina exported only 183,000 tons of meat. Brazil and Uruguay far exceeded this number exporting 1.3m and 350,000 tons respectively.

According to experts, the decline can be traced back to 2006 which saw an increasingly interventionist politics thought to have had a negative impact on the markets. Luis Etchevehere, president of the SRA had this to say, “the current government has destroyed the profitability cattle. We are now in eleventh place… [behind even] Mexico which doesn’t traditionally export.”

More specifically, Nieves Pascuzzi, an economist at SRA, blamed the drop in exports on the government’s decision to keep the price of meat in the domestic market low – thereby linking the amount of beef available for export to local monthly demand. He also cited the “lack of competitivity in exports” and the “over valued exchange rate” as important factors in the decline. Bovine stock itself is also on the decline thanks to poor results reported by fridge owners.

Argentina went from having 57m heads of cattle in 2006 to 51.7m in 2012, whilst the rest of the region increased its herds. Since 2005, 130 fridges have been shut down and more than 15,600 workers have been laid off. Public opinion in the agriculture sector is glum.

The head of the Agrarian Federation announced that a protest is bing organised in Junín for the 22nd of this month.

Brazil’s coat of arms. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

While the Brazilian congress continues to delay discussion of gay marriage legislation, the justice system made a decision yesterday, 14th May, determining that same-sex couples cannot be denied marriage licenses.

Although Congress is still debating the issue, the judicial decision makes gay marriage legal by outlawing denial of licenses to same-sex couples.

The National Justice Council (CNJ), a panel that oversees the country’s justice system, approved the measure yesterday with a vote of 14-1. The resolution states, “it is prohibited for the related authorities to reject the authorisation or celebration of civil marriage or the conversion of a civil union to marriage of people of the same sex.” It also indicates that authorities that fail to recognise the court order would be penalised.

Yesterday’s CNJ announcement is the first major decision regarding the subject since the Supreme Court approved civil unions of same-sex couples in 2011. Since that date some gay and lesbian couples have received marriage licenses, although others have only been able to attain civil union recognition, based on the discretion of individual notaries. Now, denial of this documentation based on the sexual orientation will be illegal.

Upon hearing yesterday’s decision, Carlos Magno Fonseca, President of the Brazilian Association of LGBT People (ABLGBT) stated: “This is a great step–a victory, because it is advancing something that many civil notaries have failed to recognise. We are living in a moment of celebration”.

With yesterday’s decision, Brazil became the world’s fifteenth country to permit gay marriage on a national scale. This aligns the country with its neighbours Uruguay, which legalised gay marriage last month, and Argentina, which made the decision in 2010. However, Brazil’s legalisation is not complete as it stands, and detailed legislation still warrants congressional approval.

Brazil is the world’s most populated Catholic country and home to an estimated 60,000 same-sex couples. Religious and conservative members of Congress have consistently rejected same-sex marriage legalisation, and opponents could challenge the CNJ decision in the Supreme Court.

In March 2012, Brazilian judge Jirair Aram Meguerian ordered that the nation’s government had to evict all loggers and settlers working illegally in the demarcated region belonging to the indigenous Awá tribe within 12 months. Fourteen calendar pages have come and gone, and the government has still not completed a successful eviction. But the issue is still of utmost importance. Two weeks ago, coinciding with National Indigenous People’s Day, Brazilian aborigines occupied congress to protest a law that would give congress power in the demarcation of tribal lands. Furthermore, the quandary facing the Awá people is at a crux, and if changes are not made soon, the tribe may face extinction.

Awá Indians on the road built illegally through their land by loggers, Maranhão state, Brazil (photo by Uirá Garcia/ Survival)

The failure to carry out the evictions simply marks the latest obstacle in a long series of misdoings against the Awá, deemed the world’s most endangered tribe by human rights NGO Survival International. Despite the area they inhabit being demarcated as a protected region in 2005, after a two-decade battle for such a distinction, these illegal loggers continue to threaten the existence of the Awá people, both by destroying the forests that constitute their home and by using firearms against the indigenous people they come into contact with. The tribe is believed to be numbered at about 360 people, with roughly 20% more thought to be living without contact with the outside world. Without increased action by the Brazilian government, the chances of the Awá of avoiding the fate of countless other persecuted tribes, of becoming little more than footnotes in a history book, look bleak.

The Tribe

Located in four regions within the western half of the Brazilian state of Maranhão, the Awá people -a group of nomadic hunter-gatherers- are marked by a deep connection with the natural environment they inhabit.

Awá tribe members are known to have many pets, including boars, vultures, and coatis (relatives of the raccoon). It is even common for Awá women to breastfeed animals such as capuchins, howler monkeys, and small pigs, and coatis are known to share hammocks with the Awá. In fact, many families have more pets than they have children. And while animals such as monkeys are a source of protein for the Awá, the hunters try to avoid killing animals they recognise as former pets released into the wild.

“When we find a baby animal, we want to look after it,” an Awá woman called Parakeet told Survival International. The names of Awá people change throughout their lives as more suitable titles arise. “When [the animals] are older, they become independent and go back to the forest. Sometimes when we’re out hunting, I’ll see one of our pets and say, ‘don’t hunt it!’ I would never eat an animal we raised. We looked after it, we watched it grow. If I ate it I would feel terrible. I can hear the howler monkey that used to be my pet singing in the forest. My pet lives in the forest, and now it’s going to make a family of its own.”

Baby monkeys spend much time with Awá women and children enjoying the physical contact. Many monkeys like to sit on their owners’ heads (photo by D Pugliese/ Survival)

The Past

The troubles faced by the Awá people date as far back as the 1950s when ranchers and loggers approached their territory after the construction of road BR322. A major threat to the tribe materialised in 1967 when large deposits of rich iron ore were found in the hills of Carajás, which lie to the west of the four regions occupied by the Awá. This resulted in the installation of the Great Carajás Project, a series of dams, smelters, and cattle ranches — and, in 1985, a railway — funded by the US, Japan, the EU, and the World Bank. The project decimated the area’s forests and just 14 years after the discovery of iron ore in the area, Brazil’s National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) reported that over half of the 56 indigenous people contacted in 1976 had died.

The Awá people live in the north-western state of Maranhão, Brazil.

In the following decades, organisations such as Survival, FUNAI, the Indigenous Missionary Counsel (CIMI), the Coordination of Indigenous Organisations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), and the Pro-Indian Commission of São Paulo have pressed for increased protection of the indigenous population, calling for Awá demarcation as early as 1985. The Brazilian government was lethargic in its response. In 1999 the government noted 240 cases of illegal occupation in the Awá region, and in 2005 the territory was officially demarcated by the state as a tribal territory, thanks in part to a petition submitted by Survival International. Meanwhile, the logging and ranching industries continued to threaten the Awá’s survival with assaults against the environment and acts of violence against the indigenous people.

By 2010, about one-third of the area occupied by the tribe had been destroyed, and experts deemed the situation genocidal, a characterisation that is still held by advocates to this day.

The Present

Currently, the Awá face more danger of extinction than ever. In 2012, FUNAI released evidence that the illegal loggers were but 3km away from the Awá’s location. While the government failed to act on Judge Meguerian’s orders, the Awá’s sustainability remained in jeopardy. The tribesmen are now afraid to hunt, because they do not want to be seen by the loggers or ranchers and put themselves at risk of being killed.

As roads increasingly spring up in the territory, another great fear is that the invaders will encounter uncontacted Awá tribe members. It is believed that they would have severely adverse reactions to the loggers and ranchers because of their lack of interaction with the outside world. “A common cold could kill them,” states Survival.

According to Survival, “there are several accounts of [uncontacted aborigines] being killed by loggers and ranchers, but there is no recent confirmed data and encounters are not reported.” Survival has recorded video footage of loggers illegally occupying the area, but were unable to take action as the loggers are typically armed.

“It’s not too late for the Awá, but it soon will be,” said Stephen Corry, director of Survival International. “It is entirely within the Minister of Justice’s capabilities to evict loggers, but he must act today. If he doesn’t, tomorrow the Awá will be gone.”

The charred remains of burned forest on Awá land, only several kms from an Awá community (photo by Survival)

The failure to reach the deadline for evictions should result in daily fines for FUNAI, said Alice Bayer, spokeswoman for Survival International, but she thinks it is unlikely that they will actually be paid.

“The situation is clear cut: the invaders are illegal and must be removed,” Bayer said. “The solution is simple and plans are already in place. They now need to be put into action before they become useless ideas that were implemented too late to save lives.“

The Misconception

While it is possible the Brazilian government has dragged its feet in matters regarding the protection of Amazonian tribes simply due to lack of urgency, there are signs of an ideologically based belief that the tribes are simply undergoing an inevitable and necessary assimilation into Western society.

One politician who has espoused such beliefs is senator Katia Abreu.

“Who benefits from [increased protection of the indigenous groups]?” Abreu asked. “Not our country, which today enjoys the best and cheapest food in the world and boasts of being the globe’s second-largest food exporter…. Neither do the Indians (sic), who as their numbers show don’t need more physical space, but sanitation, education and an efficient health system. They need, in short, a better life, like all of us.”

Bayer denounced that view.

“The view of Senator Abreu stems from a position of racism, which sees the life of self-sufficient tribal peoples as ‘backward’,” she said. “She seems to be proposing that tribal peoples would be better off if they joined mainstream society. But we have seen time and time again that the forced integration of tribal peoples into the mainstream can have devastating consequences, often leading to addiction, disease, and dependency on government handouts.”

Survival made a strong push to fight such ideology with its ‘Progress Can Kill’ report, released in 2007. The report notes how assimilation into “progressive” cultures often ravages the lives of those in indigenous communities, commonly leading to maladies such as alcoholism, suicide, starvation, obesity, and sexually transmitted diseases, if not all-out extinction.

A family take a break during a walk in the forest to collect açai fruits (photo by Survival)

Survival also confronts the opinion, raised within the Brazilian political sphere too, that the case of the Awá cannot be deemed genocide, as hundreds of lives are at stake, not thousands or millions: “Apart from [the number] having no relevance in law, such an interpretation discriminates against Amazon Indians (sic) who are numerically small.”

The Campaign

Survival International launched a new campaign to protect the Awá in 2012, including a short film depicting the troubles the tribe is facing as well as a detailed and interactive website that cites the reasons that governmental measures are necessary and educates readers on the Awá people. Academy Award-winning actor Colin Firth narrates the short film and has worked as an advocate for the cause, hoping to raise international awareness of the issue.

Thus far, over 50,000 letters have been sent to Brazilian Minister of Justice José Eduardo Cardozo, who is the focus of the campaign and who is addressed by name by Firth in the video. The campaign’s Facebook page sports 34,000 likes, and the organisation also provides an opportunity to donate money to support the cause.

Survival has been involved with the case of the Awá since as early as the 1950s when one of its founders, Francis Huxley, went to the area and did research regarding the uncontacted aborigines. The organisation has continually petitioned the government to address the issue in the decades since and has published various reports on the Awá’s crisis, in addition to the ‘Progress Can Kill’ report. The organisation is funded primarily by small donations, as it does not accept money from any governments in order to avoid political influence.

The Hope

The works of the Survival campaign have not resulted in an effective governmental eviction of the illegal loggers and ranchers, but support and awareness has increased for the cause around the world. Actors like Firth and Gillian Anderson have raised awareness, Brazilian football supporters have taken on the cause as the 2014 World Cup approaches, and the ‘awáIcon’ logo has popped up worldwide in photographs and as street art to support the cause.

The AwaIcon, used in Survival’s campaign.

And while the Brazilian government still has a long way to go in terms of protecting the Awá tribe, it did ratify the International Labour Organisation’s Convention No. 169, an international law created in 1989 that secures land rights for tribes. Brazil is one of only 22 countries to ratify the law, although there have been questions as to whether or not it is actually being followed. Furthermore, the nation ratified “the genocide convention, which imposes a duty on the state to investigate and prosecute if genocide is suspected,” per Survival International.

However, the most inspiring bit of hope in the Awá narrative may lie in the story of a man named Karapiru. In 1978, his community of uncontacted Awá people were attacked by a gunman. He escaped, and spent the next ten years in complete isolation. Eventually he was found, and, because the attending anthropologist was unable to understand Karapiru’s language, members of various tribes met with him in hopes of finding a linguistic connection. Finally, he met with an indigenous man named Xiramuku. As The Atlantic’s Joanna Eede reports, “Not only could Xiramuku understand Karapiru’s language, but he used one specific Awá word that instantly transformed Karapiru’s life: he called him ‘father’.” Karapiru was reunited with the Awá people and integrated back into their culture; a miraculous, storybook ending.

The beacon of hope that lies in storybooks, however, is threatened by the sawmill of colonialisation found in history books. If drastic efforts are not made by the Brazilian government to heed the plight of the Awá, hope might be all that tribesmen like Karapiru have left.

“I hope the same things that happened to me won’t happen to my daughter,” said Karapiru, according to The Atlantic article. “I hope she will eat lots of game, lots of fish, and grow up to be healthy. I hope it won’t be like in my time.”

Do people believe indigenous people in the region are being sufficiently protected? Click here to find out.

A homeless man sleeps on the street in Brazil (Photo from Flickr user Henrique Vicente)

The National Centre for Defence of Human Rights has expressed concern of a possible “social cleansing” in Brazil, as more than 195 homeless people have been killed in the last 15 months.

The organisation suggested that the government may be trying to clean up the image of cities that will host matches in the world cup next year by removing people from the streets through violent means.

National Council of Attorney General (CNPG) has stated similar fears, and both organisations have contacted the secretary general, Gilberto Carvalho, expressing concern that the euphemistic “sanitisation” is being used to cover up violent human rights abuses, as many of the homeless people who have died were anonymously burnt to death.

The disappearances and murders are happening throughout the country. The most recent such crime was on Sunday, when Jorge Affonso, 49, was killed in Jacupiranga, 280 kilometers from São Paulo. The Ministry of Human Rights has been sent to Goiânia, the state capital of Goiás located 200 miles from Brasilia to investigate 29 recent murders of homeless people.

According to official statistics from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), 1.8 million homeless people live in Brazil. In Sao Paulo alone it is estimated that 15,000 are homeless, 5,000 more than ten years ago.

Although President Dilma Rousseff recently launched a national anti-poverty program, it is estimated that only 25% of cities in the country have policies or programs to help the homeless.

In addition to researching the deaths of the homeless, the Human Rights Centre is pushing for the reform of policies to avoid extreme “social cleansing” actions and other human rights abuses.

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff has today met with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner at the Casa Rosada to discuss ways in which to improve bilateral trade.

In a meeting that may be extended until tomorrow, the presidents have told the Argentine media that they have a “broad agenda of common topics to discuss”.

The presidents of Argentina and Brazil meet at the Casa Rosada (Photo: CFK on FB)

“We are always discussing the two nations’ trading relationship, and common investments. And we have the intention to discuss all these matters with Argentina,” President Rousseff said.

One of the key points on the agenda today was ways to develop the countries’ automobile trade by working together to improve labour opportunities.

“As you know, most of the automotive industry in Argentina is owned by overseas companies, and it’s the same in Brazil. And as Brazil is our main trading partner we need to improve this as it could generate a lot of income for both our countries,” President Fernández said in a public address today.

Trade disputes between South America’s two largest economies has been a recurring problem in recent years, despite both nations being a part of Mercosur.

Additionally, the pair are said to be addressing issues concerning the Brazilian mining firm Vale, which suspended its US$6bn project in Mendoza due to rising costs and tax discrepancies by the Argentine government.

The meeting is expected to continue tomorrow.

Fortaleza World Cup arena (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Two football fans were shot and killed en route to a World Cup venue in Brazil, hours before a test event. The football supporters were three miles outside Arena Castelao, in the city of Fortaleza, one of 12 venues prepped for the 2014 World Cup.

“We lament what happened. But there is work being done by the police and the army in many areas of security, so we are not concerned with that for the Confederations Cup,” World Cup committee member Tiago Paes said, referring to the tournament that will be held in Arena Castelao and five other stadiums in June.

According to Brazilian publication Globo, the two fans, both men, were shot in the head. It is believed that two supporters of the club Fortaleza fired the shots from inside a vehicle. An official has stated that the deaths were unrelated to the World Cup test event.

A fight had broken out before the game between fans of Ceara and Fortaleza the same distance from the stadium, according to Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.

The preparations for next year’s World Cup have encountered various difficulties. Construction has been behind schedule and there have been concerns about the city’s ability to broadcast the games via television due to infrastructural concerns.

The Brazilian Federal Government’s project to eradicate extreme poverty in the country is set to be relaunched. Starting immediately, the state will guarantee a minimum income of 100 reales for low-income families with children under 6 years old. This is equal to just over US$50.

Brazilian flag (Photo: Helmut G.)

Telesur reports that through this social program, the federal government gives 70 reales per month to each person in the immediate family. State authorities will provide 30 more reales to bring the total monthly income to 100 reales.

The beneficiaries of this program will also receive a Bolsa Familia (Family Fund), which will grant families access other resources, including reliable, free medical care.

It is calculated that nearly 2.5 million Brazilian people live in extreme poverty today.

Story courtesy of Pulsar.

Poison by design by Valley_Photographs, on Flickr

Brazil has been named a world-leader in the use of toxic products in farming, with new research finding that the country’s agriculture industry currently uses 10 products that are widely banned in other countries.

According to the study by the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA), an organisation created in 2002 to monitor the use of toxic products, Brazilian farmers are currently using 10 substances which have been banned throughout the US, the European Union, and other countries.

For example, the country’s agriculture uses the insecticide Methamidophos, which has been banned within the EU, China, India, and Paraguay, amongst others. Talking about the use of this chemical, Rosany Bocher, co-ordinator at the National System of Toxic-Pharmacology, said “we are consuming the junk that other nations reject”.

Additionally, the pesticide Endosulfan is one of the widely banned products of which, according to the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Brazil imported 1,840 tonnes in 2008, and in 2012 the figure rose to 2,370 tonnes.

Toxic agricultural products that have not been banned counts as the fourth most prominent cause of poisoning in the country. In 2008, 6,200 cases of poisonings were recorded caused by these substances, which can cause long-term liver, hormonal, and neurological illnesses, as well as reproductive problems and cancer.

Four suspects have been indicted in the case surrounding the January nightclub fire that killed at least 235 in Brazil. Prosecutors charged Elissandro Spohr and Mauro Hoffman, owners of the club, as well as vocalist Marcelo de Jesus dos Santos and show producer Lluciana Bonilha, with homicide and attempted homicide.

Located in southern Brazil, the nightclub, Kiss, had a legal capacity of 2,000, a number that was well exceeded. The panic caused by the fire led to a stampede that made it difficult for patrons to use the venue’s lone exit.

The club’s owners are being accused of permitting too many people into a environment that quickly became dangerous after the fire broke out on 27th January. The musicians face charges as a result of allegedly using pyrotechnics deemed fit for outdoor use only. It is believed that they did so as a cost-saving measure.

It has been reported that some of the fire extinguishers in the venue may have been faulty. Furthermore, the state fire department claimed that the nightclub did not offer enough emergency exits and also failed to acquire proper authorisation for pyrotechnic use.

One of the owners, Spohr, attempted suicide following the incident and was hospitalised.