São Paulo metro (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

More than 10,000 Brazilians blocked the main avenue in São Paulo to protest against the 6.7% increase of bus and metro fares late last night. The city’s police force stated 25 protesters were arrested after crowds started throwing stones and petrol bombs. Several public buses were burned down and a downtown metro station was damaged. The riot police set off tear gas and used rubber bullets to calm down the violence on the streets of Brazil’s largest city.

After last week’s announcement of higher prices in public transport across the entire country, the ‘Free Fare Students Movement’ (Movimiento de estudiantes Pase Libre – MPL) has been using various social networks to promote the protest for the last few days. The group advocates free or at least cheaper public transportation.

At the beginning of June, prices for a single ticket were raised from 3 reals (US$1.40) to 3.20 reals (US$1.50). The authorities explained that “the rise is well below inflation, which – since the last price rise in January 2011 – has been at 15.5% according to official figures.”

This is the third time in less than a week that a group of mostly young protesters has hit the streets. Tuesday’s demonstration was the most violent one so far. Besides the arrests and acts of vandalism, including broken windows of nine banks and numerous bus stops, two students were knocked down by a car but were not seriously injured.

In a post on Free Fare’s official blog, one of the group members, Daniel Guimaraes Terschitsch, accused the police of starting the violence.

The military police stated in a press release that “the protest had been peaceful until a small group tried to storm the Parque Dom Pedro II bus station.”

As well as in São Paulo, there were demonstrations in Rio de Janeiro against increases on public transport fares. Over 30 protesters were arrested on Monday.

On Sunday, close to 2,000 police and military personnel occupied five of Rio de Janeiro’s biggest shantytowns. The operation lasted for 30 minutes and is part of the Brazilian security forces’ attempts to pacify the shantytowns and stop drug trafficking.

Yesterday morning close to 2,000 Brazilian police, backed by helicopters and armoured marine, took control over five dangerous shantytowns, or favelas, in the Manguinhos and Jacarezinho complex. It was one of the most efficient favela operations in history. No guns were fired and there were no casualties. However, three arrests were made and they seized 60kg of cocaine and several weapons.

These specific shantytowns in the north of Rio are considered the centre of crack consumption in the city and have since long been controlled by the powerful Comando Vermelho drug gang. The area is commonly called the “Gaza strip” due to the danger of crossing it. The surrounding area outside of the shantytowns is considered an important area that splits central Rio from the richer northern suburbs, and hosts many big subway line stations. In the same neighbourhood are some of the main avenues in the city that will be used as transporting routes during the 2016 Olympics.

“The important thing now is the return of the territory to society and especially transport routes that cut the region, where millions of cariocas [Rio residents] travel through every day,” said Secretary of Security in the state of Rio de Janeiro José Mariano Beltrame.

The raid is one among many planned by state governor Sérgio Cabral Filho to clean up the city in preparation for the Football World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016.

“The next step of the occupation will now be to continue to search for drugs, weapons and criminals,” said Rio de Janeiro’s military police spokesman Federico Caldas.

Rio de Janeiro is potentially exposed to one of the worst dengue fever epidemics in recent history, Brazil’s Health Minister Alexandre Padilha said yesterday.

As Brazil prepares for its annual carnival celebrations, Padilha gave a stark warning, expressing his concerns for the state of health in the city. “I consider Rio de Janeiro runs the risk of one of the worst dengue epidemics, in terms of the number of cases, in its history.”

Despite the worrying nature of the news, especially due to the number of tourists that have descended on the city for the festivities, the minister went on to say that this strain of the virus was not the deadliest.

“This is not the most serious case of dengue, it does not represent a higher chance of people dying but since so few have experienced it before in Brazil, a far greater number are susceptible of catching it.”

In December, Rio de Janeiro’s mayor Eduardo Paes considered the city to be at a “high risk of an epidemic.”

According to government statistics, there has been a 62% drop in reported cases of the fever throughout the country compared to this time last year (40,486 down from 106,373); however, Padilha reiterated that city was still facing problems. “Rio de Janeiro is the city which most concerns the Ministry of Health.”

In the city there have been 3,499 reported cases in 2012, up from 2,322 this time last year.

Police and firefighters temporarily ended their strike in Rio de Janeiro last night, just days before Carnival’s start date.

Last week, strikes in the city of Rio and the state of Bahía concerned officials and tourists, as millions of people are set to take the streets on 17^th February  for the world-famous festival.

The strikes, which started last Thursday, were over wage increases.

A 12-day police strike in Salvador saw a spike in murders and crime, increasing fears the same would occur in Rio during Carnival week. Rio sees nearly one million tourists bring in an estimated US$ 640.5 million during this period.

Although the strike has been suspended, the unions have threatened to resume next Wednesday.

“The timing is critical [and] security … comes first. Out of caution and respect, the best decision is to suspend [strike action],” said Francisco Chao, head of Sindpol (the civil police union).

Representatives from Sindpol issued a statement claiming that their focus has shifted to freeing the 20-plus prisoners detained during the strikes. The imprisoned police have been refused contact to family and lawyers, an action that Matias Ana Paula, a wife to one of the imprisoned policemen, called “against the Constitution.”

Last night in Rio de Janeiro firemen and police forces voted to strike, demanding higher pay. The strike, starting today, will carry on into Rio carnival unless demands are met.

The state offered a 39% wage increase that was considered inadequate by union members who have suffered decades of declining wages.

This news follows a police strike in the Brazilian state of Bahia, where nearly a third of officers participated. During the 10-day strike, which has now ended, there was a sharp spike in crime including lootings and reportedly over 150 murders.

Fears have been raised that the move could seriously endanger security at Rio carnival, which begins 17^th February. The event is a major date on the Brazilian calendar, during which thousands of tourists flock to the city.

Representatives from the civil, military and fire departments insist, “We do not want to ruin Rio carnival”, claiming the government is “far from meeting our needs.” They are open to negotiations and hope to be fully functional by carnival, as reported in the Rio newspaper Jornal Do Brazil.

It is thought the government will bring in security support from army soldiers throughout the holiday if the police strike does not end.

Brazil is preparing for the Olympics in 2016 and the World Cup in 2014, so spotlight on incidents such as this are unwelcome publicity for the government. It raises doubts about Brazil’s capacity to deliver a secure environment, especially in Rio, a city criticised for high levels of violence.

A body was found this morning amongst the rubble of three collapsed buildings in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, raising the current death toll to 11. A further 15 people are still missing from the accident that occurred on Wednesday 25^th January.

The secretary of civil defence said the search would continue for another 48 hours. But as high levels of smoke are coming from the collapsed buildings, there is still a high risk of small fires.

Official figures have spoken out in solidarity to express their grief over the tragedy. In the southern city of Porto Alegre, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff extended her sympathy to the families of those who have died as well as the families of those still missing. “I have every confidence that the gaúcho population [inhabitants of Rio Grande do Sul province] will join me and show their solidarity with the people of Rio.” Rousseff also conveyed her “feelings and hope that the (potential) survivors are found.”

President Rousseff, who is taking part in the 2012 World Social Forum, said she was keeping updated though close contact with Rio mayor Eduardo Paes, who was present at the site this morning showing his support to the families of those effected. Paes has officially declared three days of mourning in the region, starting today.

There is speculation over the cause of the accident, with Paes stating “it was probably the result of structural damage, but no one knows the answer yet. There are several options and all will be investigated.”

Three buildings have collapsed in the centre of Rio de Janeiro at around 8.30pm yesterday. So far, five people have been found dead under the rubble and 19 remain missing.

In a statement this morning, the head of the fire brigade, coronel Sérgio Simões, gave a possible explanation for the collapse:  “it seems reasonable to think that during the construction work that was being performed [in one of the buildings], an important structure of the building was damaged.” Later, Luiz Cosenza from the Rio de Janeiro’s Regional Council of Engineering revealed that the construction work was being done under illegal circumstances, as they were not registered with the council.

Rescue teams are now running against time to find people under the rubble, as according to authorities the maximum period of time for the search operation is of 24 hours. The bodies which have already been found have been sent to the institute of forensic medicine to be recognised by family members.

António Barbosa de Lima, an eyewitness, described the situation after the collapse to Estadão newspaper, saying that it looked like the images he had seen from the 9/11 World Trade Centre attack. Another witness, Ricardo Santos, said: “I was right next to the building when I started hearing noises. It looked like there were rocks falling from the highest floors. The building was falling towards me.” Then he said he had not heard any explosion or seen any fire, adding: “It was a continuous sound, like an airplane landing.”

This happened just after three months a restaurant suffered a suspected gas explosion. Local distributor (CEG) have stated that they did not provide gas to any of the buildings involved in this latest incident.

Chevron is taking full responsibility for an accident that is said to have caused nearly 110,000 gallons of oil to spill into the Atlantic Ocean.

The accident, which began on 8th November and continued until 15th November, was due to a leak at the Frade oil project, an offshore drilling site 230 miles northeast of Rio de Janeiro.

An official at the Brazil Federal Police, who is investigating the spill, said that Chevron drilled 500 metres deeper than their license allowed according to a source who had inside knowledge of the drilling.

Chevron has said that the reason for the spill was because the company had underestimated the pressure of underwater oil deposits. During the drilling process, oil began spewing from, not the well, but a natural seep line near the well.

Natural seep lines do not normally pose environmental risks unless they are disturbed by nearby drilling activity. Leaks of this type are generally difficult to control.

IBAMA, Brazil’s environmental protection agency, said the oil was concentrated around the drilling rig in a layer about one metre thick and covered an area 11 miles long.

Chevron has said that the leak has been repaired, however, an official in the company’s Brazil operation said that there was still a residual flow from undersea rock near the well.

The worst oil disaster to affect Brazil occurred in 1975, when an oil tanker from Iraq dumped more than 8 million gallons of crude into the bay near Rio de Janeiro causing area beaches to close for nearly three weeks.

The Brazilian military police invaded the  Rocinha favela in Rio de Janeiro today, which has been controled by the drug cartels for the last 30 years.

The operation started in the early hours of this morning and there was no gun fire exchanged as the authorities found no resistance.

After the invasion proved to be successful, aproximately 1.000 favela inhabitants witnessed an improvised ceremony where the Brazilian flag was raised in the centre of the slum, to symbolize the army’s victory against crime.

The Batallion of Special Operations (BOPE) also raised the flag of the city of Rio de Janeiro.

The governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Sergio Cabral, congratulated the security forces and said he informed president Dilma Rouseff about the success of the operation.

“The population needs peace to raise their children and live with dignity; any access to a dignifyed life is through peace,” states Cabral.

There are about 120.000 people living in the Rocinha favela nowadays.

A permanent camp was established last Saturday in the centre of Rio de Janeiro following an anti-government protest on the 15th of this month. 65 tents have been set up in less than a week.

Participants organised working groups (WGs) which promote collective discussions in order to define techniques for organizing the movement. From food allocation to safety measures, practical organisation is discussed daily.

The ‘Outraged Movement’ (Movimento Indignado) has arisen from societal dissatisfaction towards the current political systems in the majority of governments.

According to the movement, despite what the media have expressed, through internal dialogue the collective construction of the movement is under way.

Everyday an open general assembly is held and discussions are put forth by working groups about the functioning the camp. Also, proposals are discussed about how to continue the movement.