Brazil General Discussion 2019: It's Slammer Time!

[buritobr]

Weintraub, minister of education, decided to cut fund to the federal universities which allowed political activities inside their campuses. In the following day, he cancelled his decision, however, the cuts could take place in the second semester.
We have to worry about the rising authoritarism

[Senator Incitatus]

https://twitter.com/jairbolsonaro/status/1124058326134919169

[buritobr]

On May 15th, many students and professors went to the streets from all the Brazilian big cities in order to protest against the budget cuts for the federal universities and federal high schools. In São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, there were >100.000 on the streets.

Bolsonaro told that the cuts were result of the lack of resources because of the fall of the tax revenue. However, the cuts have ideological motivations. The ministry of education has already told that he was going to fight against the marxist ideology of the federal universities. This is a threat to the academic freedom, when the government cuts funding of the universities because the universities teach topics which the government dislikes.

https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/05/15/world/americas/ap-lt-brazil-education-protests.html

[D4C]

Pro-Bolsonaro rallies have been happening today, so far they have been reported in at least 52 cities and 12 states + Federal District. These people in the rallies are supporting government projects/acts like the pension reform, Moro's anticrime package and the extinction of some ministries. The calls to take part in these acts started after the May 15th protests against Bolsonaro.

So far there doesn't seem to be any official number of people in these rallies.

Edit: Now rallies have been reported in all states in 156 cities.

[buritobr]

The anti-Bolsonaro pro-education rallies of students and teachers which took place on May 30th were not as big as the rallies of the May 15th, but they were much bigger than the pro-Bolsonaro rallies of the May 26th.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2019/may/31/protesters-take-to-brazils-streets-in-pictures

[D4C]

Some days ago Minister Sergio Moro had his cellphone hacked. Initially nothing too serious seemed to have happened but yesterday, journalists Glenn Greenwald, Alexandre de Sati and Rafael Moro de Martins from The Intercept released messages exchanged between Moro and Lava Jato prosecutors. According to the journalists, an anonymous source provided the private chats, audio recordings, videos and photos before Moro had his phone hacked.

Among the claims made by The Intercept, they said that one of the prosecutors, Deltan Dallagnol, who is a very important figure in Lava Jato expressed doubts whether there was sufficient information to establish Lula as guilty. It also claimed that Moro gave strategic advice to prosecutors.

The Intercept also said that many prosecutors expressed indignation when the Supreme Court justice Ricardo Lewandowski authorized the newspaper Folha de São Paulo to interview Lula during the election period. According to The Intercept, prosecutor Laura Tessler said that "an interview with Lula might elect Haddad if it happens close to the second round." The journalists also said that the prosecutors quickly started planning a way to prevent the interview from happening. When the authorization to interview Lula was revoked by Supreme Court judge Luiz Fux, the prosecutors commemorated according to The Intercept.

Vice President Hamilton Mourão said that Moro's messages posted by The Intercept are just private messages out of context. Moro said that he isn't even sure if those messages are real, but even if they are, the messages don't show any illegal action made by him.

[D4C]

The president of the senate, Davi Alcolumble announced that Justice Minister Moro is going to speak before the Constitution and Justice Committee on June 19th to explain the leaked conversations with Dallagnol.

The 2nd panel of the Supreme Court has defined that they are going to resume the debate on Lula's habeas corpus on June 25th, if 3 out of the 5 judges vote in favor of the habeas corpus, Lula would be released from jail. This habeas corpus was presented last year by Lula's defense after judge Moro accepted the invite to become justice minister made by Jair Bolsonaro. The 2nd panel started debating this on December, but the trial was suspended on December 4th after judge Gilmar Mendes requested a hearing, when he stopped the trial, two judges had voted and both voted against Lula's request.

The 2nd panel is composed by judges Marco Aurelio (voted against Lula's request), Carmen Lúcia (voted against), Gilmar Mendes (likely to vote in favor), Ricardo Lewandowski (likely to vote in favor) and Celso de Mello (who is probably going to be the vote that decides whether Lula gets out of jail or stays there).

The 2nd panel of the Supreme Court started discussing whether people can go to jail after getting convicted by an appellate court and before having exhausted all their appeals. Justice Lewandoswki voted that people can not go the jail before exhausting all their appeals, however, the other 4 justices voted to bring this issue to the plenary of the court, this means that all the judges, regardless of which panel they belong, are going to vote on this.

Bolsonaro has remained pretty quiet about the issue with Moro but other public figures have talked about it. Chief of Staff of the Presidency, Onyx Lorenzoni, defended Moro and downplayed the accusation against Moro and called him a "hero who helped to save Brazil from PT".

Three supreme court justices have also talked about the accusations against Moro. Gilmar Mendes said that even if the evidence against Moro was obtained in an illegal manner it would still be valid against him. Marco Aurelio said the opposite that Gilmar said, arguing that using evidence obtained illegally could represent a setback to democracy. Justice Luís Roberto Barroso criticized the "joy coming from the corrupts" after the messages were released by The Intercept.

[buritobr]

Former judge Moro's and attorney Dallanol's actions were ilegal. The judge should be neutral between the attorney, who makes the accusation, and the lawyer, who makes the defense. Moro was clearly pro-accusation. Article 254 of the Brazilian code of penal procedure makes clear that the judge is not allowed to have private conversations with the important actors before the trial. The Intercept published that Moro and Dallanol had lot of private chat and that Moro helped Dallanol.
Lula's trial can become invalid and Lula can be released.
But Moro and Dallanol can not be sued because their chat was found through ilegal means. That is ironic, because Dallanol wanted in the past that ilegal proofs could be used in the trials. Dallanol was saved because his own proposal was not implemented.

[buritobr]

Intercept showed new messages, in which former judge Sérgio Moro asked attorney Deltan Dallanol why former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB) was being investigated by the Car Wash Operation. Dallanol answered that it was necessary to create a image that Car Wash was not partisan and not anti-PT biased. Moro answered that it was better not to investigate Cardoso, because the former president might became angry and his endorsement was important for the sucess of the Car Wash Operation.

It is ilegal a judge advise an attorney who should and who should not be investigated.

[buritobr]

Airman with Brazil's G20 delegation held over drug trafficking
Spanish police find cocaine in man’s luggage at Seville airport en route to Tokyo summit

Spanish police have arrested a member of the air force travelling with the Brazilian president’s advance party for the G20 summit in Japan after 39kg of cocaine was discovered in his luggage during a stopover in Seville.
A spokesman for the Guardia Civil said the man was arrested on Tuesday after his plane landed at the Andalucían airport.
“The serviceman was travelling on a military plane that had flown in from Brazil and stopped over at Seville airport en route to Tokyo,” he said.
“The serviceman was found to have cocaine in his hand baggage that weighed a total of 39kg. He was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking and is currently in custody at our Seville headquarters waiting to appear before a judge.”
It is understood the plane was carrying a military delegation tasked with protecting the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, during the summit in the Japanese capital.
Bolsonaro confirmed the news in a statement on Tuesday night, saying he had been informed of the airman’s arrest by the defence minister.
“I immediately ordered the defence minister to cooperate with Spanish police to establish the facts and cooperate with every stage of the investigation, and to launch an investigation by the military police,” he said.
“There are around 300,000 men and women in the armed forces who are trained to uphold the highest principles of ethics and morality. If the airman is found to have committed a crime, he will be tried and convicted according to the law.”

Leaders are due to gather in Osaka on Friday and Saturday as Japan hosts its first G20 summit. As well as the main gathering, there will be meetings between finance ministers, central bank governors and foreign ministers.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/26/soldier-with-brazil-g20-bolsonaro-delegation-held-over-drug-trafficking

[buritobr]

Ibope Poll June 27th 2019

How do you evaluate Bolsonaro's administration?
Very good/Good 32%
Regular 32%
Very bad/Bad 32%

Do you approve or disapprove Bolsonaro?
Approve 46%
Disapprove 48%


This is the lowest approval rate of a brazilian president in the first semester of the first term.


However, considering his administration, I don't know the content of the brain of the 32% who think that it is good or very good.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Bolsonaro should hire somebody to stab him again to improve his ratings.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Say what you will about Brazilians electing this maniac by a sizable margin, but they seem to be learning that they made a mistake faster than we are about our own madman President.

[buritobr]

Jair Bolsonaro is considering the possibility of making his son Eduardo Bolsonaro the Brazilian ambassador in Washington DC. Usually, this position is held by a career diplomat from Itamaraty, the Foreign Office.
Eduardo told that he is able to have this job because he speaks English and because he has already fried burgers in the USA. He is also a friend of Ivanka Trump.
Eduardo has already said that Pinochet was a great leader and that left-wing feminists don't shave the hair of the body.

[buritobr]

Inpe, the National Institute of Spatial Research, told that in June 2019, the Amazon had its highest deforestation rate.
What did Bolsonaro do? Something against deforetation? No, he told that Inpe is not reliable!

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49052360

Amazon deforestation: Brazil's Bolsonaro dismisses data as 'lies'

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has accused his own country's national space institute of lying about the scale of deforestation in the Amazon.

He said the institute was smearing Brazil's reputation abroad by publishing data showing a dramatic increase in deforestation there.

The far-right president said he wanted to meet with the head of the agency to discuss the issue.

The National Space Research Institute (Inpe) says its data is 95% accurate.

Mr Bolsonaro's comments on Friday came a day after preliminary satellite data released by Inpe showed that more than 1,000 sq km (400 sq miles) of the rainforest had been cleared in the first 15 days of July - an increase of 68% from the entire month of July 2018.

Speaking in a meeting with foreign journalists, Mr Bolsonaro said the data "doesn't relate to the reality".

Scientists say the Amazon has suffered losses at an accelerated rate since Mr Bolsonaro took office in January, with policies that favour development over conservation.

As the largest rainforest in the world, the Amazon is a vital carbon store that slows down the pace of global warming.

Official figures suggest that the biggest reason to fell trees there is to create new pastures for cattle.

Over the past decade, previous governments had managed to reduce deforestation with concerted action by federal agencies and a system of fines.

But Mr Bolsonaro and his ministers have criticised the penalties and overseen a dramatic fall in confiscations of timber and convictions for environmental crimes.

Several scientific institutions, including the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, have defended Inpe and the accuracy of its data.

In his comments to foreign journalists on Friday, Mr Bolsonaro also denied the existence of hunger in Brazil. He said there are no "people on the streets with skeletal physiques as seen in other countries", the Reuters news reports.

According to data from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, some 5.2 million people suffered from hunger in Brazil in 2017.

[buritobr]

Bolsonaro doesn't know any limit. In this week, Felipe Santa Cruz, president of the Brazilian Lawyers Association (OAB) criticized the administration. Bolsonaro answering telling that he has some information related to Cruz's father. Cruz's disapeared during the military dictatorship (1964-1985), regime which Bolsonaro has positive view.


When he was a congressman in 2016, during the voting of the Rousseff's impeachment, Bolsonaro honored the man who tortured Dilma Rousseff during the military dictatorship.

[buritobr]

https://nownews2019.wordpress.com/2019/07/29/oab-president-will-address-bolsonaro/

[buritobr]

Bolsonaro is an underdog when he talks to Trump, now he wants to be a patriot while talking to Macron and Merkel!

[buritobr]

I don't like American and European political leaders and media who say that the South American countries in which the Amazon Forest is located should loose the soveregnty rights of the area of the forest.
But we have to preserve!

There was a large destruction of the Amazon and murder of natives during the military dictatorship (1964-1985), period which Bolsonaro (former army captain) told that was very good. The military governments wanted to bring "development" to the Amazon.
The civilian governments tried to have a different approach.
Workers' Party administrations, Lula and Dilma (2003-2016), had an intermediate record considering the Amazon. Deflorestation declined from 2004 to 2012, and then started to rise again. Lula took some actions to reduce deflorestation, but he supported the buinding of power plants in the rivers, like the Belo Monte Power Plant. Dilma was his minister and supported the project. Marina Silva, former environment minister, didn't like and asked her dismissal.
During Dilma's adminsitration, the congressmen supported by the big landowners (bancada ruralista) became very strong, and she couldn't do very much to support the environment.

While Lula and Dilma were neither very good nor very bad to the preservation of the Amazon Forest, Temer was very bad and Bolsonaro is horrible.

Now Bolsonaro is using a nationalist speech against Macron, but his government is not nationalist. Bolsonaro do everything Trump tells. No Brazilian government in the past was so submissive to the US government, neither left-wing nor right-wing.

[SNJ1985]

1. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145464/fires-in-brazil

As of August 16, 2019, an analysis of NASA satellite data indicated that total fire activity across the Amazon basin this year has been close to the average in comparison to the past 15 years. (The Amazon spreads across Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and parts of other countries.)

Though activity appears to be above average in the states of Amazonas and Rondônia, it has so far appeared below average in Mato Grosso and Pará, according to estimates from the Global Fire Emissions Database, a research project that compiles and analyzes NASA data.

2. According to the BBC, the total CO2 equivalent emissions (used to measure the amount and intensity of fire activity) in Brazil were actually higher in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007 (under Lula) than in 2019.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49433767

3. Many of the photos being shared by Bolsonaro opponents, including the one in this tweet by Emmanuel Macron, were either taken before Bolsonaro took office or not even taken in Brazil at all.

4. Bolsonaro has just authorized the military to go in and fight the fires.

[urutzizu]

The impact here in Europe of the news about the Rainforest is huge. France and Ireland have announced that they will try to block the Mercosur-EU Free Trade Agreement. More countries will likely follow. Finland is even proposing a Embargo on Brazilian Meat.

Blocking the FTA and the Embargo are the right step. It is unfortunate that the smaller economies Argentina and the others will have to suffer from the decision too, but it is necessary to do whatever we can to put pressure on Bolsonaro.
Blocking Brazilian Agribusiness from Access to their vital export markets will hopefully make them use their huge lobby in the Brazilian Congress to pressure Bolsonaro.
I have to disagree on the sovereignty issue. These Rainforests, just like the seas, are property of the earth, and they are necessary for its survival. We cannot allow anyone to destroy our common planet and existance in the name of the holy grail of "national sovereignty". However there is of course Hypocrisy among Europeans/Americans, when we rightly want to stop Bolsonaro from destroying, but are ourselves Bigger polluters than Brazil.

[buritobr]

1. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/145464/fires-in-brazil

As of August 16, 2019, an analysis of NASA satellite data indicated that total fire activity across the Amazon basin this year has been close to the average in comparison to the past 15 years. (The Amazon spreads across Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and parts of other countries.)

Though activity appears to be above average in the states of Amazonas and Rondônia, it has so far appeared below average in Mato Grosso and Pará, according to estimates from the Global Fire Emissions Database, a research project that compiles and analyzes NASA data.

2. According to the BBC, the total CO2 equivalent emissions (used to measure the amount and intensity of fire activity) in Brazil were actually higher in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007 (under Lula) than in 2019.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49433767

3. Many of the photos being shared by Bolsonaro opponents, including the one in this tweet by Emmanuel Macron, were either taken before Bolsonaro took office or not even taken in Brazil at all.

4. Bolsonaro has just authorized the military to go in and fight the fires.

Between 2003 and 2007 was higher, but declining until 2012

"3. Many of the photos being shared by Bolsonaro opponents, including the one in this tweet by Emmanuel Macron, were either taken before Bolsonaro took office or not even taken in Brazil at all." Many photos were taken before, it is wrong to use these photos, but it does not eliminate the fact that the deflorestation and the burning are increasing and that there are new photos to show.

[buritobr]

Datafolha Poll, September 2nd 2019


How do you rate Bolsonaro's administration?
Good/Very good: 29%
Regular: 30%
Bad/Very bad: 38%

https://www.cartacapital.com.br/politica/datafolha-reprovacao-de-bolsonaro-vai-de-33-a-38-e-supera-popularidade/

[buritobr]

Since 1947, Brazil starts the speechs in the UN General Assembly. Jair Bolsonaro performed the worst speech of these 72 years. It looked like a web site of far-right conspiracy theories. It was a shame for Brazil!

[buritobr]

Ibope Poll, September 22nd 2019

How do you rate Bolsonaro's administration?
Good/Very Good: 31%
Regular: 32%
Bad/Very Bad: 34%

Do you approve or disapprove?
Approve: 44%
Disapprove: 50%

https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2019/09/25/governo-jair-bolsonaro-tem-aprovacao-de-31percent-e-reprovacao-de-34percent-diz-pesquisa-ibope.ghtml