The “False Positives”: How The Colombian Military Inflated Its Body Count

… the pressure from some generals to produce enemy casualties … also contributed to making the production of corpses an end in itself, because promotions and leave days depended on producing them
Semana (Colombia) this week on the progress of investigations into “false positives”: kidnappings and summary executions by Colombian military units whose victims would then [...]

Globo Critic: “The Silencing of Sidney Rezende and Operation Toucan 2010″

The Brazilian journalist does not feel free to write. More than just having to follow the editorial line of the publications they work for, the complaints principally have to do with coercion by political or business groups.– “A Profile of the Brazilian Journalist”
Rodrigo Vianna, the ex-TV Globo reporter, now with the rival TV Record, comments [...]

Rio: “Flash Mob by Gabeira Supporters to Protest Election Result”

The Rio mayoral elections were won by a very, very tight margin (55,000 votes, or a little over 1% of votes cast) by Eduardo Paes of the PMDB — the party of the establishment in Rio, given that the last several governors were PMDB, and Mayor Maia started out there as well before flipping to [...]

Rio: Things Get Messy for Maggessi?

Marina Maggessi: Diehard. Authorized hagiography. Editora Objetiva (Grupo Prisa-Santillana, Larry Rohter’s publisher), 2008.

Marina Maggessi investigada (O Dia): Marina Maggessi, a senior state police intelligence official from Rio, currently serving as a federal legislator, is investigated over an intercepted conversation in which she is overheard recommending that a fellow police officer be, ahem, whacked out [...]

Rio: “Batman Ran, and the Man Already Knew of the Plan”

The existence of a plan to break Batman out of prison had been cited it at least five intelligence reports from the state judicial and military police. There were reports that the escape would cost R$2 million and that the former military policeman would walk out the front gate, as actually happened.
Secretário de presídios admite [...]

Why Do We Blog? And What About?

Dantas’ Inferno: The Plot Thickens As Daniel Deposes

Daniel Valente Dantas. Graphic: Veja magazine, May 2006, when it reported: “Daniel Dantas has a list that may show illegal offshore bank accounts controlled by the president and party bigwigs.” Veja had plenty of evidence that “almost certainly does not” was the word to use instead of “may.” Ecce Veja.

… a conspiracy theory is an [...]

Rio Militias: Batman Walks Away

Orkut community declares city council candidate to be the legitimate heir of the Dark Knight — political chieftain of a vicious protection and black-market racket with bizarre comic-book branding. Run by cops. Parapolitics, carioca style. Source: O Dia (Rio).

“The white Fiat Palio that took the alleged Justice League member away had the characteristics of an [...]

Anísio of Beija-Flor: Rio Bicheiro Rebusted

… the federal policeman owned gambling-machine operations in Rio de Janeiro.
PF prende 13 pessoas durante operação no Rio: The Brazilian federal police — “Lula’s KGB,” to those who think that the war on Brazilian organized crime is a sinister Orwellian conspiracy — re-arrest the Rio gambling racketeer “Anísio of Beija-Flor” today.
Anísio, former president of LIESA, [...]

“Brazilian Cities Are The Most Efficient Poverty Factories In The World”

ONU: cidades brasileiras têm maior disparidade de renda: Brazilian cities are the most efficient income disparity factories in the world, according to a UN report.
Or so the BBC Brasil reports. The Beeb does not, however, present the numerical evidence for its claim that Brazilian cities present higher indices of inequality than any other cities in [...]