Lula the Nine-Fingered

Via Viomundo: «Senator Calls Lula Brazil’s Leading Scumbag in Convention Speech»

The opposition PSDB is holding its leadership convention this week and seems determined to pursue a rhetoric of hate-mongering that has not served it well in the past.

Goias governor calls Lula “the biggest scumbag in Brazil.”

The comparable term in Portuguese is «canalha», variously translated as «douche bag,» «dirt bag,», «scumbag», «miscreant» and «fucker.»

Goiás governor Marconi Perillo (PSDB) recently referred to former president Lula Lula da Silva (PT) as a “scumbag” in remarks on the “monthly payola” case during the PSDB party convention that confirmed Senator Aécio Neves (MG) as party leader. “Never before in the history of this country has it been so difficult to mount an opposition to the biggest scumbag in this country,”  Perillo stated in his speech

Perillo used the term several times, stating that he had warned Lula of the scheme of monthly payments to lawmakers in exchange for support in the Congress. “One day I got up the courage to alert this scumbag to the fact that his government was making monthly payoffs to congressional deputies. Since that day I have joined Artur Virgílio, José Agripino, and Tarso Genro among his major detractors.”

The governor highlighted his “solidarity” with Aécio Neves in the 2014 campaign and called for party unity. “We are going to prove to Brazil that we are capable, that we are competent, that we are public-minded, that we know how to manage public funds and assets.”

Support

Another sign that the PSDB has not learned the lesson of its «moral panic» marketing — «we are virgins and our enemies, painted harlots» — is Pirillo’s own political biography, which includes solid evidence of close ties to the numbers racketeer Carlinhos Charlie Waterfall Cachoeira and to Senator Demostenes Torres, who resigned from office when ties of his own were discovered with Cachoeira.

In a speech criticizing the government, the leader of the Democratas, Senator José Agripino (RN), praised the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso said that the PT had “shown its claws” when it arrived in power.  “While we did what we always do, they led Brazil into the future. When they occupied their seat and showed their claws, they befouled themselves in a monthly payola scheme, a corrupt scheme that Brazil now rejects.” During his speech to the convention, Agripino said he felt at home in supporting the PSDB. The senator critiqued the 10 years of the PT in the federal government. “In their incompetence, they brought inflation back and traded cheap foreign debt for R$ 2 trillion in internal debt.

The president of the  PPS, federal deputy Roberto Freire (SP), insisted on his party’s support for the “Toucan” Aécio Neves. “We are able to stand with Aécio, we were with him in Minas and will be again in 2014, without a doubt.” Freire said he expects “difficult times” during the campaign, pointing to the presidency’s attempt to impose a bill in the Congres that would asphyxiate new political parties, restricting their TV time and their access to the Party Fund.  “We will encounter difficult times going up against a government that, because it lacks respect for freedom, will use means to win the election using marked cards.” Freire also stressed the urgency of working in opposition to the PT government. “I believe it is of the upmost inportance for Brasil not just to call ourselves parties of the left, but to be parties of a democratic republican left.  This is the challenge before the PSDB, to confront those who do no respect democracy and republican institutions.

São Paulo’s new mayor has a plan for the Augean Stables of one of the world’s most automobilistic sprawls.

Source: Brasilianas.Org.

By: Wanderley Preite Sobrinho
Translation: C. Brayton

SÃO PAULO — With its Arch of the Future and “urban corridor” plans, the city government intends to revise the Strategic Master Plan by increasing the supply of jobs on the periphery of the city without having to restrict the circulation of automobiles.

The administration of São Paulo mayor Haddad is betting all of its chips on revising the city’s Strategic Master Plan in order to reduce traffic congestion without the need to restrict traffic in the central districts, as it has since 1997 with the rodizio, the  once-a-week rotating restriction of automobiles based on license-plate numbers.

In this way, the city will also have no need to challenge the federal government’s industrial incentives program, responsible for an increase in the purchase of personal automobiles — the principal villain of traffic congestion in the city.

The city government’s strategy is to use the Master Plan to realize one of the principal promises of mayoral candidate Fernando Haddad (PT): the Arc of the Future, whose aim is to reduce the circulation of vehicles in the expanded urban center by urbanizing and attracting jobs to the periphery, where most of the city’s population lives.

[photo caption ]Arch of the Future will transfigure the Avenida Cupecê. Residents and small business owners comment.

According to data from Fenabrave, the national federation of automobile distributors, more than 3.8 million new cars were sold in Brazil last year, up 4.6% from 2011. The study attributes this growth to the increase in consumer credit and the reduction of the IPI, the tax on industrial products.

“There really is a contradiction between the federal policy, which encourages car sales, and the need to reduce the flow of cars in favor of public transport in the cities,” admits the municipal secretary for urban development, Kazuo Nakano, during a discussion of the Master Plan and urban mobility held last week (May 7)

“Federal policy on car sales is one thing and city policies are another. They need to be reconciled”, says Lucila Lacret, of the Movimento Defenda São Paulo. “There is no point ini restricting the flow of automobiles without offering more public transportation. The passenger suffers a double penalty.”

Rather than adopting unpopular measures such as the rotating ban or an urban toll, City Hall is betting on the Arch of the Future, designed to attract companies to the banks of the Pinheiros and Tiete River beltways and the extensions of their principal connecting routes: Jacu-Pêssego Avenues, in the Eastern Zone, and Cupecê, in the Southern Zone. These peripheral routes form an arch surrounding the city.

According to urban planner and city councilmember Nabil Bonduki (PT), “The arch was first sketched out in the Master Plan of 2002 and will be defined more explicitly in this year’s plan.” “The current plan already defines zones of centralization and restructuring.  The idea is to restructure the city based on the concept of the Arch, which will connect the city’s subcenters.”

Bonduki explains that Jacú-Pessego and  Cupecê need to be “requalified” by means of interventions defined by the Master Plan and expressed in a specific ordinance that affords financial incentives to companies who set up shop in these areas.  The promise is to reduce ISS, the tax on services, to 2% and reduce IPTU, the tax on urban properties and buildings, to zero.

“It is not just about transportation. It has to do with integrating transportation with the city’s other needs. “65% of jobs in the services industry are migrating from the historic downtown to offices in the Southern Zone, generating congestion in those areas,” he says.

According to the urban development secretary, 2.5 million people leave the periphery every day for these areas, “overwhelming the public transport system.”

Urban Corridors

Without citing former mayor Gilberto Kassab (PSD) by name, he blames the Kassab government for the increase of traffic in the city in recent years. He explains that the “single ticket” Bilhete Único program increased the number of passengers, but the construction of new bus corridors went nowhere.

“71 km were built between 2003 and 2004 [the final year of the Marta Suplicy administration]. None were constructed between 2010 and 2012.” Haddad promises to build 150 km by the end of his four-year term.

The secretary said, however, that areas slated for restructuring will receive “urban corridors” designed in accordance with the new development plans.  “These are corridors that will receive landscaping and functional upgrades, not just a scar where buses circulate.  They will receive adjoining leisure areas in order to add value to the city,” Lucila explains.

The urban planner believes that the Master Plan will have to be very explicit if the Arch of the Future is to make it off the drawing board.  ”It is not enough to bring jobs to the area without infrastructure where the companies can create jobs,” she says

“The street plan of the entire Eastern Zone is substandard. The streets are narrow and do not afford general access to all destinations.  WIthout accessibility, companies and suppliers will not migrate to the periphery. The city administration must explain more effectively how they plan to implement this plan.”

Judicial Police in action against militia members, November 2009

G1 reports on the sensational feat  of locking up dozens of military police for organizing themselves into what amount to militia groups — protection racketeering, mostly.

Agents from the Sub-Secretariat of Intelligence of the state security secretariat and the internal affairs agency of the military police, in coordination with GAECO, the state prosecutor’s special organized crime task force, last night began an operation designed to arrest a gang of criminals — most of the military police — who were extorting street merchants and informal van services in Bangu, in the Western Zone, and neighboring areas.

Of the 78 persons charged by the state prosecutor, 59 are policement: 53 from the military police and six from the state judicial police. The policemen involved worked out of different units: the 14 Miltary Police Battalion (BPM)(Bangu), the 9th BPM (Rocha Miranda), the 31st DP (Bangu) and officers assigned to the task force on crimes against intellectual property, designed to combat street vendors.

All were remanded to custody as the judge also issued further search warrants ifor the homes and workplaces of the men involved. The men are accused of criminal conspiracy, extortion and robbery.

The investigations, which included the use of court-approved telephone wiretaps, indicate that the group collected a surtax in exchange for permitting the sale of pirated merchandise and the operation of mototaxis in the area. In denouncing the case, Gaeco prosecutors say that the scheme demanded R$ 70 a week, payable in two installments, paid on Wednesdays and Thursdays, The money was divided up among members of the conspiracy.

On Saturdays and Sundays, each street vendor would pay R$ 5. This money was used to pay off policemen who work the military police outpost on the Calçadão de Bangu, one of the busiest business districts in the city.

Group also committed robberies

Rather than being sent to the legislative police station, pirated goods were misappropriated by the police, who supplemented their income through the resale of pirated goods.

The investigation also shows on July 26, 2012, two armed, on-duty policemen, threatening two itinerant vendors and in the process stealing shirts and shorts work R$ 4,000 belonging to one of the men. The other vendor had pirated CDs and DVDs stolen. The MP-RJ said the robbery took place because the street vendores did not pay the weekly sum demaned.

The principal criminal activity of the gang took place during open-air markets in Ari Franco, Cônego Vasconcelos, and Marechal Marciano Streets, in Bangu. Some of the group also operated along Jurubaíba and Américo Rocha Streets, in the Honório Gurgel suburb of Rio.

Caught in the act on video

In an interview with Rádio CBN this morning (30 April 2013), the subsecretary of intelligence said that video had been recorded that showed police committing a crime.

“In these videos, you see the extortion of merchants by armed military police in street clothes as they stroll through the street market collecting money, then turn the money over to the police outpost located at the Bangu market where it would be distributed by patrol cars. It’s all documented there,” said Fábio Galvão, adding that the complete case will involve nearly 400 policiais.

The group releases the above LP in 1997, followed by Agonia do Morro (2003)

A seminal human rights-oriented rap crew is back after a decade hiatus. The report is translated from Brasil de Fato.

After ten years without releasing an album, rap group Consciência Humana will appear on a record titled “Strong and Firm,” due for release in the latter half of this year. With the participation of famous guest rappers, the group promises to launch new ideas while maintaing the same principles.

“As long as there is injustice and police violence, people, we are going to be on top of it. On the day that this is accomplished, we will stop speaking out,” says group member WGI.

The rap group Consciência Humana rose to prominence in 1991 with lyrics that focused mainly on violence perpretrated by the State — violence that intensified in the periferal regions of the city after the demise of the civil-military dictatorship of 1964-1985.

It was in this context that the group produced Now is the Time, which portrays murders committed by policemen of ROTA, an elite patrol unit of the state military police.
Listen to a news story with the group’s music as a backdrop.

The song, based on actual facts, mentions the names of military personnel who are quite well known in such outlying neighborhoods as São Mateus (Eastern Zone), the birthplace of the rappers. One of these is Corporal Bruno, who participated in the so-called “Death squad” charged with at least 50 homicides. Paulo Counts Lopes (PTB), the former head of the ROTA a sitting São Paulo city councilman, is also singled out by the record.

Consciência Humana has forged a powerful identification with São Mateus. In the song «Law of the Periphery», the group recites the main problems faced by residents on a daly basis. Group member Preto Aplick said that these songs are important ways to create a sense of belonging to community residents.

“The newspapers have had only negative things to say about São Mateus. Only bad things emerge from the community, as opposed to such postive examples as athletes and performing artists. All of a sudden, here comes a group of performing artists, a rap group calling attention to all our problems. The population of São Mateus trusted our word and this meana so much to us.”

Consciência Humana recently granted an interview to the TV arm of Brazil de Fato … The Brasil de Fato team traveled to the São Paulo neighborhood of Itaquera where the Só Monstros studio, owned by the group, is located. Ten years after its last recorded release, Consciência Humana is readying a new CD, «Firme Forte» — roughly, «Stand Strong and Firm» — that signifies a new era in the group’s career. This year, the group will celebrate 22 years in the business..

Persecutions

With ROTA patroling the streets of the urban peripheries, terror was inevitable. Created in the 1970s with the mission of sustaining the military government in power, the performance of the duties left traumatic souvenirs. The track «Aplick» brings back many powerful memories of that time.
“We lived running away from them. That was when I wrote my first song, «Terror in São Paulo». From then on I was listening to the ideas of people I met in the dark of night. I passed part of my life in the street. Then I ran straight into them. And so we began writing this history. In the middle of recording that song, I met Conte Lopes. He invaded the shanties, he shot my uncle in the mouth. It was from that experience that “The Time has Come” was created.
Conte Lopes counts declares war
After the song made the radio and achieved excellent ratings Consciência HumanaConsciência Human was interviewed by the Popular Notice magazine. The group recounted the persecution and killing carried out by death squads with military police as members.
Popular Notice shone the spotlight on massacres which, according to the residents of São Mateus, were commando by ROTA commanding officer, Counts Lopes. The policeman, however, denied the accusations and at one point threatened the members of group.
In the introduction of another track called «Gray Rat Scumbag», an audio insert appears to be a recording of Conte Lopes, saying «listen here, it is Magnus and Capitan Conte Lopes … this is the Magnão we like to see,” referring to the singers in the group. Aplick says that the persecutions had increased since then.
“In the Popular Notice daily, he asked people to stop singing this song during concerts unless they wanted problems. But people continued singing along with this song. We are not stopping. It was then ROTA started to lean heavily on our shows.. ROTA would arrive at the show and said “You are not going to sing that song.” They took up positions in front of the stage ane were against our performing,” Aplick recalls.
For WGI, another member of Consciência Humana, taking the hard line influenced the political context. . “At the time, Conte Lopes was running for the legislature and we were making sure that he he lost votes among voters in São Mateus.

Black-market van stuffed with 10 armed, ninja-style black-clad corpses, December 2007, Rio de Janeiro

Source: O Globo — Portal ClippingMP.
Translation: C. Brayton

A follow-up to Rio Has New Man With Plan for Van, from 2007.

That year, fierce feuds over turf and market share broke out among the militias and drug traffickers who shake down independent operators of vans and mototaxis for «tolls» and «insurance».

It makes you wonder: are such measures also aimed at undermining the economic base of the milícia — cohorts of current and ex-police who invade territory neglected by the state and impose a mafia-style discipline — in these areas.

Probably. Ferraz, the special secretary of supplementary public transportation, made his bones pursuing the militias of Rio. He is also the author of the novel that formed the basis of the film Tropa de Elite |  Elite Squad 2.  The official announcement, from December 2007:

On December 5. Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Paes announced the creation of a special office of supplementary public transportation, led by state judicial police official Cláudio Ferraz, former commander of the anti-organized crime bureau that has pursued the militias of Rio.

The Ban on the Van

Vans may no longer circulate in eleven Rio neighborhoods starting Monday

Starting Monday, vans and VW minibuses that transport passengers will be barred from circulating in 11 neighborhoods in the Southern Zone of Rio de Janeiro. The decree was published by mayor Eduardo Paes yesterday in the Official Gazette, as Ancelmo Goals noted in his column. City hall said the downtown area will be the next to restrict van traffic, but did not say when this would occur.

Under the decree, vans are forbidden to operate inside Planning Zone 2.1, encompassing such neighborhoods as Botafogo, Humaitá, Urca, Leme, Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon, Lagoa, Jardim Botânico, Gávea and São Conrado.

In the case of Vidigal and Rocinha, two lines will be allowed to continue operating City Park-Gávea and City Park-Fashion mail, but thesevans will be required to observed a fixed itinerary. An estimated 500 vans and microbuses will cease circulating in the region.

Vidigal and Rocinha are long-established shantytown neighborhoods.

The measure came 12 days after an American woman and her companion were assaulted and the woman raped inside a van after boarding it in Copacabana.

The mayor, however, insists that the decree was ready for publication in April, and that recent events only reinforce his decision. The prohibition is part of a package of legislation seeking to regulate this type of transport, but other stages of the plan, such as the reduction of the current fleet of 6,000 to 3,502 vans, have not yet become law.

— It was part of the flight plan. The forecast was April.

—I am not here to say that everyone who operates a van is a delinquent. On the contrary, most of them are good people. At some point, however, the issue becomes a police matter. It was at that point  that we created a special task force to deal with this question —  Paes affirms.

According to the mayor, contracts to operate in Vidigal and Rocinha will awarded by competitive bidding and will link these communities with Jardim de Allah.

— the Southern Zone already has sufficient public transport. It has bus lines, subway and taxis. It is an area of the city that it has no need for van service. Vans are a supplemental form of transport that covers the areas not served by city bus lines.

Van riders are divided in their view of the decision by City Hall.

— This is nonsense, said Kátia Santos, 47, as she climbed into a van in the Leme neighorhood.

Salesman Giovanni Michelino, 42, who lives in Rocinha and works in Ipanema, argues that starting Monday he will have to transfer at Jardim de Allah and transfer to another line in order to get to work.

— I will have to spend more, because vans do not accept the Bilhete Único — «single ticket» — intermodal  pass. During the evening rush, city buses are intolerable because of the volume of passengers departing the Southern zone in the direction São Conrado.

Bus drivers, meanwhile, are wary. Jose Ribamar, who drives the Conrado-Leme route, said the decision would cause unemployment.

— I am very angry. I have worked in van transport since 1996, and I still don’t know how hard this decision is going to hit me.

Law student Breno Akherman, who lives in Leme and studies downtown, defends the decision the ban:

— Vans come in very handy, especially here in Leme. But I still think it is a dangerous mode of transportation, and all its cars are broken down. I prefer to take the bus — the young man says, as he tries to wave down the 472 Leme-Triagem line, which as it happens does not stop here.

Professor of Transportation Engineering at PUC-Rio, Jose Eugenio Leal believes that banning the van can have a positive impact on traffic in the Southern Zone.

— Vans do not play a major role in the part of the city. Alternatives exist, except in Rocinha and Vidigal, where vans are still allowed. I believe that the measure can reduce conflicts, such as the attrition between fixed stop bus lines and van service that stops wherever and whenever it is signaled.

— In this sense there should be a positive impact. In areas that depend a great deal on van service, such as Governor’s Island and Campo Grande, a period of transition will be needed in order to absorb passenger demand.
Rules expected in May

The city’s special coordinator on Alternative Transport, Claude Ferraz, explained that in vans will continue to circulate in other areas of the Southern. As in the quarters of Flamengo, Laranjeiras, Glória and Catete.

— The prohibition applies to Botafogo-São Conrado portion of the line. The latest measure is part of a process designed to normalize public transport in the City of Rio de Janeiro. Recent events and the results of field inspections, which identified 600 irregular transport vehicles in a single month, accelerated the process.

Ferraz says that the Local Public Transport System (STPL), empowered to auction off new lines and reduce the number of vans, is expected in May. The prohibition may also be extended to other areas, such as the expressways. The coordinator adds that regulatory oversight will follow the standard that is already in the process of in being adopted, with the support of Detro, the Military Police, Detran and the Municipal Guard. The inspectors will be stationed at the main access points to the Southern Zone.

—We are studying the measures that we are going adopt — Ferraz affirms.

Guillermo Biserra, general counsel for the Sindvans transport workers union, says his union is studying ways to suspend the decree.

—We are going to take a stand with City Hall, proposing that it suspend its decree. Not only does it affect transport workers, it also harms  the population of the affected areas. Of the licensed vans circulating through the area, 500 will be removed from circulation. Each vehicle carries 200 passengers per day on average. This translates into at least 100,000 trips a day, enough to cause traffic chaos in the Southern Zone area .

Chaos, assuming that each van rider gets behind the wheel of their own automobile.

São Paulo has an equivalent profession, that of the perueiros or gypsy cabbies. In a recent setback, they were barred from servicing Guarulhos International Airport.

If Mexico can finally imprison Elba Ester Gordillo, why shouldn’t the Brazilian finally bring down the notorious M.A.L.U.F?

The following excerpt is translated from the Estado de S. Paulo |  Portal ClippingMP. File it under «political grotesques».

SÃO PAULO – A São Paulo court has ordered the freezing of R$ 520 million from the Maluf family business Eucatex.

Or about US$ 260 million.  Eucatex, a eucalyptus grower, was founded by in 1951, thrived under the military dictatorship — which named Maluf mayor of the capital and later governor of São Paulo state. He is featured in a World Bank list of 150 notable corruption cases.

The measure was taken at the behest of the São Paulo state prosecutor’s office, which denounced insider transactions within the Eucatex group as part of a fraudulent effort to transfer Eucatex assets off the books and avoid payment of future court-ordered reimbursements as a result of various law suits against Maluf, accusing him of embezzling public funds while serving as mayor of São Paulo.

[The court] found that the prosecutor’s indictment demonstrates “the possibility of fraudulent reporting of assets” by Eucatex, but the ruling may be overturned if Eucatex can show that the penalty will drive the company into bankruptcy.

As the Folha de S.Paulo revealed in March, the prosecutor’s office believes that the family is trying to escape payment of court-ordered monetary awards by transferring assets to a newly founded member of the group, ECTX. Prosecutors see the transaction as fraudulent and believe its purpose is to “dehydrating” Eucatex of its assets.

Back in March, Eucatext VP José Antônio Goulart de Carvalho, denied the accusation. Goulart said the asset transfer to ECTX was undertaken because the new company would represent the vanguard of a new, more transparent governance model.

In July 2012, Eucatex transferred R$ 320 million of its assets to ECTX. In May and October, Eucatex released a Material Event statement to the market, saying it had initiated a “process of share reorganization” in order to transfer its assets.

ECTX, according to Goulart de Carvalho, is waiting for CVM authorization to launch an IPO in the capital markets.

Legal Troubles

Eucatex and the Maluf family are defendants in a case in which prosecutors have moved for the return of US$ 153 milhões that was supposedly stolen from the São Paulo city government, wired overseas and then funneled into Eucatex through various financial transactions.

There is also an open case on the Isle of Jersey involving the transfer of money by Maluf family members.

Overseas companies with ties to the Malufs have been ordered to reimburse US$ 28 million to the city of São Paulo, funds thought to be the fruit of fraudulent dealing involving the city government. These companies have appealed the decision.

In the present case, the Jersey court also ordered the freezing of Eucatex shares belonging to foreigners with ties to Maluf.

In a statement, Eucatex says it was not officially notified of the asset freeze involving R$ 520 million as ordered today by the São Paulo court.

There is another open case against Maluf, in fact, O Dia notes:

In the federal Supreme Court, Maluf and family were charged in 2011 on allegations of money laundering and using Eucatex to camouflage the misappropriation of public funds during Maluf’s term as mayor, from 1993 a 1996.

Maluf’s status as a sitting federal legislator entitles him to be tried by the Supreme Court.

Without Notice

In an official statement, the company says the motion to block its accounts has already been applied for by the prosecutor in 2009, and the application failed both in the first instance and on appeal.

According to Eucatex, the accusation is groundless given that the company’s net assets increased after the cretion of ECTX, from R$ 997 million in 2011 to R$ 1.1 billion at year’s end 2012.

“It should be recalled that Eucatex is a publicly traded corporation, with hundreds of shareholders, among them the federal legislator Paulo Maluf, who is not an executive of the company or even a member of  the board of directors,” the company added.

True: it is currently led by Maluf’s son Flávio. Interpol has an open arrest order on Flávio, from what I read. Otávio Maluf is chairman of the board.

The creation of ECTX was part of a general restructuring of the company with the goal of qualifying for the Novo Mercado listing segment of the São Paulo Stock Exchange, reserved for companies with superior governance standards and practices. The new company has been waiting since December for the CVM to rule on its registration as a publicly traded company.

Parapolitics: City council candidate displays Batman militia symbol

I read it in the Folha de S.Paulo. Partial translation: C. Brayton

Every Friday night, two motorcycles with no license plates cruise the streets of Guaratiba in the Western Zone of Rio de Janeiro, demanding money from local business owners.

On the weekends least five different locations inside the community, with its population of 110,000, host funk dances overflowing with drugs and booze.

Electronic slot machines are stashed away in warehouses or the false bathrooms of bars so that residents can play while drinking the one brand of beer that is “authorized.”

Local residents avoid talking about the situation and business owners are afraid.

And yet it it is precisely this area the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro has scheduled to receive 2 million persons during a July 28 visit from the pope. It is here that Francisco will celebrate his first mass in Brazil, marking a high point of World Youth Day.

Guaratiba is dominated by the largest militia group in Rio, which controls another five neighborhoods in the region as well. Militia members, for example, set opening and closing times for local business.

ON the arrest of the faction leader: «Batman, you lose! »

Formerly known as the Justice League, the militia once used the Batman symbol to mark its turf, but has since come to be known as “Toni’s Militia,” a reference to its current chief: former military policeman Toni Souza de Aguiar, 38.

Toni is the subject of 11 open arrest warrants on charges ranging from homicide to criminal conspiracy.

In order to guarantee the safety of pilgrims, a substantial operation is being set up to control the region. Some 2,600 army troops will ocuppy Guaratiba 15 days prior to the event.

Along with 1,200 state and federal police.

The event will serve as a partial dress rehearsal for the World Cup and Olympiad.

Source: Portal ClippingMP.
Authorship: Guilherme Soares Dias | Valor Economico

I have recently received an incentive to closely and constantly keep an on the Brazilian transportation sector as a whole — not just what the ALLs and LLXs are up to.

Intercity passenger trains are being readied to circulate again in at least nine Brazilian states with plans under active study. In most of these cases, the intention is to reuse existing freight lines for medium-velocity passenger service. The plans provide for management by private sector concessionaires and ticket prices competitive with intercity buses, in a attempt to take some of the strain off crowded highways.

Brazilian roadways — constantly subject to apocalyptic weather conditions, let it be said — are a nerve-wracking way to get around, although mirabile dictu the rodoviários — bus stations — hum industriously all year long, and especially around Christman, when Northeastern families make the trek to be temporarily reunited.

In all, 1,900 km of so-called “regional trains” will get off the drawing board sometime this year. The federal ministry of transport has detailed plans for six stretches of railway, while SUDECO — the Superintendency of  Center-West Development examines two rail lines in the Brasília region. The state of Minas Gerais is studying three new lines and São Paulo is planning another five.

After a study by BNDES, the national development bank, issued a list of  64 railway lines that could be used to move passengers, the transport ministry chose 14  priority project for evaluation in 2011. Two years later, six of these are underway under the auspices of BNDES and one another, under construction by the state of Minas Gerais, should be ready by the the end 2Q13.

After the studies are conducted, the proposals will be opened up to public discusion, after which the transport ministry intends to assess tender offers for projects starting in 2014. Bids closest to completion so far include the Londrina-Maringá connection, in  Paraná, and the Bento Gonçalves-Caxias do Sul connection, in Rio Grande do Sul, where feasibility studies have been conducted and public audiences will begin next month in which residents and local governments will have their say.

According to Euler Costa Sampaio, coordinator of studies on regional and passenger rail in the transportation ministry, the rail lines will likely operate on the basis of a Public-Private Partnership or a concession model. “We want to take advantage of the new rules for the railway sector, which instituted right of way [for passenger trains] on freight train lines,” he said..

Along certain stretches, such as the connection  Londrina-Maringá, the plan is to create a double-track road, given the heavy cargo loads resulting from the line’s proximity to the Porto of Paranaguá. Studies will show that demand will be sufficient for an all-passenger service, says Sampaio. Estimated demands runs around 36,000 passengers a day and 13 million passengers a year.

Another challenge for the regional lines will be entering urban zones, in places where they might cross paths with municipal transport. “We will have to provide quality and accessibility in order to compete with the interstate bus lines. Fairs will have to be in line with what it costs to travel by bus”, a Transportes official said.

In some cases, such as the Salvador-Alagoinhas connection in Bahia, whose study will be filed in June, indications are that the rail line can be extended another 40 km to Feira de Santana. With its  568,000 inhabitants, the city is the second most populous of Bahia state and is connected to Salvador by Highway BR-324, which sufferes from intense passenger and cargo traffic.

Another stretch of track featured in the  Sampaio reporte is the São Luís-Itapecuru-Mirim triangle, in the northern state of Maranhão, where the largest petrochemical center in the Northeast is under construction.

In addition to the six rail linkages already under study, the transport ministry expects to contract studies for another six: São Cristóvão—Laranjeiras (SE), Recife—Caruaru (PE), Campos—Macaé (RJ), Itajaí— Rio do Sul (SC), Campinas—Araraquara (SP), Santa Cruz—Mangaratiba (RJ), and Bocaiúva—Janaúva (MG).

Os projetos preveem que os trens atinjam de 80 a 140 quilômetros por hora para encurtar, em alguns casos, o tempo de percurso atual. É o caso do trecho entre Brasília e Goiânia que teria viagens de 50 minutos, enquanto as de carro e ônibus duram de duas a três horas. O trecho é estudado pela Sudeco. A linha seria de uso misto, sendo aproveitada para transporte de cargas, com ligação da Ferrovia Norte-Sul em Anápolis (GO), onde está prevista uma parada.

O diretor-superintendente da Sudeco, Marcelo Dourado, ressalta que 6 milhões de pessoas moram no entorno da futura linha e devem ser beneficiadas pelo novo modal de transporte. Ele destaca ainda que haverá melhora no escoamento de produção do agronegócio. A região concentra o segundo Produto Interno Bruto (PIB) meso-regional só perdendo para Rio-São Paulo.

“Essa ligação mais rápida vai incentivar a industrialização e a conurbação da região”, acredita Dourado. Os estudos estão sendo concluídos e a intenção do órgão é que a licitação ocorra até o fim do ano, as obras comecem em 2014 e sejam concluídas em até sete anos. O custo estimado é de R$ 1 bilhão. A Sudeco estuda ainda a ligação entre Brasília-Luiziânia (GO), onde já existe linha férrea e seria necessária adaptação para o trem de passageiros. “Essa seria uma intervenção mais rápida e barata. Seriam necessários dez meses e R$ 90 milhões de desembolsos para viabilizar a linha”, afirma Dourado. O trecho seria atendido por um Veículo Leve sobre Trilho (VLT). De acordo com o superintendente da Sudeco, os dois projetos têm chegada prevista na rodoferroviária da capital federal e devem desafogar as rodovias do Distrito Federal.

O governo federal prevê ainda estudos de um trem ligando as cidades do Triângulo Mineiro e outro mais ousado, da Superintendência do Desenvolvimento do Nordeste (Sudene), que planeja o “Trem da Costa Dourada”, linha de 2 mil quilômetros ligando Salvador ao Delta do Parnaíba (PI) pelo litoral, passando pela maioria das capitais do Nordeste. Apesar do apelo turístico do projeto até mesmo os estudos encontram dificuldade para sair do papel. “O Ministério do Turismo tinha se comprometido a bancar, mas ainda não conseguimos a liberação da verba. Agora estamos negociando com o governo espanhol para financiar os estudos”, diz o superintendente da Sudene, Luiz Gonzaga Paes Landim. Ele garante que o trem é viável e afirma que o projeto poderia ser “fatiado”, com início nos trechos de maior apelo turístico como Salvador -Praia do Forte (BA), Recife-Porto de Galinhas (PE), Natal-Praia da Pipa (RN) e Fortaleza-Canoa Quebrada (CE).

Para o coordenador de transporte de passageiros do Laboratório de Transportes e Logística (LabTrans/UFSC), Rodolfo Philippi, os projetos atuais estudados pelo Ministério dos Transportes terão viabilidade reforçada pelo transporte urbano, uma vez que o aproveitamento de linhas já existentes vai possibilitar estações no centro das cidades. “Em locais maiores como Londrina, Maringá e Caxias do Sul poderá haver mais de uma estação incentivando o locomoção das pessoas dentro das cidades”, diz.

Já o presidente da Associação Brasileira da Indústria Ferroviária (Abifer), Vicente Abate, recorda que nas décadas de 60 e 70 os trens de passageiros chegaram a transportar 100 milhões de passageiros por ano. “Com o desinvestimento do governo na rede, os trens de passageiros foram perdendo competitividade e começaram a ser desativados e foram substituídos pelo transporte de rodovias. Agora devemos ter novo momento de retomada do setor”, considera.

Hoje, apenas duas linhas férreas recebem transporte de passageiros no país: a Estrada de Ferro Carajás, entre São Luís-Carajás (PA), e a Estrada de Ferro Vitória-Minas entre Vitória e Belo Horizonte. Ambas são mantidas em projetos sociais da Vale e movimentam juntas 1,5 milhão de passageiros por ano.

Good fodder for a private Wiki on the subject.

A recent op-ed by Daniel Ricardo de Castro Cerqueira, a researcher  at the Brazilian IPEA – The Institute for Applied Economic Research – in the pages of O Globo.

The headline, «Syria é Aquí» plays off  the Caetano Veloso composition «Haití é Aquí» — no need to look to Haiti for examples of extreme poverty: they exist in abundance here at home.

The UN recently announced that nearly 70,000 Syrians have died since the outbreak of hostilities in that nation.

During the same period,in Brazil, according to calculations based on data from the Ministry of Health, 120,000 Brazilians were murdered.

Unlike wartime violence, however, this social violence is diffuse in origin and has been a part of daily life for decades. Approximately 1.4 million Brazilians have been murdered since 1980.

It is possible to predict within a small margin of error that this year, 60,000 persons will fall victim to homicide. The victims will be, for the most part, young, male, black or brown, with less than a junior high school education. For the most part, they will be shot down in the public streets between 10 p.m. and midnight.

Up until the 1990s, the national debate on public safety raged back and forth. Some called for more policemen  – preferably hard, implacable men capable of putting an end to criminals — while others insisted on a deterministic theory of crime as a natural consequence of social ills.

From 2000 on, however, the debate changed direction. People began to see how simplistic the old bipolar debate had become and to realize that resolving the situation called for social prevention programs operating in sync with quality policing that respected the rights of citizens.

There were important and innovative policy changes during that period as well.  In 2000, After the Bus 174 incident, public safety moved to the forefront of issues debated in municipal elections, and the federal government intervened ever more directly in the situation, establishing a National Public Safety Plan and the National Fund  for Public Safety.

Bus 174 is a 2002 José Padilha documentary — see the freeze frame at the head of this post — about a live on TV standoff between police and a homeless robber who commandeered a city bus. The stand-off ends in the shocking death of a hostage when shots are fired from close range as hostage and hostage taker descend from the bus.

The hostage taker, disarmed, is loaded alive and apparently uninjured into a squad car and taken to a hospital, where he is declared dead.

During the Lula government, the idea of integrating federal agencies with local forces was finally taken seriously. Under this arrangement, municipal governments could submit policy proposals to be financed by the federals government.

Along with problems of governance and coordination among the federal agencies, which must still be dealt with, it was also discovered that very few municipalities were qualified to file such requests. On the other hand, the challenge of bringing down the murder rate in Brazil is such an important, and such a difficult, task that it cannot merely be left up to police, city administrations, or the federal government alone.

It is time to come up with an anti-homicide campaign involving various levels of government, civil society, the business community and academia. This campaign should consist of a general letter of intent oriented by a precise analysis of adverse factors relating to crime in each of Brazil’s 288 cities with more than 100,000 population.  Every program and policy adopted should have its efficiency measured quantitatively rather than claiming success based on trust and common sense.  The time has come! If not for the tragedies that threaten the integrity of Brazilian families, then do it for the R$ 110 billion per year these lost lives cost the economy.

Source: Diário do Vale, a regional newspaper for a portion of the Vale do Paraíba.

On the occasion of his swearing in, the newly appointed federal police official for Volta Redonda, Elias Escobar, promised to combat the militia in the region.

Escobar said that criminal organizations composed of bad cops are to be found everywhere in Rio de Janeiro state, and that they  tend to engage in such black-market businesses as illegal gambling and pirate Internet access and cable TV.

— I am going after the militias. We fear no one and we will spare no one. Although these groups operate discreetly, I believe their crimes are worse than those of common criminals, because these are groups of men with law enforcement credentials and a state-issued weapon. These are to be used to defend citizens, but somewhere along the line these cops went bad,” said Escobar.

Escobar added that Macaé, where he worked before this reassignment, was already taking action against militia organizations.

— We conducted Operation Roubo S.A in 2009 and arrested 32 policemen — he said. Roubo S.A. was carried out in September 2009 and sought to combat bank robberies and load jacking.

This action received zero googleable search results and only a desultory mention on the public affairs site of the DPF.

Along with the militias, Escobar, 56, with 17 years in the service of the PF, intends to go after financial crimes such as embezzling federal funds from the budgets of federal aid recipients, as well as to crack down on the market for drugs and weapons. To this end, Escobar says he will work jointly with other institutions.

— We will work more closely with the judiciary and the public prosecutor, and we will avail ourselves of synergies with other law enforcement agencies, such as the military and state judicial police, the Municipal Guard, the Federal Highway Patrol, and municipal secretaries of public safety and order,” he said..

Objectives

Escobar says he means to procure more human resources, mostly in the area of intelligence. The Volta Redonda office currently houses 20 federal police agents.

Escobar also says he intends to raise funds to erect a new building for the office. The feds currently occupy a rented building, but the land needed to build the force a headquarters of its own has already been acquired.

The superintendent of the Polícia Federal in Rio de Janeiro state, Valdir Lemos, says that personnel transfers within the organization are common.

— Our goal is to give the office a thorough airing out. Escobar, born here in the Sul Fluminense and knowledgeable about the region, is being moved out of Macaé to replace Carla de Melo Dolinski in Volta Redonda. Our objective is to assure the continuity of our case work,”  Lemos said.

In October of last year — election season — Rio governor Cabral warned of the expansion of militia groups outside their traditional -quasi urban milieux .

 Sérgio Cabral (PMDB) said he was extremely concerned about the runoff round in Rio, which takes place on Sunday.  Cabral says that persons from the  Baixada Fluminense, with ties to militia groups, are coming to the city to work as canvassers.

Cabral said he had already alerted the state secretary of public safety to what was going on. Cabral’s remarks came during a visit to Volta Redonda, accompanied by  federal vice-president Temer and Rio mayor Eduardo Paes. All three announced their support for the reelections of mayor Antônio Francisco Neto (PMDB).

— I am very concerned. One hand I have support of Neto, Temer, president Dilma, ex-president Lula. On the other hand, ex-governor Anthony Garotinho is running for mayor after making a hash out of his time in lower house of congress, despite his complete lack of skills for such a job.

Garotinho is bringing in people from Baixada Fluminense to serve as whips and canvassers. These are professionals at what they do, and include persons with militia involvement.

During the election, the election authority ordered law enforcement to be vigilant for signs of illegal conduct.  The item dates from July 17, 2012.

Security is being tightened for the elections so that candidates that are not well regard [sic] by paramilitary groups will not be prevented from campaigning in certain areas of the city. .

Another objective is to prevent attacks on candidates like state deputy and would-mayor Marcelo Freixo (PSOL). Freixo presided over the state legislative commission of inquiry into the militia phenomenon and inspired the character of an engaged  politician  in the film “Elite Squad II.”

The order was ratified in a meeting between justices of the elections tribunal and representatives of federal police forces, the Army, the elections prosecutor and the state public safety secretary.

Volta Redonda is a crossroads city, connecting Sampa to Rio along the Vale de Paraíba, among other connections.