Campus Fidei & The Million Man Mass

Campus Fidei in Guaratibe, Western Zone, Rio:

Source: Folha de S.Paulo

Topic: The failure of the Campus Fidei project for hosting pilgrims in the Southern Zone of Rio.

“Campus Fidei,” a 1.32 million square meter tract of land in  Guaratiba, in the Western Zone of  Rio and scheduled site of the closing vigil and mass of World Youth Day, was installed on a clandestine tract of land, according to state prosecutors.

Among the owners of the land is businessman Jacob Barata Filho, according to Christiane Monnerat, the prosecutor assigned to the case.

Filho is the son of Jacob Barata, known in Rio as “The Bus King,” because he owns most of the bus collectives in the city.

The area, an example of the manguezal ecosystem , cannot be subjected to landfill because it lies within an area of environmental protection.

Wikipedia:

Manguezal, also called mangue or mangal, is a costal ecosystem and point of transition between inland and marine environments — a humid zone characteristic of tropial and subtropical regions.

In addition …

«Chaos» In The Sambodian Subway

Eastern Zone stations due for completion in 2014

«Overcrowded Metrô reflects on chaos in public transportation»

Source: Estado de S. Paulo

Translation: C. Brayton

SÃO PAULO – Scenes of S. Paulo’s overcrowded subway system have caught the attention of the foreign press. Reuters published a series of images of overcrowded trains during peak rush hour, noting that Brazil’s largest city “faces some of the worst gridlock in the world.”

The news agency says that city and its 20 million inhabitants spend up to three hours on a journey of approximately 14 km in the wealthiest neighborhoods and the principal financial center of Brazil.

Maluf | Corruption Comes Home to Roost

The Maluf-inspired Roberto Marinho Avenue — a Sambodian Big Dig

G1 reports

A court in the Isle of Jersey, a European fiscal paradise, has ordered the transfer of one million pounds sterling — some R$ 4.5 million — with ties to the family of federal deputy Paulo Maluf (PP-SP) to the municipal coffers of São Paulo.

The funds were released on Friday (May 24) and deposited in the account of a law firm representing the city in London.  The money will be returned to the public coffers on May 28, since May 27 is a holiday in Great Britain.

Jersey court denies Maluf appeals Jersey, orders Maluf-owned companies to return US$ 28 million to SP

Jersey condemns Maluf to repay embezzled funds

NGOs of the Amazon | Social Irrigation & the Network Effect

A vertex is a good hub, if it points to many good authorities,and it is a good authority, if it is pointed to by many good hubs. —WOUTER DE NOOY, ANDREJ MRVAR & VLADIMIR BATAGELJ, Exploratory Social Network Analysis with Pajek

Source: Thiago Foresti | Carta Capital
Translation: C. Brayton
Network Analysis: C. Brayton

You rarely see social network theory applied to journalism for the lay reader, and so I read with interest Thiago Foresti’s recent progress report on the networking strategies — or lack thereof — of environmental nonprofits in the Brazilian Amazon.

In a nutshell, Thiago’s overview of the complex universe of green NGOs points to an oversupply of “gatekeepers” and a shortage of “hubs.”

I find this interesting: I have my own data from a big Web crawl that allows us to examine the “link ecology” of NGOs enumerated in the article — above, and below.

This makes me happy, because it means the data collected by extensive Web crawling — crawling 100,000 URLs with WIRE, developed by Chilean researchers  — and network analysis — with Pajek, Gephi and yEd — produce lists of concretely linked URLs whose mutual ties tend to be thematically coherent or empirically verifiable.

Above, for example, GTA is positioned as an itinerant broker between two other organizations. Adjusting the sample size and factoring out social networking platforms could present this relation in a different light, however.

Intuitively, however, it comes as no surprise that the the Observátorio do Clima would reference the Grupo de Trabalho Amazônico, for example. This is what countless Web portals in the “observatory” or “watch” genre do for a living.

An analysis of a given site’s «link ecology» can provide us with a roster of networked actors engaged in similar activities.

«How the numbers rackets use Rio samba societies to skim public funds and launder illegal gambling money»

Here is that clipping I promised you about the complex economics of the mighty and magnificent Carnaval celebrations of Rio de Janeiro:

• How the numbers rackets use Rio samba societies to skim public funds and launder illegal gambling money

As I mentioned in a previous note, it is not so shocking to find organized crime thriving in an atmosphere oxygen rich with private and public subsidies.

ÉPOCA magazine reports — from its November 11, 2012 issue — and I translate a selection:

Edson dos Santos is the managing partner in a company with an imposing name — Alumilax — that ostensibly fabricates and sells metals. One look at Edson’s home is enough to realize that the pomp and circumstance suggested by the company’s name is nothing more than a piece of paper bearing his name and a CNPJ.

Edson is nothing more than a front man who lives in the Preventório shantytown in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro.

Alumilax is nothing more than a shell corporation.

Edson and Alumilax are part of an intriguing scheme set up by the Rio numbers rackets to conceal the origin of stolen public funds, or launder dirty money through accounts used to mount Rio’s Carnaval celebration.

Or perhaps both at once.

ÉPOCA magazine has obtained exclusive access to an investigation by the Rio state prosecutor into the financing of Carnaval celebrations and their escolas de samba.

During Carnaval 2010, shell companies issued 14 falsified receipts worth R$ 1.25 million and made payable to such samba schools as Mangueira, Imperatriz Leopoldinense, Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel, União da Ilha do Governador and Viradouro.

Among the papers discovered were four promissory notes executed by Alumilax.

Rio de Janeiro’s carnival societies are the prime mover of some R$ 1.5 billion per year in tourism revenues.

To bring “the greatest show on earth” to the avenue — and the world stage — Rio has recently begun to follow positive examples drawn from the business world — pitching to sponsors and selling rights to its brands to companies desirous of associating themselves with the wildly popular celebration.

But more and more funding is still needed for the increasingly expensive spectacle, and so the Carnaval establishment of Rio de Janeiro continues to use underhanded practices that stray far from the sort of benevolent capitalism that creates revenues, taxes, income, and jobs.

Falsified receipts are commonly used to justify expenditures that never existed and were never paid. The goods were never sold, the price was never paid, but even so, the transaction was accounted for.

This is how one creates an artificial profit margin that can be used to wash dirty money, such as the earnings of the bicho-bankers of Rio de Janeiro.

In the case just discussed, it is as though the bicho bankers received a clean R$1.25 million check in exchange for the same amount in dirty cash.

The same logic applies to the misappropriation of public funds. The samba schools simulate expenditures funded with public money from the city government, but never spend the amounts declared on the phony receipts they supply.

In this way, money can be spent for other purposes than for the financing of a carnival society.

Here the article sidebars off into an interview with prominent anthropogist Roberto da Matta. The article dates from November 11 of last year.

Roberto da Matta: What does Carnaval say about Brazil?

In an indirect confession, the president of LIESA, Jorge Luiz Castanheira, admits to practices akin to money laundering.

During a public audience held last Wednesday, when asked to explain the allocation of public funds to Carnaval, Castanheira hinted that the samba schools buy materials all year long with money not duly accounted for. Only after receiving funds from the city government do the samba schools begin to issue notes to justify their expenses.

In an indirect confession, the president of LIESA, Jorge Luiz Castanheira, admits to practices akin to money laundering. During a public audience held last Wednesday, when asked to explain the allocation of public funds to Carnaval, Castanheira hinted that the samba schools buy materials all year long with money not duly accounted for. Only after receiving funds from the city government do the samba schools begin preparing receipts to justify their expenses.

Castanheiro would not, however, say where the money to support the samba schools in the interim comes from. “This year’s budget will not go into affect until the second quarter. We will receive the money before the end of January. In January, we have at least a month of Carnaval. How am I going to get a proper receipt for wood, carpentry services, fabrics, and all the other stuff we are currently buying? I must tell the truth,” said Castanheira, who was unaware that an ÉPOCA reporter was in atttendance.

Sought out after the hearing ended, Castanheira said he had misspoken and that he defends the allocation of municipal funds to the samba schools several months before Carnaval begins. He says that Liesa is no longer associated with the bicho bankers and has taken steps to audit its finances.

Castanheira is a relatively unknown quantity whose election in 2007, however, ended the run of a bicho-controlled leadership that began in 1984. LIESA continues to list legendary bicheiros as members of its advisory council:

1. Ailton Guimarães Jorge
2. Aniz Abrahão David
3. Luiz Pacheco Drumond

«Capitão» Guimarães was a notorious torturer during the dictatorship.

Castanheira added, however, that the samba schools should be questioned individually about the issuing of false receipts.

The LIESA Web site is not exactly a Vesuvius of financial forthrightness. Neither is the Rio Junta Comercial — roughly equivalent to the corporation registry of a U.S. state where you can look up corporations. In Brazil, you most often have to go to where the dusty boxes are stored, it seems to me.

State prosecutors are categorical in stating that Carnaval is being used to launder dirty money.

With that in mind, it recommends that the public administration take the proper precautions before joining the festivities.

“The public and notorious fact, that the bicho-bankers fund the samba schools in order to launder money, draws attention to the fact that millions allocated by the Rio city government to Carnaval were used to purchase goods and services at commercial establishments belonging to persons with ties to the rackets,” the state prosecutors said, in a joint communiqué.

Castanheiro would not, however, say where the money to support the samba schools comes from. “This year’s budget will not go into effect until the second quarter. We will receive the money before the end of January. In January, we have at least a month of Carnaval spending. How am I going to get a proper receipt for wood, carpentry, fabrics, and all the other stuff we are currently buying? I must tell the truth,” said Castanheira, who was unaware that an ÉPOCA reporter was in the audience

Sought out after the hearing ended, Castanheira said he had misspokien and that he defends the allocation of municipal funds to the samba schools several months before Carnaval begins.

He says that Liesa is no longer associated with the bicho bankers …

He has three of the biggest bicheiros ever on staff in an advisory capacity!

and has taken steps to audit its finances. Castanheira added, however, that the samba schools should be questioned individually about the issuing of false receipts.

The state prosecutor is categorical in stating that Carnaval is used to launder dirty money. He recommends that the public administration take the proper precautions before joining the festivities. “The public and notorious fact that the bicho bankers fund the samba schools in order to launder money draws attention to fact that millions allocated by the Rio city government were used to purchases goods at commercial establishments belonging to persons with ties to the rackets,” the state prosecutors said, in a joint communiqué.

Electricity | Waiting for the Waters of March

As the date draws near for the early renegotiation of generation, transmission and distribution concessions in the Brazilian electrical sector,  Jornal da Energia suggests that major players — including the state-owned Copel and Cesp and the privately owned Tractebel — will fare better in the stock markets than will companies that agreed to the renegotiation.

I cannot offer an authoritative translation of the article because I am still trying to catch up on my investor education regarding the ins, outs and bureaucratic tesseracts of the industry.

It does seem plausible that the state-owned companies refusing early renegotiation, the aim of which is to reduce electricity retail prices by 20%, represent political alliances acting in concert.

Copel, Cesp, and Cemig are all owned and operated governments of the opposition PSDB party. Their combined market share — my half-assed pie chart, above — represents a near-perfect counterweight to the federal Eletrobras.

Cemig is not, however, included in the list of higher performing concessionaires, and has demonstrated systematic seasonal volatility over the past 5 years — above, the company’s ADRs.

The IOU of Paulo Maluf | Jersey Court Sets Penalty

Maluf inaugurates the Roberto Marinho bridge

As the Brazilian culture industry begins to respond to government subsidies and incentives, it would be neat if someone took up the challenge of making a biopic on Paulo Salim Maluf or PFL Senator Antônio Carlos Magalhães.

Source: Folha de S.Paulo.
Translation: C. Brayton

A Jersey court has ruled on the amount that current federal deputy Paulo Maluf (PP-SP) must return to the city government of São Paulo in a case involving the diversion of between 1997 and 1998 of public funds: US$28.3 million, equivalent to R$ 57 million at current exchange rates.

The sentence ordering the repayment was handed down on Friday, January 18, in Jersey, a Channel Island off the English coast.

When the court found Maluf guilty on November 16, 2012, the only pending issue was the original value of the assets misued: US$ 10.5 million

Caption: Paulo Maluf photographed at the headquarters of Eucatex, his family business.

The court found that this was the sum of money misappropriated as of February 1998 and corrected the sum as of the date of Maluf’s conviction, on November 16, 2012. Interest was set at 1% above prime, using T-Bills as a reference.

Maluf was also ordered to repay the plaintiff’s legal costs. Estimates are that these costs could run as high as  R$9 million, but the city has not yet produced an official calculation of legal fees spent on British solicitors since February 2005.

Maluf himself was ordered to return the funds because the court concluded that he and his son Flávio controlled two offshore companies, Durant International and a Kildare Financial. that received a total of US$10.5 million.

Maluf denies controlling these firms.  The Jersey court possesses documents signed by Maluf.

According to the Jersey court, the money was misappropriated during the construction of Àguas Espraiadas Avenue (later renamed for Globo chief executive Roberto Marinho) between 1997 and 1998, when Celso Pitta, on Maluf’s recommendation, was at the helm of the city government. In its ruling, the court took special note of the fact that the scheme was executed when Maluf ran the city, between 1993 and 1996.

A Jersey court has ruled on the amount that current federal deputy Paulo Maluf (PP-SP) must return to the city government of São Paulo in a case involving the diversion of between 1997 and 1998 of public funds: US$28.3 million, equivalent to R$ 57 million at current exchange rates.

The sentence ordering the repayment was handed down on Friday, January 18, in Jersey, a Channel Island off the English coast.

Jersey court holds Maluf responsible for siphoning off US$ 22 million.

When the court found Maluf guilty on November 16, 2012, the only pending issue was the original value of the assets misued: US$ 10.5 million

[Photo caption] — Paulo Maluf photographed at Eucatex, his family business.

When Maluf was governor, he had a highway built especially to ease his commute between the rural Eucatex and City Hall.

The court found that these funds were misappropriated in February 1998 and ordered that they be corrected as of the date of its ruling — November 16, 2012.  Interest rates were set at 1% above prime, using T-Bills as a reference.

Maluf was also ordered to repay the plaintiff’s legal costs. Estimates are that these costs could run as high as  R$9 million, but the city has not yet produced an official calculation of its legal fees spent on British lawyers since February 2005.

Maluf himself was ordered to return the funds because the court concluded that he and his son Flávio controlled two offshore companies, Durant International and a Kildare Financial. that received a total of US$10.5 million.

Maluf denies controlling these firms.  The Jersey court is in possession of documents signed by Maluf.

According to the Jersey court, the money was misappropriated during the construction of Àguas Espraiadas Avenue (later renamed for Globo chief executive Roberto Marinho) between 1997 and 1998, when Celso Pitta, on Maluf’s recommendation, was at the helm of the city government.

Maluf is legendary for his «pharaonic» public works projects, the most infamous of which is the Big Worm — Minhocão, an elevated throughway that, in the words of local motorists, mostly serves as a congested bridge between one giant pool of traffic congestion and another.

In its ruling, the court took special note of the fact that the scheme was executed when Maluf ran the city, between 1993 and 1996.

Lula and Haddad of the PT suck it up: Grip and grin with Maluf is price of PP support in municipal elections. Opposition parties also sought the Malufist imprimatur

 

Electricity In the Air | A Hard Charging Government Plan Takes Shape

 

“It’s reckless to say that there’ll be rationing, but it’s also reckless to say there won’t be,” –Ricardo Correa, Ativa Corretora

Source: Carta Capital.

President Dilma Rousseff has signed the law that extends the concessions of electricity generators and reduced taxes on the sector in order to offer electricity at a reduced cost to the consumer. Under Law 12,783, date January 11, 2013 and published in the Official Diary on January 14, 2013, generation concessions can be renewed one time only, for a period of 30 years, in order to ensure continuity, efficiency and lower prices.

In order to get their concessions renewed, the concession holders must meet the requirements of the federal energy regulator, ANEEL, with respect to rates and quality of service. ANEEL will also oversee the passing on to the end user of investments needed to maintain the quality of service and continuity of operation of the nation’s hydroelectric plants.

Naturally, capital market operators and the government have sparred over the risks and costs of the new regulatory regime.

As Luis Nassif accuses the mainstream media of exaggerating the risk of rationing due to an unusually dry tropical autumn, stock market analysts interviewed by two reporters from O Globo lament the effects of the new policy on the profitability and dividend payout of the affected companies — colorfully described as a «dividend blackout».

The Panic Newsroom

Andre Barrocal of CartaCapital writes:

What President Rousseff could not have imagined is that 2013 would begin with  electricity transformed into a major headache. This happened thanks to the combination of real factors — hydroelectric construction projects behind schedule and very little water in the reservoirs after a dry spell — together with an erroneous reading of the scenario by certain sectors of the mainstream media, who reported that a return to the energy rationing of 2001 was imminent.

Confident that talk of a return to rationing was «ridiculous», Dilma put together a political initiative while on vacation in Bahia — a vacation she decided to interrupt and return to Brasília to supervise directly. Energy regulators and other officials in the area were instructed to offer reassurances to the public and calm the concerns of citizens and the business community. The keystone of this initiative was a press conference held on January 9 with Mining & Energy minister Edison Lobão “There is no risk of an imminent shortfall and I expect there never will be,” he said.

Absolute confidence, however, depend on the summer rains, which were less than generous in late 2012, to the point that reservoirs … were at their lowest level since 2001. ONS, the National Electrical System Operator, which manages the flow of energy throughout Brazil from areas of oversupply to areas of shortfall, was obliged to modify its planning for this eventuality.

Nassif reprises an embarassing moment for Globo and the Folha de S. Paulo, both of which reported that an «emergency» meeting of the technical oversight committee of the E&M ministry had been called. The meeting was routine and went off as scheduled. Globo, Veja, and the FSP were obliged to issue a correction.

Nassif explains:

The electrical energy market is divided into two segments. There are long-term contracts, negotiated between major consumers — including energy distributors — and their suppliers. The other is the so-called spot market, used for short-term transactions.

Incorrect information such as was published by the FSP can cause volatility in the prices fixed by the spot market. It can also cause companies to suspend investments and activate contingency plans.

In this case, the market was not affected because big business and major investors have their own sources of information, and the Internet was effective in defeating the rumor and correctly reporting the MME’s response to reports on the supposedly «extraordinary» nature of the meeting.

As Bloomberg reported recently, this state of affairs is not exactly a zero-sum game.

A dry spell that’s emptying Brazilian hydropower dams is poised to turn Cia. Energetica de Sao Paulo, the second-worst generator stock last year, into one of the industry’s biggest winners.

Cesp, as the utility is known, and other producers that can sell extra electricity in the spot market may be able to profit after prices surged to a record, said JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Banco BTG Pactual SA. Net buyers of energy in the spot market — from billionaire Eike Batista’s MPX Energia SA (MPXE3) to steelmaker Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA — stand to lose the most, analysts said.

Nassif concludes:

Even so, the inaccurate report was used to support the argument that  problems with energy supply were the result of the plan to cut energy bills — a plan that has not even gone into effect yet.

The Corretores

Writing in O Globo today — «A Dividend Blackout», how clever —  João Sorima Neto &  Eliaria Andrade round up reactions from major brokerages to the impending implementation of price controls partially subsidized by tax breaks.

Analysts predict shortfall in energy sector dividends in the face of government actions and the risks of rationing.

Oliveira, of the Magliano brokerage house: The brokerage has sold off electricity companies in its portfolio.

After taking a beating in the stock market since September, when the government announced measures to reduce the cost of energy to the consumer, share prices continue to suffer well into the New Year.  In the first seven Bovespa sessions of 2013, shares in energy sector companies lost R$ 2.5 billion in market value. In 4Q2012, the same companies lost $34.8 billion in market capitalization.

In this case, the specter of energy rationing was behind the stampede.  Paradoxical is the situation of a sector that has always proven attractive to investors because of the dividends it pays.  In the current scenario, however, dividends will likely suffer, say experts in the field.  The energy investor, these experts say, will have to carefully select companies whose revenues are less affected by the policy.

—  Before 2011, the electric companies paid dividends of 10% to 12%, on average. That number now stands at 6% to 7%. And some companies may forgo paying dividends altogether  — according to William Alves, an analyst at XP Investimentos.

Dividends are the percentage of company profits distributed to shareholders.  They represent extra income not dependent on the market price of shares.

The electric companies have always paid healthy dividends because  they generated large amounts of cash and required few investments.

Required few investments of themselves, perhaps. Many have taken a beating from a newly activist crew of regulators in recent years over quality of service.

Even now, as I type this paragraph, we are under fire from torrential rains likely to have a dual effect: It will help swell reservoirs and it might well produce those marvelous serial explosion of electrical transformers to which we have become accustomed over the years.

Energy-sector companies were also considered a low-risk, defensive investment, with stable share prices even during moments of market volatility. This has changed, as we have seen in recent months.  [The sector’s] stock exchange losses are approaching 50%.

The tumble occurred [in September.] when government action threatened the profitability of these companies, explains Júlio Oliveira, a partner at the Magliano Corretora brokerage house.

In order to reduce electrical bills by 20% starting in February, the federal government rescheduled the renovation of concessions expiring in 2017 or earlier, and ordered generators and transmitters to accept 70% of their current income.  With that, companies that adhere to the new plan will see profits decline.  Energy rationing could also reduce sales and impact profits, although the government denies there is any risk of rationing.

—  Bringing thermoelectric plants online [as a back-up measure]  also concerns the shareholders of the distribution companies.  The cost of production of these plants is much higher, and the sector will have higher costs until rates are readjusted, according to Pedro Galdi, a market strategist at SLW.

The entire sector has suffered in the stock market, but even so, market analysts are not recommending a massive sell-off.  They are closely studying the impact of the regulatory changes on each and every company in the sector and have reached certain conclusions. There is consensus that Eletrobras shares are not a good buy option at the moment.  Some expect that the state-owned company will pay no dividends at all.  The recommendation is for investors in Eletrobras to trade their shares in for other stocks.

— Eletrobras was the first company to adhere to the government reform.  This new reality reduces cash generation, which affects the payment of dividends, says William Alves of XP.

Julio Oliveira, of the Magliano brokerage, believe that if Eletrobras does pay dividends, these will be the minimum demanded by law: 25% of net profits.

CTEEP — the São Paulo energy transmission company —  has already paid out 100% of profits in the form of dividends, but it is highly unlikely to do so again, says Beatriz Nantes, an energy specialist at Empiricus Reserach/Investmania.

According to Nantes, CTEEP’s acceptance of the government plan will affect its earnings. Nantes also does not believe that Eletropaulo will offer satisfying dividends.  CTEEP, though not so heavily affected by the government plan, recently concluded its third cycle of rate readjustments, in which the company’s prices are reevaluated.  The price was cut by 9%, on average.

—  Eletropaulo is no longer a reliable payer of dividends, — Nantes says.

Among those energy-sector stock that may still pay attractive dividends are Tractebel, TAESA and AES Tietê, the analyst says. Nantes believes that these companies were not heavily affected by the government-mandated changes.

The XP brokerage house is recommending Taesa and Tractebel.

Tractebel carries very little debt, which enables it to generate more cash.  The concessions held by Taesa, meanwhile, expire in 2030, which reduces the company’s regulatory risk exposure, says Alves.

Magliano Corretora has removed all energy-sector stocks from its portfolio of recommended investments.

— You should not sit on these stocks for four or five years, especially in view of these changes in the industry.  We have a portfolio of dividend-paying shares that, while not as generous as electricity dividends once were, still present a favorable opportunity cost.

Among these are Ambev, Souza Cruz, Sabesp and Vale. Souza Cruz, for example, will pay 100% of its profits as dividends. This is one option to consider while the profitability of the electric sector remains unclear,  Oliveira says.

Beer, cigarettes, sanitation and nickels. Who can live without them?

High Tension in Low-Lying Places | NIMBY in the Alto de Pinheiros

I suppose I have lived here in Sambodia long enough now to be drawn in to local NIMBYism — «not in my backyard» lobbying in defense of narrow interests.

Hell, taking a gander at our IPTU — property taxes, basically — is turning me into someone with a valid opinion on the subject.

A case in point, featured on Page C1 of the Folha de S. Paulo today:

Source: Folha de S.Paulo
Translation: C. Brayton

The legal battle between residents of the Alto de Pinheiros neighborhood — Western Zone — and electricity supplier AES Eletropaulo over the network of high-tension wires that crosses the neighborhood has arrived at the federal supreme court, the STF.

• System is totally safe, company says
• Electricity grid should be buried, says local resident
• Cell phone antennas also the target of lawsuits.

The STF will hold a three-day public hearing in March to discuss whether high-tension towers lead to health problems, such as cancer.

Residents are paying international specialists to defend their position in Brasília.

RIo | «Eleven Jailed in Militia Case»

A curious phenomenon is visible on the cable TV screens of Brazil.

As reported earlier in the year by ANCINE, cable operators will now be required to meet quotas of nationally produced content on their channels, much of which consist mainly of dubbed or subtitled series from Sony, Warner, Universal, Disney, et al.

This works well when my wife and I are watching Futurama, for example, but this is the exception that proves the rule: Brazilians speak Portuguese.

The problem is that Brazil lacks the huge back catalog of film history that makes TMC such a must-have subscription.

Net does well to keep a dedicated channel — 66 on our Net box — supplied with homegrown content, mainly short subjects heavily subsidized by the federal Lei do Audiovisual and participants.

The real-life  result of this situation is that certain contemporary Brazilian films are being screened over and over and over and over again, day after day after day after day.

A case in point are the two Elite Squad films by Fernando Meirelles, director of The Constant Gardener and a sort of homegrown Coppola.

If the first film depicts, even celebrates,  a world in which moral ends justify unspeakable means, the latter — «Elite Squad, the Enemy Within», as reasonably translated by an industrious Wikipedian — tackles the much more insidious world of corrupt police involved in death squads, protection racketeering, black marketeering, arms and drug trafficking and election tampering in a neighborhood modeled after the infamous Rio das Pedras shantytown, about which I have taken pretty copious notes over the years.

Like the Western Zone militias of today, for example, the militiamen of the film assume identities modeled after action comic books.

Art does not resemble life, you might say. But consider the latest revelations about Batman and the League of Justice.

Source: Terra Brasil.