By Maria Lopez Conde, Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Residents of Vila dos Pinheiros and Vila do João, favela communities in the massive Zona Norte (North Zone) Complexo da Maré neighborhood, are preparing for the establishment of a Police Pacifying Unit (UPP), following last month’s entry of armed forces into the area. In [...]
By Lucy Jordan, Senior Contributing Reporter BRASÍLIA, BRAZIL – The Ministry of Defense in Brazil is sending 25,000 soldiers to patrol its borders in an unprecedented military operation to shore up security at next month’s Confederations Cup. The first of a series of high profile mega-events to be held throughout the country, the Cup will [...]
By Ben Tavener, Senior Contributing Reporter SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – A rumor that the Bolsa Família anti-poverty program was set to close led to hundreds of thousands of families withdrawing the state benefit over the weekend. Caixa Econômica Federal, the state-run bank that organizes the Bolsa Família, said R$152 million (around US$75 million) had been [...]
By Anna Kaiser, Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Heavy rains hit Rio de Janeiro in the early hours of the morning yesterday, causing the closure of Santos Dumont Airport and much flooding, major traffic and power outages around the Rio metropolitan area during commuter hours. Traffic delays continued throughout the day and into [...]
By Ben Tavener, Senior Contributing Reporter SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – The Brazilian Senate has approved by a wide majority a bill that changes rules governing how the country’s ports are regulated, in a victory for the ruling government, despite last-minute attempts by opposing senators to derail the bill. The bill aims to open state-run ports to [...]
By Maria Conde, Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The state of Rio issued 2,091 land titles to residents in the iconic favela Rocinha last Friday. These are the first of 9,000 titles the Instituto de Terras e Cartografia do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, (ITERJ – Institute of Lands and Cartography of the [...]
By Lucy Jordan, Senior Contributing Reporter BRASÍLIA, BRAZIL – Gun registration in Brazil has soared over the past eight years, according to research by Globo. Data collected from the Federal Police shows the number of guns with legal licenses jumping from 5,161 in 2004 to 31,500 in 2012, 18,627 of which, some sixty percent, were [...]
By Anna Kaiser, Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The bid for the private ownership of the Maracanã football (soccer) stadium for the next 35 years appeared to have been settled Thursday, May 9th. Yet after public outcry, a court order injunction prevented the state government from concluding the contract until the merits of [...]
Lucy Jordan, Senior Contributing Reporter BRASÍLIA, BRAZIL – The governor of São Paulo state, Geraldo Alckmin, said on Thursday that R$1,350 in government subsidies will be provided monthly to addiction centers to treat each individual drug users for six months. The measure is part of the state’s program to combat crack cocaine addiction, which is [...]
By Maria Lopez Conde, Contributing Reporter RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The city of Rio de Janeiro launched a program aimed at monitoring the behavior and conduct of the bus drivers that navigate Rio’s streets, according to a statement released last Friday. This measure comes in the midst of a recent uptick of accidents and [...]
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