U.S. Navy’s USS Carl Vinson in Rio
By Jaylan Boyle, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – Late last month, fresh from playing a key role in Operation Unified Response, the international humanitarian aid mission to assist Haiti after the disastrous earthquake, the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson made a stopover in Rio de Janeiro. The purpose of the trip was to [...]
Walls and Opposition Building in Rio
By Christine Wipfli, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – For one year the project to build walls around the favelas of Rio has been underway, yet many continue to question what exactly is the government’s motive for constructing the so called “eco barriers”.
The state government of Rio de Janeiro calls the eco barriers project a means [...]
Scandal Continues as Clinton Arrives
Jaylan Boyle, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – The ongoing corruption scandal that has dogged the Conservative Democrat Party (DEM) has claimed another victim, with the resignation of acting governor of Brasilia Paulo Octavio. As the latest member of the DEM to fall on his sword, Mr. Octavio essentially leaves Brasilia without a governor just [...]
Dead Fish Create a Stink in Lagoa
By Jaylan Boyle, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – Anyone lacing up a pair of trainers with the intention of taking a jog around the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas probably got a nasty surprise this week. Nobody but the masked city municipal workers dared to get anywhere near the normally picturesque lake, situated in the [...]
Mercosur and EU Near Agreement
By Jaylan Boyle, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – Mercosur, South America’s co-operative trade organization, and the European Union (EU) could forge an historic trade alliance as early as May of this year according to some sources. However there remains a key issue confronting the two parties: agricultural subsidies that the developed world pays to [...]
Students’ Ship Sinks Off Rio Coast
By Marcela Canavarro, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – The ordeal of the Canadian ‘Class Afloat’ on board the SV Concordia has ended well with all 64 passengers safe and on land. The tall ship from Nova Scotia sank off the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro, near Cabo Frio, on the night of Wednesday, [...]
180 Days After Amnesty
By Lenora Deslandes, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – The Presidential decree signed by President Lula in June of 2009 marked the third time that the Brazilian government has offered amnesty to illegal immigrants (the other two were in 1988 and 1998). In the six month period granted by the Brazilian government for foreigners to apply [...]
Brasilia’s Governor Arruda Arrested
By Pedro Widmar, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – A historic turn of events occurred on Thursday, February 11th which marked the first time in twenty-five years since the end of the Military dictatorship that an elected governor was detained during his mandate.
José Roberto Arruda (currently without a party), the governor of the federal [...]
US Diplomat From Rio in Haiti
By Mira Olson, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO— Matthew Garrett, a Junior Consular Officer at the US Consulate in Rio, recently returned to Brazil after a twelve-day volunteer mission to help evacuate American citizens from Haiti in the aftermath of the January 12th earthquake.
Having learned French during his previous tour in Burundi (Eastern Africa), Garrett [...]
Regional Electorate Tribunal
By Pedro Widmar, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – After a defeat in a polemical campaign against corruption in 2008, Rio de Janeiro’s Regional Electoral Tribunal (TRE-RJ) is back in action, only this time with a different agenda.
In 2008 they lost in a campaign focused on prohibiting candidates with criminal records from participating in the elections. [...]
