Brazil

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Re: Brazil

Post by blindpig » Fri May 30, 2025 2:01 pm

Lula expropriates land and settles 400 families from Brazil’s MST

The former plantation in Paraná has been occupied since 2003 by members of the MST. Now, 450 families will live on Maila Sabrina settlement.

May 29, 2025 by Brasil de Fato

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The Brazilian president reinforced the role of the MST, Agrarian Reform, and the Maila Sabrina Community in the conquest and on the national level. Photo: Priscila Ramos/MST

A ceremony on Thursday, May 29, marked the creation of the Maila Sabrina Settlement on land that was once the “Fazenda Brasileira”, a large plantation owned by a rich landowner. It is located in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attended the ceremony and officially expropriated the plantation, settling 450 families from the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) who have occupied the site since 2003.

The settlement covers 10,600 hectares. Before being occupied by the MST, it was used for raising buffalo and was in a state of severe environmental degradation. Today, it is inhabited by around 1,600 people, who live off the production of 167 types of food, including grains, vegetables, greens and fruits.

At the ceremony, President Lula watched a performance by the Orquestra Popular Camponesa and was moved by the farmers who had been present throughout the 581 days of the Lula Livre Vigil. He emphasized that Brazil experienced paralysis under former President Jair Bolsonaro. “Fixing this takes time.”

“When I took office, I said that to avoid conflicts and deaths in the countryside, we had to map the country’s lands and create settlements. It took a long time because INCRA was dismantling it. I had to recover all of this because they were not governing,” said Lula.

Some of the settlers arrived in the region days after Lula took office for his first presidential term, when a small portion of the Fazenda Brasileira was occupied to create the Che Guevara Camp. In 2005, after more landless people joined the camp, the occupation expanded to the central headquarters of the area. In 2006, the community was renamed Maila Sabrina, in honor of a child who died in the camp due to a chronic illness.

Today, there is a community center, an outdoor gym, a basic health unit, a soccer field, a cafeteria, a market, churches, and the Caminhos do Saber Itinerant School, which serves 200 students and employs 20 staff. Almost everything was built through collective efforts.

The president reinforced the role of the MST, the Agrarian Reform, and the Maila Sabrina Community in the victory and in interventions nationally. “You do not invade, you seek dignity. And the more people are producing, the cheaper food becomes and the more people eat,” said the president.

“We lived here during Lula’s first term and we are being settled during his third term,” recalled Jocelda Oliveira, from the community’s leadership, at the settlement’s creation ceremony. “We learned to fight, persist and not give up.”

The Minister of the Secretariat for Institutional Relations (SRI), Gleisi Hoffmann, reinforced that the consolidation of Maila Sabrina was a commitment of the president. “I was here in 2022. There was an eviction order, tension. The election of the president represented the formalization of this settlement. Lula expropriated 54 million hectares in the first governments and now we are recovering Incra and strengthening the MDA,” said the minister.

The event also saw the signing of an agreement with Itaipu Binacional and the Ministry of Agrarian Development for the purchase of food with the intention of assisting people in situations of social vulnerability and strengthening family farming. The agreement was signed by Minister Paulo Teixeira and President Ênio Verri. Other agreements were signed, totaling over R 50 million.

Paraná has 329 settlements and 80 camps, which represent 28,000 settled families and 7,000 camped.

Land of the people
The creation of the Maila Sabrina settlement is part of the federal Terra da Gente program, which aims to accelerate agrarian reform by establishing settlements throughout the country. The federal government invested R 340 million to compensate the owners of the former farm.

Since 2023, the government has already allocated more than 15,000 new lots in conventional settlements. By the end of 2025, 30,000 families will have settled in new lots and another 30,000 by the end of 2026. President Lula’s government promises to benefit 326,000 families in traditional, environmentally differentiated settlements, regularization, and recognition in four years.

According to the Minister of Agrarian Development, Paulo Teixeira, this is the floor and not the ceiling of what the government intends to do. He recalled that agrarian reform needs resources. “We won the election, but we have a minority in Congress. Congress is the one that controls the Budget,” he stated.

According to the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Incra), in February, Brazil had 145,000 families camped awaiting settlement.

Lula said that this number is related to the abandonment of agrarian reform policies by the previous government. During the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro, there was no expropriation of land for settlements. The Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA) was even dissolved.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/05/29/ ... azils-mst/
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Re: Brazil

Post by blindpig » Sat Jun 21, 2025 2:38 pm

Republic of Oruam Part II: Crucible in the “Marvelous City”
By Julian Cola - June 18, 2025 0

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Image of two unidentified people in, apparently, Rio de Janeiro. [Source: static.aosfatos.com]

”It’s state terror / I’m gonna speak up / Maybe my time’s up / The world doesn’t accept trophies I’ve won in battle … / That’s why there’s hate in my words / Explain to a child why his hero is behind bars.”

— lyrics from “Anti O.R.U.A.M. Law,” by Oruam


Intro (Laws for Thee, Not Me)
Our cover image is a false-positive. A critical part of this story and the degree to which the criminalization of poverty and ideology of fear permeates Brazil, it will be addressed in the following sub-chapter.

To date, at least 12 capital cities across the South American giant, including state and federal representatives, have legislative proposals similar to the initial Anti-Oruam Bill tabled by São Paulo Councilwoman Amanda Vettorazzo. If approved, public funds earmarked for musicians and other artists who, allegedly, “incite organized crime or the use of drugs” will be prohibited.

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Oruam hounded by Brazilian media upon release from jail the first time in February. [Source: caras.com]

Noted in Part I of this series, double standards and the possibility of Oruam targeted by Brazilian intelligence agencies while others regale in Brazil’s “belas-artes” scene, are qualified in the texts of authors like the late Rubem Fonseca.

With respect to his fans, editors and publishers, as well as panel judges who have showered praise and awards upon his collection of short stories, a cursory review of his literary work is tantamount to post-graduate studies in criminality.

Whether or not such stories—hereupon citing Cafetões (Pimps) as exhibit B—warrant censorship is, at best, an afterthought. However, in riveting detail, Pimps depicts an overly self-righteous policeman who, having jacked aside the balance scale between the law, his authority and fancy of an ideal society, particularly for women, executes a pimp in the presence of his prostitutes. “Look here, girls, I’m keeping a close eye on you, understand?” the officer threatens while demanding they hang up their trade in exchange for respectable employment. “If not, I will blow your brains out like this bitch.”

Cover Image Controversy
Until March 2018, I was, like most, unaware of the growing curiosity behind this report’s cover image. Online fuss was intense and rapidly increasing, so I took a peek. I came to find out that fake news was spreading like wildfire about Marielle Franco. Days earlier, the Rio de Janeiro councilwoman, born and raised in the Maré (favela) Complex, was assassinated and social media users took the tragedy to hurl injurious remarks about her.

In one instance, they chastised Marielle’s marriage to Marcinho VP—Oruam’s father, Márcio dos Santos Nepomuceno, was known by that nickname as a young man—and how she was elected to office by the Comando Vermelho (Red Command or CV). While Marcinho VP is alleged by Brazilian authorities to be a prominent leader of the gang, Brazilian media spares no coverage when given the chance to describe the group as “organized crime” involved in widespread drug-trafficking.

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Márcio dos Santos Nepomuceno (Marcinho VP) [Source:ogimg.infoglobo.com]

The defamation campaign centered around our lead photograph. Marielle Franco is not the young lady pictured. The young man is not Marcinho VP or anybody else with that nickname. If that weren’t enough, Marielle and Marcinho VP were never husband and wife. Nonetheless, these textbook false-positives ignited social media where Brazilian officials chimed in, fueling the flames of misinformation.

“Pregnant at 16, ex-wife of Marcinho VP, marijuana user, rival gang defender and elected to office by the Red Command,” decried Congressman Alberto Fraga about Marielle on his social media page.

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Alberto Fraga is a congressman and former military police officer. [Source: jornaldebrasilia.com]

“She will not be missed at all,” wrote Rio de Janeiro Justice Court Judge Marilia de Castro Neves. In a separate online post, Neves suggested how “Marielle was not only an ‘activist’ but was completely involved with criminals. She was elected to office by the Red Command and did not fulfill ‘obligations’ assumed by her supporters.”

After lengthy investigations, Neves was temporarily removed from the bench for a 90-day period last year (2024). “It is unacceptable that faced with fake news, a judge believes (s)he is sufficiently informed to express prejudiced and offensive opinions such as this judge,” said special rapporteur Alexandre Teixeira who oversaw the inquiry.

Permanent dismissal was not determined. However, crystal clear was Neves’s intent: Criminalize Marielle; sway public opinion; foment the errant belief that her assassination was related to the company she kept, what Professor Marcelo Lopes de Souza refers to in his book, Drugs and the “Urban Question.” In Brazil, diversion tactics take away accountability from the real businessmen responsible for drug importation, exportation, wholesale and money laundering.

Subjected to a similar playbook prompted by sensationalized media reports are the favelas, Marcinho VP and, more recently, Oruam, a spectrum raising the question not only of media and political persecution but coordinated intelligence operations against the trapper from the sprawling German (favela) Complex in Rio de Janeiro.

“My father and I have no photos together,” Oruam regreted. “He’s not present, physically, in my life and, as if that were not enough, the media try every chance they get to destroy what he means to me.”

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Rio de Janeiro Justice Court Judge Marilia de Castro Neves. [Source: bnews.com]

CV

”My only concern is that you don’t oppress me / …With faith in God, I’m CV until I die.”

— lyrics from “Faith in God,” by MC Duduzinho


Unlike the Pink Tide, the Red Command is rarely if ever discussed in relation to resistance to neo-imperialism, albeit beaming from within Brazil. Whereas the country’s notorious military police passed go without a hitch from its founding days during the junta (1964-1985) and stands firm to this day, the CV was not as much invited to Brazil’s National Truth Commission to explain the reason for its establishment and why it persists.

Instituted during former President Dilma Rousseff’s administration and tasked with investigating human rights abuses between 1946 and 1988, the former head of state stressed that the country needs to know the totality of its history. “The new generation deserves the truth,” she said during the commission’s opening ceremony.

Founded in 1979 by Rogério Lemgruber, William da Silva Lima and José Carlos dos Reis Encina at Cândido Mendes Penitentiary—“Cauldron of Hell”—(Ilha Grande, Rio de Janeiro), “Peace, Justice and Liberty” comprised the CV’s flagship slogan. Establishing order and protection from guards were their initial objectives, goals achieved that garnered respect from other prisoners and even some prison officials. More pedantic in tracing their roots, popular historians cite earlier dates as the CV’s origin when the group was initially called the Red Phalanx or nameless.

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CV founders (left to right): William da Silva Lima, José Carlos dos Reis Encina and Rogério Lemgruber [Source: oglobo.globo.com]

Rio de Janeiro Councilwoman Talita Galhardo, along with co-authoring Councilman Pedro Duarte, have tabled an Anti-Oruam bill for debate. She cites Oruam at a live performance reciting the lyrics to “Gaza Strip” (by MC Orelha) as proof of his alleged incitement of organized crime.

Part of the song’s chorus includes “Red Command RL,” the acronym referencing Rogério Lemgruber. Raised in the Rebu favela, Lemgruber and his brother, Sebastião Lemgruber, were charged with multiple bank robberies before the former went on to co-found the CV.

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Rio de Janeiro Councilwoman Talita Galhardo. [Source: temporealy.com]

Upholding their cause for “liberty,” the CV planned and carried out prison escapes. Once free, some CV cells “expropriated” banks and armored trucks, the exploits of which were dedicated to fulfill two of their Ten Commandments: (7) Act collectively, and (8) Strengthen those less fortunate. In practical terms, this meant opening a “caixa” (savings account), monies used to support remaining incarcerated members and their families, finance future prison breaks and invest hard cash into their communities.

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Rogério Lemgruber [Source: oglobo.globo.com]

Outlawed in 1964 by the military dictatorship, the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) has long disarmed after regaining its legal status in 1985. Groups like the National Liberation Command (COLINA) and Palmares Revolutionary Armed Vanguard (VAR-Palmares), both entities active in armed struggle against the junta, even counting Dilma Rousseff in their ranks in her early twenties, no longer exist.

Ultimately, the last active armed resistance group that emerged in opposition to Brazil’s fascist regime and prior systemic oppression accentuated by military rule is the CV.

Despite his father’s notoriety, describing himself as having been just another CV “soldier,” Oruam has publicly denied affiliation with the group or any other such entities. At a recent concert in Rio de Janeiro, he spit in the face of front row fans who were throwing up gang signs at him.

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Oruam [Source: portalleodias.com]

Makings of Marcinho VP
Born in 1970 in Vigário Geral favela (Rio de Janeiro), Márcio’s father was killed when he was a baby and his mother, Maria Auxiliadora Santos, a maid from Salvador, Bahia, was arrested on four different occasions in Rio de Janeiro. “After the death of my mother, I felt obliged to care for my siblings,” she said, “which led me to commit crimes to guarantee our sustenance.”

According to his autobiography, Marcinho VP: Truths and Positions—Penal Rights of the Enemy, he and his three siblings were raised by an aunt after the family relocated to São João do Meriti (Rio de Janeiro).

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The adult is Marcinho’s mother, Maria Auxiliadora Santos; the children are (left to right) Marcinho’s older sister, his cousin, Marcinho (holding bottle) and his younger sister. [Source: terra.com.br]

In 1993, a death squad composed of 36 armed and hooded men, invaded Vigário Geral favela, killing 21 people. It was one of the largest massacres in Rio de Janeiro’s history until May 2021 when the police invaded Jacarezinho—one of Rio’s historic urban quilombos that transformed into a favela—leaving 27 residents and an officer dead.

“I really miss numerous friends who’ve passed / Day of tragedy with the stench of death,” Oruam, who was raised in the nearby German (favela) Complex, raps in Filho Do Dono (The Boss’s Son). “The state is genocidal with residents.”

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Marcinho VP following court proceedings. [Source: pbagora.com.br]

Denying ever having been a drug-trafficker and other crimes charged against him, Marcinho VP admits to a past predilection for bank and armored truck heists where CV sympathizers working at those institutions first conducted intelligence-gathering operations.

Following one such incident, support helicopters hovered above a favela as police and special forces converged upon the community in search of the assailants.

Marcinho VP recalls three comrades killed and officers recovering a duffle bag full of cash which disappeared from the scene, never to be recovered by investigators. He also claims to have been kidnapped by police officers before his detention in 1996 and released only after comrades robbed a bank and paid the ransom.

Sentence
Marcinho VP was apprehended in 1996 by undercover Rio de Janeiro police detectives operating in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. Subsequently sentenced to 36 years in prison for several crimes, including his alleged involvement in organizing (while behind bars) the murder of Márcio Amaro de Oliveira, a CV leader of the Santa Marta (Dona Marta) hillside favela who bore the exact same nickname—Marcinho VP, as well as ordering (also while behind bars) the murder of two rival gang members, he has been transferred to several maximum security penitentiaries.

Currently, he is detained at the federal penitentiary in Catanduvas in Paraná state.

Brazilian criminal law restricts all convictions to a maximum of 30 years. Therefore, barring some bureaucratic shenanigans, next year should see Marcinho VP’s release. His return to civilian life is scheduled to occur amidst what is already shaping up to be a highly contested 2026 Brazilian presidential election. Up for debate will be issues concerning security, gangs and, most likely, him.

Over the past months, Oruam has started to play a more public role in advocating for his father’s release. “My father made a mistake but he’s paying for it and more,” he said in 2024 during a live performance. “I just want him to complete his sentence with dignity and be released with his head held high.”

Defense
A “political prisoner” is what Marcinho VP’s lead defense attorney, Flávia Fróes, calls him. As for the CV and similar groups, she explains that “gangs emerged to resist oppression” and have “organized as a means to combat excessive state violence.”

True to form, Brazilian media dub Fróes the “drug-traffickers’ lawyer,” precisely for her staunch legal representation of clients from marginalized territories and impoverished backgrounds. Defendants include high-profile “anti-repression group” leaders from vying factions, even Little Seaside Fernando (Luiz Fernando da Costa, aka Fernandinho Beira-Mar), a former CV leader based in Rio de Janeiro who was eventually detained by Colombian authorities in a FARC encampment in 2001.

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Little Seaside Fernando (sprained arm) spent time in Paraguay before he was eventually detained in Colombia in 2001. [Source: oglobo.globo.com]

“Survival solidarity networks created during slavery in Rio de Janeiro exist to this day,” Fróes emphasizes in rebuttal to the press’s assertion that favela residents protect drug-traffickers. “It is difficult for somebody outside of those communities to understand how the mentality of someone who lives there works. The police and state only show up armed and shooting…Even if you kick a dog it bites.”

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Flávia Fróes [Source: Facebook]

Despite denials by the legal defense team of Rio de Janeiro’s ex-mayor and former governor Sérgio Cabral Filho, Marcinho VP swears that he personally met the disgraced politician during a pagode concert in the German (favela) Complex. Moreover, he says CV operatives helped Cabral Filho in his victorious bid for city hall in 1996. “From my standing in the community, he was allowed to speak, tell his stories,” Marcinho VP assured, “and, ultimately, dupe me wholesale.”

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Police occupy the German (favela) Complex in Rio de Janeiro. [Source: pt.wikipedia.org]

More on this contested relationship in Part III of “Republic of Oruam.” We will also look at why Fróes, an attorney who openly admits to her past “fascist” beliefs, arraigns Brazil’s progressive political leadership class for its devastating “ambidextrous” policies and how such measures situate folks like Oruam, his father and favelados (local favela residents) outside right/left ideological strands.

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Oruam hanging out. [Source: itapoamsnews.com.br]

Postscript

”This crap society doesn’t respect us / So cross our borders and you’ll pay a price.”

— lyrics from “Faith in God,” by MC Duduzinho


No wildcard at play, the CV emerges from severe, systemic economic exploitation. A prime example is the more than $19 billion (USD) annual wage theft from the largest demographic in Brazil, detailed in the Salary Loss From Racial Inequality report (2024). The recent corruption scandal involving public servants swindling pensioners and seniors out of more than one billion (USD), resulting in the resignation of Brazil’s Minister of Social Services, Carlos Lupi, is the latest demonstration. And I have yet to touch on Brazilian police brutality.

Brazil “deserves the truth” and that “never, ever again should one’s history exist without a voice,” said Dilma at the outset of the National Truth Commission. “Those who give voice to that history are…unafraid to write it.”

Paradoxically, the commission’s three-volume, 3,388-page, final report, while it acknowledges repressive state apparatuses that gave and give way to human rights abuses, mentions the word “favela” just six times. So the soundtrack to this crucible is played by Marcinho’s son, Oruam, as well as Mc Poze do Rodo, Sabotage, Racionais MC’s and others.

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2025/0 ... lous-city/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Brazil

Post by blindpig » Mon Jul 07, 2025 2:40 pm

Rio De Janeiro’s Latest Political Prisoner, Mc Poze Do Rodo, and Intensified Crackdown On Favelas
By Julian Cola - July 5, 2025 0

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Brazil’s Civil Police arrest Poze do Rodo last week. [Source: youtube.com]

(2023)
Black-geared men, what’s your mission?
Enter the favela and leave bodies on the ground
Black-geared men, what do you do?
We do things that shock Satan
…..
Black-geared men, to bring this to an end
We’re BOPE and we’re trained to kill
And I’ll kill
I’ll destroy
Destruction
That’s our mission

—Regimented cadence performed by Rio de Janeiro’s Special Operations Battalion (BOPE) during public jogging exercises.
(2025)
“Brazil ceased being a colony in 1822.”

—Alexandre de Moraes, Chief Justice of Brazil’s Supreme Court addressing remarks made by Elon Musk, CEO of X, over disagreements about the Brazilian government’s attempts to regulate social media platforms.
But maybe
My people will rise up one day
But maybe
Peace will reign in periphery communities
But maybe
My hillside favela will be happy again
But maybe
But maybe
It’s Poze

—Lyrics from “Maybe” by Mc Poze do Rodo
Arrested Again
“Since they can’t just outlaw being Black, they target something associated with the Black community.”

—Joel Luiz Costa, attorney and executive director of the Black Population Defense Institute.


The abruptness, severity and theatrics behind the May 29 arrest of funk and trap music artist Me Poze do Rodo (Marlon Brendon Coelho Couto) downgrades Brazilian media even further, to the point of the story being published in the New York Post.

Barefoot, shirtless, and with two Rio de Janeiro civil policemen restraining his arms and cuffed hands from behind and upward as far as his shoulder blades would allow without fracturing, Poze was hustled into a police station for processing. “How can I talk like this?” Poze asked one reporter as she panted frantically, nearly tripping over a parked car while asking for comments. Marching on the opposite side was another reporter constantly angling her microphone in front of his grimacing face.

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Poze do Rodo being arrested by Brazilian Civil Police. [Source: nypost.com]

This is at least Poze’s third arrest. His current trials and tribulations with Brazilian law will be for non-violent offenses if he is officially charged. Crimes insinuated and contemplated by authorities include lyrics and live performances alleged to incite criminal behavior, drug-trafficking, and association with the Red Command (CV). Basic conservative stenographers, the New York Post follows in the vein of their counterpart in Brazil, pigeonholing the CV to a single descriptor—“gang.” Brazilian authorities opt for “organized crime.”

Flávia Fróes, lead defense attorney for former CV “soldier” Márcio dos Santos Nepomuceno (Marcinho VP), disagrees, calling them an “anti-repression group,” formed “as a means to combat excessive state violence.” Last year Brazilian police forces killed at least 6,014 people.

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Police occupy the German (favela) Complex in Rio de Janeiro. [Source: pr.wikipedia.org]

Media, Police and Political Persecution
“Survival solidarity networks created during slavery in Rio de Janeiro exist to this day…It’s difficult for somebody outside of those communities to understand how the mentality of someone who lives there works. The police and state only show up armed and shooting…Even if you kick a dog it bites.”

—Attorney Flávia Fróes


Poze’s most recent arrest comes amidst an intensified crackdown on fellow recording artists from the favelas, like Oruam. The son of Márcio (Marcinho VP), he was detained on two separate occasions in February 2025. To date, at least 12 state capital cities across the South American gian have legislative proposals similar to the initial Anti-Oruam Bill tabled by São Paulo Councilwoman, Amanda Vettorazzo. If approved, public funds earmarked for musicians and other artists who, allegedly, “incite organized crime or the use of drugs,” will be prohibited.

Brazilian civil police notified that investigations into Poze also apply to Oruam, MC Cabelinho, Orochi, and associated record labels. CNN-Brasil analyst, Pedro Duran, cited officials use of the term “narco-culture” to broaden the web of suspects based on “funk (music)… ways of dressing… (and) favela communities. They all create an atmosphere of crime perpetuated by new generations who join criminal groups.”

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Pedro Duran [Source: f5.folha.uol.com.br]

Yet to be officially charged with a crime, Poze was transferred to Bangu 3, a Rio de Janeiro maximum security prison the day after his arrest. While investigators look into his case, Poze’s wife, Vivi Noronha, accuses the police of abuse and stealing some of his jewelry. She too has become the subject of an investigation into slander.

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Vivi Noronha [Source: terra.com.br]

Media, police and political persecution, fluid and seemingly coordinated, suggest more than coincidence. Whether it involves intelligence operations for maximum effectiveness, be they at the municipal, state or federal levels, should be investigated.

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Priscila Brandão [Source: multipalestras.com]

Last year I spoke with Priscila Brandão, author of the book, They Are Illegal and Immoral: Authoritarianism, Political Interference and Corruption Throughout Brazil’s Military History. She served as a coordinator for the country’s first Specialization Course on Intelligence and Public Safety and consultant for the federal government and various state administrations to develop intelligence and security policies.

During our talk, she said people within the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN) believe they must “spy” on people “who live in the favelas to ascertain if they are involved in “drug-trafficking.” A scarcely resourced (intelligence) agency, as long as ABIN continues spending funds on matters it does not need to, it will keep neglecting its actual purpose.”

Pushback
MC Cabelinho, a funk and trap artist who has recorded with Poze, compared his acting roles interpreting a drug dealer and thief for Brazil’s largest media conglomerate, Globo, where his work is credited as art, not inciting criminality. “However, when an mc, funkeiro, favelado speaks about life in the favela in his music, it is called inciting crime. Notice how subjective that is. Who makes that decision? Who decides what incites crime or not?”

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MC Cabelinho [Source: letras.mus.br]

Subjectivity intertwines with double standards when select lyrics sung by Poze and his colleagues are cropped alongside authors like the late Rubem Fonseca. With respect to his fans, editors and publishers, as well as panel judges who have showered praise and accolades upon his collection of short stories, including the Prémio Camões, the most prestigious award for literature in the Portuguese language, a cursory review of his work is tantamount to post-grad studies in criminality. Whether or not such stories—hereupon citing “Cafetões” (“Pimps”) as exhibit A in this report—warrant censorship or investigation is an afterthought.

In riveting detail, “Pimps” depicts an overly self-righteous policeman who, having jacked aside the balance scale between the law, his authority and fancy of an ideal society, particularly for women, executes a pimp in the presence of his prostitutes. “Look here, girls, I’m keeping a close eye on you, understand?” the officer threatens while demanding they hang up their hustle in exchange for respectable employment. “If not, I’ll blow your brains out like this bitch.”

In hard political terms, Maurício Rangel Reis, former Brazilian Minister of Internal Affairs, commented, genocidally, on policies geared toward the Indigenous populations in 1976. “In the next ten years, through coordinated efforts between various ministries, we can reduce the number of Indians in Brazil from 220,000 to 20,000. Then, in 40 years, all of them will be integrated into… society.”

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Former Brazilian Minister of Internal Affairs Maurício Rangel Reis. [Source: pt.wikipedia.org]

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Dilma Rousseff [Source: divulga.com.mx]

CV in the Crosshairs
Unlike the Pink Tide, the Red Command is rarely if ever discussed in relation to resistance to state oppression and neo-imperialism, albeit exercised within Brazil. Whereas the country’s notorious military police passed go without a hitch from its founding days during the junta (1964-1985) and stands firm to this day, the CV was not invited to Brazil’s National Truth Commission.

Instituted during former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s administration, the National Truth Commission was tasked with investigating human rights abuses between 1946 and 1988. “The new generation deserves the truth,” she said during the commission’s opening ceremony. Dilma was not an investigating committee member but, nonetheless, her words speak volumes, especially for the CV, the last active armed resistance group that emerged in opposition to Brazil’s fascist regime and prior systemic oppression accentuated by military rule.

Understanding the political implications tied to its establishment, why it persists, and what should and can be done to address their concerns, positions readily outlined in the group’s founding ten commandments, is simply criminalized by the powers that be and routinely ignored by traditional left-wing/progressive entities and individuals.

Briefer on Poze do Rodo
Poze do Rodo was raised in the Rodo favela. Under CV control during his youth, he lost approximately 30 family members and friends to violence by the police, militias (former or current police officers and firemen, including white-collar city officials involved in criminal activities), or rival gangs.

In order to leave and return to the favela without being detected by militia groups, Poze resorted to riding an internet installation and fixed/mobile telephone operator vehicle to get around. His early songs depict the harsh realities and some joyful memories of growing up in the favelas, include references to the CV, and speak of love, loss, police brutality, defending his community and more. Homenagem Pra Tropa Do Rodo (Homage To Rodo’s Troops) is one of his premiere songs that uniquely incorporates all of these elements. He was forced to abandon Rodo after militia groups overran the CV. A departure track recorded several years later is Give Me Your Hand, a song dedicated to his kids and family life.

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MC Poze [Source: extra.globo.com]

Here I am again, Mc Poze / Here to pay homage to Rodo’s troops / For my little brothers in the sky / They served Rodo’s Favela well / What can I say about Jeremias, a 100% father / What longing for Tchutchuco and my bro, Tinem / I cry whenever I remember our brothers / … This was an homage for my friends / Who are now resting with God / Thank you my warriors, you’ll never be forgotten.

—Lyrics from “Homage to Rodo’s Troops,” by Mc Poze do Rodo


With over six million followers on Spotify and more than four million on X, Poze’s success, level with or surpassing heavyweight political leaders—left, right, and center—also derives from his ability to expand his lyrical and stylistic repertoire. Trap and rap music fills his recording sessions of late. Similarly, Poze has further diversified and demonstrated maturity in his lyrical content, contrasting popular tropes with songs containing strong social commentary.

Political Implications

“Since I was kid, I stayed true to only faith / I stayed on my feet, I faced my monsters / When I swam against the tide, a warrior like Joshua / I never gave up on my dreams / My world is a giant wheel / Life taught me what’s important / I worked hard to make it turn, worried about succeeding / But never losing what I had before / Oh, God in the sky, forgive my faults / Without your care I would be nothing / If today I have more than what I lacked previously / It’s because God honored my path as deserving… / Everything was different in the beginning / But, sadly, nothing’s like it was before”

—Lyrics from “Since I Was A Kid,” by Mc Poze do Rodo


Image
Poze do Rodo spending time with his kids [Source: attribuna.com]

In some ways, Poze’s debut and subsequent material reminds me of another quote from Dilma, a former member of the National Liberation Command (COLINA) and Palmares Revolutionary Armed Vanguard (VAR-Palmares), two urban guerrilla groups that waged armed struggle against Brazil’s military dictatorship. “If children exist without parents; If parents exist without graves; If graves exist without bodies; then never, ever again should history exist without a voice; And those who give voice to history are free men and women unafraid to write it.” In other ways, aloofness overrides any connection as the final three-volume, 3,388-page National Truth Commission report includes the word “favela” or “favelas” just six times. The term Red Command or its initials, CV, does not appear at all.

In an unpublished interview I conducted with long-time human rights activist Jair Krischke, he repeatedly referred to the report as the National Almost Truth Commission.

Image
National Truth Commission report is presented to former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. [Source: en.wikipedia.org]

Like millions of favelados in Rio de Janeiro and across Brazil, Poze’s experiences growing up can’t be divorced from studies detailing grave socioeconomic disparities still plaguing the BRICs co-founding member. Last year’s Salary Loss From Racial Inequality report pointed out that Brazil’s largest demographic group, black people, are subjected to over $19 billion (USD) in annual wage theft due to “racial inequalities.”

Same Week, Different Headlines
Roberto Cabrini, one of Brazil’s most celebrated on-air journalists, once asked if it is imprudent to blame the state’s dereliction of duty for all of society’s problems, particularly drug trafficking? “Real drug traffickers are very far from periphery, poor communities in Brazil,” responded Fróes. “They are in politics. They are at another level, uninterested in having this discussion.”

A very basic, uneventful example of Fróes’ observation is the arrest of 19-year-old Laryssa Sales in Ireland the week prior to Poze’s arrest. An international student from Brazil, she and her 30-year-old Brazilian boyfriend and Aer Lingus employee, Otavoio Martin de Sousa, were detained in Dublin with roughly R$38,000 (approximately $6,700) worth of illegal drugs in their possession. Held in pre-trial detention after the pair provided authorities with a false address for their place of residence, Dublin District Court Judge Gerard Jones charged the two with possessing cannabis, cocaine, ketamine, MDMA and benzodiazepines for sale or supply. “She [Sales] would be on the next plane out of this country, if she got bail,” he said.

Image
Laryssa Sales [Source: irishtimes.com]

Metrópolis, a major online Brazilian media outlet, published an article about the incident with the headline “Brazilian Influencer Is Arrested in Ireland with R$38 Thousand in Drugs.” (Emphasis added.) With Sales’ court date pending, editors refrained from applying descriptors insinuating her guilt (despite the irony of her surname), a level of deference denied Poze. Not only that, the general silence or timid reporting by traditional left-wing/progressive media outlets in and out of Brazil about his case is very noticeable and pathetic, but not surprising.

Wrap-Up
Over years and decades of previous cultural movements, present-day periphery musicians have mastered the art of anti-system rhetoric and use of social media to gain a modicum footing with traditional media outlets. The latter’s response clearly indicates the ruling class’s growing fears and temerity of action.

“Blacks, favelados [local favela residents], and periphery culture have always been criminalized,” said MC Cabelinho in response to Poze’s arrest. “And lately, it is intensifying.”

Breaking
Poze do Rodo was released from prison on June 3, 2025. Police officers fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse thousands of fans who had gathered outside the notorious Bangu 3 penitentiary to celebrate.

Image
Poze do Rodo appears from a car as his fans celebrate his release from prison on June 3, 2025. [Source: youtube.com]

“Leave me alone,” Poze told told reporters at an improvised press conference. “Why are they doing this to me? Because I’m black or a favelado? I’ve struggled. My struggle is performing at my shows… There’s nothing illegal about the money I make. Understand? Yet again, I’m proving to you all that I’m an artist. So stop persecuting me and attacking my fans.”

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2025/0 ... n-favelas/
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Re: Brazil

Post by blindpig » Wed Jul 09, 2025 3:21 pm

Lula demands respect for Brazil’s sovereignty after Trump’s statements

New tensions have arisen between the United States and Brazil after Trump claims that former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, an ultra-right-wing leader, is innocent.

July 08, 2025 by Pablo Meriguet

Image
Brazilian President Lula da Silva leads the 17th BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 6, 2025. Photo: X

On July 7, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, published a message on Truth Social defending former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and claiming he has been mistreated and is innocent. Bolsonaro was los reelection in the 2022 elections and later the Supreme Court declared that he was ineligible to serve in public office due to his numerous violations.

Trump wrote: “Brazil is doing a terrible thing on their treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro. I have watched, as has the World, as they have done nothing but come after him, day after day, night after night, month after month, year after year! He is not guilty of anything, except having fought for THE PEOPLE… This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent — Something I know much about! It happened to me, times 10, and now our Country is the “HOTTEST” in the World! The Great People of Brazil will not stand for what they are doing to their former President.”

He also claimed that the alleged persecution of Bolsonaro is a “witch hunt”: “I’ll be watching the WITCH HUNT of Jair Bolsonaro, his family, and thousands of his supporters, very closely. The only Trial that should be happening is a Trial by the Voters of Brazil — It’s called an Election. LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE!”

In response to these statements, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva asserted that the US president’s declaration is interference and that Brazilian sovereignty must be respected. “The defense of democracy in Brazil is a matter for Brazilians. We are a sovereign country,” Lula reminded Trump. “We do not accept interference or tutelage from anyone. We have solid and independent institutions. No one is above the law. Especially those who attack freedom and the rule of law.”

For her part, Brazil’s secretary of state, Gleisi Hoffmann, was more confrontational:

“Donald Trump is very mistaken if he thinks he can interfere in the Brazilian judicial process. The period when Brazil was subservient to the US was during Bolsonaro’s presidency, when he saluted his flag and failed to defend national interests. Today, he is answering for the crimes he committed against democracy and the electoral process in Brazil. You can’t talk about persecution when a sovereign country complies with due process in the democratic rule of law, which Bolsonaro and his coup plotters have tried to destroy. The US president should take care of his problems, of which there are many, and respect the sovereignty of Brazil and our judiciary.”

Trump’s comments were made while Lula leads the 17th BRICS Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where the economic bloc denounced “unilateral, punitive, and discriminatory protectionist measures” and called for the strengthening of multilateralism to create a more equitable global order.

What is Bolsonaro accused of?
Former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2023), a longtime friend of Donald Trump, thanked the US president for his support: “I was delighted to receive the note from President Donald Trump. This lawsuit to which I am responding is a legal aberration (Lawfare), clear political persecution, already perceived by everyone with common sense … I thank the illustrious President and friend. You went through something similar … Your struggle for peace, justice, and freedom echoes across the planet. Thank you for existing and for giving us an example of faith and resilience.”

According to the Brazilian justice system, Bolsonaro led, together with several high-ranking military officers and other far-right politicians, an attempt to delegitimize and reverse the electoral results that marked his defeat in October 2022 by the current President Lula da Silva, who obtained 50.9% of the valid votes, to the far-right’s 49.1%. On January 8, 2023, hundreds of Bolsonaro supporters stormed the headquarters of the legislative and judicial branches in Brasilia.

The protesters entered the Three Powers Square a week after Lula assumed his mandate as president of the country. Following the declaration of a state of emergency, security forces took several hours to expel Bolsonaro’s supporters, while most governments around the world condemned the incursion.

For his part, Bolsonaro has denied his participation in the events, in which, according to the Brazilian justice system, generals Augusto Heleno and Walter Braga (former Secretary of Defense), as well as former Secretaries, Anderson Torres, Augusto Heleno, and the 2022 electoral campaign aide, Mauro Cid, are also involved.

The charges are attempted coup d’état, participation in an armed criminal organization, attempted abolition of the democratic rule of law, aggravated damages, and deterioration of historical heritage. The final decision of justice will be known in the coming months and will surely affect the political future of the Amazonian nation.

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/07/08/ ... tatements/
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Re: Brazil

Post by blindpig » Fri Jul 18, 2025 2:07 pm

Brazil’s Supreme Court Imposes New Restrictions on Bolsonaro Amid Coup Plot Investigation

Image
Jair Bolsonaro. X/ @NewsShinra


July 18, 2025 Hour: 8:50 am

The Court barred him from approaching embassies and communicating with foreign diplomats.
On Friday, Brazil’s Supreme Court imposed new precautionary measures against former President Jair Bolsonaro, including an electronic ankle monitor and a ban on accessing his social media accounts.

The high court also barred him from approaching embassies, communicating with foreign diplomats, or contacting other individuals under investigation or prosecution in the coup attempt case.

The far-right leader was targeted by federal police, who carried out searches at properties linked to the former president. Bolsonaro is facing trial in the Supreme Court for leading a conspiracy to overthrow his successor, President Lula da Silva.

One of the searches was conducted at his residence in Brasilia and another at the headquarters of the Liberal Party (PL), the political organization led by the retired army captain.

These new actions come amid calls by former U.S. President Donald Trump to halt the trial against Bolsonaro, whom he has described as the victim of a “witch hunt.”


🚨 URGENTE! PF encontra grande quantidade de dinheiro na residência de Jair Bolsonaro. Há suspeita de que o valor poderia ser usado para a fuga do ex-presidente do país.
pic.twitter.com/vphUqAsa2p

— Humberto Costa (@senadorhumberto) July 18, 2025


The text reads, “Urgent: The Federal Police find a lot of money in Jair Bolsonaro’s residence. It is suspected that the former president could have used the money to escape the country.”

Bolsonaro is accused of leading, along with several allies—including former ministers and high-ranking military officers—a coup plot to remain in power after losing the 2022 presidential election to Lula.

The Attorney General’s Office has charged Bolsonaro with five crimes, including attempting a coup and violently seeking to abolish the democratic rule of law. Combined, the charges carry potential prison sentences of up to 40 years.

Last week, Trump announced an additional 50% tariff on Brazilian imports, citing mainly political reasons. The Republican leader highlighted the ongoing coup trial against Bolsonaro and also criticized what he called “secret” and “illegal” orders from Brazil’s Supreme Court to block social media accounts accused of spreading fake news targeting democratic institutions.

The comments have sparked a serious diplomatic crisis between Brazil and the United States. President Lula has demanded respect for Brazil’s judiciary and called Trump’s remarks “unacceptable blackmail.”

On Thursday, Trump sent a letter of support to Bolsonaro expressing hope for a “change of course” in Brazil’s government and calling for an end to what he described as a “censorship regime” in the country.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/brazils- ... stigation/

Trump Sends Letter to Bolsonaro Criticizing Brazil’s Government, Escalating Diplomatic Tensions

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Donald Trump supports Bolsonaro, denounces Lula’s judicial actions in public letter.Photo:EFE.

July 17, 2025 Hour: 9:07 pm


President Donald Trump reignites diplomatic tensions with Brazil by publicly supporting Jair Bolsonaro and denouncing the Lula administration’s judicial actions, as he threatens punitive tariffs.

On July 17, 2025, Donald Trump publicly sent a letter to his former political ally, Brazil’s ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, sharply criticizing the administration of current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The letter , shared on Trump’s platform Truth Social , accuses the Brazilian government of orchestrating a politically motivated judicial attack against Bolsonaro and suppressing freedom of expression. This move marks a significant escalation in the already strained relations between the U.S. and Brazil’s leftist government.

In his message, Trump described Bolsonaro as “a highly respected leader” unfairly targeted by what he called a “witch hunt” driven by Brazil’s judicial system under Lula’s Workers’ Party. Trump demanded an immediate halt to Bolsonaro’s ongoing trial linked to accusations surrounding the January 8, 2023, coup-related events.

Trump accused the Lula government of engaging in political persecution and censorship, stating:

“I sincerely hope the Brazilian government changes course, stops attacking political opponents, and ends this ridiculous regime of censorship. I will be watching closely.”

Trump’s letter came amid his announcement of a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian imports, effective August 1, framed in part as retaliation for Brazil’s treatment of Bolsonaro. The tariffs represent an aggressive economic maneuver intended to increase pressure on Lula’s administration and signal unwavering support for Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro republished Trump’s letter on his social media account, highlighting the connection between the political dispute and trade measures. Analysts understand this to be an orchestrated campaign by right-wing forces within and beyond Brazil to destabilize the leftist government.

Brazilian President Lula responded firmly to Trump’s provocations, emphasizing Brazil’s sovereignty and refusing to accept foreign interference in its judicial processes or domestic affairs. Lula proclaimed:

“Not a gringo will tell this president what to do.”

He warned that any unilateral tariff increases from the U.S. would be matched by measured retaliatory measures in line with international trade rules.


The dispute thus embodies broader geopolitical tensions between progressive governments in Latin America and right-wing forces leveraging international pressure to undermine leftist administrations.

Donald Trump’s direct intervention in Brazil’s internal political discourse, combined with aggressive economic measures, underscores ongoing conflicts between imperialist-aligned right-wing factions and left-leaning sovereigntist governments like Lula’s Brazil and Maduro’s Venezuela.

This escalation deepens regional polarization, with Latin America’s progressive bloc continuing to assert its independence in the face of external threats and attempts at subversion.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/trump-se ... -tensions/
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Re: Brazil

Post by blindpig » Tue Jul 29, 2025 2:14 pm

Brazil Says No to U.S. Control Over Strategic Minerals

Lula rebuffs U.S. interest in Brazil’s minerals, reaffirming sovereign control and expanding talks with Russia on joint extraction.

Image
President Lula addresses Brazil’s mineral policy at a public event in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: @Palestinahoy01

July 29, 2025 Hour: 6:59 am

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has dismissed U.S. interest in Brazil’s critical minerals, making clear that resource sovereignty will guide the country’s partnerships in a global race for strategic raw materials.

During the opening of a thermal power plant in Rio de Janeiro on July 28, President Lula responded bluntly to reports of U.S. interest in Brazil’s mineral reserves. “I recently read an article stating that the US is interested in Brazil’s critical minerals. If they are so important, then I will take them for myself. Why should I give them to someone else?” he stated.

His comments come amid heightened international competition for control over lithium, uranium, and other key resources essential to energy transitions and advanced technologies. With only 30% of Brazilian territory explored, Lula emphasized that any future development will take place under Brazilian terms and in coordination with selected partners.


Earlier this year, Brazilian and Russian officials began talks on joint extraction of uranium and lithium, as reported by Folha de S.Paulo in May. Lula later confirmed Brazil’s intention to strengthen cooperation with Russia in this area — a move that signals a shift toward South-South collaboration and away from traditional Western influence.

By asserting national control over its mineral wealth, Brazil is positioning itself as a sovereign actor in the global resource economy — one that resists external pressures and prioritizes partnerships based on mutual benefit.

Lula’s rejection of U.S. involvement in Brazil’s mining sector highlights a broader agenda: to realign resource governance with national interests and develop new ties with Global South partners beyond the reach of Washington’s geopolitical influence.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/brazil-s ... -minerals/
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Re: Brazil

Post by blindpig » Mon Aug 04, 2025 2:42 pm

Brazilian President Lula To Seek Reelection in 2026

Image
Brazilian President Lula da SIlva (C), Brazilia, Aug. 3, 2025. X/ @HeikkiSipi48444

August 4, 2025 Hour: 9:22 am

During a Workers’ Party meeting, he criticized right-wing politicians who support U.S. tariffs.
On Sunday, Brazilian President Lula da Silva participated in the 17th National Meeting of the Workers’ Party (PT) in Brasilia, where he criticized far-right politicians who supported the tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

“We are witnessing a political aberration: a guy who used to campaign wrapped in the Brazilian flag is now wrapped in the U.S. flag and calling for tariffs against Brazil,” Lula said, referring to Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro and a Sao Paulo congressman for the Liberal Party.

Lula’s remarks come as the United States enacts 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports. The Lula administration has chosen to avoid direct confrontation with Washington, instead focusing on boosting trade with China and India.

Lula stated that Brazil will continue its efforts to negotiate the reversal of the 50% tariff hike on Brazilian exports. However, he emphasized that such negotiations would be conducted “with pride and sovereignty,” allowing the Brazilian people to reclaim their national symbols.

Image

“Brazil no longer depends so heavily on the U.S. We have strong relationships with other countries. I will not forget our ties with the U.S., which span more than 200 years, but I also won’t forget that they orchestrated the 1964 coup,” the Workers’ Party leader said, adding that the BRICS countries must create their own currency.

“I will not back down from discussing the need for an alternative currency for trade with other nations. We don’t want to fight, but we’re not afraid,” Lula insisted.

“The U.S. is very powerful. It is the most warlike country in the world, the most technologically advanced, and has the largest economy. But we want to be respected. We have economic and strategic interests. We want to grow. And we are not a small republic,” Lula said, defending Brazil’s capacity to circumvent U.S. restrictions thanks to its size and natural wealth.

Lula also made a significant announcement to his party and supporters: he will run for reelection if he feels healthy. “I need to be in full health to run and avoid what happened to Biden. You can believe me when I say I’m 80 years old but have the energy of someone who’s 30. If I run, I’ll run to win,” he said, calling on the Workers’ Party for strategic vision and unity.

During the Brasilia gathering, the Workers’ Party approved the theses that will guide its work in the coming years. These include defending the veto of a bill that modifies environmental licensing regulations, condemning the Israeli genocide in Palestine, advocating for an end to the six-day workweek, confronting far-right policies, pushing for higher taxes on the wealthy, and exempting taxes for those earning less than US$900 per month.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/brazilia ... n-in-2026/

China Opens Market to Brazilian Coffee Exporters as U.S. Raises Tariffs

China opens its market to over 180 Brazilian coffee exporters, just as new U.S. tariffs force Brazil’s producers to reconsider their global trade strategies.

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China’s authorization of 183 Brazilian exporters comes as U.S. tariffs threaten Brazil’s main coffee market. Photo: @staunovo

August 4, 2025 Hour: 2:23 am

China has authorized 183 Brazilian coffee companies to begin exporting to its market, offering a potential lifeline to Brazil’s coffee sector just as the United States imposes new import tariffs.

On July 30, the Chinese Embassy in Brazil announced the approval of 183 Brazilian coffee exporters to access the Chinese market. The measure, effective for five years, coincides with a significant policy shift by the United States, which on the same day finalized an executive order imposing a 50% import tariff on Brazilian coffee.

The U.S. is currently the largest buyer of Brazilian coffee, accounting for 23% of exports in 2024—primarily Arabica beans used by the domestic roasting industry. In the first half of 2025 alone, the U.S. imported 3.3 million sixty-kilogram sacks, according to the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafé). Coffee was not included among the roughly 700 Brazilian products granted exemptions from the new U.S. tariffs, which cover sectors such as citrus, fuels, minerals, fertilizers, and civilian aircraft.


In contrast, China remains a smaller but growing destination. Between January and June 2025, Brazil exported 529,709 sacks of coffee to China—around six times less than to the United States. Still, Chinese demand is rising. From 2020 to 2024, net coffee imports into China increased by 13,080 tonnes. Per capita consumption remains low, at just 16 cups per year compared to the global average of 240, but observers see room for expansion. “The coffee has been gradually gaining ground in the daily life of Chinese people,” the embassy noted.

The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture and Cecafé have not yet issued formal comments on the new Chinese authorization. However, following the U.S. tariff announcement, Cecafé confirmed it would continue pushing for coffee to be added to the exemption list.

Analysts at the Center for Advanced Studies on Applied Economics (Cepea), based at the University of São Paulo, warn that Brazilian producers may need to quickly pivot toward alternative markets to avoid disruptions in the production chain. They highlight the need for logistical flexibility and strategic planning to mitigate potential losses.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/china-op ... s-tariffs/

******

What makes a country sovereign?

Raphael Machado

August 4, 2025

If Brazil wants to start talking seriously about “sovereignty,” it must effectively integrate South America and strengthen its military capabilities.

Since the announcement of Trumpist tariffs against Brazil, no word has been repeated more than “sovereignty.” President Lula insists that Trump “cannot” do this because Brazil is “sovereign” and therefore decides its internal affairs (such as Bolsonaro’s legal case) on its own, without answering to any other country.

The government’s propaganda apparatus produces graphic materials emphasizing “Brazilian sovereignty” (whose symbols, apparently, would be Banco Itaú, Bolsa Família, and capybaras), while Bolsonaro’s supporters are criticized as “traitors” for seeking to subordinate Brazil to the U.S., thereby denying this “sovereignty.”

What is clear is that the term “sovereignty” is taken as a given—an inherent quality Brazil possesses regardless of circumstances. Sovereignty is treated as an immutable attribute of Brazil as a nation among nations.

Well, there are two ways to think about sovereignty.

One sees sovereignty as a special prerogative vested in a figure or institution within a political-legal system (a politeia). The other sees sovereignty as a quality of “equality” among nation-states in the international system.

The first is not relevant here because it concerns “who has the final say” within a politeia—not what is meant when people say “Brazil is a sovereign country.”

As for the second type of sovereignty, there is a fundamental contradiction. Sovereignty is thought of—as already mentioned—as a “given,” an innate and essential quality of nations in a fair and egalitarian international system where each nation-state is equivalent to a “free individual.” But what happens when one nation-state actually interferes in the “freedom” of another, and nothing can stop it?

Where, then, is sovereignty?

The first problem, therefore, is seeing sovereignty as a “being” rather than a “should be“—as a permanent, given, and unconditional quality rather than as a goal to be pursued, an objective always in question, subject to constant tension among competing forces.

This problem is typical of contemporary International Relations theories. Even the realist school is not free from the error of conceiving the nation-state as the geopolitical equivalent of the Hobbesian “individual.”

And this kind of position always runs into the practical problem of, “But what happens when one state actually interferes with another?” Without a satisfactory answer, “sovereignty” becomes an empty concept.

The only satisfactory answer is precisely the one that redefines “sovereignty” as something inconstant—a historical factor that can be strengthened or weakened, gained or lost.

In this case, if we return sovereignty to the notion of a country’s ability to guarantee a sufficient degree of autonomy in the international sphere, then sovereignty becomes synonymous with strength or power. “Sovereignty” is the degree of power necessary for a country to be concretely autonomous in relation to other countries in the international system.

The necessary consequence of this perspective is that, in reality, there are countries that are sovereign and countries that are not. In fact, perhaps only a minority of countries can be considered sovereign, while the majority suffer from a lack of power that makes them heavily dependent on these few sovereign nations.

Now, when considering this topic from this perspective, I still find relevant the concept of the “power threshold” (umbral de poder) by Argentine geopolitician Marcelo Gullo.

According to Gullo, the “power threshold” is the level of power necessary for a country to be considered sovereign. But the “power threshold” is a historical concept and thus constantly changing. When some countries in the world cross a threshold, time passes, and one of them raises the bar of power required to guarantee sovereignty, leaving the others behind. Thus, there would be a “hierarchy of sovereignty“—which is nothing more than a “hierarchy of power.”

Gullo analyzes the issue with a focus on modernity to classify the various power thresholds and, consequently, how the “race” for sovereignty unfolds.

According to him, the first power threshold was bureaucratic centralization—that is, the overcoming of feudalism by states with a sufficiently centralized bureaucratic apparatus capable of mobilizing the full forces of the politeia for long-term strategic purposes. Achieving this level of power marked certain 14th—15th century countries as sovereign—coincidentally, many of the same ones that led the Age of Discovery. Italian city-states, unable to achieve peninsular unification, fell under the hegemony of bureaucratic states like Spain and France.

The second power threshold was industrialization, following the completion of the Industrial Revolution by the British. The mobilization capacity of national powers reached a new level with new machinery and energy sources. England then left Portugal and Spain behind, and the geopolitical imperative of the 19th century became the pursuit of industrialization. Gradually, France, unified Germany, and Japan crossed this threshold.

But while latecomer countries were barely reaching the new power threshold, the U.S. completed its westward expansion, surpassing the nation-state model with the continent-state model. The U.S.—late to the competition—simultaneously caught up with past power stages while surging toward a new level. From that moment on, the U.S. was an industrial continent-state, leaving behind England, France, Germany, and others. International colonial “empires” could not compete with the continent-state because the latter concentrated all its potential in a contiguous space, while colonial empires were spread across multiple continents and generally not developed or mobilized to the same degree as the metropole. The USSR’s gradual occupation of Siberia—along with Stalinist industrialization—allowed Moscow to catch up with the U.S. at this new level. German expansionism sought to turn Europe into its own continent-state, but Berlin was blocked by the Washington-Moscow alliance.

Not content, the U.S. later raised the power threshold even further when it became a nuclear power. From then on, “sovereignty” effectively meant possessing nuclear weapons—arms with sufficient deterrent power to grant their possessor a superior level of autonomy in the international system. Coincidentally, the formation of the UN Security Council enshrined this power threshold by granting permanent membership precisely to the first countries with nuclear weapons.

Broadly speaking, these are the thresholds reached so far, but there is debate about new ones: AI, biotechnology, nanotechnology, space conquest, etc.

Interestingly, some countries reach certain power thresholds without having reached previous ones. For example, Israel and North Korea have nuclear weapons but lack continental scale. Thus, while they are more sovereign than most, they remain partially dependent on other countries in some economic sectors.

Professor Gullo’s thesis is interesting, among other reasons, because it confirms the continental imperative. The era of the nation-state is over, and countries that wish to be sovereign must—through conquest or integration—expand their borders to achieve sufficient scale for self-sufficiency. At the same time, it shows that any discourse on “sovereignty” without the pursuit of military power (which, in some cases, may mean “nuclear weapons”) is mere chatter—empty words for propaganda purposes.

If Brazil wants to start talking seriously about “sovereignty,” it must effectively integrate South America and strengthen its military capabilities. And that will only be the first step, because China and the U.S. (in the first tier) and Russia (in the second) are already advancing toward a new leap in power.

https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/ ... sovereign/
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Re: Brazil

Post by blindpig » Wed Sep 10, 2025 3:08 pm

Brazil’s Supreme Court Deliberates on Coup-Plot Charges Against Bolsonaro

Brazil’s Supreme Court has begun deliberations in the coup-plot trial of Jair Bolsonaro, who could face a 43-year sentence if convicted.

Image
Brazil’s Supreme Court debates coup charges against Jair Bolsonaro. Photo:@TheRioTimes

September 10, 2025 Hour: 5:47 am

Brazil’s Supreme Court has opened deliberations in the landmark trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of conspiring to stage a coup to remain in power after losing the 2022 election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

A five-justice panel began voting on Tuesday and has until the end of the week to reach a verdict. By the first day, both Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who heads the panel, and Justice Flavio Dino had voted to convict.

Bolsonaro, a 70-year-old former army officer, faces up to 43 years in prison if found guilty. Seven co-defendants, including former ministers and army generals, face similar charges. The accusations include forming an armed criminal organization, attempting to abolish democracy by force, plotting a coup d’état, and damaging government and cultural property. Bolsonaro has denied all charges.


In court, Moraes stated: “There is no doubt … there was an attempt to abolish the democratic rule of law, that there was an attempted coup, and that there was a criminal organisation that caused damage to public property.” He cited evidence of plans to assassinate Lula, including a document discovered at government headquarters.

The case marks the first trial of a Brazilian head of state on coup charges, seen by many as a measure of democratic resilience four decades after military rule. Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters demonstrated in several cities on Sunday, rejecting the proceedings as a “disgrace” and thanking former U.S. President Donald Trump for his intervention.

Bolsonaro remains under house arrest in Brasília, with lawyers citing health problems linked to a 2018 stabbing. His allies in Congress are pressing for an amnesty law that could block his imprisonment. São Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas, a close ally and potential 2026 presidential candidate, said there were “more than enough votes” for the measure.

The United States has also intervened. Trump, a political ally of Bolsonaro, called the case a “witch hunt.” The U.S. government imposed financial sanctions on Justice Moraes and a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian imports. Moraes responded that the court would not yield to “internal or external threats and coercion,” vowing to remain “absolutely inflexible in defending national sovereignty.”

https://www.telesurenglish.net/brazils- ... bolsonaro/

Brazil: Lula rejects US interference and defends Amazonian cooperation against crime

“We don’t need foreign intervention or threats to our sovereignty. We are capable of being protagonists of our own solutions,” the Brazilian president emphasized.

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The intelligence unit, equipped with advanced technology, will coordinate efforts among the nine Amazonian countries and nine Brazilian states to combat drug trafficking. Photo: File / Lula da Silva / EFE.

September 9, 2025 Hour: 7:41 pm

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva inaugurated the Amazon Center for International Police Cooperation (CCPI) on Tuesday in Manaus, northeast Brazil, advocating for cooperation among Amazonian countries to combat organized crime without foreign interference.

The intelligence unit, equipped with advanced technology, will coordinate efforts among the nine Amazonian countries and nine Brazilian states to combat drug trafficking, arms trafficking, human trafficking, and environmental crimes.

Lula emphasized sovereignty, stating: “We don’t need foreign interventions or threats to our sovereignty. We are capable of being protagonists of our own solutions. The key words are integrated action and cooperation.”


The event took place amid tensions over the US naval deployment in the Caribbean, ordered by President Donald Trump under the pretext of combating drug trafficking. Washington blames Venezuela for being one of the leading drug trafficking countries; however, UN reports refute these allegations and indicate that the main drug route is through the Pacific.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, the only Amazonian leader present alongside Lula, rejected the idea that Colombia would be used for an invasion of Venezuela and urged Latin American countries to speak out: “Do not remain silent.” Ecuador was represented by its Vice President, María José Pinto.

The Amazon CCPI will include agents from various agencies and countries, supported by state-of-the-art security systems. Lula emphasized the scale of the challenge: “We are talking about millions of kilometers of forest, cubic meters of water, and millions of inhabitants.”


“The challenges are of that magnitude, and our efforts must be of that magnitude,” he added. He also highlighted the role of climate finance in the creation of the center and called for greater international commitment to preserving the forests.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/brazil-l ... nst-crime/
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