Bye Bye (Sez) Brazil

I missed this coverage in the mainstream US press regarding Pres. Obama's visit to Brazil, but apparently the welcome was not so friendly "Down Rio Way." Says the Daily Mail:

Barack Obama's visit to Brazil had a very unpromising start after police had to quell riots against the U.S. in Rio de Janeiro with rubber bullets and tear gas.

Police cracked down on the crowd after protesters hurled a Molotov cocktail at the consulate door, the O Globo newspaper reported on its website.

I was alerted to the story by one of my students who was present at the riot and was surprised to see the protests. Apparently much of the language of "Obama Go Home" (Fora Obama) centered on his seeing a sanitized version of Brazil while he was there, as well as their desire to have him lift the blockade against Cuba. There may still be a bit of lefty-resilience left in Brazil after all.



To be balanced, however, I should note my student said he heard far more women yelling how sexy they thought Obama was than being a Yankee devil.

THIS is an Expert

More than once I have ranted and raved about the use of journalists as experts on Latin America. Not content to write the news or their tired little books on drug violence (The Last Narco, Killing Pablo, etc.) they become the source for television news sources too lazy or too mired in sound bites to sit down with real experts in the field for an interview. Today, however, Huffington Post gets a rare huzzah from me for the column by Jeff Rubin of Boston University on Brazil. Balanced, level headed, full of specific examples and historical context, Rubin provides commentary on the region that we just don't see from the mainstream reporters with their sensationalist hyperbole limited knowledge. For more on Rubin, see here.

Don't @#$&"*! With the Ref in Brazil

I know it is a little old... but I finally got around to putting up a note about it.

During an amateur football match in Brazil, a man died of stab wounds received by the referee, angry because he protested a foul. The victim’s brother, who came to his aid, was also injured.

It happened on Sunday afternoon in the city of Barreira, 72 kilometers away from Fortaleza. Read more here.

Catholics to Lula: Damn the Dam

The Brazilian Catholic Church has condemned the approval of the resurrected Belo Monte reservoir project that would create the third largest hydroelectric project in the world, wiping out one city of 110,000 people and destroying numerous indigenous reserves. On this project the church has aligned itself with environmentalists and NGOs, some of whom would prefer to not see the Catholic Church's missionary efforts among the indigenous of the Amazon.