Brazil Watch Thread

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caltrek
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Brazilian Senator Indicates Bolsonaro Could Face 11 Criminal Charges Following Pandemic Probe
by Lexi Lonas
October 15, 2021

https://thehill.com/policy/internationa ... be-senator

Introduction:
(The Hill) Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro could face 11 criminal charges after the country’s Senate investigated his response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the senator in charge of the probe.

Renan Calheiros said in a radio interview the probe will recommend charges such as genocide against the country's indigenous population, malfeasance, irregular use of public funds, violation of sanitary measures, incitement to crime and forgery of private documents, Reuters reported.

Experts say Bolsonaro is unlikely to face the charges as they must be approved by the lower house, which most likely won’t happen.

Along with Bolsonaro, Bolsonaro's sons and his former Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello will likely be charged, according to Calheiros.

The report will be released to the Senate Tuesday with members voting on it Thursday, according to Reuters.
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caltrek
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It would be interesting to hear what our Brazilian friends make of this news article:

Bolsonaro Faces ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ Charge Over COVID-19 Mishandling
by Matt Williams
October 21, 2021

https://theconversation.com/bolsonaro-f ... ads-170332

Introduction:
(The Conversation) A Brazilian congressional panel has recommended that President Jair Bolsonaro be charged with “crimes against humanity” over his alleged bungling of the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The near-1,200 page report, formally presented on Oct. 20, 2021, holds Bolsonaro culpable for worsening a crisis that has to date killed some 600,000 Brazilians, outlining how his failed policies allowed the virus to spread among the population. The president denies any wrongdoing.

An earlier draft had called for Bolsonaro to be indicted for homicide and genocide as well, given how the ravages of the coronavirus have disproportionately hit Brazil’s Indigenous groups. But those charges were dropped from the final report.
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caltrek wrote: Thu Oct 21, 2021 3:12 pm It would be interesting to hear what our Brazilian friends make of this news article:
It's the ugly façade of political competition going to the absolute level. I've never seen anyone so high up in the ranks with such a low sense of PR as that guy, e.g. sharing fake news (as noted above) is something that he does weekly. But these impeachment calls, criminal charges and other related things are routinely thrown in the media and there's always a big nothing-burger waiting at the end. An impeachment or any other charges would have to be politically aligned with the congress majority, which at the moment it isn't (Bolso also doesn't have the majority, though).

On the other hand the Brazilian economy is struggling, the printing presses are hot and Bolso is losing popularity due to that. Unfortunately he has learned a few lessons from the other politicians that giving money for free attracts fans, so he has started doing that since the beginning of the lockdowns. Now, almost at the new elections, he has increased the money giving thing.

This, as predicted, is requiring an insanely big money injection in the economy, going above the debt ceiling established for this year. This is a big reason for an impeachment but, as noted, would require the political alignment of the opposition.
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The Autumn of President Bolsonaro
by Raphael Tsavkko Garcia
October 28, 2021

https://www.latinorebels.com/2021/10/28 ... bolsonaro/

Extract:
(Latino Rebels) (T)he siege on the President’s supporters continues. Zé Trovão, a self-styled leader of the truck drivers who was on the run in Mexico, has returned to the country and turned himself in to the police. He was wanted for inciting violent and threatening acts against democracy during a call for protests in support of the President in September.

Blogger Allan dos Santos, responsible for one of the largest pro-Bolsonaro fake news websites, Terça Livre, is a fugitive in the U.S. and is accused by Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes of having ties to the invaders of the U.S. Capitol Building in January, including using the channel of one of the invaders, Jonathon Owen Shroyer, to spread conspiracy theories against Brazil’s electoral system.

The blogger is also wanted by Interpol at the request of the Brazilian Supreme Court and his website has ceased its activities —Terça Livre’s YouTube channel was already taken offline and dos Santos is using Telegram to spread fake news and ask for donations.

Nevertheless, Bolsonaro’s popularity has stopped falling, with 58 percent of Brazilians disapproving of his government, a drop of five points in relation to the previous survey commissioned by website Poder360. And in another piece of good news for the government, the protests called for November 15 may be canceled due to the left’s inability to attract the center-right to the protests.


In a bid to improve his popularity, Bolsonaro announced the Auxílio Brasil, a plan that replaces the Bolsa Família created by Lula da Silva. Both programs consist of a monthly aid payment to poor families. And Bolsonaro is offering 400 reais to families already registered in the previous program.
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Brazil's health ministry website hacked, vaccination information stolen and deleted
by Adriano Machado
Reuters, 2021-12-11, 1h ago

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-11/ ... /100692952
Brazil's health ministry says its website has been hacked, taking down several systems, including one with information about the national immunisation program and another used to issue digital vaccination certificates.

Key points:
- The alleged hackers call themselves Lapsus$ Group
- Deputy Health Minister Rodrigo Cruz says it is too early to say if the data can be recovered
- Quarantine requirements for unvaccinated travellers have been postponed

The government put off for a week implementing new health requirements for travellers arriving in Brazil due to the attack.

"The health ministry reports that in the early hours of Friday it suffered an incident that temporarily compromised some of its systems … which are currently unavailable," it said in a statement on Friday.

Police said they were investigating the attack.

The alleged hackers, calling themselves Lapsus$ Group posted a message on the website saying that internal data had been copied and deleted.

"Contact us if you want the data back," it said, in an apparent ransomware attack.
And, as always, bye bye.
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Brazil’s Science Budget is Rebounding. So why aren’t Scientists Celebrating?
by Herton Escobar
January 27, 2022

https://www.science.org/content/article ... elebrating

Introduction:
(Science) Scientists in Brazil started 2022 with a piece of good news. This year’s federal research budget is more than double last year’s—a major turnaround after 7 years of steep cuts. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation will have about 6.9 billion reais ($1.27 billion) for discretionary investments this year, a 110% increase from 2021, according to figures provided by the ministry.

The hike—the result of intense lobbying by scientists in Congress to end a freeze on a key funding source—will help support high-profile infrastructure projects such as the construction of Brazil'’ first biosafety level four laboratory—for research on deadly viruses—and the expansion of Sirius, a new-generation synchrotron light source that has been operational since 2020 but with only six of its 14 projected research stations completed. (The biosafety lab will be built next door to Sirius at the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials in Campinas.)

“The 2022 budget marks a turning point in public investment in science and technology and will bring new horizons and lasting benefits to the scientific community,” the ministry, headed by former astronaut Marcos Pontes, wrote in an email to Science.

But scientists are not celebrating yet. The increase barely compensates for savage budget cuts that began in 2015, and additional political maneuvering could mean the money never materializes. The federal budget is “a labyrinth” with many trap doors and hidden passages, says Glauco Arbix, a science policy expert at the University of São Paulo’s main campus who held government appointments in two previous administrations. “There are plenty of reasons to be wary.”

If the new money comes through, it will provide “a bit of oxygen for a dying patient,” says pharmacologist Soraya Soubhi Smaili, former rector of the Federal University of São Paulo, “but we are still in a critical situation.” Even with the hike, funding for key federal agencies that scientists and universities rely on for research remain far below their pre-2015 levels, she notes. Taking inflation into account, total investment in R&D by Brazil’s federal government shrunk by 37% between 2013 and 2020, even as the country’s scientific community continued to grow, according to economist Fernanda De Negri of the Institute for Applied Economic Research.
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https://brazilian.report/liveblog/2022/ ... er-subway/

Highway collapses and opens crater near São Paulo subway construction
A crater formed alongside a major São Paulo expressway after part of the highway collapsed.
By Lucas Berti
Feb 01, 2022 11:11
A portion of the Marginal Tietê expressway — one of the busiest in São Paulo — collapsed this Tuesday morning close to construction works on a new subway line. The incident opened up a crater alongside the worksite, forcing authorities to close a 500-meter stretch of the highway, causing congestion.

The São Paulo fire brigade announced that there were no casualties, though two construction workers are receiving care after coming into contact with dirty water spilled by the collapse. São Paulo transport authorities said that excavations made by a tunnel boring machine caused the rupture of a duct or sewage pipe, causing the construction to flood and open a crater.
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Indigenous Amazonians Have Just 1% Dementia Rates. We Can Learn From This
by David Nield
March 11, 2022

https://www.sciencealert.com/indigenous ... -the-world

Introduction:
(Science Alert) We know about the devastating effect that Alzheimer's and other types of dementia can have on people – but what's less clear is how they get started in the brain and what can be done to cure them or prevent them from happening in the first place.

Some clues could be found amongst indigenous people who live in the Amazon rainforest. In a new study, two of these tribes have turned out to have some of the lowest rates of dementia in the world.

One of the suggestions prompted by such a discovery is the idea that there might be something in our post-industrial life that brings on higher rates of these brain disorders. While it doesn't mean we should all take up hunting and gathering, it's a consideration for those studying dementia and its impact.

Two groups from the Bolivian Amazon were studied: the Tsimane and the Moseten people. Dementia rates among older people were found to be around just 1 percent, compared with 11 percent of those 65 and older in the United States.

"Something about the pre-industrial subsistence lifestyle appears to protect older Tsimane and Moseten from dementia," says psychologist Margaret Gatz, from the University of Southern California (USC).
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While the English translation version (you may need to hit the translate button) of this article leaves something to be desired, it is easy enough to get the gist of what is being reported.

Supreme Court Renders Decision Regarding Blocking of Telegram in Brazil
March 18, 2022

https://brazilurgente.com.br/urgente-st ... no-brasil/

Introduction:
(Brazil Urgente) Minister Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court (STF), determined today (18) the blocking of Telegram in Brazil. The measure complies with a request from the Federal Police as a consequence of the non-compliance with a court order by the application. According to information from G1, the National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL) is complying with the order. At the time of publication of this matter, the agency is already notifying companies to take steps to make it impossible to use Telegram. A daily fine of R $ 100 thousand will be applied to those who disobey the decision.

The Federal Police (PF) tried to contact Telegram to be able to forward court orders for blocking profiles, request registration data and the suspension of monetization of accounts linked to profiles used to disclose false information and hate speech. The company never responded. Because of this, the PF requested the blocking of the platform to the Supreme Court stating that the application is "a free ground for proliferation of various contents, including repercussion in the criminal area" for being "notoriously known for its posture of not cooperating with judicial and police authorities".
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