Widespread injuries and scars among prisoners at the “Old Rust” penitentiary in Brazil were caused by punches, kicks, blows, collective beatings, prods with pitchforks, and institutionalized torture, according to a report by the Mato Grosso state’s internal affairs department that concluded prisoners were being subject to institutionalized routine bodily injury by prison officials. There was … Read more
SAO PAOLO – Despite a weak increase in sales of 1.2%, retail trade in Latin America’s largest economy suffered its biggest pullback since 2016 — when the country was in the midst of the worst recession in memory — according to data from the National Confederation of Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism of Brazil. … Read more
SAO PAOLO – Brazil’s new Earth observation satellite is the first one to be 100% conceptualized, designed, integrated, tested, and operated by Brazil. Amazonia-1 was put into orbit from from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India at dawn Sunday after 13 years of development. It will sense, observe, and track deforestation in the … Read more
SAO PAOLO, Brazil – In one of the most violent countries on Earth, its president says the solution is more arms and he is relaxing the gun laws by decree: A mid-February executive order increases the number of guns Brazilians can legally acquire to 6 to be keep at home, but 30 if you are … Read more
A male jaguar named Joujou has returned to his home sweet home in the wild. In Brazil he has become a symbol of the efforts of environmentalists, volunteers and firefighters to protect and restore a much affected strip of the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland area, which was ravaged by the fires last year. … Read more
SAO PAOLO, Brazil – One of the most iconic figures in the fight for the homeless in the city of São Paulo has been in the spotlight since the beginning of February. Father Julio Lancelotti learned that the City Hall’s authorities had decided to cover the ground under a bridge with pointed stones, a move … Read more
Plots as large as 2000 acres are being sold on the hyperlocal Marketplace section of the platform. The Bolsonaro administration has taken criticism for looking the other way on encroachment into protected areas and deforestation, and indigenous groups have told the BBC that it is unwilling to stop these sales. “A common strategy is to … Read more
The tomb of Brazilian abolitionist Francisco José do Nascimento, known as Dragão do Mar — Sea Dragon — whose contribution to the end of slavery in Brazil is widely regarded, has been identified by U of Florida student Licinio Nunes de Miranda after being lost and forgotten for more than 100 years and is now … Read more
SAO PAULO, Brazil – After replacing the state-controlled oil company’s CEO with a retired general, the Brazilian president blasted its pricing policies and said they should be changed to lower gas and diesel prices, causing a 21% drop Monday in the company’s shares on the São Paulo Stock Exchange. By Milan Sime Martinić Read more
Human Rights Watch has raised alarm about Brazil’s exclusion of civil society from discussions about changing the country’s human rights policies, suspecting a secret plan to undermine what has for decades been regarded as a critical achievement in the defense of human rights in Brazil. “The Bolsonaro administration, which has promoted an anti-rights agenda, has … Read more
SAO PAULO – Recently, London-based YouGov conducted the poll that surveyed people in several European countries and reported that only 12% of those interviewed supported moving forward with the pact if the current rate of Amazon deforestation continues. Unfavorable European public opinion may, it is thought, threaten the loss of the EU-Mercosur commercial accord, worth … Read more
Continuing a trend of European businesses moving independently to protect the Amazon, France’s BNP Paribas announced it will no longer finance companies that buy cattle or soy produced on deforested or converted Amazon lands after 2008. The measure also applies to deforested lands in Brazil’s Cerrado region, a threatened tropical savanna eco-region covering 20% of … Read more