Call for proposals: Selection of projects that promote Brazil during FIFA World Cup 2014

Embassy of Brazil, 05/17/2012

The Brazilian Government has the honor to call for presentations of proposals that will promote the image of Brazil as the host of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The proposals should address at least one of the following central themes: business, tourism, and culture. The projects selected will be integrated into the Official Program being planned by the Brazilian Government.

Selection Process

World Cup Portal – Call for Proposal

Rio+20: Rio’s dry run for the Olympics and World Cup

Rachel Glickhouse – The Christian Science Monitor, 05/11/2012

Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, begins in Rio de Janeiro on June 20, a little over a month away. While the topics up for discussion are undoubtedly important, all signs point to the possibility that no binding resolution will result and it will be a lot of talking and little action. (For perspective, at one of the New York Rio+20 negotiations that lasted two weeks, the big decision to come out of it was to have more negotiations at the end of the month.) The likely more critical outcome will be a test of how Rio will handle a non-Carnival mega-event before the World Cup and Olympics, and as one of its first big events to turn the spotlight on Rio during the city’s so-called renaissance.

On the one hand, Rio+20 comes at a time when more and more events are being held in Rio. According to International Congress and Convention Association, Rio surpassed São Paulo for the number of events held in the city last year. Rio now has a massive “smart city” operations center to monitor the city in real-time, which has aided the city in its day-to-day but will be especially helpful during large events. The Brazilian army is setting up a cybercrimes defense center in Rio in June right before the conference as a test before the World Cup and Olympics. The police are building their own operations center set to launch next month, also before the conference, and as RioReal Blog notes, people are losing sleep as the city faces deadlines and new goals set by city residents.

Read more…

Brazil senate passes World Cup bill, lifts ban on beer sales

Maria Luiza Rabello – Bloomberg, 05/10/2012

Brazil’s Senate yesterday approved a set of rules needed for the country to host the 2014 soccer World Cup, including the lifting of a federal ban on the sale of alcoholic drinks in stadiums during the tournament.

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ABI), the world’s largest brewer, extended in October its beer sponsorship for the FIFA World Cup through 2022. The legislation now needs to be signed by President Dilma Rousseff.

Brazil currently bans consumption of alcoholic beverages at sporting events held in stadiums because of concern it fuels violence. Five of the 12 Brazilian states that will host World Cup games still have local laws that prohibit sales of alcohol in stadiums and may have to suspend them, Senator Ana Amelia de Lemos, a member of the government coalition and one of the sponsors of the bill, told reporters in Brasilia yesterday.

Read more…

Brazil to show FIFA that World Cup prep on track

Tales Azzoni – Bloomberg Businessweek, 05/07/2014

Brazilian officials are heading to Switzerland to show FIFA that preparations for the 2014 World Cup are on track.

The meeting on Tuesday at FIFA’s headquarters will mark the first encounter between Brazil Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo and FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke, whose remarks about Brazil’s readiness earlier this year ignited a feud between the two parties.

Rebelo said the meeting will be important to put the differences behind and get everyone focused on organizing a successful World Cup.

Read more…

Brazil-U.S.: Partnership for the 21st Century With Her Excellency Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil

Photo courtesy of Roberto Stuckert Filho/PR

On April 9, a conference convenes on President Dilma Rousseff’s visit to Washington, D.C.

The Embassy of Brazil in Washington, D.C. is honored to announce the conference:

Brazil-U.S.: Partnership for the 21^st Century

With Her Excellency Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil

April 9, 2012

Preliminary Agenda

This event is invite only

For more information, please contact brazilcouncil@uschamber.com.

Organization:

Partners:

Live: “A Conference on U.S.-Brazil Relations on the eve of President Dilma Rousseff’s First Visit to Washington, D.C.”

Please join the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Brazil Institute for

“A Conference on U.S.-Brazil Relations on the Eve of President Dilma Rousseff’s First Visit to Washington, D.C.”

Monday, March 12^th, 2012

9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
6^th Floor Flom Auditorium

Watch the Live Webcast

First Session

Setting the Stage for the Visit

9:00 am – 10:00 am

Speakers:         His Excellency Mauro Vieira, Ambassador of Brazil to the United States

                        The Honorable Roberta Jacobson, Acting-Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Department of State

                        Daniel Restrepo, Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere, National Security Council

                        Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere, Department of Treasury

Chair:               The Honorable Anthony Harrington, former U.S. Ambassador to Brazil and Chairman of the Brazil Institute Advisory Board

Coffee Break

10:00 am -10:15 am

U.S. policy and engagement in the Americas

Wendy Sherman, Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Department of State, 02/28/2012

Remarks to the Council of the Americas and the Center for Strategic and International Affairs

Thank you Ambassador Negroponte for those kind words and to the Council of the Americas and the Center for Strategic and International Studies for hosting this event. I would also like to thank the Council for its continued leadership on hemispheric issues and for bringing together individuals from all sectors to ensure our engagement and dialogue on the Americas is constantly evolving. We look forward to being part of the 42^nd Washington Conference at the State Department in May. I would also like to congratulate CSIS on celebrating 50 years this year of helping to find solutions to today’s foreign policy challenges. Just less than one year ago, CSIS graciously provided an opportunity for Secretary Clinton to share her views on the hemisphere prior to the President’s trip to the region.

I appreciate the invitation and welcome the opportunity to share some impressions from my trip to Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil earlier this month. These countries are key regional and global players, and genuine partners, and we work closely with them in virtually every area of policy. Given the wealth of experience represented here today, I hope to get your views as well, as we prepare for the President’s participation in the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena in April.

When we talk about U.S. policy and engagement in the Americas, it is critical that we think in strategic terms, of where we need to be in ten or twenty years. Our policies in the region are building on a huge, historically significant opportunity: to make the western hemisphere a strong platform for shared economic growth and security—regionally and globally—that will advance our peoples’ interests for generations. This is no small vision. It is shaping and reordering our diplomacy and statecraft all over the hemisphere.

Read more…

Invite: Shark Loves the Amazon

Please join the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Brazil Institute for a screening of

“Shark Loves the Amazon” 

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
6th Floor Flom Auditorium 

Commentary by:         Mark London, Film Producer

Click here to watch a trailer of the documentary

 Please RSVP (acceptances only) with your name and affiliation to brazil@wilsoncenter.org 

The daily struggles and hopes of the more than twenty million Brazilians who live in the Amazon, mostly in cities, are rarely present in analyses and images that inform perceptions of the region outside Brazil. The Amazon is generally portrayed as a mysterious land populated by indigenous people surrounded by exotic fauna and flora in an environment threatened by encroaching mining, farming and other economic activities. Mark London offers a different, decidedly less romantic and more realistic perspective in Shark Loves the Amazon.

Invite: A Conversation with Governor Eduardo Campos, of the Brazilian State of Pernambuco

Thursday, January 19, 2012

10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
6^th Floor Flom Auditorium

This event will be webcast live

Governor Eduardo Campos, of the Northeastern state of Pernambuco, has emerged as a leading player in Brazilian national politics. An economist, former congressman and minister of Science and Technology under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Campos was elected governor in 2006 and is serving his second term, having received 83% of the vote in the 2010 elections. As president of the Brazilian Socialist Party, the 46 year old governor is also key ally of President Dilma Rousseff.

Brazil’s efforts to reduce regional inequalities as it internationalizes its economy and asserts its growing global presence and influence will be the topic of governor Campos’  presentation, to be made in Portuguese with simultaneous interpretation.

Please RSVP with name and affiliation to brazil@wilsoncenter.org

Brazil police: Suspected trafficker handing out drugs if users tattoo his name on their bodies

AP/Washington Post, 01/16/2012

Brazilian police say a suspected drug trafficker is giving crack cocaine addicts free drugs in exchange for tattooing his name on their bodies.

Police in the northeastern state of Bahia said Monday that upward of 70 people in the small town of Itapetinga have tattooed the surname “Freudenthal” on their bodies.

Police have also found corpses of suspected drug addicts with the same tattoo.

Read more…