Brazil Portal

Brazil to breathe life into faded Cuban sugar sector

Brazil Institute — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:53:13 +0000

Esteban Israel – Reuters, 01/30/2012

Brazilian builder Odebrecht plans to produce sugar in Cuba, the company said on Monday, as looser restrictions on foreign investment in the communist island raise hopes of a recovery in the once-booming sector after decades of decline.

News of the project came on the day Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff begins a mostly ceremonial official visit to the country, which has been under communist rule since the Fidel Castro-led revolution and an ensuing U.S. trade embargo.

Odebrecht will sign a “contract of productive administration” with Cuba’s state sugar company Grupo de Administracion Empresarial del Azucar to operate the 5 de Septiembre mill in Cienfuegos province on the south coast.

Brazil and private equity’s foolish heart

Brazil Institute — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:49:45 +0000

Nick Elliott – WSJ, 01/30/2012

Come on in private equity. Guido Mantega’s finance ministry sees the positive side of the depiction of private equity in a popular soap. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

Chin up, Mitt Romney: it’s not only in the U.S. that private equity has been demonized in the popular imagination.

In Brazil, a nascent but rapidly growing market for private equity investing, many ordinary folk will have had their introduction to the asset class via “Insensato Coracao,” a popular soap opera that aired last summer on Globo TV.

In this soap, the title of which means “foolish heart,” one Horacio Cortez has established a private equity fund that invests in a non-existent wind-power company. Cortez has also been filmed bribing a politician. One of his investors, a leading character in the soap, has to grapple with the decision of whether to demand the return of her capital, having discovered his shenanigans.

Photos: Brazilian beauty contest celebrates plus-size women

Brazil Institute — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:45:54 +0000

Vancouver Sun, 01/30/2012

Miss Mirna Tardim of Mato Grosso state walks the runway during the Miss Brazil Plus-Size beauty contest in Sao Paulo January 30, 2012. Photograph by: NACHO DOCE, REUTERS

A contestant from Rio Grande do Sul state is crowned after being named Miss Brazil Plus-Size in Sao Paulo.

See photos here

Rising Brazil tackles immigration question

Brazil Institute — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:22:54 +0000

Mariano Castillio – CNN, 01/28/2012

People used to lave Brazil for a better life, Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim says, now the tide has turned. Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images

The rise of Brazil as an economic force has brought with it a policy challenge familiar here in the United States: immigration.

Recently crowned the world’s sixth-largest economy, Brazil has become an immigration magnet, both to low-skilled workers –some of whom enter illegally — and high-skilled workers looking for opportunities in the country’s thriving sectors.

Brazil historically has been welcoming to immigrants, but the challenge now is more pronounced as the government seeks to accept foreigners while protecting its hard-won prosperity.

Rio buildings’ collapse new sign of World Cup headache for Brazil

Brazil Institute — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:30:34 +0000

Mac Margolis – Newsweek, 01/28/2012

A pile of rocks removed from Maracana stadium sits outside the stadium during its renovation ahead of the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday Feb. 25, 2011. , Ari Versiani, AFP / Getty Images

As the five-time soccer world champions ramp up to stage the premier event of the wildly popular sport, the heavens ought to be ablaze and the oceans parting. But with the countdown racing to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, that has hardly been the case.

Almost since 2007, when Brazil won the right to host the 2014 World Cup, the country’s relations with the Switzerland-based International Football Federation (FIFA) have been fraught. Construction work on stadiums, roads, and public transportation is lagging. The country’s airports are already operating at maximum capacity (a power shortage blacked out Rio de Janeiro’s international airport this week) and plans for their overhaul depend on a complex public bidding process that experts say is designed to leave contractors in a quagmire.

Even now, five years later, Brazilian lawmakers are still questioning the ground rules for the month-long event, and in recent months government officials have quibbled with football bureaucrats over everything from cut-rate tickets for the elderly and indigenous groups—a right written into the nation’s constitution—to beer sales at stadiums, in direct opposition to a national dry-games law.

Brazilian leader under pressure on rights ahead of Cuba trip

Brazil Institute — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:11:44 +0000

Vinod Sreeharsha – McClatchy Newspapers, 01/28/2012

Dilma Rousseff arrives in Cuba on Monday on her first visit there as Brazil’s president, and she’s facing pressure to take a stronger and more public stance on human rights violations that continue under the Cuban government.

Rousseff meets with Raul Castro on Tuesday.

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez, a government critic, sought to meet Rousseff. She tried to compare herself to Brazil’s leader back when Rousseff was a young Marxist guerrilla jailed and tortured by Brazil’s military dictatorship.

Cuba trade focus as Brazil’s President Rousseff visits

Brazil Institute — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:22:49 +0000

BBC News, 01/30/2012

President Rousseff has been in office for just over a year

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is set to make her first official visit to Cuba with the emphasis on fostering business ties.

Communist-run Cuba, under a US trade embargo for 50 years, has seen some economic reforms under Raul Castro.

Ms Rousseff is due to hold talks with Mr Castro but it is not clear if she will meet former leader Fidel Castro.

American Airlines increases flights to seven major Brazilian cities

Brazil Institute — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:18:17 +0000

Mercopress, 01/30/2012

The new state-of-the-art Boeing 777-300ER will have Brazil as its first market

American Airlines announced changes to its coming spring and summer schedule that will expand the airline’s presence in Brazil. Next December, American’s route between Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and Sao Paulo (GRU) will be operating with the new state-of-the-art Boeing 777-300ER, making Brazil the first market for the new aircraft.

Further emphasizing American’s commitment to Latin America, the airline will increase its service between DFW and Sao Paulo beginning in June.

In 2010, American announced plans to order the Boeing 777-300ER, demonstrating a continuation of the airline’s efforts to enhance its fleet and become more fuel efficient. American is the first U.S. airline to order and take delivery of the 777-300ER. The new aircraft is designed to enhance the customer experience and includes fully lie-flat First and Business Class seats, plus seating plans that will allow American to offer a premium product in the Main Cabin and Wi-Fi capability to keep customers connected while travelling internationally.

Brazilian leader under pressure on rights ahead of Cuba trip

Brazil Institute — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:10:19 +0000

Vinod Sreeharsa – McClatchy/Miami Herald, 01/28/2012

Rousseff meets with Raul Castro on Tuesday.

Brazil nabs notorious drug lord

Brazil Institute — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:06:40 +0000

Gabriel Elizondo – Al Jazeera, 01/28/2012

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Fabianao Atanazio da Silva, one of Brazil's most wanted drug barons has been captured [procurados.org.br

One of Brazil’s most wanted and dangerous drug barons was abruptly captured late Friday while on vacation in a posh mountain town outside of Sao Paulo.

Fabianao Atanazio da Silva, known by his street name of “FB”, previously commanded a multi-million dollar drug trade from his base in Vila Cruzeiro shantytown in Rio de Janeiro.

Atanazio da Silva, 35, narrowly slipped out of police reach in November of 2010, when police special forces and the military invaded his shantytown stronghold.