Brazil News - Including a Story Not Getting Much Attention

There's some news coming out of Brazil that's worth noting.

First, the economy slowed significantly in the third quarter.  The dispute within the government as to the cause  seems to be understandable:

Brazilian Finance Minister Antonio Palocci said the result was expected by the government and did not represent a long-term trend. He predicted that growth in the fourth quarter will be stronger.

But Trade Minister Luiz Furlan said the results were cause for concern and strong evidence that the central bank should consider steep decreases in the benchmark Selic interest rate, which stands at 18.5 percent.

"It shows the economy is reacting to interest-rate tightening and the containment of investment,'' Furlan said. "This establishes conditions for accelerating a reduction in interest rates.''

I'm with Furlan on this. Controlling inflation is an understandable concern in Brazil, but interest rates are so high as to inhibit investment. A little relaxing won't be the end of the world.

The national government gets a little serious about protecting the rights of the indigenous:

Federal police are evicting settlers and loggers from an Amazon area that experts believe is home to one of the world's most isolated Indian tribes, the government said Wednesday.

Police have arrested 27 people accused of illegal land appropriation and possible genocide in a removal operation involving 120 officers in Mato Grosso state, about 1,400 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro.

"We perceived that this group of Indians was being systematically persecuted. We found settlements that had been hastily abandoned, with the Indians leaving their belongings behind," said Armando Soares Filho, an official at the Federal Indian Bureau's Department of Isolated Indians.

I'm glad to see that Mato Grosso is getting the attention, but even more of this needs to be done in Pará.

Portuguese-born Carmen Miranda gets some attention approaching the  fiftieth anniversary of
her death.

José Dirceu, disgraced former chief of staff to Lula got whacked on the head  by a children's book author.

But the story that interests me the most doesn't seem to be getting much attention:

Brazilian authorities on Tuesday arrested 35 people accused of sneaking illegal migrants into the United States through Mexico. It was part of a continuing push to crack down on human smuggling rings, authorities said.

The raid by Brazilian police followed a September case in which 43 Brazilians were taken into custody, accused of smuggling Brazilians into the U.S., Europe and Mexico.

Those arrested Tuesday set up fake travel agencies in at least four southeastern Brazilian states and charged would-be emigrants $10,000 each for passage to Mexico and help crossing the U.S. border on foot, said federal highway police spokesman Alexandre Castilho.

I'm glad to see that the Brazilian government is cracking down on this, chiefly because of the danger that this imposes on those who make the journey, but also because of those who make money on the misery of others.

Comments

[civil truth]

Your last story touches on another story that has gotten little attention from the U.S. press (I've only seen one story, which was about a year ago). The U.S. press intensively covers illegal immigration northward from Mexico into the U.S. and the harm that comes to the immigrants. However, far worse are the conditions for illegal immigration northwards into Mexico across its southern border from Central America. Apparently, there is much more frequent abuse, rape, robbery, indentured servitude, death etc. of these immigrants, but since it doesn't touch the U.S. directly, it's much more invisible.

Thus migrants like the Brazilians face a double jeopardy: crossing into Mexico, and then crossing into the U.S. I do hope the Brazilian government can find a way to reduce the misery of these immigrants and defend them against abuse by smuggling rings.

I also hope the government can muster enought forces to protect the surviving Indian tribes, and in the process help protect the Amazon basin. Do you think there is some basis for hope that the current government will be better placed to succeed where previous governments have failed?