Yesterday, I sat in on the São Paulo Central de Movimentos Populares (CMP) planning meeting for 12 simultaneous protests against hunger marked for Dec. 21. 5 years of austerity has brought back famine. Bones are being sold in Brazilian supermarkets for the first time in 20 years
The CMP is a popular (poor/working class) social movement umbrella w/scores of affiliates and around 500,000 members nationwide that started through the liberation theology movement, then broke with the Catholic church in the 90s over the issue of LGBT rights.
During yesterday's meeting, some of the state directors talked about participating in the "Carestia" (famine) protests during the neofascist military dictatorship as children. "Let's teach the young people the songs we sang and the tactics we used," one leader said.
This is the end result of the 2016 coup and 5 years of US puppet-rulers unnecessary dismantling of the social safety nets established during the PT years: growth stunting for millions of malnourished and hungry children.
Remember this when you see all the self-proclaimed, bourgeois US leftists backpeddling and downplaying their years of support for the coup and Lula's arbitrary, political imprisonment.
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The Pres. of Rio's state legislature, Rodrigo Bacellar, was arrested by the federal police today in an obstruction of justice investigation involving the Comando Vermelho trafficking gang. Here he is (l) w/ Governor Claudio Castro (r), who calls him a "Great friend. A brother".+
On October 28, far right Rio de Janeiro Governor Castro ordered the biggest police massacre in Brazilian history. His military police killed 121 people in Alemao and Penha favelas. Unlike his buddy Bacellar, 0 of the dead had arrest warrants.
"Today we celebrate the life of a great friend and brother, Rodrigo Bacellar. What a privilege it is to join you in this mission of caring for the people in our state. May God continue blessing you with health, knowledge and light on your journey. We're together!" - Gov. Castro
Brazil's largest ever petroleum industry corruption scandal in was revealed yesterday, as police excecuted 126 search warrants against the private company Refit, accused of over $5 billion usd in tax fraud and money laundering. Among its owners, close allies of the Bolsonaros+
Refit owns Rio de Janeiro's largest petroleum refinary (seen by everyonr driving in from Guarulhos airport). It's controlling shareholder is Ricardo Magro, former lawyer for the thrice-jailed architect of the illegitimate impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, Eduardo Cunha.
Cunha, whose name appears in the Panama Papers, is a powerfull figure in Rio de Janeiro's bolsonarista Assembly of God church - the same one suspected of laundering money for the city's evangelical cocaine trafficking factions.
Statement summary:
Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, President of Brazil, highlighted the link between the “multilateralism crisis and the weakening of democracy,” observing that “throughout the world, anti-democratic forces are trying to subjugate institutions and stifle freedoms”+
They worship violence, praise ignorance, act as physical and digital militias, and restrict the press”. Brazil has and will continue to defend its hard-won democracy from unilateral measures targeting its judiciary and economy, he stressed...
A former Head of State was convicted of attacking democracy the first time in 525 years of Brazilian history. The right to defend himself in court was upheld — something that would be denied under a dictatorship...
Greenwald is lying about Brazil's Supreme Court, falsely claiming that its 1st working group ruling on the Bolsonaro case is made up of faithful allies of Lula. Yet 3 of these 5 ministers voted to open an exception to the Constitution to imprison him on flimsy charges in 2018+
During its first 14 years on power, the PT used technical criteria to choose Supreme Court justices - an ethical move that is never done in the US. It came back to haunt them, as most voted in favor of Rousseff's frivolous impeachment and Lula's arbitrary political imprisonment.
Bolsonaro broke from tradition by politicizing the court, appointing far right reactionaries, Nunes Marques and André Mendonça. Here's Michelle Bolsonaro, praying, crying and speaking in tongues the moment Mendonça's nomination was confirmed.
Brazil's Federal Police announced that, based out of the conservative state of Parana, the PCC crime group has taken over hundreds of petrol stations (privatized by Jair Bolsonaro) and created shell companies to launder drug money, investing US$6 Billion in 21 hedge funds+
Assets seized/frozen: 21 hedge funds, 141 cars, 1600 trucks, two boats and 191 properties, including 6 farms valued at R$31 million and a mansion appraised at R$13 million. Parana governor and Bolsonaro ally, Ratinho Jr., has been rumored to have organized crime ties for years.
Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski says, "This is the tip of the iceberg. Now we are going to find out who is below the surface." The scandal has rocked Brazil's business community on Faria Lima (Brazil's equivalent of Wall Street).
"The conduct of this relative is repugnant," says ex-first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, about her uncle Gilberto Firmo, arrested during a child pornography investigation last week. Another uncle was arrested for organized crime in 2021. A 3rd uncle was arrested for rape in 2020+
In addition to her uncles, Mrs. Bolsonaro's grandmother did jail time for drug trafficking in the 1990s and her mother was once investigated for fraud. Could this explain why she has worked so hard to project the image of an evangelical religious zealot?
Here are some sources. 1) on her uncle Gilberto's arrest for share 10 child porn archives with social media chat apps. noticias.uol.com.br/cotidiano/ulti…