Home

Brazil

Pinochet's Enablers in US, Brazil

The news media has reported that in 1971 the Nixon administration discussed with Brazilian military ruler, General Emilio Garrastazu Médici, a cooperative effort to overthrow the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile.

The secret talks made public this week reveal another dark side of the Nixon-Kissinger contribution to the bloody overthrow of the Allende government on Sept. 11, 1973, and to the emergence of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship in Chile.

Posted in foreign policy, Militarism, Brazil, chile

World Bank Loan Withdrawn From Brazilian Cattle Corporation

An aerial view shows smoke rising from manmade forest fires set to clear land for cattle or crops in the state of Para in Brazil in this August 12, 2008 file photo. Consumers around the world are unwittingly fueling destruction of the Amazon forest by buying Brazilian beef products linked to illegal deforestation, environment group Greenpeace said on May 31, 2009. (REUTERS/Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace Handout)

THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC), private lending arm of the World Bank, has withdrawn a $90 million (€57 million) loan to Brazilian cattle industry giant Bertin, following complaints that it was using the money to expand further into the Amazon region.

"It is good news that the World Bank is withdrawing these funds, yet scandalous that it was feeding a company that causes Amazon deforestation and climate change in the first place," said Paulo Adario, Greenpeace Brazil's Amazon campaign director.

Posted in climate change, deforestation, imf, Brazil

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 14, 2009
12:46 PM

CONTACT: Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Tel: +1-212-216-1832
Email: hrwpress@hrw.org

Brazil: Prosecute Dictatorship-Era Abuses

Landmark International Decision Provides Powerful Push for Accountability

WASHINGTON - April 14 - Brazil should prosecute human rights abuses committed during the 1964-1985 dictatorship following a landmark legal decision, Human Rights Watch said today. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights stated that amnesties and statutes of limitations cannot be applied to crimes against humanity that were committed during Brazil's military dictatorship.

The commission's conclusion, announced on April 8, 2009, marks the first international decision relating to abuses that took place during the military dictatorship in Brazil, from 1964 to 1985.

###

Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Links:
Posted in Human Rights, Brazil

Walling Off the Slums…or ‘Eco-Barrier’?

A worker builds a wall at the Dona Marta slum in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, March 31,2009. Rio de Janeiro's state government will build seven miles (11 kms) of concrete walls around some of the biggest slums in an effort to halt deforestation of the jungle surrounding the metropolis, officials said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Eduardo Naddar)

RIO DE JANEIRO - While the government of the state of Rio de Janeiro insists that a wall being built around a poor neighbourhood is designed to protect what remains of Brazil's Atlantic rainforest from further encroachment by the slum, human rights groups say it is designed to further separate the rich and poor.

While the residents of the slums, known as favelas, built on the mountains surrounding the city are used to hiking up and down the steep stairs and alleyways of their neighbourhoods several times a day, climbing up to the wall is difficult for an outsider.

Posted in Environment, inequality, poverty, Brazil

Hundreds of Brazil's Eco-Warriors at Risk of Assassination

Indians of the Makixi tribe protest during a juridical dispute against large-scale rice farmers in Brasilia, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2008. More than 1,100 activists, small farmers, judges, priests and other rural workers have been killed in disputes since Chico Mendes' murder, according to the Catholic Land Pastoral, a watchdog group known as CPT. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) RIO DE JANEIRO - Twenty years after the killing of Chico Mendes, one of the world's most prominent rainforest defenders, hundreds of human rights and environmental activists still face the threat of assassination in Brazil, a new study claims.

The report, compiled by Brazil's Catholic Land Commission (CPT) and due to be released in full early next year, reveals that at least 260 people, among them a Catholic bishop, live under the threat of murder because of their fight against a coalition of loggers, farmers and cattle ranchers.

Posted in Activism, conservation, deforestation, Brazil

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 3, 2008
12:16 PM

CONTACT: Greenpeace
Daniel Kessler, 970.690.2728 (cell)

Amazon Deforestation Rises Again, Says the Brazilian Government

UNITED STATES - December 3 - Just days before UN climate talks begin in Poznan, Poland, the Brazilian government released new figures for Amazon deforestation between August 2007 and July 2008. After three years of decline, almost 3 million (2,957,356) acres were destroyed - a increase of 3.8% compared to the previous year. The new figures were announced today by the National Institute of Space Research (INPE).

###
Posted in deforestation, Brazil
Syndicate content