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 This piece is a rebuttal to an article written by Ricardo C. Amaral titled "The Brazilian Formula for Success: Dictatorship" and published by Brazzil Magazine. How preposterous of you to suggest that the viable solution for Brazil's social, political and legal ailments can only be found in a guns-and-fist military regime.
I may be mistaken Mr. Amaral, but from what I read in your article it would appear you are a direct descendant of the Parasitical Ruling Elites that ruled Brazil since its inception as nation. If so, you are direct descendant of those who raided the country's wealth, peddled its natural resources and have ultimately mortgaged the future of a nation.
Fortunately for Brazil and all Brazilians, the looting sooner or later had to come to an end and to some degree it did when those self - proclaimed benefactors lost their power. Nevertheless; what was left of Brazil was a carcass of nation of which poor inhabitants and a large number of the unfortunate underclass survived as social and political scavengers.
Still, given the resilience of our great nation, it refused to succumb to its last breath and at every tiny patch of hope it found enough vital signs to wiggle and squirm amid gasps and spurts; valiantly trying to get back life. And to rise from its ashes and live and prosper as it should Brazil had to confront decades of struggles, year after year of false starts until the country finally emerged from the shadows of hyper inflation and chronic economic stagnation. And in the last decade it found the strength at last. It recouped its breath and rediscovered its stamina to stand unsupported on its own feet.
But as is common with any recovering, moribund, near death patient whose health has somehow been miraculously improved, one has to expect that the social and political state of the nation doesn't check out with a hundred percent clean bill of health. And the long, hard stages of recovery are marred with the ever present danger of a relapse. During that critical period of national reinvigoration there would naturally be many critical situations in which the outcome is often in doubt.
That's precisely what is happening to the great, resource rich nation of Brazil. And just as the country begins to show signs that's fit, ready; signs that it's willing and able to get out of life support and step on the world stages as a heavyweight, along appears a certain Mr. Amaral professing with messianic enthusiasm his desire to resuscitate those self - serving humanoids from their cryptic political/military graveyards, so the goons can once again cannibalize the hard - earned destiny of our nation.
Dictatorship in Brazil has been dead Sir. And it has been dead long ago. But you, sensing an opportunity to seize the moment you concoct this preposterous idea that to save Brazil from itself you must attempt to turn back the pages of its history by raising it from the dead.
By suggesting that a Coup d'état is the best medium to fix Brazil's broken social order you are simply aiming to restore - at all cost - the power the Ruling Elite once held but eventually lost. Losing power and the prestige it yields it's s a bitter pill to swallow. Indeed it is! But you see; every sophisticated, intellectually advanced and politically evolved Brazilian knows that your proposed cure for crime and lawlessness in Brazil is as good as you getting a cancer cure prescription from a snake oil salesman.
However, and not surprisingly, in your delusion you failed to include - or you seem to have intentionally lost sight of - the one single axiomatic factor that causes the social and economic stability of a nation and assures its rise to the top.
Assuming my gumption is correct; let me lay it out for you.
The past two Centuries have seen most Western European nations and the United States - Brazil's colossal North American neighbor - prosper like no other time in human history. Their unimpeded upward growth allowed their societies to advance and become what we know today as 'the rich and developed world.'
Quiz: what exactly triggered their unobstructed rise to the pinnacle of power and prestige Mr. Amaral? Well for your information, it was their unwavering commitment to Democracy, their iron - grip hold on the concept of justice for all and their efficiency in meting out justice according to equitable rule of law.
Now get this.
The unprecedented advancement these free Western Powers experienced also created an interesting paradox. To protect their own interests, their well - earned power and political clout gave them the ability to plunder, subjugate, dictate or otherwise impose their will - at will - on most other nations around the globe. Brazil included.
Most interesting of all, nearly all nations that the Western Powers colonized were poor, underdeveloped nations whose rulers, at one time or another, were dictators and self-serving one-man show - presiding over their unconstrained by law: - one party regimes. (The same type of despotic force d'état regime that ruled Brazil from 1960s to 80s.)
And in spite your glowing allegory titled 'The Brazilian Formula for Success: Dictatorship' you shamefully and willfully omit that during its dictatorship period, Brazil - although one the most beautiful and resource-rich nation in the world, territorially larger than the United States - has nonetheless spent most of its national tenure reduced to the role of a mendicant nation. And that the tyrannical system of governance you endorse contributed to Brazil being elevated to that unflattering status of a Third World Nation.
It should pain you Mr. Amaral to know that for most of the past century Brazil has spent large chunks of its history behaving as a political and social scavenger in the eyes of the world. Indeed, it's hard to imagine an enormous, continent-size nation as Brazil kissing up to foreign economic, social and military powers just to keep economically afloat.
But Brazil's hand-to-mouth approach was the only form of diplomatic clout it had at its disposition. At best, when viewed from abroad, Brazil's most notable social and economic achievements were in boasting an unmatched record at building slums (the favelas). Not to mention that it holds the record as the number one producer of the world's largest incomes disparity of modern times.
Yes Sir! Again, we are not talking about Zaire, Congo, Haiti or Iraq here. We are talking about Brazil...a country that, soccer artistry and G - string notwithstanding; possessed (and possesses) the capacity to send a man to the moon at the same time the United States landed their men there. And were it not for the corrupt military rulers constantly raiding the cookie jar, Brazil could have been there already.
Further still, a democratic Brazil Mr. Amaral, should have launched its own space program to reach Mars and beyond decades ago. It could have by now littered the world with its own multinational 500 corporations. It could have developed its home - grown automobile industry.
It should have built its bullet trains; it should have peppered the skies with Embraer built stealth fighters Jets and strategic bombers. And instead of buying one nuclear submarine from a much smaller nation like France, its Navy could by now have its self-engineered fleet of advanced nuclear submarines defending our vast, sunny and beach adorned shores or prowling the open seas.
Also, as a wholesome military power, its entire Navy and Air Force should be in the position to strike fear in the hearts of those who'd so much dare to make a play for Brazil's new found oil wealth. While at that, like the mighty United States of America, Brazil could be drawing respect and awe from friends and allies.
Let me also mention that in the nuclear theater, instead of having to rely on a strategic defense alliance with a smaller and yet more economically and technologically advanced nation like France, Brazil could - much like the United States - have become a hyper power capable of rubbing its nuclear awesomeness and prowess in the world's nose. (Just so you know, the United States - the most powerful nation in the known universe - is a DEMOCRACY.)
Wait! Before you go, let me add that Brazil could also by now be in the position to unabashedly broadcast its superpower DEMOCRATIC credentials around the world. An attribute that could have ultimately fitted its famous and fabled bikini read end tightly in its rightful permanent seat at the UN.
However, when it comes to that, the opposite is true. It has to lie in wait as an outsider that it is, hoping to get in. It may get the door opened and finally sit on its coveted UN chair. But if it does, it's only because the advent of the Mr. Lula da Silva has seen Brazil come through to move past its hemispheric identity as the 'America's backyard.'
But as we speak, our multicolor and multi-ethnic nation is still waiting to be accepted (if it behaves responsibly) in that exclusive club of nations who holds their permanent seats at the UN.
Guess what! To achieve that sought-after prize Brazil has to show that its peoples have the attribute, knowledge, or skills that can only be associated to that of a forward-looking and sophisticated society. An achievement that's only possible through advanced EDUCATION. Its population and its population's children and its children's children must exhibit the telltale signs that they belong in the ranks of the highly schooled and that they deserve a place among the socially and technologically mature run of humanity. And that its entire populace (and not just a small band of privileged kids) have access to and are permitted to attend the best universities for the betterment of their lives and for the stratospheric rise of their nation.
Which at this juncture, I ask: can you step forward and for the record claim that other than producing inefficient bureaucrats, greed lawyers; ego-justice judges, frolicking accountants, corrupt politicians; incompetent doctors and nepotistic beneficiary of the country's best business available opportunities; the military regimes of yore have produced a first-class social, intellectual and technologically ripe nation we call Brazil? I think not!
Just look around carefully Mr. Amaral and take note of how most of the Brazilian population has survived as peddlers and scalpers in the underground economy and become aware of what has led the disenfranchised to become petty criminals to the point where the most entrepreneurial among them, at best, have made themselves CEO drug dealers. (And that dysfunctional and unsavory social crop, I remind you, sprouted under the careful, benevolent watchful eyes of your so-called benign dictators.)
History shows that each of your large-hearted authoritarian system in Brazil (and the world for that matter), rose to power for their own welfare. And for as long as they were permitted to, they transferred power and control not to the people but to their subsequent self-serving parasitical cronies. And under their nepotic arrangement, one to ten percent of their paisanos usually ended up snapping up ninety percent of the nation's wealth for themselves.
Overtly and more often covertly they shared that power, wealth, resources, land and territories among their pals and close associates. Whatever was left they pawned it to powerful foreign political compadres in exchange for prestige, overseas education and economic opportunities for their families, children and closest geopolitical allies.
As their power - sharing and swapping orgy went on, they were wise enough to keep the poor purposely uneducated...and the less affluent in a compliant state of blatant ignorance and submission. And under the threat of possible use of force they coaxed the upper-middle class to acquiesce in a semi-permanent, moronic state of dazed political social stupor.
Thus most Brazilians for most of Brazil's existence, have been kept out of the loop and to this day millions are still fair game; easy prey and prone to the present whims of a small but pervasive ruling elite that still plague Brazil. Millions can do nothing but pray that God or some form of higher power will eventually manifest and deliver them from their day slave-like sub existence.
Contrast that with Sweden for instance. Sweden is a country ridiculously small and with the end of the Cold War it has become a strategically insignificant nation of 9 million or so. In Europe, its economy is only the tenth largest and in the Global sphere its economy ranks in double digits way below in the pecking order and scope at 22nd.
And yet Sweden boasts one of the world's highest educational standards in the world and its educational system - from pre-school to Universities - is AVAILABLE FOR ALL regardless of background, gender, social and national origin.
In fact Sweden's social development and technological know-how and productivity are one of the worlds' highest...and towers miles above Brazil's. At that, I will have you know that Sweden - despite its rubber stamp and post card royalty - is a DEMOCRACY.
And speaking of technology, even Israel is more advanced than Brazil. (Israel too is a democracy.) By contrast, Brazil, despite being an enormous, continent-size nation; it has reached a technological progress mark where the numbers of its patents recognition are less or on a par to that of Pakistan. And its living standard index although rising, is lower than or equal to that of Vietnam's or Nigeria. Let's call it 'vestiges of Brazil's Benevolent Dictatorship'
Again, it's all thanks to that self-serving parasitical ruling elite. Many would not be surprised as to why you are advocating their return to power.
Now, what you may not know is: Brazil has closer to 200 million inhabitants and yet only one man among its citizens tops Forbes billionaire list. (His wealth by the way or his access to it was probably achieved mostly or in great part because his well-connected father was an energy minister in the country.)
So to you and all the secretly aspiring dictators out there I ask: where are the Bill Gates of Brazil, Sir? Where are the Dell's, the Steven Jobs, and the Einstein? Where are its Nobel laureates? Can you find them among the military rulers you wish to return to power?
Let me tighten it up a notch and ask: Where's Brazil's Space Station? Where can you find Brazil's giant and acclaimed film industry? Where are Brazil's MacDonald's and Starbucks? Why is Embraer today only the third largest aircraft manufacture in the world (a position which by the way, it reached only after the introduction of our current democratic system), instead of competing toe-to-toe with Airbus and Boeing?
Why isn't Brazil's culture and language widespread and in day-to-day use around the world like say, English and French is? After all Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, isn't it, Mr. Amaral? And say, have you read or heard news lately that to protect itself and the oil wealth found in its territorial waters Brazil will need to buy advanced fighter jets from either France, the USA or God-forbid, Sweden? Yes, Sweden, that lame and insignificant patch of land I mentioned a moment ago has enough military capacity to help protect BRAZIL. You go figure!
Now, shouldn't Brazil be the country selling military airpower to them and racking in the billions of dollars to its treasury and in turn invest the funds in the advancement of its society instead?
Can a military dictatorship deliver all that muscle to Brazil before 2020? O and when do you think Brazil will have its first black President?
To their credit, Brazilians are known as one of the happiest people in the world. But as I watch from overseas I see millions of Brazilian faces displaying that picture of unrelenting poverty and ignorance. And when they smile; most of them flash rotten, brown and broken teeth-smiles.
That may seem trivial to you Mr. Amaral. But to me and to most people in the developed world, a beautiful, sparkling white teeth flashing through the smiles of a population is a big and clear sign they belong to a developed society. A society like Sweden's that can provide something as basic adequate dental care to its citizens.
Now do you remember seeing the face of the average Brazilian display their unusual joy underscored by a shiny white smile that showcased well-cared for teeth...specially during the twenty one years of dictatorship they suffered? If they couldn't provide something as general as high-quality dental care, how in the world would such dictatorial regime provide the A-list educational and first-world living standard that's necessary and primary to combat poverty and ward off crime?
Au contraire! Still today, the faces of most Brazilians are but a sad portrait of hardship and injustice. And when that average Brazilian speaks, he or she sounds like a bicameral man on the verge of mental retardation.
On the bright side - and thanks to president Lula and his predecessor - Brazil may have finally found its footing. But one question remains. As Brazil readies itself for further economic growth and ascent to power Dom, where are the hordes upon hordes of advanced engineers it so desperately needs to support its rapid transformation?
You may not have noticed but the nation's infrastructure is a sham. Power grid failure, collapsing bridges, toppling shopping centers and flash floods in high-density urban centers is the norm. Brazil's last dictators had a twenty-one year the chance to fix all that. They didn't. They couldn't and they didn't know how. And when they did know how, they did nothing about it.
That's because back then, they were incapable of doing anything of meaningful value to the nation. And as far as defending Brazil from potential outside aggression, they were as endowed as were the dictators of Argentina that defended her during the Falkland War. You know the rest of the story, don't you?
That's why a Democratic Brazil of today is nothing short of a miracle. Perhaps God is indeed a Brazilian. But there's no doubt that there's much change needed in Brazil. Not change that replaces one flawed system of governance with another. I am talking about top to bottom sustained change.
But to change all that Brazil needs a highly educated working force. Since it doesn't have it, the bulk of know-how it requires has to be imported. And thus; as it was with its recent history, the best jobs in the country when not going to those politically, militarily or economically connected, are deeded over to foreign brain-power.
Indeed, the top jobs at Brazilian companies are reserved to top CEO's with foreign names. The locals, the vast majority of men and women born and bred in the country lack the (technical) knowledge and skill required to do something. Thus they continue to get by as perennial serving maids and quintessential modern day foot servants of those foreign guests that can.
Get a grip Mr. and answer these questions: Where are the great financial geniuses and bankers that regardless of the tone of their skin and their background that in the past two decades would have built in Brazil a financial system to rival or surpasses Wall Street? Meanwhile, it was a foreign financial institution; Banco Santander of Spain to be precise, that launched the biggest IPO to date in the countries' history.
Are you saying that a bunch of military power-grabbing crooks were and are capable of delivering that to our nation as called for in your formula for Brazil's success?
C'mon!
I've lived outside of Brazil for more than 30 years. Before I left, the major and most influential TV Network in the country at the time (which by the way was in bed with the military dictatorship) was TV Globo. And all it did THEN was to feed regime-doctored ignorance and pathetic programming to the population...to keep them happy.
Thirty plus on, and still, the vast majority of the population are being fed the SAME archaic, brain shriveling TV programming.
Thanks but, no thanks!
Instead of dictators, what Brazil needs is its own CNN (and TV anchors that - like the vast majority of Brazilians - need to learn to speak Portuguese in an educated and affluent manner.) That too Sir, I once again remind you, is acquired through an unhinged commitment to higher and available-for-all education of the masses. But when it comes to education as springboard to upward mobility, one aspect of the legacy left behind by your benevolent strongman and I am sure you are well aware of is: in Brazil, the browner your skin tone gets the less likely it is that your face will be seen inside Brazil's corridors of business, political and social power. In fact, the browner your skin the more likely your face will appear on the crime section of periodicals or as prominent feature on prime time Brazil's Network Evening News.
Social and economic injustice is the hotbed and the fertilizers of crime and lawlessness in Brazil. It operates in stealth and the line separating it from the dearth of the ruling elite is as thin as it is invisible. Here's an example: When at the preteen age of eleven (and before leaving Brazil for good) I worked as a courier for a Law Firm somewhere located near Avenida Paulista in downtown São Paulo.
The firm sent me on an errand to deliver some legal documents to a retail store. When I entered the store in a plush district around Avenida Ipiranga, I suffered the unjust humiliation that often comes with being and looking different. 'I was thrown out of the store simply because of the tone of my skin.' And I was at work mind you. This blatant form of racial and social discrimination happened to a simple, albeit well-dressed boy with big dreams of becoming somebody or making something of himself in the future.
Noticed that I was barely eleven years of age and was working with hope and dignity in my young heart. Still, the child I was then had to suffer venomous racial discrimination and abuse at the hands of adults. People whom I was supposed to admire and whose examples as value producers to the society I was supposed to simulate.
I woke up early into manhood. I remember how the experience marked me to the point where my growing desire to leave Brazil became my life's driving force. That experience made me want to leave the country for good. I did. And I also did become something I am proud of. But only God knows what future the Brazil your dictators built would have held for me.
Now here's the thing Mr. Amaral. In today's Brazil there many children of the social and economic level I once had in Brazil. And they have the same dreams, desires and aspirations I did then. But millions of them aren't as lucky or had the foresight early on that leaving their beloved country behind was their only way out. And many, many of them are dead! And as you read this, many are being slaughtered by those called upon to protect the self-serving ruling political, social and some cases, even business fraternity.
I know this is hard for you and your inner circle to digest, but until Mr. Lula da Silva come on the scene, many, with unfailing frequency were (and still are) simply regarded as underclass outcast and are cast as pests; a social aberration if you will. Even now, when many among them walk into a supermarket or department, they aren't treated as regular costumers at first sight, but rather as 'the usual suspects.'
The math here is quite simple. If you deny a man his opportunity to earn his bread he'll turn to the nearest available option. And for many young men (and young women) in Brazil, that option is to join a brotherhood in the favelas where the job opportunities as drug pusher, dealers and murder-for-hire are plentiful. In their economy there are no crises. The demand outpaces supply ten fold. And the producers are harvesting billions of dollars in annual profit.
And this Mr. Amaral is the bequest of your so-touted benevolent dictators. While you and your symbiotic neo-cheating cohorts have enjoyed the spoils of Brazil's wealth, and may be covertly plotting a government take over, millions still remain sunk in their perennial social, political, economic and intellectual impoverishment.
In the foreseeable future, if your plan were ever to succeed, millions among them will still belong to that class of citizens who come in second. And most of all, nearly all will continue to live their lives mired in ignorance and be victim of injustice. Others will morph themselves from 'born-to-succeed' to perpetrators of crime.
Remember, most criminals aren't born, they are made. And in Brazil a great many number of poor kids turning to crime do so because the 'Benevolent dictators/benefactors' you advertise in strongly positive terms have set up an unwritten constitution just for them: The one that says, "Except where you are of service to us; you do NOT belong in our Private Ruling Elite Club."
President Lula and in part his predecessor understood that. And as a result he converted words into actions that caused over thirty million people to migrate from poverty to the middle class. All that achieved in the last six years as opposed to decades of social, political and economic stagnation Brazil has been famous for.
Now Mr. Amaral, Brazil finally has a chance to catch up, redeem and transform itself. It can truly become a nation of the future. Not the one General Charles de Gaulle once quipped and laughed about. Today you live in a Brazil that, while you may have been asleep and dreaming about your dictatorship fantasies, one recent announcement made by IMF has earmarked it to become the world's 5th largest economy by the 2015-20. (Yes 5th largest in the world!)
That's to say: USA #1, China #2, Japan #3, India #4 and...Brazil #5.
Some are predicting that it may beat India to 4th largest position by 2015. It means Mr. Amaral that either way, Brazil will be ahead of Germany. That's right, Germany (where I lived for 8 years and enjoyed the highest standard of living on the planet ever) which is Europe's biggest economy. And just so you know...Germany too, is a democracy.
According to Goldman Sachs, the World Bank and the CIA world book, by 2050 Brazil's GDP will hover between 11 to 14 Trillion US dollars. That's roughly the current size of the US GDP. However, compared to its vast potential, to me those figures are a meager pocket change.
But to today's Brazil, those figures are awesome nonetheless. By contrast, India's GDP - the world's largest and one the oldest democracies - will (regardless the size of its population) reach close to 40 trillion US dollars.
Curiously, the forecast for Brazil to in such short period place 5th or perhaps 4th among the top ten economies of the world has come only under the reign of Mr. Lula da Silva. Now doesn't it strike you odd that Lula, a man who is as far removed from the circles enjoyed by Brazil's parasitical ruling elites as earth is from Jupiter, was the one capable of elevating Brazil to a triple-rated, emerging market economic power?
That leads me to think the following: had we had a Lula on those 21 years of dictatorship in Brazil, North Americans and Europeans and the rest of the world would have been the ones knocking at Brazil's doors and begging at its borders for a chance to a fresh start in true land of opportunity. And many Brazilian expats such as me would not have needed to escape the virulent grip the self-serving ruling elite and their symbiotic Neocheaters had on our country.
So make sure you understand this. Brazil today is indeed a country of the future and this is its Century. Our nation is entitled to become a leading superpower on a parallel eye-to-eye level with the United States. Brazil is the B of the BRIC nations and has the capacity and potential to grow its GDP to the same or perhaps even greater size as that of the United Stated of America. The BRIC nations are known as emerging economies. I say that instead of being branded as emerging markets they must be called Growth Markets.
And it's the Growth Economies of BRIC who are the only major players growing meaningfully and are leading the Globe out of its crippling recession. And most economists and specially will tell you that of the four BRIC nations Brazil's conditions for growth and for business is the most favored. But even though we know you won't succeed, you want to derail that. You want to throw it back into its political, economic and social dark ages.
But even as you may try, Brazil and the Brazilian people must never again allow itself to be taken over by credentialed power hungry creeps that are probably right now drooling over your article, pondering upon the possibilities and secretly yearning for one other chance to parade themselves as Lords of the Land brandishing their shining-badges, dressed up in their stars encrusted uniforms. That band of criminals you are calling forthwith shall never and must never rule over Brazil again.
The Brazilian people know that among those who are in control over weapons depot and seating atop our military paraphernalia we will find honorable defenders of our fledgling democracy.
They will defend it so greater and greater parts of Brazil's resources are invested to root out white-hat political bandits and neocheaters and grafters and potentials political grafters from its mix. They will continue to support the fight to revamp the nation's flawed judicial system. Yes, the same judicial system that together with its symbiotic ruling elite is in great part the root cause of crime and lawlessness and corruption problem in Brazil.
So Mr. Dictator's advocate: in the name of objective justice, pull down your article and consider a long, heart-felt apology to the Brazilian people. And to our country, do the following: Agree with me that what Brazil needs right now, is the creation of Mass Education Acceleration Program or let's call it PAE: Programa de Aceleração da Educação ... for the entire population.
Education creates a creditworthy society. A creditworthy has little need to resort to crime as means of survival.
Can you see it?
It's PAE nor DICTATORSHIP. PAE! That's the word your social, economic evolutionary thinking failed to grasp. To you Mr. and all dictator wannabes, I say, PAE lies as the immediate solution to poverty and crime. (O' and may I mention that it will contribute to the decline in drug consumption in Brazil as well?)
You see. In most advanced societies, you'll find that a great portion of drug consumers are affluent and most addicted children belong to the politically protected Ivy-league class of the ruling elite.
BUT EDUCATION CAN TAKE CARE OF THAT TOO!
It would be beneficial for you to know that Brazil already possesses the means and the technology to root out each and every drug dealer off the streets and out of its core. If its society really wants to, it CAN. All it needs is the will to do it. Not some military, power - usurping of crooks to unleash a certain-to-fail war on drugs upon the children of Brazil.
Therefore, it is Brazil's society itself that must raise to power as a whole and with educational and intellectual sophistication elect leaders capable of cleaning house in Brazil for good. It can do it by employing democratically conceived rule of law. If it does, it will finally place Brazil's society among the educated class of nations.
Finally, just in case you are inclined to think or expose that education won't remedy the crime and lawlessness problem of modern Brazil, here's one more thing I got for you: I was born to an unrelentingly poor family in a shanty town in outskirt of São Paulo state.
We were seven children in total. As said previously, I left Brazil at a young age because even as a child I couldn't stand its pathetic level ignorance and social mediocrity in Brazil. Today I am a PHD, an author and a business professional. My sister lives in Washington state and is an academic. She too left Brazil to live in North America - of all places - to escape discrimination and to turn her back on the poverty in which we lived under: - courtesy of the military regime.
As for my brothers and sisters who stayed in Brazil, all are hard-working people who have raised families and taught their children to plow ahead against the odds. They learned to grow and prosper through their own efforts and become larger-than-life contributing citizens to the Brazilian society.
None needed to have their individual rights seized from them in order to do so. Not one of us needed the return of a system of rule and governance that you wish to bring forth. For that social and economic system/military regime cost both of our parent's lives. We've been there, done that! Still, as kids we never experimented or even tried drugs, alcohol and none of us are hooked on any other addiction or vices that commonly plague most rich and poor Brazilian kids today.
Heck! None of us even ever smoked cigarettes.
Most amazing of all, our mother could barely read or write, but she was educated enough to EDUCATE her children to grow into law-abiding citizens. Indeed, she taught us to work with the aim of becoming contributors to the advancement of our country. It was her ability to educate us and insist that we pursue higher education on our own merits that saw us through.
EDUCATION (not DICTATORSHIP) is the key to individual and collective development and is directly responsible for the progress of a nation. I bet you didn't know that!
Let there be no Brazilian left behind. Never again!
And as for you Mr. AMARAL, YOU ARE THE WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY!
So my suggestion is as follows: Those who can't be part of or CAN'T conceive real, tangible solutions to eliminate poverty and crime Brazil, should then get undressed and expose themselves naked so the world can see them for WHO they REALLY are.
Then THEY should put on a hat and walk into the sea until the hat floats. Like that they can leave the country in the hands of those who want to really build its future and BUILD a Brazil for their children's future. Yes, build a future free from drugs, free from corrupt politicians, free from the Parasitical Ruling Elites and most importantly FREE from the hands of Nostalgic, delusional Dictators.
Still, I am prepared to concede that a coup d'état may still occur in Brazil. But if it does, I hope the Brazilian people will have grown strong enough to beat them back. And then amend the constitution to make sure the coup plotters are put behind bars...for life! And that they - the coup plotters - find them themselves ostracized and eventually laughed out of existence.
As for you Mr. Amaral, there's still time to GET on the right side of History.
Sam Paris is a singer/songwriter, entertainer, actor and author. Sam's multicultural background allowed him to spent years touring around the world, working at his craft and perfecting a vast repertoire of artistic impersonations.
Beyond showbiz, Sam Paris is a natural observer of human behavior and individual evolution. He was born in Brazil, near the great city of São Paulo, to an evangelical family. In the early eighties, he moved to the US to study theology at Norwest Bible College in Seattle, Washington. However, before graduating, he received a scholarship to attend Christian School in Oslo, Norway. After that, he returned to the US and received a PhD in philosophy and religion and an Honorary Degree in counseling psychology from Universal Life Church University. Then, a family tragedy forced him to swift focus and he joined another line of work, providing financial services and support for members of NATO Military Personnel and US Armed Forces in Germany. There, he launched a flourishing entertainment career and public relations consulting. In the mid-90's he relocated to France. Sam speaks Portuguese, Spanish, German, English, and French.
Sam Paris, under the name Silvan Teodoro, is the author of the highly acclaimed, number 1 book 'Build Your Body for Live, Sex and Love.' His book can be found online or at your local bookstore.
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27/04/2010
"Senador vítima de atentado culpa o narcotráfico paraguaio-brasileiro"
da France Presse, em Assunção da Reportagem Local
Folha de Sao Paulo – (Brasil)
O senador governista Robert Acevedo, que sobreviveu ao atentado nesta segunda-feira que deixou dois guarda-costas mortos, atribuiu o ataque à máfia do narcotráfico que domina a fronteira entre Paraguai e Brasil.
"Os responsáveis são narcotraficantes paraguaios associados com os brasileiros. Eles estão infiltrados na sociedade e são donos da vida e da morte. Eu me salvei por um milagre", disse Acevedo à imprensa.
O furgão do político sofreu cerca de 40 impactos de bala, sem que a polícia tenha ainda pistas dos atacantes. O senador pelo Partido Liberal sofreu o impacto de dois disparos.
Um de seus guarda-costas morreu ao tentar protegê-lo e o outro foi crivado por balas.
O fato ocorreu em pleno centro da cidade de Pedro Juan Caballero, capital do departamento (Província) de Amambay, separado por uma avenida de Ponta Porã, no Brasil.
Amambay foi declarado em estado de exceção assim como outros quatro departamentos do norte, nos quais foram mobilizados cerca de 3.000 policiais e militares para rastrear a existência de focos de supostos rebeldes autodenominados Exército do Povo Paraguaio (EPP), de esquerda.
A eles foi atribuído o assassinato há uma semana de quatro policiais no Departamento de Concepción, vizinho de Amambay.
Crime internacional
Para Acevedo, no entanto, o EPP não constitui nem um décimo dos bandos de narcotraficantes. "É algo internacional. Sua força é superior à da polícia. Eles têm armas poderosas para defender o poderoso movimento fronteiriço ilegal", relatou.
"Eles transformaram a cidade de Pedro Juan Caballero numa sociedade dominada pelo tráfico. Há políticos locais que estão associados a eles. A maioria dos candidatos políticos são pagos por eles", continuou.
"Para ocultar sua verdadeira atividade no submundo do narcotráfico, dedicam-se à venda de eletrônicos, móveis --comércios de fachada-- e até a entidades beneficentes".
"Eu os denunciava todos os dias, mas agora vejo que é impossível lutar contra eles. São extremadamente poderosos", enfatizou.
Acevedo é um empresário que atua com postos de gasolina e também é proprietário da rádio Amambay AM.
O furgão em que estava no momento do atentado era utilizado nas coberturas diárias da emissora.
PCC
O ministério do Interior paraguaio confirmou as identidades de dois brasileiros detidos como suspeitos do atentado, e indicou que as investigações já estão em estágio avançado.
A chefe de imprensa do ministério, Dolly Olmedo, disse em entrevista por telefone à Folha que os brasileiros Eduardo da Silva, 27, e Marcos Cordeiro Pereira, 34, estão presos na cidade de Pedro Juan Caballero, mas explicou que a polícia paraguaia ainda não tem comprovação da ligação dos dois com o PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital), informação publicada pela imprensa local.
De acordo com informações do ministério, o senador Acevedo vinha sofrendo ameaças há muitos dias. "Ele já sabia que isto poderia acontecer, mas não tomou os cuidados necessários", disse Olmedo, confirmando ainda que o senador passa bem e já está fora de perigo. Segundo o ministério, o próprio senador teria comentado anteriormente que sua cabeça valeria US$ 500 mil (cerca de R$ 800 mil).
A cidade de Pedro Juan Caballero é a capital de Amambay, um dos Departamentos (Estados) declarados em estado de exceção pelo Parlamento paraguaio para combater a guerrilha EPP. O estado de exceção, decretado por 30 dias, afeta os Departamentos de Concepción, San Pedro, Amambay, Presidente Hayes e Alto Paraguai, onde vivem 800 mil pessoas, quatro deles fazem fronteira com o Brasil.
A polícia descartou qualquer ligação entre o EPP e o atentado desta segunda-feira.
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Atentado
O ataque aconteceu perto do terminal de ônibus da cidade, por volta das 18h (19h em Brasília), de acordo com o site do jornal paraguaio "Ultima Hora".
Os criminosos se aproximaram do carro do senador e dispararam ao menos 40 vezes, segundo as marcas deixadas no veículo, relataram fontes policiais a rádios da capital.
Derlis Arce, secretário do senador, informou à rádio Ñanduti que Acevedo levou dois tiros, um de raspão, e está em estado estável na clínica San Lucas.
Em entrevista à TV Telefuturo, da clínica onde está internado, o senador contou que "por um milagre de Deus não estou como os companheiros que estavam comigo, executados em pleno centro". O motorista Floriano Alonso e o policial Richard Martinez, que protegiam o parlamentar, morreram no ataque.
Acevedo relatou que um motociclista o ajudou a chegar até uma farmácia, em frente à clínica San Lucas, onde ele ficou escondido até que os criminosos fossem embora. Logo depois, atravessou a rua e foi atendido no hospital.
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