Loss The Queen of Smut
Her mother heard her appeal and never read a line of the books the daughter wrote. In 1974, the generals who took over the power in Brazil from 1964 to 1985 agreed with the mother and prohibited 43 of Cassandra Rios's 46 books from being sold in libraries. The reason? They were "unfit for Brazilian families". Rios, who died March 8 in São Paulo, never had the sophistication or the cosmopolitanism of an Anaïs Nin (1903 in Paris - 1977 in Los Angeles), but she used to sell 300,000 books a year, in the late 60s, more than any other Brazilian writer at that time.
Cassandra was born Odete Rios, in São Paulo, in 1932, daughter of Spaniards and borrowed her penname from Greek
heroine and prophetess Cassandra. She was only 13 when her first work was published: four short stories in the extinct
newspaper O Tempo. Her mother gave her the money to publish her first book
(A Volúpia do Pecado—Sin's Sensual Delight) when
she was 16. That was the first time Odete asked her mother Damiana Rios not to open the book she wrote. When Damiana
died in 1998 she hadn't read a word of her daughter's spicy work.
That first novel was a harbinger of stories to come: all filled with steamy bed scenes seasoned with adultery, homosexuality, voyeurism, frigidity, and nymphomania. More than 50 others would follow in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Cassandra and another woman writer by the name of Adelaide Carraro (1925-1992) would become famous for their immorality and brushes with the military government censorship. Rios was careful to separate her public life from the private one, always refusing to talk about her own intimate life and sexual experiences.
Among her books there were Nicoleta Ninfeta (Nymphette Nicoleta), Carne em Delírio (Flesh in Delirium), Tara (Sexual Perversion), Tessa, a Gata (Tessa, the Pussycat) and A Paranóica (The Paranoid Woman), which was made into the movie Ariella directed by John Herbert. Ariella is a girl who finds out that the man who she thinks is her father is really an uncle interested in her fortune. Upon this discovery she decides to become a prostitute, smearing in the process the name of the family.
Despite the highly erotic content of her books, the author considered herself a moralist. Curiously, her 400-page
autobiography MezzAmaro does not talk about sex. Cassandra was labeled by her critics, who were legion, as
"pornographer author", "cursed writer", and "flag bearer for homosexuality". In the early 80s, with the end of the official censorship, all
her books became available, but by then she had become in fact a moralist and only wrote religious novels. She also started
to paint and launched her unsuccessful candidacy to the state assembly of São Paulo. Publishers haven't republished her
books, but most of the old titles can easily be found in
sebos (used books bookstore).
Cassandra used to complain that people were not able to distinguish between the writer and the characters she wrote about. In a long interview with TPM - Trip Para Mulher magazine in June 2001 she talked about being a woman writer: "I was massacred for writing what I wrote being a woman. Since the dawn of civilization women fight for the right to talk and to think. If a man writes he is wise, experienced. If a woman writes, she is a nymphomaniac, a perverted. I always wrote with the naïveté of someone who is born a writer."
She also confessed having made a chastity vow when her mother was admitted to the ITU. Cassandra says that she has trouble reading what she wrote: "Sometimes I tell myself, "God, did I write this?" When I see one of my books in which the characters are on fire, I skip the page. But art is spontaneous. Sometimes I try to write a light book and, suddenly, things start to happen." The author contends that people who read her books attentively will notice that she is conservative and moralist.
"I'm living very well and very happy by myself," she told
TPM. "I believe that people who are always trying to find
someone don't like themselves. I live in a home by myself, I love to be by myself, and I never felt loneliness. It is easier to be
unhappy when you are with someone else than when you are alone. You don't need to be all snuggled up. Snuggling is for
people who are lacking sex and affection."
As American Henry Miller who preferred to be called obscene instead of pornographic, Cassandra likes the sound of obscene: "It's a beautiful, sensual word. Pornographic is something else. My books are not pornographic, they are love books. They talk about the attraction one person has over another."
The author became furious, however, when the interviewer asked her about the book
Literatura da Cultura de Massa (Mass Culture Literature) by Waldenyr Caldas in which her work is classified as paraliterature: "Paraliterature is his
mother. Motherfucker. Look, I just said a four-letter word. He knows nothing about literature and doesn't know how to write. I
haven't read and will not read this book. Anyone can write a book, I want to see who can sell. This kind of stuff pisses me off."
Books Time for Prizes
Brazil's most prestigious literary award is up for grabs now that the CBL (Câmara Brasileira do Livro—Brazilian Book Chamber) has announced the nominees for the 44th edition of the Prêmio Jabuti. The prize is more symbolic than anything—a mere 1000 reais ($427)—but the hundreds of authors vying for it like the distinction the prize confers. For novice writers the award might mean the difference between having to beg for a publisher and having a publisher knocking on their door for a change.
Winners of Book of the Year in fiction and non-fiction will also get 15,000 reais ($6400) besides respect, admiration, and possible.
This should happen on April 25 during the São Paulo Bienal do Livro (Book Biennial). There are ten nominees running for the year's best novel and they include the best and sometimes the most promising Brazilian writers, among them: Barco a seco, by Rubens Figueiredo; A utopia burocrática de Máximo Modesto, by Dionísio Jacob; Cine Odeon, by Lívia Garcia-Roza, Uma janela para Copacabana, by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza; and Eles eram muitos cavalos, by Luiz Ruffato. Brazzil published Ruffato's short story "O Ataque" in its December 2001 issue (www.brazzil.com/shodec01.htm).
In poetry, new releases by old and dead poets (Manuel Bandeira and Cecília Meirelles) will be competing against contemporary names like Cláudia Roquette-Pinto with Corola and Valéria Villela with O peso do Buquê. See the complete list of nominees at Brazzil online: www.brazzil.com/rpdmar02.htm
The nominees:
Romance
| Title | Author | Publisher |
| A utopia burocrática de Máximo Modesto | Dionisio Jacob | Cia das Letras |
| Adágio para o Silêncio | Luís Giffoni | Pulsar |
| Barco a seco | Rubens Figueiredo | Cia das Letras |
| Cine Odeon | Livia Garcia-Roza | Record |
| Eles eram muitos cavalos | Luiz Ruffato | Boitempo |
| Fantasma | José Castello | Record |
| Frutos Amargos da Terra | Antônio Araújo | Armazém de Idéias |
| Niemeyer - Um romance | Teixeira Coelho | Iluminuras |
| Uma Janela em Copacabana | Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza | Cia das Letras |
| Viagem ao pavio da vela | Renato Modernell | Record |
Short Stories
| Title | Author | Publisher |
| As Horas Velozes | Milton Coutinho | 7 Letras |
| Brava Gente Brasileira | Marcio Moreira Alves | Nova Fronteira |
| Códigos de Família | Zélia Gattai | Record |
| Faroestes | Marçal Aquino | Ciência do Acidente |
| Jornalísticamente Incorreto | Marilene Felinto | Record |
| Lado B | Sérgio Augusto | Record |
| Livro Aberto | Fernando Sabino | Record |
| Minha mãe morrendo e o menino mentindo | Valêncio Xavier | Cia das Letras |
| Penélope manda lembranças | Marina Colosanti | Ática |
| Secreções, excreções e desatinos | Rubem Fonseca | Cia das Letras |
Poetry
| Title | Author | Publisher |
| A Caça Virtual e outros poemas | Ivo Barroso | Record |
| A Serpente na Grama | Armindo Trevisan | Mercado Aberto |
| Antologia Poética | Manuel Bandeira | Nova Fronteira |
| Berço Esplêndido | Olga Savary | Palavra e Imagem |
| Corola | Claudia Roquette-Pinto | Ateliê Editorial |
| O Peso do Buquê | Valéria Villela | 7 Letras |
| Poemas Preferidos | Thiago de Mello | Bertrand |
| Poemas Reunidos | Marcos Lucchesi | Record |
| Poesia Completa | Cecília Meirelles | Nova Fronteira |
| Socráticas | José Paulo Paes | Cia das Letras |
For Children and Teens
| Title | Author | Publisher |
| A Menina da Varanda | Leo Cunha | Record |
| Declaração universal do moleque invocado | Fernando Bonassi | Cosac&Naify |
| Mania de Explicação | Adriana Falcão | Salamandra |
| Meninos do Mangue | Roger Mello | Cia das Letrinhas |
| O Fazedor de Amanhecer | Manoel de Barros | Salamandra |
| O gato que falava Siamês | Marco Túlio Costa | Record |
| O Mário que não é de Andrade | Luciana Sandroni | Cia das Letrinhas |
| O menino e o arco-íris | Ferreira Gullar | Ática |
| O Tamanho da Felicidade | Angélica Bevilacqua | Mercuryo Jovem |
| Os principes do destino - Histórias da mitologia afro-brasileira | Reginaldo Prandi | Cosac&Naify |
| Perto dos olhos; perto do coração | Fátima Miguez | DCL |
| Seu Vento Soprador de Histórias | Fátima Miguez | Manati |
Literary and Linguistic Theory
| Title | Author | Publisher |
| A Demanda do Santo Graal Das origens ao códice português | Heitor Megale | Ateliê / FAPESP |
| A Poética do Hipocentauro | Jacyntho Lins Brandão | UFMG |
| Da fala para a escrita | Luiz Antônio Marcuschi | Cortez |
| Elementos de Filologia Românica | Bruno Fregni Bassetto | Edusp |
| Máquina de Gêneros | Alcir Pécora | Edusp |
| Matrizes da Linguagem e Pensamento | Lúcia Santaella | Iluminuras / FAPESP |
| O Futebol em Nelson Rodrigues | José Carlos Marques | EDUC / FAPESP |
| O Léxico de Guimarães Rosa | Nilce Sant'Anna Martins | Edusp / FAPESP |
| Paulo e Virgínia | Joel Rufino dos Santos | Rocco |
| Personae | Lourenço Dantas Mota and Benjamin Abdala Jr | . Senac |
| Tumulto de amor e outros tumultos | Ruy Espinheira Filho | Record |
Economy, Administration, and Law
| Title | Author | Publisher |
| A crise completa | Lauro Campos | Boitempo |
| A década dos Mitos | Marcio Pochmann | Contexto |
| A grande esperança em Celso Furtado | Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira and José Marcio Rego | Editora 34 |
| Como vão o desenvolvimento e a democracia no Brasil? | João Paulo dos Reis Velloso | José Olympio |
| Débito Fiscal | Édison Freitas de Siqueira | Sulina |
| Design de Embalagem | Fabio Mestriner | Makron Books |
| Economia Colonial no Brasil nos séculos XVI e XVII | Celso Furtado | Hucitec |
| Economia Social no Brasil | Ladislau Dowbor and Samuel Kilsztajn | Senac |
| Formação da Diplomacia econômica no Brasil | Paulo Roberto de Almeida | Senac / FUNAG |
| Investimentos | Mauro Halfeld | Fundamento |
| O Valor das Empresas | Graciano Sá | Expressão e Cultura |
| Polarização mundial e crescimento | José Luís Fiori and Carlos Medeiros | Vozes |
Natural and Health Sciences
| Title | Author | Publisher |
| Adolescência - Prevenção e Risco | Mª Ignez Saito and Luiz Eduardo Vargas da Silva | Atheneu |
| Dependência de Drogas | Sergio Seibel et al | Atheneu |
| Doenças do fígado e vias biliares | Luiz Carlos da Costa Gayotto and Venâncio Avancini Ferreira Alves | Atheneu |
| Envelhecer. Histórias, encontros, transformações | Pedro Paulo Monteiro | Autêntica |
| Febre Amarela: A doença e a vacina, uma história inacabada | Jaime Larry Benchimol | (org) Fiocruz |
| Flora Fanerogâmica do Estado de São Paulo | Mª das Graças Lapa Wanderley, George John Shepherd and Ana Mª Giulietti | Hucitec / Fapesp |
| Florestas do Rio Negro | Alexandre Adalardo de Oliveira and Douglas C. Daly | Cia das Letras |
| Hematologia - Fundamentos e Práticas | Marco Antonio Zago, Roberto Passeto Falcão andRicardo Pasquini | Atheneu |
| Semiologia Clínica | Isabela Benseñor, José Antonio Atta and Mílton de Arruda Martins | Sarvier |
| UTI - Muito além da técnica... | José Maria C. Orlando | Atheneu |
Sciences, Technology, and Computer
| Title | Author | Publisher |
| Análise Matemática para Licenciatura | Geraldo Ávila | Edgard Blucher |
| Decifrando a Terra | Wilson Teixeira / Mª Cristina Motta de Toledo / Thomas Rich Fairchild / Fabio Taioli | Oficina de Texto |
| Dinâmica Estocástica e Irreversibilidade | Tânia Tomé / Mário José de Oliveira | Edusp |
| Física | Alaor Chaves | Reichmann & Affonso |
| Fundamentos de Sistemas Hidráulicos | Irlan Linsingen | UFSC |
| Minérios e ambiente | Bernardino Ribeiro Figueiredo | Unicamp |
| O fim da Terra e do Céu | Marcelo Gleiser | Cia das Letras |
| O livro de Ouro do Universo | Ronaldo Rogério de Freitas Mourão | Ediouro |
| Políticas Públicas para Eficiência Energética e Energia Renovável no Novo Contexto de Mercado | Gilberto de Martino | Jannuzzi Editora Autores associados |
| Um Curso de Álgebra Linear | Flávio U. Coelho / Mary Lourenço | Edusp |
Human Sciences
| Title | Author | Publisher |
| Aids no Feminino | Carmem Dora Guimarães | UFRJ |
| Antropologia, História e Educação | Aracy Lopes da Silva e Mariana Kawall Leal Ferreira | Global |
| Desafios Éticos da Globalização | Manfredo Araújo de Oliveira | Paulinas |
| Espaço-tempo na metrópole | Ana Fani Alessandri Carlos | Contexto |
| Festa | István Jancso and Iris Kantor | EDUSP / FAPESP / Imprensa Oficial / Hucitec |
| Mitologia dos Orixás | Reginaldo Prandi | Cia das Letras |
| O Brasil: Território e sociedade no início do século XXI | Milton Santos and Maria Laura Silveira. | Record |
| O homem insuficiente | Luiz Felipe Pondé | Edusp |
| O Mundo Inacabado | Marco Antonio Gonçalves | UFRJ |
| Reforma Agrária O impossível diálogo | José de Souza Martins | Edusp |
Pedagogy and Psychology
| Title | Author | Publisher |
| A Institucionalização Invisível | Mª Aparecida Affonso Moysés | Mercado de Letras |
| Adolescência na Escola | Margarete Parreira Miranda | Formato Editorial |
| Armazém de Imagens | Lucia Reily | Papirus |
| Como usar a música na sala de aula | Martins Ferreira | Contexto |
| Dicionário Enciclopédico Ilustrado Trilíngüe da Língua de Sinais Brasileira | Fernando César Capovilla and Walkíria Duarte Raphael | Edusp / Imprensa Oficial |
| Educação não-formal | Olga Rodrigues de Moraes von Simson, Margareth Brandini Park and Renata Sieiro Fernandes (orgs.) | Unicamp |
| Gramáticas do erotismo | Joel Birman | Civilização Brasileira |
| O primado da Afetividade | Carlos Plastino | Relume Dumará |
| Os meninos e a rua | Tânia Ferreira | Autêntica |
| Pronta para voar | Diana Dadoorian | Rocco |
| Reino dos Bichos e dos Animais é o meu nome | Stela do Patrocínio Azougue | Editorial |
Media Reporting and Biography
| Title | Author | Publisher |
| 1961 - Que as armas não falem | Paulo Markun and Duda Hamilton | Senac |
| Cobras Criadas | Luiz Maklouf Carvalho | Senac |
| Correio Braziliense ou Armazém Literário | Hipólito José da Costa | Imprensa Oficial / Correio Braziliense |
| Dorival Caymmi - O mar e o tempo | Stella Caymmi | Editora 34 |
| Enrico Caruso na América do Sul | György Miklós Böhm | Cultura Editores Associados |
| Hartt: Expedições pelo Brasil Imperial | Marcus Vinicius de Freitas | Metalivros |
| Histórias do Poder | Alberto Dines, Florestan Fernandes Jr. and Nelma Salomão | Editora 34 |
| JK - o Artista do Impossível | Claudio Bojunga | Objetiva |
| Memórias das Trevas | José Carlos Teixeira Gomes | Geração |
| Meu Casaco de General | Luiz Eduardo Soares | Cia das Letras |
| No Caminho da Expedição Langsdorff | Adriana Florence | Melhoramentos |
School Books
| Title | Author | Publisher |
| Atlas Geográfico Escolar de Juiz de Fora | Valéria Trevizani Burla de Aguiar | UFJF |
| Biologia | Armenio Uzunian and Ernesto Birner | Habra |
| Escrever e Criar... uma nova proposta | Ruth Rocha and Anna Flora | Quinteto Editorial |
| Flor de maravilha | Flávio Paiva | Plural de Cultura |
| Geografia Crítica | José William Vesentini and Vânia Vlach | Ática |
| História Concisa do Brasil | Boris Fausto | Imprensa Oficial / Edusp |
| História no dia-a-dia | Cláudia Sapag Ricci; Lorene dos Santos and Célio Augusto da Cunha Horta | Formato |
| New Happy Book | Tânia Moraes Gaspar | Scipione |
| Nossa Gente Brasileira | Jurandir Malerba and Mauro Bertoni | Papirus |
| Pensar e Construir - Português | Mª Amália Forte Banzato; Mª Cristina Portugal Godinho and Rosana Correa Pereira El-Kadri | Scipione |
Translation
| Title | Translator | Publisher |
| A Montanha da Alma | Marcos de Castro | Objetiva |
| Alice Edição Comentada | Mª Luiza X. de A. Borges | Jorge Zahar Editor |
| Baudolino | Marcos Lucchesi | Record |
| Crime e Castigo | Paulo Bezerra | Editora 34 |
| Diálogo sobre os Dois Máximos Sistemas do Mundo Ptolomaico e Copernicano | Pablo Rubén | Mariconda Discurso Editorial / FAPESP |
| Diário Póstumo | Ivo Barroso | Record |
| Ilíada de Homero | Haroldo de Campos | Mandarim |
| O Iceberg Imaginário | Paulo Henriques Britto | Cia das Letras |
| Poemas, um tostão cada | Alípio Correia de Franca Neto | Iluminuras |
| Sempre seu, Oscar | Marcelo Rollemberg | Iluminuras |
Cover
| Title | Cover Author | Publisher |
| A utopia burocrática de Máximo Modesto | Raul Loureiro | Cia das Letras |
| Abraçado ao meu rancor | Raul Loureiro | Cosac&Naify |
| As Sereias do Espaço | Cesar Lobo | Record |
| Coleção Guimarães Rosa | Victor Burton | Nova Fronteira |
| Faroestes | Joca Reiners Terron and Luiz Roberto Guedes | Ciência do Acidente |
| Flor do Deserto | Raul Loureiro | Hedra |
| Lado B | 19 Design | Record |
| Louco no oco sem beiras | Ricardo Assis | Ateliê Editorial |
| Ô Copacabana | Raul Loureiro and Rodrigo Lacerda | Cosac&Naify |
| O Filósofo e o Comediante | Marcelo Belico | UFMG |
| Um Século de Luz | Homem de Melo & Troia Design | Scipione |
Editorial Production
| Title | Producer | Publisher |
| Brasilessência | Vera Artaxo | Nova Cultural / Best Seller |
| Brasiliana da Biblioteca Nacional | Nova Fronteira | Nova Fronteira |
| Cityscapes | Adriana Amback | DBA |
| Coleção Pockets | Wagner Carelli | Globo |
| Fausto Zero | Raul Loureiro | Cosac&Naify |
| Histórias do Poder | Pedro Franciosi | Editora 34 |
| Iconografia do Rio de Janeiro | Marcia Saad Silveira | Casa Jorge Editorial |
| Imagens de Vilas e Cidades do Brasil Colonial | Nestor Goulart Reis | Imprensa Oficial / Edusp |
| No Caminho da Expedição Langsdorff | Ana Célia Goda | Melhoramentos |
| O Brasil | Cristiana Portela | Bom Texto |
| Waltercio Caldas | Waltercio Caldas and Leonardo Fanzeres | Cosac&Naify |
Child Book Illustration
| Title | Illustrator | Publisher |
| A Lenda do Dia e da Noite | Rui de Oliveira | FTD |
| Agbalá um lugar-continente | Marilda Castanha | Formato |
| Clave de Lua | Eliardo França | Paulinas |
| De bem com a vida | Mariana Massarani | Manati |
| Estrela Cor de Rosa | Suppa | Globo |
| História em Quadrões | Maurício de Sousa | Globo |
| Jardins | Roger Mello | Manati |
| Mania de Explicação | Mariana Massarani | Salamandra |
| Meninos do Mangue | Roger Mello | Cia das Letrinhas |
| O Sapo Voador | Fabiana Arruda | Hedra |
Indians Shortchanged
The news was subtly announced by the Brazilian media on February 19th. The National Health Foundation (Funasa), the agency in charge of implementing the national indigenous health policy, was officially closed down. The Indigenous Health System and the Federal Agency for Disease Prevention and Control (APEC) were created to replace it. According to Provisional Measure 33, published in the Official Gazette, the Indigenous Health System will be directly linked to the Ministry of Health and inspected by the APEC.
Closing down Funasa is part of the policy adopted by the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration, which has been replacing governmental structures with control agencies. The way the foundation was closed down, however, gave rise to an odd feeling, because the decision was not based on comprehensive discussions around the Special Indigenous Sanitary Districts (DSEIs). Health professionals have no idea of what will happen to the districts, to the training programs for Indigenous Health Agents, to the so-called Homes for Indigenous People (Casas do Índio, which provide emergency care to indigenous people), and to the hospitals that provide health care to indigenous people exclusively.
The indigenous health care system has been dismantled for the second time. Under the administration of ex-President Fernando Collor de Mello (1990-1992), the indigenous health care system was decentralized. Public policies for health and education, which used to be centralized at Funai, were placed under the responsibility of the ministries of Health and Education. The Ministry of Health delegated health care actions to Funasa, an independent governmental agency operating within the ministerial framework. Funai remained in charge of a health sector and as a result jurisdiction conflicts began to emerge. In the regions, technicians and indigenous people have been trying to contact the two agencies for assistance, causing a lot of confusion.
For some time CIMI (Conselho Indianista Missionário—Native Missionary Council), has been warning that outsourcing indigenous health care services is dangerous. Responding to requests of indigenous communities, the government created the DSEIs, but other segments can provide health care services to indigenous populations, such as NGOs and city halls. The policy for agreements between the agencies and the Ministry of Health has been defined.
Complaints and problems are piling up. Indigenous peoples began to report cases of corruption, misappropriation of equipment, neglect, professional incompetence, and prejudicial treatment. The last report reached CIMI last week. The Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR) reported that the budget earmarked for health care agreements was sharply reduced as a result of the standardization of salaries—which may lead to the dismissal of part of the staff.
The fact that Funasa was closed down raised doubts in relation to the future of the indigenous health care system
and gave rise to apprehension in indigenous villages. In February, about 250 indigenous people representing 42 peoples of
states of the Northeast, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo held a meeting in Caruaru, state of Pernambuco, to evaluate the
indigenous health care system, define strategies to deal with the new national policy adopted by the federal administration for the
sector, and debate the consequences of closing down Funasa.
Energy A New Model
Conrad Johnson
With rainfall only three percent above normal Brazil's reservoirs and hydro generation capacity are recovering fast. The present supply crisis is over, at least in the absence of an immediate and unexpected drought. According to Mauro Arce who heads the São Paulo Department of Energy and is also a member of the national electric energy crisis committee (GCE—Câmara de Gestão da Crise de Energia) "if present levels of rainfall continue, we will need neither natural gas generation nor emergency diesel and still have yet 10 percent capacity in our reservoirs at the end of the year".
Attention of the GCE has therefore turned to long-term sector considerations. Although means and ends are yet in the discussion phases, the federal executive branch has given clear signs that the model for the electric sector is changing. The government seems committed to governing an electric sector that avoids both future rationing and politically unpopular price increases to consumers.
With recently failed state privatizations in Paraná (COPEL), Goiás (CEG) and São Paulo (CESP-Paraná), the federal government is, for the foreseeable future, retaining permanent control of all federal generation companies while restricting their role in creating new capacity. Given the difficulties these federal companies have created (Furnas in delivery of contracted electricity to the wholesale market, and Eletrobrás defying regulatory rulings concerning new Itaipu generation capacity, e.g.) for advancing self-governance and free market pricing, the federal energy ministry (Ministério das Minas e Energia) and the independent federal regulatory agency (Aneel—Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica) will now control the prices of federal generators through a new pricing institution (MBE—Mercado Brasileiro de Energia) which will as well replace the MEC , the present wholesale market institution. There is even a strong indication that the non-privatized remaining generation of individual state-owned electric firms will, as well, be price-controlled by these federal institutions.
The clear GCE purpose is to divide the generation market in such a way that there is incentive to create "new" generation capacity that will be left sensitive to market prices, while "old" energy (that produced by already fully depreciated facilities) is priced so as to mitigate consumer rates thereby diminishing overall inflationary effects while still maintaining hydraulic reserves in the event of future drought. The previous plan called for a staged liberation of all prices beginning in 2003, and that has definitely changed. The GCE feared spiraling prices that would have untoward political consequences because of consumer dissatisfaction and effects on the Treasury Ministry's overall (IMF agreed) inflation targets.
"New" market prices are hoped to be high enough to encourage private investment and relieve the government of reason to be an investor in the electric sector beyond maintaining existing facilities. The old state companies will be sold to private individual shareholders after they are separated into separate generation and transmission firms—though, since they are not competing in the "new" market, it is hard to imagine much investor interest for them. If the firms owned by individual states were part of "new" market generation, the division would be something like 47 percent "old" and 53 percent "new". If individual state firm generation is to be controlled by federal regulators, the division will be something like 80 percent to 20 percent.
The GCE is taking note of interested sector criticism. (No doubt optimistic: the Secretary of Energy in the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Afonso Henrique Moreira Santos, responsible for reformulating sector policy unexpectedly resigned over a new proposed subsidy for transporting Bolivian gas, but noted, "I have no support, no resources and no staff".) The most obvious structural criticisms, in the interim, are from free market proponents like Adriano Piers who heads the Institute of Infrastructure Studies at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. "What the sector was waiting for was a remedy based more on the laws of the market and less on government intervention," was his response.
Pires points out that under any scenario, the government will own and control a large proportion of total supply of electric energy. How much of federally controlled energy sells, and for what price, will be ever dependent on winning political approval from political interests the governing groups care to please, as well as on how much water should be providently retained in dam reservoirs.
"What changed was the philosophy," he says. "Before we had a self-regulating market, now the market will be regulated by the State. It is not a re-monopolization by the state, wherein it is buying firms previously privatized. The government is proposing a hybrid model in which a large part of generation continues in State hands and distribution is privatized. Federal generation will no longer be privatized. It was a change of the rules in the middle of the game," Pires opined.
Private generation may receive a boost, though skeptics are easy to find. AES, with $US 6 billion already invested in Brazil has announced they are continuing with plans to invest another US$ 1.2 billions in generation, mostly thermo. Several months ago they had suspended further energy investments in Brazil because of "regulatory impasse".
Conrad Johnson, the author, is an American attorney, permanently residing in Brazil. He writes for various publications on development and legal issues in Latin America. You can reach him at conrad@alternativa.com.br