The wide-ranging study showed that 55% of Brazilians had their first sexual experience
before they were 18 years old. For 10%, sex happened before age 14. While 43% of the
population defends the idea that a woman should be a virgin at marriage, only 18% think
the same about male virginity. While 38% of women are against female virginity before
marriage, 65% of them oppose the concept when talking about men. In practice, 78% of
Brazilian men and 57% of women had sex before marriage.
Most Brazilians (63%) think masturbation is a healthy habit, but 56% of women say that
they never masturbated or stopped doing it, while 29% of men say the same thing. Twenty
five percent of the population though condemns the solitary practice as an immoral act.
The majority of Brazilians also denied having sexual fantasies or desire to engage in more
daring sexual acts. An exception is oral sex, which is practiced by 53% of the population,
although only 14% admit that they do it frequently. Anal sex is less popular with 39%
practicing it and six percent making a habit of it. Thirty five percent of Brazilians have
fantasized about having sex in a closed public place (13% acted upon it) and 48% of men
dreamed about having sex with two or more women (13% did it). It is however negligible the
number of those confessing to using vibrators (4%), going to sex shops (4%), or dreaming
about sadomasochist practices (4%).
Contrary to the image of a country of libertines, only 21% believe that they are
totally liberated on sexual matters. Another 39% though consider themselves relatively
liberated. The stereotype of Brazilians as sexual pentathletes also suffers a blow with
the revelation that while 18% have sex every day, a more expressive 47% engage in sexual
intercourse less than once a week and six percent are not getting any sex at all. Those
who are having their share though are happy and generous with their partners. Sixty eight
percent classify as very good or good their current sex life and 34% give a 10 (the
maximum score) to their partner's behavior in bed. Another 30% grade their sexual
accomplices with a seven at the least.
Brazilians take their time in bed though. A sexual act lasts on average 36 minutes and
for 7% of the population it goes on for more than one hour. The sexual act always comes
together with an orgasm for 46%, even though there is an imbalance in favor of men with
61% of them always reaching their climax while this percentage falls to 31 among women.
Infidelity is relatively mild. Twenty percent of men admit to having extra-conjugal sexual
encounters while five percent of women confess doing the same. Among married couples 11%
of them say they cheat on their partners. Twenty three percent of men but only one percent
of women said they used a prostitute. Prostitution is legal in Brazil. While 64% of the
population condemn prostitution as immoral and think it should be made illegal, 29% see it
as a job as any other. Fifty nine percent (64% of women) believe also that prostitutes do
what they do because they like it.
When asked how they classify their interest for sex, only 2% of men and 14% of women
said they had no interest. On the other hand, 25% of men and 8% of women admitted to
having a very big interest in sex. Another 18% of women said they had a big interest
compared to 34% of men. Most women (49%) showed an average interest in sex compared to 37%
of men. But respondents seem to agree that other Brazilians are more interested in sex
than themselves. Seventy three percent of them believe that Brazilians' interest for sex
is very big (43%) or big (30%).
Emigrants
Closing
the Faucet
Are Brazilians living overseas becoming stingier or less concerned with relatives they
left back home, or maybe it is becoming more difficult to survive in exile? The amount of
money sent by them to Brazil fell by 27% in the first nine months of 1997 when compared to
the same period in the previous year. While $2.2 billion were sent to Brazil from those
living overseas from January to September 1996, only $1.6 billion made the same trip
during the same period in 1997. This continues a trend, since $3.9 billion were
transferred for the whole year of 1995 having fallen to $2.9 billion the following year.
Not-very-scientific data from Itamaraty, the Foreign Ministry, reveal that most of the
1.5 million Brazilians—this represents less than 1% of a population of 161
million—, who emigrated overseas mostly during the '80s, are
concentrated in the United States (600,000), Paraguay (350,000) and Japan (200,000). The
immense majority doesn't seem too connected to their country. In the latest presidential
elections a mere 27,831 voted, even though voting is compulsory in Brazil. Here are the 12
foreign cities with the largest concentration of Brazilians: New York (200.013),
Paraguay's Ciudad del Este (180.100), Boston (150,000), Miami (140,000), Japan's Nagoya
(120,500), Paraguay's Asuncion (107.035), Tokyo (80,639), Paraguay's Salto del Guaíra
(60,000), Washington (48,000), Italy's Milan (30,100), Portugal's Lisbon (22,052), and
London (19.510).
Memory
The Godfather
There has never been such a peculiar and powerful politician like him in Brazil even
though coronel (literally colonel, a bigshot) Chico Heráclio never ran for any
elective post. At Pernambuco state's Zona da Mata (Jungle Zone) he was a kingmaker from
1925 till 1974 when he died at age 89. Acting as a Mafia boss he, with the help of 400 hit
men, took seriously his commitment to guard his protégés, spreading terror and death
among those who would cross his way.
The coronel has again become the talk of Brazil's capital, Brasília, since the
recent publication of Chico Heráclio—A Herança Política (Chico
Heráclio—The Political Heirloom). The book was written by House representative
Ricardo Heráclio—great-grandson of the folkloric character—with some help from
his uncle Reginaldo Chico Heráclio.
Every morning, the old Heráclio had breakfast with some 100 people and then heard the
complaints and requests of everyone of them individually. His 12 large farms were
considered sanctuaries and it was enough for anyone to touch the fence of these properties
to guarantee protection against the police or any other foe. The coronel even
distributed cards with his own picture and the message: "The bearer of this document
cannot be jailed, harassed and much less demoralized since he is the godson of colonel
Francisco Heráclio."
One never knows where the facts end and the myth starts. It is said that every time an
employee of his died he used to send the family of the deceased a casket full of food,
enough to last a whole month. Brazil's highest authorities, including presidents Getúlio
Vargas and Juscelino Kubitschek, seem to have respected and taken the colonel's advice
into account. TV comedian Chico Anísio made him into a popular national character as the
likable and funny Coronel Limoeiro.
Among the stories surrounding the coronel there is one involving a reporter who
asked Heráclio: "Is it true that your private secretary Zé Vigia has the courage to
kill people?" "Courage he doesn't have," replied the colonel. "What he
does have is the habit." Another episode deals with a voter who arrived at the
polling place, got his ballot already filled and sealed for him and only had to drop the
paper in the box. The man could not contain his curiosity though and approached the
strongman: "Colonel, I have done everything you asked me to. Could you tell me now
for whom have I just voted?" "You scoundrel," replied Heráclio,
"don't you know that the vote is secret?"
Controversy
Fetus
Rights
Known only as M., a girl from Sapucaia (18,000 residents) in the state of Rio de
Janeiro, who works in the fields since she was seven years old, got her first doll a few
days after celebrating her eleventh birthday. The doll was a gift from neighbors who
wanted to show compassion after learning that M., in her fourth month of pregnancy was
soon going to have her own baby. The story has shocked Brazil and rallied the anti and
pro-abortion forces in the country.
M. was assured the right of an abortion—legal only in case of rape and life
endangerment for the mother—by judge Luís Olímpio Mangabeira, but at the end
Evangelical obstetrician Altamiro Sathler and the local priest Fraga Magalhães were able
to convince M's parents, Walter Oliveira, 38, and Maria da Penha, 41, that abortion was
not a good solution. For that they even used the American video Silent Death, which
shows a fetus in a silent scream while having his head smashed by a spatula.
M. was allegedly raped by peasant Roberto Celeste, 37, who disappeared and was being
sought by police. Some have condemned those who made M.'s parents change their minds. São
Paulo pediatrician Leonardo Posternak, for example, commented: "In order not to kill
the fetus that is inside the uterus, they opted for sacrificing the child who has the
uterus."
Inflation
Low
Expectations
Even the most optimistic economists wouldn't have predicted at the beginning of the
year that Brazilian inflation would be so low in 1997. Some risked 7%, but the numbers are
out and the official inflation rate for the year (drum roll) is a mere 4.41%, according to
IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística—Brazilian Institute of
Geography and Statistics). And a miracle that some thought neither they nor their children
would ever witness: prices went down. Electronic equipment, for example, fell 6.56% in
1997 and the price of fruits dropped a record 19.63%.
Since the introduction of the Real Plan on July 1994, housing was the item that
increased the most (332.11%) followed by communications (278%). During the same period, TV
sets and sound equipment had their prices boosted by 3,06%, the smallest increase of all.
The biggest inflation rate (6.37%) occurred in Rio while Belém in the state of Pará had
the smallest one (0.35%).
The IBGE numbers were based on the INPC-E (Índice Nacional de Preços ao Consumidor
Especial—National Index of Consumer Prices Special), which like the traditional INPC
is based on the expenses of an average family earning from one to eight minimum wages. The
numbers are collected in 11 metropolitan regions. The difference is that the special index
uses data going from the 15 of the month to the15th of the next.
Since 1979 when the IBGE started to measure prices, this was the smallest increase
ever. And it would be even smaller if it weren't for some heavy price increases most of
them in public services, like telephone, which rose 98%, bus (12.94%), water (12.59%), and
power (10,13%). Fuel (22.37%) and gas (15.64%) also increased well above the average. The
IBGE is now betting that inflation in 1998 will be around 2%.
City
Rich and
Broken
Burdened by a $7.5 billion debt, São Paulo, the richest Brazilian city, is making life
miserable for its 10 million citizens, leaving trash uncollected, a myriad of potholes
unfilled, and not taking care of vital sectors like education and health. Its mayor, Celso
Pitta, an unknown before being handpicked by previous mayor Paulo Salim Maluf, had a very
short honeymoon with voters. The city's bad shape has been attributed to the way
Maluf—an eternal presidential candidate—liberally spent at the end of his
administration, leaving the bills for his successor to pay.
Cláudio Fonseca, the president of the Sindicato dos Professores do Ensino Municipal
(Municipal School Teachers Union), accuses Pitta of trying to divert $500 million marked
for education. According to the law, 30% of all municipal budgets in Brazil must be spent
on education. São Paulo has a deficit of 50,000 slots in first grade, says Fonseca.
Trying to cope with the situation, children below seven—even when ready to start
school—are not being admitted to first grade. Another 207,000 kids should be in
pre-school, according to the union leader.
Critics also accuse the mayor of spending $20 million with publicity in 1997 while
public hospitals and clinics don't get enough money. Maluf had made PAS (Plano de
Atendimento à Saúde), the city's health service, a model program assisting as many as
five million Paulistanos. More than $600 million were spent with PAS in 1997. This
year, the budget for health has been cut to $500 million.
Academia
Heil, Hero
Who do Brazilian military students admire the most? A poll by Porto Alegre's Colégio
Militar Hyloea magazine revealed Adolf Hitler to be the favorite among those who
graduated from that military academy in 1995. Eighty four students, among them four
girls—since 1989 the school accepts female students—were asked to name their
favorite personality. No list of names was presented. Forty nine personalities were
chosen, with Hitler coming in first with eight votes. Close behind the German dictator,
with six votes each, came Tiradentes (Brazil's independence martyr), French heroine Joan
of Arc, and the late car racer Ayrton Senna. Other historical characters like Jesus
Christ, Napoleon and Einstein got three votes each. American President Abraham Lincoln
ranked even lower, with two votes.
Why Hitler? Rafael Brum Astrana, 20, one of the students who chose the German leader,
told Rio's daily newspaper Jornal do Brasil: "For his intelligence and
power." "Due to his gift for oratory before the crowds," justified
Ricássio Fernando de Oliveira Paludo, 22.
Created 145years ago, the Colégio Militar is known as "the academy of the
presidents." It is the most respected among the country's 12 military schools. All
the military rulers of Brazil between 1964 and 1985 studied there: Humberto de Alencar
Castello Branco, Arthur da Costa e Silva, Ernesto Geisel, Emílio Garrastazu Médici, and
João Baptista Figueiredo. Among other important leaders who graduated from the elite
school we have former minister and senator Jarbas Passarinho, former Vice-President
general Adalberto Pereira dos Santos and general Amauri Kruel.
The Army in an official note qualified the Hitler choice as "a result of youth's
irreverence". Just in case, academy administrators have decided to review any future
issue of Hyloea so to avoid another embarrassing episode.
Literature
Brésil Brazil
Between March 20 and 24, 1998, Paris will become a little island of Brazilian culture
and literature. Brazil has been chosen as the honorary guest for the 18th Paris Book Fair
at the Paris Expo in Porte de Versailles. The fair's logo is a toucan holding a book on
his beak. Some Brazilians were afraid that the French would try to sell an image of a
tropical and exotic Brazil. But that seems to have been avoided with the participation of
Brazilian experts in the designing of the stands.
On some days the expo will not be open to the public, but only to professionals in some
way connected to books, including educators, librarians, writers, and editors. Thirty
thousand of them came to the event last year. Starting two weeks before the book fair,
Paris bookstores are expected to decorate their windows using the theme In Search of
Brazil's Discovery. The Paris Fair is a heavyweight. In its last version in 1997, it drew
literary agents from more than 20 countries including Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Italy,
Japan, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States.
Twenty of the 34 Brazilian authors invited to participate in the event were chosen by
Paris bookstore owners together with book editors. They are Antônio Torres, Autran
Dourado, Bernardo Carvalho, Chico Buarque de Holanda, Fernando Gabeira, Francisco Alvin,
Frei Betto, Gerardo Mello Mourão, Carlos Heitor Cony, João Ubaldo Ribeiro, Jorge Amado,
José Sarney, Lygia Fagundes Telles, Márcio Souza, Marilene Felinto, Milton Hatoum,
Moacyr Scliar, Nélida Piñon, Patrícia Mello, and Raduan Nassar.
Brazil's Fundação Biblioteca Nacional made its own list to complement the first and
added 14 other names: Adriano Spinola, Antônio Olinto, Barbara Freitag, Carlos Guilherme
Motta, Carlos Nejar, Celso Furtado, Dias Gomes, Moniz Sodré, Plínio Marcos, Rachel de
Queiroz, Roberto Cardoso de Oliveira, Roberto Schwarz, Silviano Santiago, and Zuenir
Ventura. All 34 authors should be in Paris for the book fair.
Consumer
Let'em
Drink
Coke
Brazilians' growing thirst for soft drinks seems to be unquenchable. Ten billion liters
of the sweet potion were gulped down in 1997 creating a $7-billion business. The four big
boys of the sector—Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Antarctica, and Brahma—have been losing
ground though while unknown and cheaper brands increase their market share.
The newcomers have names like Bacana, Baré, Brasil, Del Rey, Frevo, Gini, Golé, and
Maracanã. Their participation in the beverage sector has increased from 9% in 1991 to 21%
and it should grow to 25% by year's end. Credit this to price. While a 2-liter coke bottle
goes for $1.50, lesser known brands charge half this price. People are not complaining
that the cheaper product has too much sugar or too little gas. It beats drinking water or
so they gather.
Economy
Richer
Overnight
Brazil has been promoted from the 8th to the 7th largest world economy—leaving
China, which was number 7, to swallow its dust—even though the country's economy has
increased a mere 3.4% during the past year. Another economic miracle? More a like a
magician's sleight of hand. The upgrade came as a result of a different way of calculating
the riches and not due to real growth.
After years using its own methodology to measure the GDP (Gross Domestic Product),
Brazil has finally adopted the way the rest of the world makes such calculations. Thanks
to the numbers' trick, Brazil's GDP went in a flash from $774 billion to $806 billion, a
4.1% jump. This also means that Brazil's $33.8 deficit has been reduced from 4.5% to 4.2%
of the GDP.
The new mathematics also made every Brazilian—at least on paper—a little
richer overnight. The country's per-capita GDP has hopped to $5,020. According to the
World Bank, this puts Brazil in the company of countries with high-average income. Without
any new math trick on hand, growth from now on will depend on sweat and brains, and will
be much more painful. Analysts are forecasting a 2% to 3% economic boost in 1998, a number
smaller than the population increase and just one third of the Chinese growth.
Ads
Naughty,
naughty
DuLoren, the Brazilian lingerie manufacturer, which emulates Italian apparel
maker Benetton's talent to provoke and scandalize via controversial ads, this time might
have strayed a little too far for its own good. Its latest advertising piece drew a
concerted flood of ire from the Catholic Church, the government, the feminists, and even
from some ad people themselves.
Why all the furor? The latest in-your-face DuLoren's provocation shows a young woman
seductively dressed in a lacy bra and panties being subjugated by two men with the obvious
intent of raping her. A caption on the ad created by Rio's ad agency Doctor makes the
rape-victim scream: "Legalize abortion fast. I don't want to wait."
"I denounce DuLoren as a corrupter of consciences and the public morality,"
thundered Brazil's Catholic primate, Cardinal Lucas Moreira Alves, president of the
National Conference of Brazilian Bishops, suggesting a boycott. "The biggest response
to this indignity should come from the consumer who will show his repulse by not buying
clothes from this brand," Dom Lucas added. Secretary for Human Rights, José Gregori,
sent a letter to Conar (Conselho Nacional de Auto-Regulamentação
Publicitária—National Council of Publicity Self-Regulation) classifying the ad as a
"disrespect to the rights of women." Even before receiving the message Conar had
prohibited the ad from being aired.
DuLoren has had several other shocker ads with a man kissing a man, a woman kissing a
woman, a nun in panties, a woman judge in lingerie tempting a prisoner, and a grotesque
naked Santa Claus being whipped by the ever present semi-naked gorgeous model, among many
others. The daring way of doing business seems to be working. DuLoren's sales have jumped
from $80 million in 1993 to $140 million last year. 
Roni Argalji, DuLoren's owner, who has two daughters, seems incensed with what he calls
censorship. "You cannot say the truth in this country. If one of my daughters were
raped I would be the first one to defend abortion and I would still publish the ad."
Down but not out DuLoren has come back with another make-them-talk campaign. The new piece
has transvestite Rogéria between two beauties under Che Guevara's most cited phrase:
"Hay que endurecerse, pero sin perder la ternura jamás" (You need to get tough
without ever losing your tenderness.)
Diplomacy
Pelé to
the Rescue
Leaders from around the world have tried their hand without any luck. Recently, Pope
John Paul II visited Cuba, met with Fidel Castro, asked for more freedom in the Caribbean
island and condemned the U.S. embargo against Havana. But the U.S. and Cuba don't seem any
closer to normalization of diplomatic relations. This is an impossible task. This is a job
for soccer legend, Athlete of the Century, Pelé.
The former player, who is Brazil's Sports Minister and is also known as Édson Arantes
do Nascimento, has accepted the invitation of a group of Brazilian leftist congressmen,
led by Eduardo Suplicy from the Workers Party, to try an approximation between Castro and
Clinton. Pelé's spokesman, José Natal do Nascimento, said that the minister would be
honored with such a mission. The trip should happen before the start of the World Cup in
France in June. Said Suplicy: "The pope has placed the ball on the penalty line. All
Pelé has to do is to kick it into the goal."
Law
One for
the Road
Brazil is a land of racers inside and outside the racing circuit, having produced
champions like the late Ayrton Senna, who was a three-time world champion in Formula One
and Emerson Fittipaldi, who won twice the F-1 and once the Indy 500. Brazil has also the
deplorable record as having the world's most deadly roads, with around 50,000 dying from
car accidents every year (compare this to the U.S., which has an annual death toll of
41,000 with a fleet 10 times as big as Brazil's 20 million cars).
The country—after decades of lenient laws against traffic-rules
transgressors—has now also one of the toughest traffic codes on earth. The problem is
few people believe the new rules will be enforced in a land where disrespect for the law
seems to be innate. Brazil spends $4 billion a year in traffic-expenses with the bulk of
it going to pay for medical costs of road victims.
The day the "Transit Code" started to take effect the press was out in force
to find out who wasn't obeying it. The discoveries were sobering. President Fernando
Henrique Cardoso's limousine took the wrong way upon arriving at Palácio do Planalto at
9:45 AM. The serious infraction carries a $180 fine. Cristovam Buarque, governor of the
Distrito Federal was caught jaywalking, which is punishable with a $24 ticket. The
reporters also found out that the presidents of both houses of congress, Senator Antônio
Carlos Magalhães and representative Michel Temer were not using their seatbelts when they
arrived to work. The penalty for their infractions: $80.
Drunk drivers will suffer the steepest of fines: $772, besides the loss of their
license and up to three years in jail. There are penalties for those who coast downhill
and even for those who run out of gas. This in a country where some authorities advise
drivers to run red lights at night to avoid being a crime victim. The new code has also
instituted a system of points that go from three to seven, depending of the gravity of the
offense. According to the law, drivers who accumulate 20 points in one year lose their
license and must take a training course.
A reporter of Rio's daily Jornal do Brasil put the code to the test taking a
bus. In a little more than one hour the bus driver—he was fired as soon as his bosses
read about his adventures— had collected enough points to get his license away,
speeding, going through red lights, and not respecting pedestrians.
Government officials have been a little confused, not knowing what authority is going
to enforce the new law. While a few cities like Sao Paulo are already enforcing the code,
others decided to wait. The Denatran (Departamento Nacional de Trânsito—National
Department of Traffic) has suggested that the lawbreaker be only warned before May 1.
Irritated with the action of some cities in which fines are already being meted,
Denatran's director, José Roberto de Souza Dias, used obscenity to show his displeasure:
"We need to make a fucking campaign to explain to the bloody country this shitty
code." Orlando Miranda Ferreira, director of the São Paulo Detran replied with more
restraint: "I cannot execute only half a law."
Sports
Naked Truth
Just a few months before the World Cup, Brazil has won in Europe several accolades
attesting to the excellence of soccer practiced in Brazilian lands. First the country won
the prize as the world's best soccer team in 1997. Then, 21-year-old striker Ronaldinho
for the second year in a row was chosen as FIFA's (International Federation of Football
Association) world's best soccer player. Ronaldinho got 86 first-place votes out of a
possible 121 from a panel of soccer coaches and personalities. He came 400 points ahead of
second place, which by the way is Roberto Carlos, another Brazilian ace. In a separate
award, Brazil's national team coach, Mário Jorge Lobo Zagallo, was chosen as the world's
best coach in 1997 by Düsseldorf, Germany, IFFHS (International Federation of Football
History and Statistics).
Ronaldinho also made news by appearing in the buff on American TV during the Super
Bowl. He was one of several athletes who shed their clothes to star in an ad for Nike. In
the gloomy commercial the Brazilian player is shown naked under the rain at the side of
American star athletes David Robinson, Lisa Leslie, Michael Johnson, and Susie Hamilton.
Ronaldinho gets $ 1.5 million a year to endorse Nike products.
Award
Top Macho
Clinton
The same behavior that got Bill Clinton in hot water in the U.S. has given him top
honors in Brazil. The American President for all his real or purported sexual adventures
has been chosen as "The Macho of the Year", the first time the tongue-in-cheek
prize goes to a foreigner. Explaining the bestowing of the trophy on Clinton, Luiz Mário
Ladeira, president of the Minas Gerais state Macho Movement, which confers the prize,
said: "Over the past year, no other public figure has honored the traditions of
machismo as much as Bill Clinton."
The Macho Movement, created 15 years ago as a good-humored response to feminism, has
5,000 members around the country. The Yankee leader is in good company. Past award winners
include Brazilian former president Itamar Franco, who was photographed during Carnaval
dallying with a pantyless model who wore only a skimpy T-shirt letting photographers snap
her most intimate anatomy.
Propaganda
Brazil for
Gringos
In a counter-offensive to fight the stereotypical image of Brazil—land of
Carnaval, lax morals, violence, impunity, and poverty—being presented to foreigners,
the Brazilian government has published a slick and thick book showing some other facets of
the country. Published in five languages with 20,000 copies printed at a cost of $1.2
million—the São Paulo Industries Federation (FIESP) and others picked up the
tab—the work is not for general consumption, but for opinion makers.
Work of Itamaraty, the Brazilian foreign ministry, Brasil— Território, Povo,
Trabalho e Cultura (Brazil—Territory, People, Work and Culture) comes with a
foreword by president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, texts by Brazilian intellectuals and
pictures from 90 of the best national photographers, and has the express purpose of giving
a balanced view of the land.
"The government is not hiding the national problems with this book as the
President is the first to admit that this is a unjust country," said ambassador
Sebastião do Rego Barros Neto, the Foreign Ministry's general secretary. Favelas (shantytowns),
however, and other Brazilian eyesores are only shown at a comfortable distance in pictures
and practically brushed aside in the text.
Unbending
Brazil
vs
USA
"There is a law in the United States that forbids the granting of a visa to people
who have engaged in terrorist acts. It's that simple," said somewhat patronizingly
Melvin Levitsky, the American ambassador in Brasília as if rules were never broken in the
U.S.. Levitsky was talking about his country's decision to deny a visa to Brazilian
representative Fernando Gabeira from the Green Party so he could enter the United States.
In 1969 Gabeira had a minor role in the kidnapping of then American ambassador Charles
Elbrick. Later he wrote the book O Que É Isso, Companheiro (What's the Matter,
Pal) which became a film just released in the U.S. as Four Days in September. The
former guerrilla has been invited to participate in the movie's promotion by Miramax,
which is marketing Four Days—the Brazilian choice for the Oscar—in
American theaters.
The president of the Senate, Antônio Carlos Magalhães, sent Levitsky a petition
signed by 26 senators in which they asked for the visa, recalling that Gabeira in 1979
received amnesty from the Brazilian government and that, today, as a congressman he has a
diplomatic passport. The letter also noted that the former terrorist is a friend of
Elbrick's daughter, Valery.
After meeting Magalhães, Levitsky declared: "I have explained to the senator how
the law of my country works." He didn't explain however how they were able to bend a
little in order to admit people like Yasser Arafat and Fidel Castro.
Angered by the American snub, Dora Kramer wrote in her column in Rio's daily Jornal
do Brasil:
"An eye for an eye in cases like that is not the best solution. If it were, we
might reason by an absurd hypothesis that nothing would prevent president Fernando
Henrique Cardoso from refusing to receive president Bill Clinton because he is the leader
of a nation that, one day, backed a coup, which resulted in a dictatorship that banned him
from academics forcing him into exile."
Gabeira, who had two other requests for visas denied by the U.S. promised to continue
trying. "They always alleged that mine was a special case. This is the first time
that I heard about this law." At end of January, after diplomatic efforts seemed
exhausted, the Brazilian congress, in a gesture of defiance to Yankee intransigence,
decided to designate Gabeira as an observer to the United Nations. The U.S. naturally
might now defend its territorial integrity and national security by limiting the
congressman's steps to the narrow U.N. territory in New York City.
Violence
I Accuse
At the invitation of OAS's Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Brazilian
attorney Cristina Leonardo should be in Washington by now getting ready to act as a
prosecutor against Brazil, which is accused of several massacres committed by the
country's police, in particular the mass killing in 1990 in Acari, and in 1993 in Vigário
Geral and Candelária, all of them in Rio.
Leonardo knows very well the subject, having been responsible for taking overseas 11 of
the survivors of those and other massacres, who feared for their lives. She is prepared to
accuse the Brazilian government of not protecting the poorest and the children in
particular and not reigning in he death squads. In January an OAS report denounced Brazil
for its lack of advancement on guaranteeing human rights and fighting racism.
USA
Big Brother's
Scolding
Another blow against Brazil's image in the human rights arena was dispensed by the
just-released U.S. State Department report, which accuses the country of abuses against
Indians and children as well as allowing slave work, child prostitution, police death
squads and all kinds of discrimination. The report states that murder is the main cause of
death in Brazil among 15 to 17-year-old youngsters. Commenting on the work of Secretaria
Nacional dos Direitos Humanos (National Secretariat on Human Rights) created in 1996 by
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the document concludes that the increasing commitment
of the federal government still didn't have any significant impact on the national
situation. (See complete report at http://www.brazzil.com/report98.htm)
Responding to one more slap from the U.S., a visibly angry José Gregori, the national
secretary for human rights, counter attacked: "This way of organizations acting
through reports is something old-fashioned and all it does is to irritate, not helping
with anything and generating doubts and misunderstandings." Gregori called the State
Department document "prejudiced and elitist" and accused the authors of these
reports of always hiding their identities while "rubbing their fingers in the eyes of
a certain country." He mocked the routine of these documents: "Year after year
it is the same old story. Only now, instead of Remington typewriters they use
laptops." Gregori also made an invitation to the report writers: "I would like
to invite them to come to the trenches."
Even more irritated was President Fernando Henrique Cardoso when news of the report
reached him in Switzerland. He accused the U. S. of meddling in Brazilian internal
affairs: "I do not spend my time talking about what happens in the United
States," he said, adding with a zest of irony a comment about the criticism that the
minimum wage is too low in the country: "Maybe they can help pay for the deficit in
our Social Security. The problem with the minimum wage is not one of wishing but of being
able to."
In Rio, Milton Corrêa da Costa, spokesman for the Public Security Department, stung by
accusations of violence of its police counterattacked: "The United States is the one
infringing on human rights rules. It produces the AR-15 rifles, which end up in the hands
of Rio's drug traffickers."
Mores
Bountiful
Land
One of the most ingrained national beliefs, that female buttocks are Brazilians'
favorite anatomical part, has suffered a rude awakening this summer. Ad professionals and
plastic surgeons have already declared this the season of the bosom. "The '70s were
the apotheosis of the bun. During the '80s, thanks to liposculpture, the waif-thin waist
was all the rage. The sex symbol of the `90s, however, is the cleavage," declared Carioca
(from Rio) plastic surgeon Arthur Silva Netto to weekly newsmagazine Isto É. Silva
Netto should know. Monaco's princess Stephanie and Polish model Eva Herzigova among other
have trusted their precious boobies to his cutting skills.
Despite the new trend, plastic surgeries for breast reduction continue to be the most
common, even though surgeries for breast enhancement have doubled in the last two years.
These operations cost anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000. Leading bra manufacturer Valisère
revealed that 35 from its 45 1997 bra models had a wire or a filler to enhance breasts'
volume.
Patois
Loose Lips
As it happened with Ebonics in 1996 when Oakland (California) school officials decided
to consider the American-Black dialect as a distinct language, the decision to teach caipirês
(hick talk) in the interior of Minas Gerais state is causing plenty of controversy.
Opposing the orientation of the state's Department of Education, Ângelo Leite Pereira,
mayor of Carmo do Rio Claro, decided that schools in his municipality should teach caipirês,
a way of talking usually used in the students homes. "With this method the children
don't go home and start ridiculing their parents," explained Rosilene Moreira in an
interview with the daily O Estado de S. Paulo. "They might compare both
languages and think that the informal one is funny, but they respect both."
Writer Cecílio Elias Neto, author of the Dicionário do Dialeto Caipiracicabano (Information
in Piracicaba, São Paulo, at tel.: 55-19-422-6608) is against the idea of including the
informal language in the curriculum, even though he believes that it is important to
preserve the way people from the area known as Tietê-Piracicaba—encompassing the
Minas and São Paulo hinterland—talk. He seems happy, however, to find out that
"suddenly caipira is beautiful".
Micro glossary of caipirês
amigá—(to become friends) to live together
apeá—to go
apitô—(he whistled) he died
cabrero—suspicious
coisá—to thing (it replaces any verb we cannot think of)
cuvitera (for alcoviteira)—gossipmonger
cramar (instead of reclamar)—to complain
desdá—(to ungive) to want something back
intortá o pote—(to bend the pot) to get drunk
já que tá que fique—what can we do
matá o bicho—(to kill the beast) to drink alcohol
morfioso—the best, but also the worst
subi co pé pra cima—(to go up with the foot up) to die
torná vortá otra veiz de novo—(to come back again once more anew) to return
Culture
Dream Girl
Pelourinho, in the historical center of Salvador, capital of Bahia state, is
a centuries-old baroque jewel that has been recently restored to its old glory. The place
has been used as stage for plays, concerts and pop music, being also the showcase for
world renowned Olodum band. It is understandable then that there was an uproar when it was
announced that É o Tchan band dancer Carla Perez, famous for her lascivious gait and
generous buttocks, was going to be shot naked in the venerable square.
Those opposed to Perez's nudity didn't care that the shooting was being made for Globo
TV prime time news show Jornal Nacional and its traditional Sunday variety program
Fantástico. The filming was almost canceled, but, having friends in high places, La Perez
was able to have Bahia's former governor and current federal senate president Antônio
Carlos Magalhães, come to her rescue guaranteeing the cultural strip tease.
Salvador placed 120 men to guarantee the dancer's security at Pelourinho and dissuade
those more daring from coming too close. The public strip show was so distracting that a
close-by school didn't have any other alternative but to dispense their students allowing
them a field lesson on human anatomy. After having been the main propeller for É o Tchan
band, which sold 1.5 million CDs in 1997, Carla is studying singing and intends to start a
solo singing career very soon. That should be as easy as 1, 2, 3, let it drop.
The myth of the Brazilian as Homo eroticus has been put again to the
test and the results were at once sobering and comforting for those intent on maintaining
Brazilian superiority in the field of sexual endeavors. Conducted by Datafolha—a
polling institute belonging to Folha de São Paulo, Brazil's largest daily, with a
circulation of 800,000 on Sundays—the Folha Report on Brazilian Sexuality heard from
2054 people varying in age from 18 to 60 years old from 94 municipalities all over the
country.