Sunday, May 28, 2006

East Timor reported by the Lusophone Blogosphere

As I was writing this report about unrest and possible civil war in East Timor, I found myself in a war with the spell-checker in my word processor which insists that the word LUSOPHONE does not exist. Read on to see what might be embedded in a single word.

Seven years after the end of Indonesian rule -- becoming the newest world nation in May 2002 -- and having gone through what was viewed as a successful nation building and independence process led by the UN, East Timor is once again facing deep unrest. The last weeks since the reported clashes of April 28th have shown escalating violence and by now the Lusophone blogosphere is starting to speculate about the real forces behind the recent events.

"It was almost one o'clock. I turned on the radio, increased the volume and prepared myself for the bad news of the day. I was listening to the last music before the news and I stopped the car in front of the beach... I was prepared... Here they come! Timor, clashes between police and army, dead people, cries for help... Australia was already arriving (thanks to the oil exploration contracts)… Portugal is on the way … ENI is also there, entering through GALP. I can't help thinking that the oil is the real trouble maker, even if this is not the exact case here. That's what I think."
News - A day after...

GALP is the Portuguese oil company which last week lost the oil-gas contract with the government of East Timor. The contract was awarded instead to the Italian ENI as Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri announced the country's first move to explore the oil-and-gas rich off-shore reserves in the Timor Sea. Strange as it is, ENI and GALP are partners, the former owning the majority share of the later, which makes the Portuguese complain about their country being 'gamed as usual' on the bid. It was also last week that José Ramos Horta, the foreign affairs minister, requested help from Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and Malaysia to quell the violence.

"Timor is going through a delicate moment while signing big and important oil exploration international contracts. There are neglected groups and GALP between them. Are we sure those groups are not influencing the present unrest? Australia, who took years to recognize Timor 's oil extraction rights, spent just a few hours to land its troops at Dili airport: "Candid selfless help"!
Civil War in Timor? - The time that will come

Monday, May 22, 2006

Camoes Literature Prize goes to Luandino Vieira

Luandino Vieira, from Angola, laureated in the 2006 Edition of Camões Prize. The Portuguese language's most prestigious award, the Camoes Prize, was given to the Angolan writer José Luandino Vieira. Born José Vieira Mateus da Graça, in 1935 in Portugal, he moved to Angola with his parents at the age of 3. He became Angolan citizen by his participation on the country's national movement for liberation and choose the name 'Luandino' as an homage to Luanda. His main books are “No antigamente, na vida - estórias”, “Luuanda”, “A Vida verdadeira de Domingos Xavier” and “Nosso Musseque”. It's the second time an Angolan writer is awarded with the Camoes Prize - the first one was Pepetela, in 1997.

Friday, May 19, 2006

Riots in Sao Paulo: Prison cells and cell phones

PCC - Riots in Sao PauloOne week has passed since the city of Sao Paulo was paralyzed by gang attacks and the blogosphere in Brazil is wildly spinning the many aspects of this unprecedent confrontation. Here, we will present an overview of the various narratives generated from the multifold and multicolored currents flowing through the ever more popular and impassioned personal journaling of Brazilians.

"Sao Paulo, with a population of 17 million and a land mass which spreads over 3,00 square miles is the world’s third largest city and the largest metropolis in South America. This most modern cosmopolitan city in Brazil, has often been compared to New York because of its attraction, which lies in ethic minority communities, upthrusting skyscrapers, and the outstanding cuisines that the city offers. Apart from the outstanding qualities that this city portrays, it is also considered a home to organized crime groups. The vile and evitable drama, which has really turned ugly, sparked up when around 700 members of the PCC [First Command of the Capital] crime gang were moved from a low to a maximum-security prison to minimize the influence they have had over the years on other inmates. The PCC was formed years ago as a gang within the prison walls to protect the rights of prisoners. Today, they have spread immensely outside the prison system and formed organized crime gangs which deal in drugs, kidnapping and armed robbery in most crucial and economically vibrant Brazilian cities."
São Paulo, Brazil on Fire - Negritu.de - Blog

"I believe I imagine civilization as a circle because I've grown up in Sao Paulo. In Rio de Janeiro, for example, there is a close contact between privilege and poverty which does not happen here. From an historical perspective, what differentiates São Paulo is its urban expansion model, which left the poor crowds on the margins of the city. It created a central privileged zone kept orderly by the control of public authorities and a periphery that was invisible. INVISIBLE... Until now!!!! The PCC attacks present a new reality, tearing down the illusion that Sao Paulo was different from other cities. The expansion of the privileged center grew to the poverty zones, crossing to the world beyond the bridge... Sao Paulo is exactly the same as the rest of the country, built upon a brutal inequality which concentrates and does not distribute wealth."
PCC attack's (II) - Jaw of 1984




Video editing by Spyk

A week ago the whole country incredulously watched the images of the biggest Sao Paulo avenues completely empty at 7 pm on a working Monday. The unimaginable shown on TV sparked reactions that reverberated at many levels of the ongoing political conversation. The main character of the present story -- the PCC gang -- immediately jumped right into the debate as another powerful voice to be dealt with. Although the novelty left the media and politicians speechless at first, the blogosphere was quick in identifying and tagging the political motivations in every new fact. One of the main pieces on this level of the debate would be the Statutes of the PCC, which have been referenced in many blogs:
"Article 16 (last one) - most important of all is that nobody will detain our fight because the Command's seed has spread to all prison systems in the state and we have structured ourselves outside also. Although suffering many sacrifices and many irreparable losses, we consolidated our position on the state level and we will surely fulfill our national presence in the long run. In connection with the CV (Red Command) we will start the revolution in the country from inside the prisons. Our military arm will bring terror to the ones in power, the oppressors and tyrants who use Taubaté Annex and Bangu I [high security prisons] in Rio de Janeiro as society's vengeance tool in fabricating monsters"..
PCC's Statute - Nude Moon - Blog

"Is PCC a leftie party? Well, if it is not yet, they've got plans to be, as they will try to elect two representatives in Ocotber. How nice, hum? As if it was not enough for us to deal with the PT [government party] gangs, now we will have a PCC congressional bench."
Is PCC a leftie party? - Resistência

"Who would be interested in so much blood, fear and uncertainty right now? Who are the political beneficiaries of such tragic events? Everybody agrees that the recent events will seriously damage the main opposition candidate presidential campaign - Sao Paulo ex-governor Geraldo Alckmin... Many have already mentioned the PT connections with organized crime and international drug dealers. But, in spite of the extreme gravity of such charges, those denunciations were never looked into in a way that could clarify the facts."
Sao Paulo under attack... from PT? - The Fire Throat
Then the visceral reaction from security forces in Sao Paulo started to be noticed, firstly under the radar, but soon generally acknowledged by the mainstream media and authorities. There were also strong speculations about a possible deal with the PCC as the only explanation for the way the attacks abruptly stopped after a meeting between its main leader, Marcos Camacho (aka Marcola) with his lawyer and three São Paulo government authorities on Sunday night.
"Attention please, friends!! I am asking everybody following this blog to help stop what is going on right now. The civil and military police, wounded by the PCC killings, are generating a Nazi-like state in our periphery. There are already more than 100 murdered 'suspects' and none of them are from PCC. I already have four dead colleagues, not to mention the ones in the hospital. None of them had any previous filings with the police and that's why I beg you to spread the word. People are dying with bullets in the back while delivering pizza, while going back home from work. The cowardly police tremble in front of real thieves but they are ready to kill someone who is simply going back home from work. It is a shame and, if they call this 'duty', it's time for us to react with concerned citizenship, showing them that we do not want this slaughter. MARTIAL LAW FOR INNOCENT POOR PERSONS DECREED."
Attention - Ferrez

"This is what some policemen are doing in the periphery, in the poor neighborhoods in which they also live, where the abandonment of the law is more radical and more rooted than in the central areas of the city. In those dark alleys the police fulfill their vengeance by shooting the pizza boy, or the guy waiting for his fiancé in the bus station, or the unaware group of friends that chats in some dark crossing. Or even the motoboy who was fleeing frightened -- who told him to run? He must have done something... Are these policemen aware that this truculent and arbitrary behavior contributes to and builds the prestige of the big gang leaders, who become the only alternative for protection in these communities?"
A voice of sanity - The dead

I am very afraid of this [killing of anonymous 'suspects']. I am more afraid of this than of any PCC, in any part of the world.
Urban Guerrilla / Dead in Battle - Nothing Simple is Ever Easy - Deinha in NY

"The order to stop the riots came from Marcola during the night of the meeting through a note which read: 'We are making everybody aware that the facilities (prisons) under our control will be normalized at 9:00 am tomorrow, when our brothers (leaders) will be taking their sun bath in Venceslau (high security prison).' Although the PCC leaders stayed in their cells without sun baths, the rebels obeyed and ended the biggest simultaneous prison rebellion in the country, which included 73 prisons in Sao Paulo state. On Monday at 4 pm there were still 20 prisons out of control and at 8 pm they were all at peace -- a strong indicator that the deal really happened".
Governor dealt with the bandits - President Lula's Friends

If there is one thing that was crystal clear to all in the aftermath of the riots is that PCC's power arises from its communication capabilities from within the prisons. The issue became spicier when a TV network showed what is supposed to be a cell phone interview with someone who presented himself as the PCC leader, Marcola, on Wednesday night. State authorities asserted that the interview was false and that it would be impossible for Marcola to talk to anybody as he is incommunicable in a high security jail.
Following the wave of unprecedented violence over the weekend in São Paulo - coordinated by inmates from inside the jails with their cell phones - the Brazilian mobile operators are under pressure by the government to block signals in prisons, reported Cellular News. Meanwhile, in a related article, the BBC, reports on "a row which has broken out over an interview which a journalist says he got with a gang leader - via mobile phone from a maximum security jail".
Interview of PCC leader from jail by mobile phone - textually.org

"Marcola demonstrated great capability for communication and media manipulation on Wednesday night, when he gave a cell phone interview to the Bandeirantes TV network. Besides presumably overriding the closed Differentiated Disciplinar Regime [high security restrictions] in which he is imprisoned, he portrayed himself as defending the society, saying that the police are putting the population at risk by promoting a war to respond to PCC movements, "in a war where both parties have great fire power, the citizen who has nothing to do with both parties will loose". Marcola said that the PCC attacks were a reaction to the bad treatment in prisons."
Tropical Mob - Option Journal
It has been a tense week in Brazil. Everything started to feel and look quite different from what we used to expect as 'normal'. São Paulo was so paralyzed by fear of the PCC's attacks that few noticed the official announcement of the members of the Brazilian soccer team that will play the World Cup in Germany. And the weekend brought a surprising interview with Sao Paulo 's governor Claudio Lembo -- of the conservative opposition party PFL. His words sounded like a leftist manifesto. He was clearly pissed by his abandonment by those having a direct interest in his success. -- the ex-governor and presidential candidate Geraldo Alckmin and the ex-mayor of the attacked city of São Paulo and now gubernatorial candidate, José Serra.
"Brazil is a country of many defeats, social defeats. We have an evil bourgeois, a very perverse white minority. Their wallets will have to be opened to eradicate misery, to help to create more jobs, more education, more dialogue and equal opportunities for all. If we don't deal with the Brazilian mentality --especially of the white minority -- we won't go anywhere."
Cladio Lembo interview with Monica Bergamo, in Received by E-mail - blogless

When asked if his allies had supported him during the tense days, Claudio Lembo answered that Alckmin had called twice -- "you know, phone calls are expensive". Serra didn't call and neither did former president and main opposition leader Fernando Henrique, "he was in New York". "President Lula called, and was very elegant with me. I talked a lot with the President and he gave me a lot of support".



These days of chaos and violence in Brazil have revealed technology as a multi-edged sword. Demons as well as Saviors can be unleashed through the expansion of something as simple as a cell phone conversation. When long-standing grievances and inequities are combined with the new tools of communication and as people who have never talked to each other before hurl their passions at one another, and trigger each other into action, we who struggle for open systems will be challenged to create and make firm a commons that is both democratic and civil.

Monday, May 15, 2006

Brazilian Gangs Wage War On Police

One of Brazil's biggest gangs, the First Capital Command (of First Command of the Capital -- PCC), took the fight to Sao Paulo's government developing a wave of co-ordinated violence since Friday. The heavily armed gang staged 150 attacks on police stations that killed 74 (including at least 40 policemen) and 24 prison uprisings that are currently holding thousands of visitors hostage. Overnight, gangs torched buses, targeted banks and continued their attacks on police patrols and stations. So far, the government has only been able to contain six of the prison uprisings, but that more are occurring as fast as they put them down. The violence -- apparently sparked in reaction to the transfer of 765 gang members from their current prisons to higher-security facilities -- is an escalation of what many in Sao Paulo are calling a war between the state authorities and the First Command of the Capital (PCC) criminal faction.

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Bruna Little Surfer: blog turns into book, call girl turns into writer

Bruna Little Surfer is how she is now known. Rachel Pacheco, the Brazilian blogger, became a celebrity while posting details about her job as a call girl in her online diary which was then published in book form as, “The Scorpion’s Sweet Poison” (PDF available in Portuguese). Recently, Larry Rohter reported in the NY Times that her writing is responsible for “upending convention and setting off a vigorous debate about sexual values and practices, revealing a country that is not always as uninhibited as the world often assumes.” This may be true, and it has been echoed by some of the blogs around. But it only touches across the surface and misses the deeper meaning of the conversations that are being stimulated in Brazil.

“Bear in mind, of course, that Brazil is itself a land of contradictions: an environment filled with religiosity and Catholic iconography, offset by promiscuity, rampant prostitution and an ‘anything goes’ lifestyle among the young. Expect Bruna’s tale to generate widespread interest, both critical and supportive. She may be Brazil’s latest symbol of empowerment, shame and recognition. That stuff is great copy!”
The Real Deal Sells: The Scorpion’s Sweet Poison - Lawyers and Business Executives in the News™

“It’s sad that the New York Times, the most respected newspaper in the world (until then), announced Bruna Surfistinha as a Brazilian ‘cultural phenomenon’. Her merit would be of waking up the country to a debate about sexual practices, which also revealed a society not as liberal as is shown during the carnival. They went to the point of calling her a ’sexual guru’! No pseudo-moralist speeches, please. This whole thing has gone too far.”
Brazilian program for export - Infoblog - Ana Maria Brambilla - Ibest

The mainstream media is emphasizing the “tramp-to-celebrity” phenomenon more than the blogosphere which is providing some very interesting discussion. For example, Pedro Doria, a Brazilian A-list blogger, praises the overall effect of the Internet in making available what before was object of restricted access — in this case, nudity and sex. He helped in the promotion of Bruna with the launching of his own book ‘Eu gosto de uma coisa errada‘ (’I like a wrong thing’) where he reported various cases of people who became famous on the net for disclosing their privacy and exposing their sexual intimacy. His accounts of Bruna Surfistinha and “Swingers, Voyeurs and other Characters in Internet’s Sexual Revolution” were based on posts to the site ‘nomínimo‘. Doria’s theory is that this is an opening with many advantages because moralistic metaphors, that used to bring difficulties in the communication with young people about sexual pleasure and its risks, are being replaced by language that demystifies and promotes real dialogue.

“Friday 28, Bruna Little Surfer is completing 21. She is retiring. The move is being planned, and money is being saved since last year. She sold sex for three years, ten days. The day she left home, fighting with mom, fighting with dad, she was still 17. The next birthday she would complete working in a private club in São Paulo… I found her on GPGuia, an online forum where customers review the call girls performances. Bruna was the champion in votes. It was not her technical skills what they were talking about. She was just sweet. Then I found the blog - it was the first one written by a call girl in Brazil, and she was really good in expressing herself”
The Farewell of Bruna Surfistinha - nominimo


“A Brazilian call girl named Paula Lee (24) is making the headlines in Portugal with her blog containing erotic tales, which she calls sexual therapy. The comparisons between Paula Lee and Raquel Pacheco, or Bruna Little Surfer, are inevitable. She defends herself saying that she followed Bruna’s blog since September, when she wrote her first erotic tale. ‘She is a courageous and firm person and is due great value for demistifying the prostitution world, showing the human side that many would not believe existed.”
Brazilian Erotic Blog Succeeds in Portugal - Terra

From the perspective of Brazilian blogs, Bruna was the first to cross the sexual frontiers experimenting with the social online interaction. Starting with the forums and then the blog, she managed to capture the attention (and the fantasies) of her target public, achieving her initial goal of advertising her services. The fact is that she really likes to write, and carefully kept notes from all the customers she had. When those notes started to be published in the blog a new kind of interaction developed that expanded both the intimacy and the size of the audience. Then came Pedro Doria’s book revealing the novelty to larger audiences and resulting in the publishing of her own book which is having an astounding selling performance. Next came the Spanish language version and the promotional tours. Right now she is having a fine time going from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Montevideu, Uruguay with her boyfriend Pedro.

“I had a good impression of Montevideu, but I would not live there for a single reason: there is no buzz, and no stressing as we have in São Paulo. To someone accustomed to the crazy life, as me, it would be impossible to live in such a clean and calm city. But I plan to come back to Montevideu in order to visit Punta Del Este, stay at Conrad’s and try to get rich at the casino. Before going to the airport we made some shots in a photographic session as I will be on the cover of a well known magazine in Uruguay.”
The day - Bruna Little Surfer’s Diary

“I won’t be stupid and follow some critics who talk about the book as a revelation of secrets about the life of a call girl, as there are no secrets in the ‘world’s oldest profession’. With the hypocracy left behind, we can face the real secret contained in the book. Bruna’s secret is the same as the secret of all moral warriors: it’s the fact that behind a prostitute there is a secret aura that attracts men. It’s exactly with this contradiction that Bruna plays, opposing the family girl who chooses to turn into a call girl with the call girl who chooses to turn back into a family girl. There is the origin of the charming chemistry contained in all those girls who use their bodies as a way of life.”

What is behind Bruna Little Surfer? - Possentisson’s Blog

Any research initiative about society and culture in Brazil today must check out what’s going on about the issue in Orkut — Google’s social networking site. Seventy percent of Orkut members are Brazilians, something around 14 million people. Through a single search on ’surfistinha’ we reached 228 communities, where the main ones are: bruna surfistinha (19,452 members); i read bruna surfistinha’s blog (2,221); bruna surfistinha & pedro (2,136); bruna surfistinha’s ex-customers (939); enough of bruna surfistinha (552); i hate bruna surfistinha (494); bruna surfistinha for president (263) and bruna surfistinha = bad example (55). The contradictions are explicit in the blogs as would be natural — and essential — any time and any place that we talk about human sexuality. Bloggers and social networkers alike offer both praises and condemnations. “She may be cool, but she is certainly a bad example.”

“I left this comment on Bruna Little Surfer’s blog: Congratulations, I didn’t know that being a hooker would make so many waves. Really… you are one of the privileged of this cannibal world, which eats the wrong persons, swallowing their values. You are beautiful, but as any other filthy human being, you take advantage of the wrong things. Put yourself in your place, try to learn from the life you chose, and stop presenting such a bad example saying you like to be a bitch. They are giving too much space to someone that doesn’t have anything to teach us.”
Stop the world!! I want to step out - Débora Domingues - Blog

“Yeah, that’s right. Bruna Little Surfer is now the model for this blog. This girl earned money and reached fame because she is intelligent. She went all by herself, sold sex, made money with that, but as soon as she noticed she could succeed selling her own story, she retired from her previous life and started to invest in her writing career.”
Bruna Surfistinha - Woman on the wheel

What’s really interesting to us is the fact that her story illustrates to a whole generation what can be done with a blog associated with good writing. While the NY Times and traditional editorial writers pontificate about culture and morality and while academics generate new socio-anthropological theses about Bruna Little Surfer and disruptive sexual behaviors, the kids are learning something else. They are learning that the Internet and communicating through writing well are opportunities for success. As we would expect, the kids have a much better understanding about the real meaning of the phenomenon of Bruna Little Surfer.

“Little by little I will be reporting my whole life… like it was a book I always wanted to write. I don’t have so many adventures or crazy stories as Bruna Little Surfer, but there are things that, until today, I was the only one to know. By the way, talking about Little Surfer, I recommend that you read her book… not with horny eyes, but as a father, or like future parents that should learn to observe and understand their kids… in the details.”
Presentation and start of this blog - Neco’s Diary

“I am not Bruna Little Surfer… but now I have my own blog… today the day was calm… my mother was out with Duda to the doctor, and I spent the whole morning online… installed the msn windows live… then I discovered that the msn-plus is not compatible… shit… what can I do? But even then, I loved it… it gave me my own space… I had one before but I couldn’t see the value… now I see… hehehe!!!”
Today I start my journey in my little space!!!!!!! - Barbara Beyonce

These kids are just starting. They are starting just by talking about themselves. They are securing and becoming secure in their own spaces where they can express their truths with passion and skill. They are reaching out and connecting with each other and audiences that contain many possibilities. Some day some of them may change the world or just give us something to laugh or cry about.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Gás boliviano incendeia o debate político no Brasil

O presidente boliviano, Evo Morales, certamente não deixou o presidente Lula em uma boa posição. Cumprindo promessa de campanha, nacionalizou o petróleo e o gás na Bolívia -- afetando diretamente a Petrobrás, empresa estatal brasileira de prospecção de petróleo. O movimento era esperado, entretanto, a forma como Morales implementou a decisão -- colocando tropas do exército boliviano para ocupar as instalações da empresa brasileira --, e a flagrante influência demonstrada pelo venezuelano Hugo Chavez no processo, colocaram Lula em meio a mais um tiroteio político neste agitado ano de eleições presidenciais. O alvo agora é a política externa de seu governo.
"Nesta última semana, vimos atônitos o exército boliviano, sob o comando do presidento Evo Morales, nacionalizar as instalações da Petrobrás. E tudo isso de armas em punho. Acredito que ficou caracterizada uma grande derrota para os brasileiros, especialmente para o presidente Lula e o ministro das Relações Exteriores Celso Amorim."
Brasil X Bolívia = Lula 0, Evo Morales 10, Hugo Chávez 100 - Daniel Yang Blog

"Estávamos ainda sobre o impacto da auto-suficiência quando o presidente Evo Morales anunciou sua intenção de expropriar a siderúrgica brasileira EBX. Em 1 de maio ele foi adiante e editou o Decreto Supremo nacionalizando todas as operações de hidrocarbonetos (gás e petróleo) de seu país, o que atingiu duramente a Petrobrás. Não contente com isso, num ostensivo e desnecessário uso da força, Morales mandou o Exército ocupar as 53 instalações de gás e petróleo que eram controladas por empresas estrangeiras. Segundo o decreto 28.701, a Petrobrás e demais empresas estrangeiras se tornaram meras operadoras de produção e receberão da Yacimientos Petrolíferos Federales de Bolívia (YPFB) uma remuneração de apenas 18% pelos serviços prestados."
O petróleo é deles - Alerta Total - Blog
Como tem acontecido regularmente, a mídia se empolga com o potencial político de tais fatos e trata de propor a linha do debate, o que posteriormente (alguns minutos depois) é reverberado criticamente pelos blogueiros.
"Hoje andava pela rua e atentei às revistas da banca de jornal. Uma delas, a Istoé, estampava na capa: “Evo Morales, o homem que pode parar o Brasil”. Na ilustração, a foto do aymará colada num bujão de gás do qual sai um pavio em chamas – a cena que precede aquelas explosões de desenho animado. Quanta infelicidade. Primeiro pela inverdade da frase. O gás boliviano responde a uma parte ínfima da matriz energética brasileira, que, todos sabemos, é predominada pela hidroeletricidade. Quando falamos em combustível, a gasolina é campeã – petróleo, portanto, do qual o país é auto-suficiente. Há também um uso relativamente grande do álcool, que vem das nossas próprias e problemáticas lavouras monocultoras."
mídia raivosa - reverso - blog
O debate segue apresentando discursos de coloridos variados, que agregam novas informações oriundas de perspectivas absolutamente diversas, e compõe um mosaico de incontestável riqueza na abordagem do tema.
"Creio que essa decisão do presidente Evo Morales caracteriza um ato de soberania de um governo legítimo e democraticamente eleito. Guardadas as devidas proporções de cada circunstância histórica, nós já fizemos o mesmo ao criar o monopólio estatal do petróleo e a Petrobras nos anos 50. Mas, acho que o governo brasileiro tem que ser firme na defesa de nossos interesses e não admitir processos expropriatórios. É preciso fazer isso de modo racional, sem emocionalismos, mediante um processo de negociação que respeite os legítimos interesses das partes e assegure a continuidade da parceria entre Brasil e Bolívia na questão do gás e do petróleo."
O golpe de marketing de Morales! - Choque de Gestão - Blog

"O Itamarati entende que a Bolívia é um país em situação de quase insolvência. Se o Brasil suspender as importações de gás, quebra. Isto não é do interesse do Brasil, porque parte da indústria do Sudeste e do Sul depende hoje do gás boliviano mas sobretudo porque o Ministério das Relações Exteriores teme que uma crise pior leve o presidente da Bolívia, Evo Morales, a uma radicalização ainda maior. Ele seria jogado nos braços do presidente da Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, que o Brasil tenta moderar."
Petrobrás joga duro com a Bolívia enquanto Lula tenta conter a influência de Hugo Chávez - Vida Global
A reunião entre os 4 presidentes -- Cháves, Morales, Kirchner e Lula -- ocorrida 2 dias após o anúncio boliviano colocou mais lenha (gás?) na fogueira que já ia alta. Chávez passou na Bolívia para dar uma carona a Morales no caminho para Foz do Iguaçu -- local da reunião -- e o clima de cumplicidade dos dois certamente não agradou Lula, que demonstrou visível impaciência com o falatório de Chávez. Entretanto, apesar das dificuldades e das críticas, o presidente brasileiro segue colocando a integração latino-americana como prioridade de sua política externa.


"A reunião dos presidentes da Argentina, Brasil, Bolívia e Venezuela em Porto Iguaçu no Paraná parecia ser o momento certo para o governo brasileiro se manifestar e resolver a situação. Lula se manisfestou, fez pouco caso da crise e deu razão aos bolivianos. Afirmou ainda que o projeto do gasoduto que iniria os quatro países seria uma das opções para previnir qualquer problema proveniente do setor de energia. Fazer mais negócio com argentinos, bolivianos e venezuelanos? Meu Deus! A Argentina reclama de tudo que vem do Brasil, a Bolívia vocês já sabem e a Venezuela... Bom, o problema da Venezuela é Hugo Chavez."
Crise: Brasil x Bolívia - Blog do Noel

"Foram três horas de reunião. Mas muitas serão necessárias para digerir um golpe: o Presidente (do Brasil?) não só foi conivente com a selvageria como a parabenizou. A verdade é que o sr. Lula não tem orgulho. Apunhalado pelas costas numa conspiração em que acreditara dominar, preferiu insistir num ideal romântico de união ultra-mundana. E como o marido traído que aceita as orgias da esposa, implora por um lugar ao sol."
Quem poderá nos defender? - O púlpito conservador - Blog

Noutros tempos, tudo que está acontecendo seria considerado "um crime de lesa-pátria", "entrega do patrimônio público" e o governo seria "entreguista". Nada disso aconteceu. A reação foi um silêncio obsequioso. Espera-se que Evo Morales não resolva invadir o Brasil, sob a alegação de que foi logrado no Tratado de Petrópolis, assinado em 1903, em que a Bolívia vendeu o território do Estado do Acre ao Brasil.
Cuidado com Evo - Idéias ao Vento - Blog
O debate sobre o tema no Brasil seguirá influenciado pelo clima das eleições. A política externa brasileira tem sido reconhecida internacionalmente pela efetividade nas questões de comércio global, e pela influência na mudança da correlação das forças políticas a nível mundial. Lula acredita que é fundamental manter a coerência em sua estratégia externa, e mesmo sob o tiroteio eleitoral, encontra na rede vozes que que respaldam sua posição.
"A Bolívia é o país mais pobre da América do Sul. Foi comandada por sucessivos governos de caráter neo-liberal que entregaram suas riquezas naturais aos estrangeiros com a promessa de desafogar o Estado, trazer recursos externos para o país e melhorar a vida dos bolivianos, o que nunca aconteceu. A Bolívia virou a "casa da mãe Joana" e a Petrobrás, durante o governo FHC, aproveitou para mijar de porta aberta e colocar os pés sobre a mesa da sala. O que Morales fez foi botar ordem na casa. Não mandou a Petrobrás embora. Apenas está mandando ela fechar a porta do banheiro e tirar os pés de cima da mesa."
Crise???? - Blog da Re-eleição

"Qual seria a resposta adequada? Invadir a Bolívia, país em que se vive com 20% da média de renda do brasileiro? Desferir um ataque militar contra uma economia 100 vezes menor? Num mundo dominado pela cupidez e a moral do lucro, a reação brasileira só podia causar estranheza. “Vozes da imprensa dizem o contrário, mas a posição do presidente Lula foi extremamente correta. Reconheceu a soberania da Bolívia e a necessidade de ajuda internacional para aquele país pobre”, diz Hélio Jaguaribe (sociólogo, um dos fundadores do PSDB)."
Críticas tentam conter avanço da união sul-americana - André Barrocal – Carta Maior
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