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Paulo Maluf (PP) has promised if he gets elected mayor of São Paulo there’s going to be a whole package of goodies for the people: "There’s going to be viaducts, bridges, expressways. We have 29 planned projects. I’m going to know the organogram and cost-benefit of each one and show [how I’ll spend] the budget with maps".
by Guy Burton
One person who isn’t happy though, is the city’s Archbishop,
Dom Claudio Hummes, who complained about the use of his image in Maluf’s
campaign material. He claims not to have authorized the use of his image in the
TV ad.
Elsewhere, the current mayor, Marta Suplicy (PT), has been
given a helping hand by the Government (also PT). An arrangement has been
reached whereby the city’s debts to the federal government will be repaid on the
30th of each month rather than the 3rd, thereby easing financial pressures
brought about by honouring other payments. According to the Folha de S.
Paulo daily, this change in the law was made at the beginning of last month.
This other Folha article alleges the change was made to
help Marta in an election year, which of course they deny. The paper also talks
to the financial secretary of Salvador, another city with a big federal debt. He
said he was surprised the change in the law had been brought about.
Elsewhere there was analysis of the TV ads used by the
candidates on Friday night. Erundina (PSB) used the opportunity to condemn a
attack on 10 homeless people, four of whom were killed last week.
Perhaps trying to remind the voters of his previous job as
Health Minister, José Serra (PSDB) encouraged Paulistanos to get their
children vaccinated (in what seemed more like a health broadcast than a party
political one according to the Folha).
He also got the São Paulo state governor, Geraldo Alckmin (also
PSDB) into the material, to lend support. Alckmin currently has a 51% approval
rating.
Marta (PT) used her Saturday spot which had residents
commenting favourably on her education policies. Maluf, meanwhile, put his wife,
Sylvia, up. "He’s always been a marvelous child, a marvelous husband, father and
exceptional grandfather."
Strains of British Tory party leader Michael Howard, putting up
his former model wife in a bid to banish the 'something of the night'?
The challengers all seem to be feeling the heat. Along with the
Church’s criticism of Maluf, Serra must also be wondering whether his TV ads
will make the difference.
At the end of last week one of the smaller parties in his
electoral coalition, the Erundina’s website was attacked by the company which
was maintaining it, following the change in the campaign's managers after the
disastrous poll earlier this month.
The sites, http://www.luizaerundina.com.br and
http://www.erundina.com.br/, now run messages to this effect, meaning that only
http://www.luizaerundina40.can.br/ is untouched.
There’s a saying that people from São Paulo are serious and
work hard, while cariocas (people from Rio de Janeiro) have more fun. And it
would seem that way from the latest TV campaigns up there.
Even though the Liberal Front (PFL) candidate and present
incumbent, Cesar Maia, looks odds on to win (41% of the poll), that hasn’t
stopped the publicity being more entertaining than those in São Paulo.
The Folha reports that while Maia has been droning on
about the achievements in his administration, the PT candidate has been
admitting that he suffers from a charisma deficit while the Liberal candidate
(PL), Marcello Crivella, decided to treat the voters to a song during his spot.
I just hope it was nothing like the contribution that US
Attorney General John Ashcroft has made to the musical canon...
For
much more about the coming São Paulo election visit Guy Burton and Andrew
Steven's blog at http://www.saopaulo2004.blogspot.com
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Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
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The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
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On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose.