Number 421, October 13, 2000.
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In this week's issue:
>NEWS BRIEFS
- Police kill union worker in Brasilia
- President’s comments puts future of nuclear power in doubt
- Two proposals aim at reduction of deaths due to breast and uterine cancers
- Study shows increase of poverty during Cardoso’s second term
- World March of Women to end on October 17
NEWS BRIEFS
- Police kill union worker in Brasilia
The civil police of Brasilia, the nation’s capital, shot and killed unionist Gildo da Silva Rocha early last Friday morning. Rocha, a member of the street sweepers union, and two colleagues were on their way to protest the low wages the city government pays street sweepers when the police stopped the car. The police then ordered everyone out of the car and on the ground. Rocha tried to flee, but was followed by the police and then shot. The police claimed that Rocha shot first, and that they later found drugs in his car. However, Rocha’s wife, Gleicimar, said that were husband neither owned a weapon nor did he use drugs. Rocha had been a member of the union for ten years. This is the second incident within a year that the Brasilia police have shot and killed a union member.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
October 7, 2000
- President’s comments puts future of nuclear power in doubt
During a recent visit to Germany, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso voiced in an interview his reservations about Brazil’s nuclear power. He commented that he wants no more nuclear power expansion in the country, and has his doubts about the opening of the controversial Angra 3 power plant in Rio de Janeiro. The president has already received messages of concerns from the mayors of Rio and Angra dos Reis regarding the nuclear plants in the state of Rio. Cardoso also said that the current German government, for reasons of its alliances with the Green party, would have great difficulty in generating support for Brazilian nuclear energy projects.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
October 8, 2000
- Two proposals aim at reduction of deaths due to breast and uterine cancers
The Brazilian Congress is currently attempting to pass two laws which aim at reducing the number of women who die each year due to breast and uterine cancer. According to the National Institute on Cancer, this year breast cancer will kill 8,245 women, and uterine cancer, 3,625. The first proposal is that public and private businesses be obliged to give time off from work to women so that they may go to the doctor’s office for an exam. The second proposal is that labels which instruct women how to do self-exams for breast cancer be attached to all brassieres sold in the country. The two bills await approval in the Senate.
In other health-related issues, many of the nation’s 500 Non-governmental Organizations (NGO’s) which are involved in AIDS work are under threat of closing due to debts they have accumulated. The majority of these NGO’s no longer count on aid from the federal government, and are now having difficulty encountering other sources of funding. Funders from outside of the country are now withdrawing their support and putting their resources into more needy African countries.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
October 9, 2000
- Study shows increase of poverty during Cardoso’s second term
A recent study of the IPEA (Institute for Applied Economics Research) demonstrates that in President Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s second term in office, poverty in the country has increased. In 1998, 33.4% of the Brazilian population lived in state of poverty (poverty being defined as a state in which a person makes enough to eat the minimum necessary, but doesn’t earn enough to pay for other essentials such as clothes and decent housing). Last year, the number rose to 34.9% of the population, a total of 54.1 million people. Cardoso, following the policies given by the International Monetary Fund and other international lending institutions, has not been able to achieve what he said would be his primary goal in his second term: to begin making advances in the area of poverty and misery.
Source: Folha de Sao Paulo
October 9, 2000
- World March of Women to end on October 17
The World March of Women against poverty and sexual violence, which was begun on March 8 of this year on the International Day of Women, will come to a close at 4:00 p.m. on October 17 with a symbolic delivery of bread and roses to Se Plaza in the heart of Sao Paulo. The idea of this March came from Canada where more than 800 women walked 200 kilometers, symbolically asking for bread to relieve hunger and roses to end violence against women. On the 15th, a group of women will represent Brazil in a protest in Washington, D.C., in front of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, organizations which have kept the poorest countries of the world in perpetual debt and poverty. Then on the 17th, a group will deliver a petition to the Secretary General of the United Nations.
Source: Linha Aberta
October 10, 2000
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