and Servico Brasileiro de Justica e Paz.

Number 80, May 21, 1993

LABOR QUESTIONS

- Unemployment in Sao Paulo hits record high.

With an economically active population of 7,991,000 workers,

Sao Paulo registered, in April, a staggering 1,287,000 unemployed

persons, the biggest unemployment rate since 1985. The figures

were compiled by a joint study carried out by the Interunion

Department for Socio-Economic Studies (Dieese) and the State's

Data Analysis System (Seade). The percentage of unemployment in

Sao Paulo, in March was 15.8% and went up to 16,1% in April. The

survey also shows a fall in the buying power of those who are

employed. On average, says the survey, the real buying power of

wages, in April, 93, was only 59.4% of what it was in 1985.

"Another worrying and grave trend", say the experts, "is the fact

that the survey shows that it is the so-called 'heads of

families', that have been hit most". The jobs created are

considered "weak and fragile" as they are mainly in the area of

home-help and youth jobs".

- Standard of life in Brazil worsens.

The specialists were prepared for the worst, but they were

perplexed by the incredible decline in the quality of life, in

Brazil, as evidenced in the recent report from the United Nations

Development Program. Brazil dropped from 59th place to that of

70th, in world terms of standards of living, loosing out to such

countries as, Columbia, Panama and Jamaica and heading from the

"Third" into the "Fourth World".

The UN group evaluated 173 countries and considered such

factors as, education, wealth distribution and life expectancy.

Sociologist, Maria Irene Szmrecsanyi, of the University of Sao

Paulo, said the UN numbers "gives an official tone to the poverty

that is all over the streets", while another sociologist, Ana

Amelia da Silva, of the Institute for Studies, Formation and

Advice for Social Politics, doesn't discount the possibility of

Brazil soon being considered a Forth World country.

- Cardinal Arns and bishops of Sao Paulo denounce State's lack

of concern in health area.

On May 12th, the Cardinal Archbishop of Sao Paulo, d. Evaristo

Arns and his auxiliary bishops sent a letter to the Governor of

Sao Paulo, Luiz Antonio Fleury Filho, to protest against the

government's lack of concern for the disastrous situation of the

State's health system and at the same time, to defend the salary

increases for public employees in this sector, who have been on

strike for the several weeks.

"Our people have been facing a catastrophic situation, for the

last 20 days, because of the strike. The sick are abandoned and

the public health employees disdained. The chaos falls mostly on

the shoulders of the poor and defenseless", says the letter.

"Three years ago", say the bishops, "we asked the people of

Sao Paulo, what the City's biggest problem was. The principal

answer was health, along side the problem of work and housing.

For this reason, we bishops have decided to be spokespeople for

the cry of our people. The lack of concern for public health, on

the part of the State, is evident. We believe the cause of this

degeneration of the health service and society in general, is to

be found in unjust structures. Without a solution for the problem

of inflation, no measures can resolve the question of salaries.

"We are convinced that everybody has the right to health care

and that this is the responsibility of the State". The bishops

point out that the religious-run hospitals, are badly paid by the

government, but still "provide a valuable service to the public

and pay better salaries than the State hospitals".

The letter also mentions that many grassroot movements,

encouraged by Christian communities, managed to get health

centers and hospitals built on the periphery of the city, but

unfortunately are not functioning the way they should.

The letter ends with an appeal to the State authorities, to

"renew negotiations, respond to the cry of the people and review,

with urgency the question of salaries".

- Secretary and treasurer resign in CUT crisis.

In the continuing crisis, which is dividing the leadership of

the county's largest trade union congress, the Unified

Confederation of Workers of Brazil (CUT), the Confederation's

secretary general, Gilmar Carneiro, and its treasurer, Delubio

Soares de Castro, resigned their positions.

The row divides the leadership within the "Articulation" group

of the unions and is a seen as a rehearsal for the dispute for

the presidency of the congress, between Gilmar himself and

Vicente Paulo da Silva (Vincentinho), the current president of

the Metal Workers Union of Sao Bernardo do Campo. The

resignations were announced at meeting of over 100 CUT

unionists, held to discuss the crisis.

In political terms, Vincentinho would be seen to represent the

more leftist thought within the unions, while Gilmar's position

is more in line with the social democrats.

CHURCH QUESTIONS

- Provincial appeals for support for Frei Betto.

The Provincial of the Dominican Order, in Sao Paulo, Frei Luis

Sapiano OP, has sent an appeal, looking for support for one of

the Order's members, Frei Betto, who is being prosecuted, in

court, at the request of the Command of the Military Police,

because of an article he published in the "Estado de Sao Paulo"

newspaper, on the 21st of May of 1992, entitled, "The Season for

Hunting Brazilians".

The article treats the question of the impunity enjoyed, in

Brazil, by those who wantonly kill on the roads, in police

activities, in lynchings and by denying a just salary to their

workers.

The paragraph that provoked the court action is as follows:

"One can also kill with impunity by joining the Military Police

of Sao Paulo, especially the 'Rota battalion'. There one learns

to hate blacks and despise the poor. You're given a uniform, a

gun, a potent squad car, and its just a matter of hunting your

prey.

Two kids talking on a street corner, in the East Zone, could

be a good choice. It's not important if they are bandits or not.

It's enough to say they are. If they are spoiling the city's

scenery, like coming out of a rundown house driving a brand new

car, don't hesitate. Have you ever seen a old, rusty volkswagon

coming out of one of those mansions in Morumbi? So, fire. Ask

questions later...".

The Provincial's letter explains that, "On the 23/05/92, the

Commandant of the Military Police of Sao Paulo, Eduardo

Assumpcao, published a letter in the same newspaper, in response

to the article. In the letter the Colonel assured readers that,

'In the Military Police, violence is punished. Last year, 304

policemen were dismissed and 90 expelled for acts incompatible

with the behavior expected of a military policeman'. In this way,

the Colonel admits that the comments made by Frei Betto have, to

say the least, some foundation.

Accused of the crime of defamation of the Military Corps and

questioned by the police on 17/09/92, frei Betto confirmed he had

written the article, but denied the interpretation that he

intended to defame all the soldiers and officials of the Military

Police Corp. Frei Betto said his intention was to denounce the

abuses and notorious cases of violence, already amply registered

by the news media.

On the 3rd of October, 1992, the news broke that the military

Police of Sao Paulo had suffocated a prisoner's rebellion, on the

previous day, in the Carandiru Detention Center, leaving behind

the tragedy of 111 dead prisoners. Not one policeman was killed

or gravely injured and according to the director of the prison,

no fire-arms were found on the prisoners.

After the massacre, we thought the process against Frei betto

would be dropped. Let it be said that not one military policeman

involved in the massacre was, so far, considered to blame or

punished. The governor of Sao Paulo, Luiz Antonio Fleury Filho,

limited himself to dismissing the Secretary for Security and

substituting the commander of the MP".

Frei Betto is due to give evidence in the Forum in Sao Paulo,

on May 21, while the trial is set for 2/07/93.

The Provincial, Frei Luis, ends his letter by stating that "We

are not worried, as such, about the process being brought against

frei Betto. It's the impunity of police abuses and the

possibility of this continued and open disrespect for human

rights, that is most worrying.

In this sense, we suggest that those who feel solidarity with

our confrere, should protest directly to:

the Governor of Sao Paulo, Luiz Antonio Fleury Filho,

Palacio dos Bandeirantes,

CEP 05698-900,

Sao Paulo, SP,

Fax: (011) 843.9271

and to the Minister for Justice, Mauricio Correa,

Ministerio da Justica,

Esplanada dos Ministerios,

CEP 70000 Brasilia, DF,

Fax (061) 321.5145".

- CNBB appeal for ethical values.

In an official note, drawn up at their Annual National

Conference, which ended on May 7th, the Catholic Bishops of

Brazil address the question of ethics and mass communication.

Specifically referring to television, the bishops express

great concern about the amount of violence, obscenities, and

immoral behavior portrayed on Brazilian TV networks. They also

complain about the lack of educational and cultural programs,

including the inadequate and unsatisfactory way in which the

great social questions of poverty and misery, that afflict the

vast majority, are treated in the media, "while the good life,

based on pleasure and power, is put forward as the ideal".

"News items", they say, "are, all too often, elaborated in

such a way as to propagate crime, information is manipulated to

serve the interests of individuals and groups and the religious

sentiments of the population are very often exploited".

The note from the Church leaders insists that they realize

that this subject does not only concern the catholic population,

but the whole nation and that there is no wish to return to

censorship, be it artistic, literary or political, but proposes

that the TV channels, "have absolute respect for the norms

expressed in the Constitution, that is, with regard to the

finality of the mass media to inform truthfully, objectively and

completely, and to provide educational and cultural programs and

healthy leisure".

As well as appealing to those involved in television, the

Bishops also request the National Congress to implement Article

224 of the Constitution, which demands that a Council for Social

Communication be instituted.

- Catholic foundation plan to launch national TV network in

September.

The Brazilian Institution for Christian Communication (INBRAC)

is planning the launching of a national TV network for September,

1993. The INBRAC foundation, founded in December of last year, is

made up of bishops , priests and lay people, including the

President of the National conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB),

d. Luciano Mendes de Almeida.

The TV Network will be transmitted from the city of Sao Jose

do Rio Preto, in the interior of the State of Sao Paulo, where

the studios and technical installations are being built. A Sao

Paulo businessman, Joao Monteiro de Barros Filho, has put the

concession he received from the Federal government in 1990, to

set up a TV channel, at the disposal of the Catholic church. A TV

satellite will be rented to transmit programs on a national

basis.

Initially, TV channel will transmit programs produced by the

Catholic organizations that make videos, such as those of the

Salesians, in Belo Horizonte and Irmas Paulinas, in Sao Paulo.

The Catholic church already has a national radio network

service, transmitted from Radio Aparecida, via satellite,

IgrejaSat and located in the Valley of Paraiba, Sao Paulo. Radio

Aparecida is the biggest Catholic radio station in Latin America

and one of the most important in the world.

According to Monteiro de Barros, the foundation already has

the support of over 100 local TV stations, in the State of Sao

Paulo alone. The foundation will also try to get time on the

other national networks, especially the so-called, educational

channels.

The initial out-lay for the INBRAC project is something the

region of US$ 40 million, which it is hoped will be covered by

donations from national and international, Catholic

organizations.

Commenting on this new initiative from the church, d. Ivo

Lorscheiter, bishop of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, told AGEN

that, "the network will not be the CNBB's TV channel but rather a

project comprising of Catholics, the clergy, religious and lay

people". He said that the Church was "becoming more and more

aware of its missionary responsibility in view of the great

challenge presented by the world of social communication".

D. Lorscheiter also added that at the San Domingos meeting of

the Latin American bishops, "social communication was seen as one

of the priorities for the Church in Latin America".

LAND ISSUES

- Man who planned Fonteles murder condemned.

James Vita Lopes, 45, the lawyer who planned the murder of ex-

State deputy, Paulo Fonteles de Lima, in 1987, was condemned to

21 years imprisonment, on the 15th of May.

Lopes, an ex-agent of the repressive forces during the

military dictatorship, went on trial in the municipality of

Ananindeusa, in the metropolitan region of Belem, in Para, for

the second time, as he had appealed the first sentence, in which

he also got 21 years.

Fonteles, a lawyer, was well known for his work in defending

those engaged in the struggle for agrarian reform and also

belonged to the Communist Party of Brazil (PC do B). The people

who ordered the crime haven't been punished and the gunmen who

carried out the murder are missing (it's presumed they were

executed to make sure they would not reveal anything, in a

practice known here in Brazil as "queima do arquivo" - literally

"burning the files").

After he left the service of the repressive forces, Lopes

worked as contract man to hire gunmen for the Democratic Rural

Union (UDR), the principal organization of the wealthy Brazilian

landowners.

- CUT denounce aggression against rural workers.

Fourteen rural workers were injured with bullets and batons,

by the Military Police of Para, on the 14th of May, when they

tried to enter the central headquarters of the Amazonia Bank

(BASA).

The accusation was made by the National Department for Rural

Workers of the Unified Confederation of Workers of Brazil (CUT).

The workers were trying to make an agreement on the so-called

"Constitutional Grants for the North". Eight of the rural workers

were hospitalized, one of them in a serious condition.

CUT suggest that messages of protest against this violence be

sent to:

the Minister for Justice, Mauricio Correa,

Fax: (061). 224.2448).

- Slave labor denounced in Amazon area.

The National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB), through

its Center for the Defense of Human Rights (CDDH) and the

Pastoral Commission for Land (CPT) has just denounced the

practice of slave labor in the Amazon.

Representatives of these entities went to the municipality of

Presidente Figueiredo, in the interior of the Amazon, after the

Federal Police of Paraiba revealed the case. The rural workers

were contracted by the Pororoca Agroindustrial Company and by

Doboa. They told the Human Rights groups that they had been flown

into Manaus on a Vasp flight, from Joao Pessoa (in Paraiba), two

weeks previously and had been taken to President Figueiredo by

bus. They had given their documents to a man called "Chicao" and

hadn't seen them since. They had been promised a wage of Cr$ 12

million per month (about US$ 300), after expenses were taken out.

The CDDH and the CPT denounced that the workers are required

to cut five tons of sugar cane per day. One of the workers said

that it was impossible to reach this quota. When they don't, the

company discounts 10% of the first day's salary, 15% on the

second day, 20% on the third, and so on. When the discount

reaches 30%, the worker is thrown off the plantation, with

nothing, not even his fare back home. As well as this, Cr$ 1

million is taken from the workers wage, for receiving one meal a

day.

The use of the sleeping quarters and even the tools, used to

cut the cane, are also discounted. The sugar cane workers get Cr$

35 thousand (less than US$ 1) for every 5 tons of cane they cut.

There is no medical assistance, whatsoever, and there is also

reason to believe that several workers are gone missing. They are

said to have tried to walk back to Manaus, and disappeared in the

forest.

POLITICAL QUESTIONS

- Manifesto reveals interventionist attude of military.

The Brazilian military's dissatisfaction with the Federal

government, politicians and the general state of the country's

socio-economic crisis is the background for a manifesto entitled,

"The Armed Forces - the Last Bulwark", which Brigadier Lieutenant

Ivan Moacyr da Frota, General Air Commander, recently published

in the Naval Air Force magazine, "Revista da Aeronautica" and

reproduced in the Army's "Revista do Clube Militar" and the "O

Estado de Sao Paulo" newspaper.

Throughout the article, a new and explicit, interventionist

attitude is revealed on the part of the military in the political

area, after the relatively quiet and reserved posture they

adopted, during the recent democratic transition, from almost 30

years of military rule.

The article, published after long consultations between

military chiefs, adopts a messianic tone when talking about the

role of the Armed forces as "the last bulwark" for Brazil's

survival as a free and independent Nation. Some political

analysts see the manifesto as a sign of a possible

"fujimorization" of the Brazilian political system, leading to an

eventual civil coup, with military approval, as happened in Peru,

under the leadership of the dictator-president, Alberto Fujimori.

Frota's manifesto, however states that "the era of the

barracks and military coups is over", and adds that "With our

legal formation, this type of force is not acceptable".

Nonetheless, just after that he states that "the time has come

for the great silent majority of this nation to make themselves

heard, at this dramatic moment, and with determination and

firmness, to demand that the Brazilian Armed Forces take their

proper place of importance and consideration".

In the manifesto, the Commander, who is only second in

authority to the Minister himself, sustains a series of

arguments:

1. The Armed Forces are being attacked, by internal and

foreign enemies, who are systematically trying to destabilize

them;

2. This strategy interests the rich countries (the Big 7), who

divide the planet into "First and Secondary Nations", "where the

latter are condemned to permanent under-development, so that they

don't develop as a competitive threat in the international

economic scenario". According to Frota, this "philosophy" of a

North/South conflict has taken the place of the "extinct

East/West" one;

3. This campaign has the support of sections of the

"misguided" or "corrupted" media, both within and outside the

country and also of some politicians;

4. Another expression of this campaign is the reduction of the

military budget, resulting in bad salaries, cuts in military

training and obsolete weapons. The Brazilian weapon industry is

also in ruins because of international pressure, in favor of arms

production in the rich countries;

5. This strategy could soon affect the Amazon area, under the

pretext of drug control, ecology and protection for the rights of

indigenous people;

6. The "silent majority" in Brazil are dissatisfied with all

of this and "the terrible economic inequalities", allied to

corruption;

7. The internal separatists movements constitute "another most

serious threat to be faced with determination and firmness" and

are also controlled from "outside'.

In the media, officials from the armed forces have shown their

approval of the manifesto. Yesterday, in parliament, one of the

Federal Deputies (of the PDC party), Jair Bolsonaro, ex-army

officer and unofficial spokesperson for the lower army officials,

defended the idea of closing down the National Congress, for six

months, until general elections are held and also the revoking of

the National Constitution promulgated in October, 1988.

- Meeting of leaders of the Iberian-American countries.

Preparations are well under way for the Conference of the

Leaders of the Iberian-American countries, to be held in

Salvador, Bahia, in June. The heads of State of the Latin

American and Caribbean countries, as well as the presidents of

Spain and Portugal are expected to attend.

A parallel meeting, promoted by the Continental Resistance

Movement for the Black, Indigenous and Rural Communities, is

being organized, to coincide with the event. The NGO organizers

of this parallel meeting hope to call attention to certain themes

of vital interest to the Third World, such as the foreign debt

and the disastrous effects of neo-liberal economic policies being

imposed on these countries.

The agenda for the official meeting will deal with cooperation

between the various countries involved, the new world geo-

political order and the problem of narcotics. Another question,

which the meeting will undoubtably have to face, is that of the

new restrictions Spain and Portugal are making for Latin American

and Caribbean visitors. Even with the strong protests made by

Brazil and other Latin American countries and apart from the fact

that tourism in Spain and Portugal is suffering, the authorities

there, seem to remain insensible to the problem.

HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES

- Parliament approves project concerning police crimes.

A report from Marcelo Godoy of the "Folha da Tarde" newspaper,

says that the Parliament in Brasilia has just approved a bill

that will give the civil courts jurisdiction to judge any wilful

homicides committed, while on duty, by military police. Up to

now, these crimes were exclusively dealt with by Military

Justice. The bill will now go to the Senate and if approved, will

only need the presidential sanction to become law.

Crimes committed by military policemen, off duty, but using

weapons belonging to the military, will also go to civil courts.

However, the crimes of manslaughter, robbery, torture and

bribery, will continue to be reserved to the Military courts.

Helio Bicudo, a federal deputy with the Worker's Party, who

has been working for a long time for a change in the laws

governing crimes committed by the military police, remained

dissatisfied with the bill. "Our intention", he said, "is to have

all crimes committed by the military against civilians, tried by

civil courts".

According to Bicudo, the military Courts have already

demonstrated that they are not impartial. Marcio Thomaz Bastos, a

lawyer, said that he considers the project to be good news. "At

this time, in which there's a huge increase in police violence,

it is fundamental that these crimes are not tried by a tribunal,

like the Military Court, that has shown itself to be partial".

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