Category:

Brazil

Fri 9 Nov 2007

Oil Discovery Rocks Brazil

Friday, Nov 9th, 2007 at 7:58 am
Categories: Oil; Brazil
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Brazil Flag“A huge offshore oil discovery could raise Brazil’s petroleum reserves by a whopping 40 percent and boost this country into the ranks of the world’s major exporters, officials said.”

The government-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, said the new “ultra-deep” Tupi field could hold as much as 8 billion barrels of recoverable light crude, sending Petrobras shares soaring and prompting predictions that Brazil could join the world’s “top 10″ oil producers.

Petrobras President Sergio Gabrielli said Thursday the oil from ultradeep areas, including the Tupi field, would give Brazil the world’s eighth-largest oil and gas reserves.

“Brazil’s reserves will lie somewhere between those of Nigeria and those of Venezuela,” Gabrielli said at a news conference.

Petrobras says the Tupi field, off Brazil’s southeastern Atlantic coast, has between 5 billion and 8 billion barrels — equivalent to 40 percent of all the oil ever discovered in Brazil.

- CNN: link.

Google News: Brazil Oil: link.

Wikipedia: Brazil: link.



Sat 17 Mar 2007

President Bush Visits Brazil

Saturday, Mar 17th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Categories: Protest; Brazil
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Photographs from President Bush’s recent trip to Brazil. Link.

President Bush Visits Brazil

Via Boing Boing.



Sat 10 Feb 2007

Violence in Rio de Janeiro

Saturday, Feb 10th, 2007 at 7:32 am
Categories: Corruption; Brazil
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Rio Body Count:riobodycount.com.br

Rio Body Count

In Rio de Janeiro, 76 people have been killed in the past 7 days. The city is experiencing a spike in violent crime, much of it related to gangs and drug trafficking — 6,000 people were murdered there last year.

Two Rio residents have launched a website to track the ongoing deaths … co-creators of Rio Body Count, 25 year old systems analyst Vinicius Costa, and 32 year old cartoonist André Dahmer, say they want to raise awareness of the “war zone” their city has become. Link, and more here: Link.

[Xeni Jardin: BoingBoing]

Brazil’s slums face a new problem: vigilante militias

RIO DE JANEIRO - Homicides claimed more than 6,000 victims in Rio de Janeiro last year, many of them in gang violence fought by organized crime gangs seeking to control the sale of marijuana and cocaine in the city’s favelas, or shantytowns.

As if inter-gang violence were not enough, there is now a new element in the mix. Militias formed by off-duty and former cops, prison guards, and firefighters are moving in to oust the drug gangs and install their own brand of extortion.

“The militias are unquestionably criminal groups,” says Marcelo Freixo, a former human rights activist who studied the phenomenon before being elected to Congress in October. “They push out the traffickers and they charge residents a security tax they are obliged to pay. They control through force but it is not to provide security, it is to make money. One group makes money by selling drugs, the other through terror.”

[Andrew Downie: Christian Science Monitor - February 08, 2007 edition]

Favela da Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro
Favela da Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro

See Also

Rio de Janeiro @ Wikipedia