Deep Brazil in new address

Deep Brazil moved to a new host. Please, go to www.deepbrazil.com to check its new features.

See you there!

Regina

I need your feedback

In the next few weeks, I intend to change several features of this blog. It will be moving from WordPress.com to a self hosted version. I hope it will gain flexibility – wider columns, space for more content and, maybe, some ads.

I am not a computer wizard, so this process might be painful. Please, be patient. I believe I will be back to regular business soon.

I am also looking for ways to make the design friendlier and more pleasant. I would really appreciate if you could give me your feedback on these topics:

• Do you like the look of the website? Too many/few photos?
• Is it easy to read? Would you prefer a different font/letter size?
• Can you figure where the links are (or maybe they are too discreet)?
• Would you like to have more/less blank spaces?

Thanks! I hope you will enjoy the new look of Deep Brazil.

Brazil in the news

Every Sunday you will find here the latest news about Brazil published by the international media.

The Economist – The Money Trail – “Corruption in Brazil: Many corruption scandals stem from the high cost of politics, and unrealistically tight campaign-finance rules”

Financial Times – Brazil to reverse easing as inflation fears rise (you need a free registration to read this)

The New York Times – Stronger Fidel Castro Meets With Brazil President

Washington Post – US presses Brazil on Iran sanctions

The Times – The gun-toting boys from Brazil who rule Rio’s ‘Corner of Fear’

Bloomberg – Gol Says Brazil Demand to Grow Up to 18% as Economy Expands

Banco do Brasil Plans Capital Boost, May Sell Shares

Brazil May Create Company to Boost Fertilizer Output

Brazil to Build an Additional Million Homes for Poor

Brazil’s January Unemployment Rate Rises to 7.2%

Brazil’s Real Heads for Biggest Advance in World This Month

Brazil February Inflation Rose to Fastest Since 2003

Reuters – ANALYSIS-Brazil economy well-placed for election year swings

JPMorgan may buy stake in Brazil’s Gavea: report

Brasil Foods export sales plummet in 2009

Brazil’s CSN sees 2010 steel sales up by a third

Brazil cenbank: ready to act to keep stability

Petrobras makes two oil finds in Campos Basin

Clinton seen pushing Iran on Latin America trip

Green Futures magazine – Rainforest revival: has Brazil turned the tide on deforestation?

Weekly Headlines

This week, Isto É reveals details of the Mensalão, one of the many on-going political scandals (a big group of congressman that were receiving a “monthly salary” to vote legislation favored by president Lula’s party, Partido dos Trabalhadores). Veja talks about the latest revolution in cosmetics and Época covers the production of a series of films about psychic Chico Xavier, that died eight years ago but who sill has a huge following.

Brazil, 20 years from now

From the Chrystal Ball series:

The Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology released today a study that outlines how the country and the planet will (probably) evolve in the next 20 years. Produced by the Centro de Gestão e Estudos Estratégicos, the document offers a time line based on several sources. It is meant to help government plan its future strategies.

Part of its content is easily predictable, considering recent tendencies. But there are some surprises.

Among its main forecasts:

Economy

• In four years, Brazil will go back to its tradition of successive commercial balance deficits
• Brazilian Gross Domestic Product will be 925 billion dollars in 2015 (which means, less than our present GDP, around 1.6 trillion dollars. It is not very clear how Goldman Sachs, the original source of this information, came up with this number)
• Brazil, the brand, will increase its value. The demand for products associated to the country’s cultural diversity will grow

More investment in infrastructure

Madeira river, in the Amazon, where Jirau dam is under construction

A study released today by BNDES, the main federal bank responsible for financing infrastructure projects, reveals that Brazil will increase its investments in power dams, highways, railways, ports, telecommunications and sanitation. According to daily paper Folha de S. Paulo, around R$ 274 billion (151 billion dollars or 111 euros) should be invested between 2010 and 2013, 37.3% more than the volume spent between 2005 and 2008. BNDES didn’t publicize the investments made last year, during the global financial crisis.
These resources will finance such projects as the rocket train that should connect Rio and São Paulo at a cost of R$ 34.6 billion (19.1 billion dollars or 14 billion euros) in the next ten  years. It should also finance the hydro power dams of Santo Antonio and Jirau (6.4 gigawatts combined capacity), that are already under construction in Rondônia state, in the Amazon region, close to Bolívia, and the controversial Belo Monte power dam, in the state of Pará, also in the Amazon. With an estimated capacity of 11.3 gigawatts, Belo Monte is meant to be the second biggest hydro power plant in the country, after Itaipu, in the Southern state of Paraná. This project has been dragging for over 30 years due to the many environmental and social issues it raises, and the fierce opposition of environmentalists, indigenous leaders and singer/composer Sting. Its costs are estimated in R$ 16 billion (8.8 billion dollars or 6.5 billion euros) – but here, again there is controversy. Many Brazilian entrepreneurs have already indicated that this forecast is too conservative at it will probably cost twice as much.

Brazilian aircrafts raid on Monte Castello

Today is the 65th anniversary of one of the main campaigns ever promoted by the Brazilian Army and Air Force – the takeover of the inexpugnable fortress of Monte Castello, close to Bologna, in Northern Italy. World War II was in its final months and 25,000 Brazilian soldiers were sent to Italy fight alongside with the Allies to stop the German advances. Under the leadership of general Mascarenhas de Moraes, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (Força Expedicionária Brasileira or FEB)  promoted a series of combined air raids and artillery and tank attacks.  Around 440 Brazilians died during the three-month operation.

Check this American propaganda that shows the Brazilian troops deployed in Italy in 1944.

Weekly Headlines

Minister Dilma Rousseff, Lula’s chosen candidate for the next presidential elections, speaks to both Época and Veja magazines this week. It is her first series of interviews since she was officially declared candidate by Lula’s party, Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT). She talks about her cancer and recent plastic surgeries, proposes an even bigger presence of the state in the economy and challenges those who accuse her of being Lula’s puppet  (namely her many opponent in the dispute, São Paulo governor José Serra) to proof they have more experience in governing than herself.

Isto É talks about the healing powers of meditation.

How to find a husband – the Brazilian way

Saint Anthony, the patron of single girls

The biological clock is ticking and Prince Charming is a no-show? You spent Valentine’s day with your Mom? No problem! Try one of these classic Brazilian spells (we call them simpatias) and then go shop for your wedding gown.

• Buy a small statue of Saint Anthony, the patron saint of single women. Remove Baby Jesus from his arms and tell the saint you won’t return the baby unless you get a boyfriend. You can reinforce your position, keeping Anthony upside down, so he will understand you are not kidding.
• If you consider yourself very ugly, choose a leaf of espada de São Jorge (a sword-like plant commonly used in Afro-Brazilian cults). Cut it into three pieces and throw them in boiling water for three hours. After the water cools down, wash your face with it, praying to Saint George and asking him to convert the “dragon” into a beauty.
• Buy a new sharp knife and stick it into a banana tree on June 12th at midnight  (Saint Anthony’s day is on the 13th). The liquid that will drip from the plant’s wound will form the first letter of the name of your future husband. The mother of a friend did this. She was very upset that K appeared – it is rarely used in Brazilian names. Years later she married a visiting German, Kurt.

Brazilian Baroque

Igreja de São Francisco, Mariana, in Minas Gerais state

When you think of Baroque, you probably remember the curvy, exaggerated, passionate form of art that  blossomed in Europe since the 17th century.  You may think of Caravaggio and Bernini in Italy, or the rococo in France, or Bach and Handel in Germany. Less known but equally important was the Brazilian Baroque, that dominated the art scene in the country between the end of the 17th and the 19th centuries.

Although both literature and music incorporated baroque elements, it is in architecture that Baroque really excelled.

Most baroque churches have sober exteriors that contrast with very ornate interior decoration, including chubby angels, birds, vines and a profusion of color.  Cities that were rich at the time, thanks to diamonds, gold or sugar trade, such as Salvador, in Bahia, or Ouro Preto, in Minas Gerais, could afford to use gold leaves and noble materials and to hire the best artists of the time. Among them, Antônio Francisco Lisboa, known as Aleijadinho (The Crippled, a nickname given in less politically correct times), and Manoel da Costa Athaide (or Mestre Athaide).