Rio de Janeiro: Colonel Paúl on Veja and the “Counter-Coup”

The delusional is no longer marginal. –Bill Moyers

O Brasil sempre foi a casa da mãe Joana de elites sub-reptícias que fazem o que querem. (Brazil has always been a backwater whose backstabbing elites do whatever they please) — Paulo Francis.

It is they who are the “missionaries”; they who are the sectarian ones; they who are the heretics. –Reinaldo Azevedo

The film invaded the streets, the TV networks, public debates, the newspapers, the magazines, and, worst of all, the mind of every Brazilian, fascinated with the “hero” who tortures and kills criminals and is a member of the finest urban combat unit in the world, the Special Operations Battalion (BOPE), a troop of “SOCIAL HEROES,” the pride of all of us military policemen and the State Military Police of Rio de Janeiro. … To our mind, the soldier is a hero, especially in the impressionable minds of young people, so that destroying this reality is an antisocial crime, pardon my emphatic way of putting it. –Col. Paulo Paulo, PMERJ

1. The world is everything that is the case.
2. What is the case, the fact, is the existence of atomic facts.
3. The logical picture of the facts is the thought.
4. The thought is the significant proposition.
   – Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1.1-4

Coronel Paulo Ricardo Paúl: A MÍDIA DO CONTRAGOLPE | REINALDO AZEVEDO | REVISTA VEJA: On his Web blog, Col. Paul, head of internal affairs for the state military police of Rio de Janeiro, reproduces a blog post by Reinaldo Azevedo of Veja magazine, in a post titled “The Media of the Counter-Coup: Azevedo of Veja.”

On Col. Paul’s blogging, see also

• Rio: “The Trooper Elite Is an Antisocial Crime!”

The coup, presumably, is a reference to the (baseless) rumor according to which the current president of Brazil — like Chávez (and Uribe) — will seek to amend the constitution to give himself a third term.

See

• Signal-Noise Case Study of the Week: The Eternal Dominion of President Squid!

O artigo que transcrevo nessa postagem foi extraído do blog do jornalista Reinaldo Azevedo, da Revista Veja ([URL]), postado no dia 23 de novembro de 2007. E antes que os críticos ergam as suas vozes, altas por natureza, devo antecipar-me e esclarecer alguns aspectos.

The article I transcribe in this post was extracted from the blog of journalist Reinalo Azevedo of Veja magazine [URL], posted on November 23, 2007. And before the critics can raise their voices, loud by nature, I should anticipate them and clarify certain things.

On Azevedo, see also

• “Violence is a Natural Part of the Political Process”: Diogo Mainardi and the Hog Heaven of the Hard Men
• The Martyrdom of Mainardi: The Mountain and the Molehill

O principal objetivo desse blog é colaborar para a concretização dos objetivos institucionais de atuais Coronéis da Polícia Militar do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, divulgados publicamente ([URL]), todos no sentido de resgatar a cidadania do Policial Militar através do recebimento de salários dignos e da implementação de condições adequadas de trabalho.

The principle objective of this blog is to collaborate in realizing the institutional objectives of the current colonels of the military police of the state of Rio de Janeiro, which have been publicly disclosed [URL], all in the cause of saving the citizenship of the military policeman through the receipt of worthy salaries and the implementation of decent working conditions.

That link is dead.

The blog actually lives at blogspot.com, not blogspot.com.br.

Portanto, tudo que posto nesse espaço, tem esse objetivo principal.

Thus, everything I post here has this as its principal objective.

Os artigos que escrevo, os artigos que recebo, bem como, os que eu extraio da mídia em geral, devem ter relação com os objetivos da nossa mobilização.

The articles I write, the articles I receive, as well those I extract from the media in general, should bear some relation to the objectives of our movement.

Entretanto, a relação nem sempre precisa ser direta, claramente direcionada, explícita.

However, the relation need not always be direct, clearly targeted, explicit.

“Rules were made to be broken,” said the corregedor.

Na verdade, muitos desses artigos têm a intenção de produzir reflexões, despertar o interesse pela discussão dos temas institucionais, interna e externa corporis.

In truth, many of these articles are intended to provoke reflection, awaken interest in the debate over institutional issues, both inside and outside the force.

E assim sendo, formar uma consciência crítica sobre os fatos, pois isso é fundamental.

That being the case, to form a critical awareness of the facts, for this is fundamental.

E essa consciência só surge com o conhecimento.

This awareness can only emerge through knowledge.

“The Jornal do Brazil and the Militias of Rio”

“What the military thinks about …. populism in Latin American; the Chávez arms build-up; combating crime in the streets.”

“The execution of Felix Tostes has once and for while destroyed the theory that militias bring peace to communities,” said Rio de Janeiro state public security secretary Beltrame.

A study conducted by the O Globo newspaper after the elections in 35 communities dominated by paramilitary groups showed that in 80% of them at least one policeman, fireman or retired soldier received a large number of votes.

Jornal do Brasil e as milícias no Rio de Janeiro: “The Jornal do Brazil and the Militias of Rio.” The letter to the editor is by communications student Carlos Leal.

Enquanto estudante de comunicação e leitor do Jornal do Brasil há mais de 10 anos, fiquei indignado com as reportagens feitas na edição de domingo (28/1/2007 [sic])* sobre a atuação de milícias paramilitares em bairros pobres e favelas do Rio de Janeiro. Seria de se esperar que um jornal com a tradição do JB adotasse uma abordagem que contextualizasse a gravidade e o absurdo da situação em que se encontra a segurança pública do Rio de Janeiro.

As a student of communications and a reader of the JB for more than 10 years, I was indignant at the reporting published in the Sunday edition … about the activiteis of paramilitary militias in poor neighborhoods and shantytowns of Rio de Janeiro. One would hope that a paper with the tradition that the JB has would adopt a treatment that would contexualize the seriousness and the absurdity of the situation in which public security in Rio finds itself.

Em um momento em que a população pobre de nosso Estado vive submetida à tirania dos traficantes de droga por um lado e do autoritarismo policial por outro, em que a criminalidade assola toda a população, em que um setor expressivo dos órgãos de segurança do Estado (principalmente as polícias civil e militar) avança em seu grau de degeneração e de corrupção tornando-se praticamente co-agente da criminalidade, observamos o surgimento das milícias enquanto expoente máximo de todo esse processo.

At a time when the poor population of our state lives in submission to the tyranny of the drug traffic on one side and police authoritarianism on the other, in which the entire population is affected by crime, and in which a substantial portion of the state agencies (especially the military and state judicial police) grow increasingly degenerate and corrupt to the point where they are practically partners in crime themselves, we are seeing the emergence of the militias as the culmination of the entire process.

Um Estado que mantém setores expressivos da população submetidos aos mais degradantes níveis de miséria, sem direito aos serviços mais básicos como saúde, educação e saneamento básico, observa seus órgãos de segurança se transmutarem em forças ilegais que passam a ingerir de forma absolutamente autoritária e claramente ilegal sobre a população, extorquindo-a e repetindo o modelo de terror já utilizado por traficantes.

A State that maintains large sectors of the population subject to the most degrading levels of poverty, with no right to such basic services as health, education and basic sanitation, watches its security forces degenerate into illegal armed groups that begin to interfere in an absolutely authoritarian and clearly illegal manner in people’s lives, extorting them and repeating the model of terror already used by the traffic.

Ao invés de declarações públicas das autoridades explicitando a gravidade da situação e se comprometendo em resolvê-la, o que observamos é um silêncio oficial que mal esconde a aprovação de setores significativos das autoridades públicas, civis e militares, da transformação das forças de segurança pública em quadrilhas organizadas para extorquir a população. E, de fato, quando não estão em silêncio, as declarações das entidades ligadas aos órgãos de segurança apontam para uma aprovação dessa transformação de setores significativos do exército e da policia em quadrilhas.

Rather than public statements by authorities, explaining the seriousness of the situation and promising to resolve it, what we see is official silence that scarcely conceals the approval of a significant number of public officials, both civilian and military, at the transformation of the police into organized gangs who extort the population. In fact, when they, too, are not remaining silent, the statements by organizations linked to security agencies point to approval of this transformation of significant portions of the army and police into gangs.

See also the O Globo (Rio) version of what does seem to be a concerted campaign:

• Rio: “Nadinho Surrenders; Globo Online Readers Overwhelmingly Favor Militias”

São Paulo Annals of Crime: “Crackdown on Hookerdom”

Subi a Rua Augusta a 120 por hora
Botei a turma toda do passeio pra fora
Fiz curva em duas rodas sem usar a buzina
Parei a quatro dedos da vitrine
Hi, hi, Johnny
Hi, hi, Alfredo
Quem é da nossa gang não tem medo
–Os Mutantes, “Rua Augusta”

Last Wednesday (March 27), commenting on statements by incoming federal Tourism minister, Marta Suplicy, that she would combat sexual tourism, Timóteo called the idea “flippant” and said that the idea of arresting foreign tourists who take 16-year-old girls to motels was “a joke.” In the middle of his speech, when questioned by city legislator Claudete Alves (PT), he asked his female colleague her age when she had her first sexual relations. –G1/Globo, March 29, 2007, on remarks by singer-alderman Agnaldo “The Romantic Voice of Brazil” Timóteo

Polícia fecha 8 casas noturnas suspeitas de prostituição em SP: “Police close 8 night clubs suspected of prostitution in São Paulo.”

The Estado de S. Paulo reports.

In October, the Estado had reported as follows:

• São Paulo: “Human Trafficking Increases Six-Fold”

Then essentially contradicted that claim by noting:

The department created a special unit to follow up on such crimes after they were written into the Penal Code in 2005. Before, only international trafficking in persons was recognized under national law, and the federal police was in charge of investigating it. Greater attention to the problem by São Paulo police is probably the principal explanation for the increase in [reported] victims. No children or adolescents figure in the DHPP’s statistics.

In other words, no one really knows what the actual incidence of the problem is, and the official statistics are of dubious validity.

São Paulo seems to be living through its own version of New York City’s Times Square makeover (although as I recall, Scores is still in business there, last I checked. A prominent financial technology executive lost his job after running a big tab there on the company credit card, as I recall.)

SÃO PAULO – Oito casas noturnas suspeitas de ser pontos de prostituição foram fechadas entre a noite de quinta-feira e a madrugada desta sexta-feira, 30, nas regiões central, leste e sul de São Paulo. A Operação Carrossel, do Grupo de Operações Especiais (GOE), teve como principal objetivo combater a prostituição infantil. Uma menina de 17 anos foi encontrada em uma das boates, na Rua Augusta, no centro.

Eight nightclubs suspected of being venues for prostitution were closed overnight in the dowtown, eastern, western and southern regions of São Paulo. Operation Carrossel, carried out by the Special Operations Group (GOE) [of the state judicial police], had as its principal objective to combat child prostitution. A 17-year-old girl was found in one of the nightclubs on the Rua Augusta, downtown.

Only one?

Was she hooking?

Not to be confused with COE, an elite unit of the the São Paulo military police.

“Out Damn Spot”: The Tragedy of Blodget, Act II, Scene II

Citizen journalists are the people of the year. Pofessional public-interest and “service” journalists are objectionable vermin to be exterminated. Go figure.

Stealth marketing harms, I argue, by degrading public discourse and undermining the public’s trust in mediated communication. Doubt that an editor has an authentic voice leads to an overgeneralization of distrust as audiences come to believe that mediated speech is inauthentic or untrue even when it is not. The law of bribery as well as public discourse theory helps to show how such distrust corrupts the kind of communicative public sphere that a democracy needs. –Stealth Marketing and Editorial Integrity, Ellen P. Goodman. Texas Law Review. Austin: Nov 2006. Vol. 85, Iss. 1; pg. 83, 70 pgs

There is a general decline in trust in all spokespeople and sources of information. That means a company must tell its story consistently and in multiple venues in order to achieve trust. We live in a world—as Linda Stone describes–of continuous partial attention. –Richard Edelman, The Changing Face of Trust; see Trust 2.0: Triumph of the Shill?

“There are no second acts in American lives.” –F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)

Taint by Association: New York Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt takes a hard line on the Grey Lady’s giving a byline to Henry Blodget, noting that Hoyt’s predecessor’s warning about full “consider the source” disclosure on the stock blogger and barred-for-life securities research analyst went unheeded.

The column is from November 11. My delay in noting it is explained by the fact that the Times arrives here in Brazil by packet steamer and has to clear customs before reaching me.

Just kidding. Writes Mr. Hoyt:

I think there are two questions here. One is whether The Times properly identifies Blodget when he writes for the paper. I don’t think so. His name was big in financial news at one time, but many readers do not know him.

The Public Editor apparently makes suggestions but does not have enforcement power:

Byron Calame, who was then the public editor, said he thought The Times had erred by identifying Blodget only as “a former Wall Street analyst” who “writes frequently for Slate.” It wasn’t enough, Calame said, for Blodget to make a parenthetical aside in the article to “an unfortunate theory of mine — one that, along with some e-mails that caught the notice of the Securities and Exchange Commission, helped my Wall Street career go the way of eToys.” Calame’s admonition went unheeded, because the next time Blodget appeared on the Op-Ed page, last December, defending huge bonuses at Goldman Sachs, he was still “a former stock analyst” and now “the author of the forthcoming ‘Wall Street Self-Defense Manual.’” Neither he nor The Times alluded to the rest of his history.

The classic case of this: a “fake news” incident in which a Fox News affiliate ran an Intel-produced advertorial, without attribution, as its own work. It simply took the Intel promotional script and redubbed it using the voice of one of its journalists.

I tend to think of this as “reputation laundering” — or “Judy Millerism,” in homage to Dick Cheney’s successful planting of a moral panic story about aluminum tubes on the front page of the Times — but the more common term these days, I think, is “stealth marketing.” See

• “Stealth Marketing and Editorial Integrity”

In it, Intel-employed anthropologist Genevieve Bell is identified only as “Genevieve Bell, anthropologist.” This tends to suggest — which is the truth, but not the whole truth — that Bell is an academic expert on the subject. But it also suggests that she is a disinterested expert.

See also

• The Legend of the Lurking Lobbyist: The ‘Identity of Identity and Non-Identity’ Gang Strikes Again
• Growth Industry: “International Reputation Management”
• How to Consider the Source on Wikipedia
• “Institutional Conflicts”: Why Do They Suck?

“Why would The Times give a former analyst who lied to investors a platform to write about financial markets?”

São Paulo: Verdict in Freelance News Photographer Slaying

G1/Globo video on Barbon [Barbom], the journalist murdered in Porto Ferreira in the interior of São Paulo. Not viewable on my platform. If journalists without college degrees or a license to practice journalism are not real journalists, then the fact that the diploma-less Barbon was assassinated because of reporting he published does not count as the murder of a journalist. Or so the Brazilian national union for journalists continues to reason. Just makes you want to break out into a rousing chorus of “Solidarity Forever,” don’t it? See also Brazil: Who Is a Journalist? New Cases in Point.

Acusado de matar fotógrafo é condenado a 25 anos de prisão (G1): A man accused of murdering a freelance photographer for Época (Editora Globo) magazine four years ago is found guilty of the crime.

At the same rate, we will have a result in the case of the assassination of the Porto Ferreira (SP) journalist Barbon in 2011 or 2012. See

• São Paulo: “Cops Arrested in Journo Assassination”

Um júri popular condenou a 25 anos de prisão em regime fechado o homem acusado de matar o fotógrafo Luiz Antônio da Costa, de 36 anos, em julho de 2003, quando a vítima trabalhava para a revista Época. Ele foi assassinado com um tiro à queima-roupa. A audiência aconteceu na quinta-feira (29) no Fórum de São Bernardo do Campo, no ABC paulista, cidade onde o crime ocorreu.

A popular jury sentenced to 25 years the man who killed photographer Luiz Antônio da Costa, 36, in July 2003, when the victim was working for Época magazine. He was killed with a gunshot at point-blank range. The sentencing hearing took place on November 29 at the São Bernardo do Campo courthouse in the ABC region, the city where the crime took place.

Foram oito horas de julgamento. Promotoria e defesa usaram todo o tempo disponível para tentar convencer os jurados. O advogado do réu alegou inocência, apesar de ele ter confessado o crime à polícia e à Justiça. Ao final, Renato Lyra foi condenado pelos crimes de homicídio qualificado e pelo roubo a um posto de combustíveis.

The proceedings lasted 8 hours. Prosecution and defense used the time to try to persuade the juries. The defendant’s attorney pled not guilty, though he confessed the crime to the police and to the court. In the end, Renato Lyra was fond guilty of homicide and the gas-station robbery.

Or Lira, as a lot of the contemporary coverage had it.

The Observatório da Imprensa registered official reactions from Globo, FENAJ, ANJ, RSF, and others at the time.

Boi o Boi: Billion-Dollar Beancounter Bust in the Cidade Maravilha

White-collar perp walks: “The people like it that way.” The Caros Amigos cover story seems more and more like an astute piece of political analysis.

The Polícia Federal clips this item: state tax inspectors and accountants arrested in Rio for stealing a billion bucks in a single year, reports the Folha de S. Paulo today.

The President said today that critics of prolonging a check tax that provides key federal revenue — this is the big political story for weeks now — dislike it “because it is the one tax they cannot cheat on.”

At the heart of the case: A certain Chico Olho-de-Boi. The state assembly commission of inquiry that looked into these matters first accused him of being mixed up in the marching powder business as well.

A prosecutor told O Globo he sold a home to the Colombian drug lord Ramirez Abadia, for example. He lives in a R$4 million home in the Barra da Tijuca, G1 reports.

When cases like this hit, it is customary to linger pornographically on the fabulous homes, cars, and boats of the crooks.

The Cisco case, recall — though played here as a story about an evil foreign multinational — actually had more to do with Brazilian employees paying off Brazilian officials to avoid taxes.

Uma quadrilha de sonegação e corrupção fiscal formada por fiscais da Secretaria da Fazenda, empresários e contadores desviou cerca de R$ 1 bilhão do Estado do Rio em um ano, de acordo com o Ministério Público. Até a conclusão desta edição, 25 pessoas haviam sido presas -funcionários públicos, empresários e contadores.

An organization dedicated to tax evasion and corruption, comprising federal treasury inspectors, business owners and accountants, deprived the State of Rio de Janeiro of nearly R$1 billion in a single year, according to prosecutors. By the close of this edition, 25 persons had been arrested — public employees, business owners, and accountants.

Com salários entre R$10 mil e R$ 12 mil, os fiscais denunciados pelo MP moravam em bairros nobres do Rio, como Gávea, Ipanema, Urca (zona sul) e Itanhangá (zona oeste). “São fiscais antigos, em fim de carreira”, disse o procurador-geral de Justiça do Rio, Marfan Vieira. A operação Propina S.A., deflagrada ontem pelo Ministério Público do Rio, teve como base 2.053 horas de escutas de 107.258 ligações de 70 telefones grampeados. A Justiça decretou 31 mandados de prisão provisória -11 de fiscais da Receita Estadual- e 106 de busca e apreensão. Outros dez fiscais foram afastados do cargo.

Earning between R$10,000 and R$12,000 a month, the treasury inspectors indicted by the MP lived in upscale neighborhoods like Gávea, Ipanema, Urca and Itanhangá. “These are senior inspectors, at the end of their career,” said Rio’s state attorney, Marfan Vieira. Operation Bribe, Incorporate, carried out today by the state public ministry, was based on 2,053 hours of wiretap recordings of 107,258 phone calls on 70 telephones. The court issued 31 arrest warrants — 11 for state revenue inspectors — and 106 search warrants. Another 10 tax inspectors were suspended from their posts.

NMM(-TV)SNB(B)CNN(P)BS: Cops, Candidates, Camera, Action

I have no faith in our hypocritical, false, hysterical, uneducated and lazy intelligentsia when they suffer and complain: their oppression comes from within. I believe in individual people. I see salvation in discrete individuals, intellectuals and peasants, strewn hither and yon throughout Russia. They have the strength, although there are few of them. –Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Letter, February 22, 1899, to I.I. Orlov.

What is on the Brazilian boob tube?

Political TV spots; a parody of Larry Rohter’s favorite underaged blogging hooker; Brasil Urgente on Operation Saturation — later rebranded the Virada Social — and a Roda Viva interview with the public safety director of Bogotá — on which see also

• Rio: Cabral Backs Off On Bogotá

Colombian and Brazilian officials have been comparing notes on common problems. Parapolitics is never mentioned in the Brazilian context, but I would venture to say that Rio suffers from it as well to a degree.

On Operation Saturation, see also:

• São Paulo: Operation Saturation, Reloaded
• Public Security In Brazil: Reality X Government by Press Release
• Serra in Galicia, Choque in the Zona Norte

Back in September, Causa Operaria (Trotskyite) questioned the authenticity of the operation shown in the segment from Brasil Urgente, claiming that what you see here is a reenactment for the sake of the cameras. CO cites the Folha de S. Paulo as its source. Let me check that. They wrote:

“Moments after invading, the military police discovered that the action was recorded only by a team from TV Globo and three photographers — among them, one from the Secretary of Public Security. With time, more journalists from other news organization arrived and began to pressure the police to repeat the operation. The governor’s press office intervened and argued for a “replay” of the operation, which was, in fact, done over “so that everyone could get good photos of the operation. I worked to get the journalists better pictures,” said Teresa Cristina Miranda (Folha de S. Paulo, September 12, 2007). The military police also confirmed that the second incursion was for the sole purpose of posing for journalists.”

It is worth noting that Governor Serra replaced his communications director not long after.

Rio: Feds Do More Work on Big Turk

“Local designer creates Rio de Janeiro version of the board-game Risk, with favelas, BOPE and militias.” O Globo today. Click to zoom. This map makes me realize I made an error the other day, claiming that the Zone Oeste overlaps with the area studied by the Small Arms Survey. See Rio: Sector Analysis on the Black Market in Guns and Ammo. Should I go back and correct or should I follow local practices and either (1) claim that my reporting was correct and the Small Arms Survey is “unethical” and “ideologically slanted,” or (2) blame the error on the government?

PF prende 18 em operação contra máfia de caça-níqueis: The Estado de S. Paulo (Brazil) reports that the federal police “arrest 18 in an operation against nickel-hunter (electronic gambling) machines.”

Globo/G1, meanwhile, reports that the federal police “arrest 3″ in the same case, and are serving 17 arrest warrants today, not 18.

Go figure.

SÃO PAULO – A Polícia Federal cumpre 18 mandados de prisão solicitados pelo Ministério Público Federal do Rio contra os responsáveis pela exploração de 5.255 máquinas caça-níqueis contrabandeadas, avaliadas em cerca de US$ 27 milhões, e apreendidas na Operação Ouro de Tolo, em dezembro do ano passado, pela Receita Federal e pela Polícia Federal. Todos são acusados na Operação Hurricane.

The feds are serving 18 arrest warrants requested by the federal prosecutor’s office in Rio against parties responsible for operating 5,255 contraband “nickel-hunter” machines, appraised as some US27 million, and apprehended in Operation Fool’s Gold in December of last year by the feds and the federal authority. All have also been charged in Operation Hurricane.

Operation Hurricane: Buying cops and judges. Senior judges. Background on Fool’s Gold, from O Globo:

Na operação Ouro de Tolo, desencadeada a partir de uma investigação do Ministério Público federal, cerca de R$ 6 mil máquinas caça-níquel avaliadas em U$ 75 milhões foram apreendidas. Entre os investigados pela operação Ouro de Tolo está o ex-chefe de Polícia Civil, Álvaro Lins – que só não foi preso porque a Justiça negou o pedido de prisão preventiva dele. Pelo menos 77 policiais civis e militares foram presos por suspeita de envolvimento com o tráfico de drogas e a máfia de caça-níqueis.

In Fool’s Gold, nearly R$6,000 [sic] “nickel-hunter” machines, appraised at U$75 [sic] million, were seized. Among those investigated in the case were former state judicial police chief Álvaro Lins — who was not arrested because a court denied the petition for preventive detention. At least 77 state judicial and military police were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the drug traffic and the gambling mob in the case.

Apparently they had two appraisals, a highball ($75 million) and a lowball ($27 million).

De acordo com a Polícia Federal foram presos Antonio Petrus Kalil, o Turcão, Sergio Luzio Marques e Jose Luiz da Costa Rebello. Os contraventores foram denunciados por contrabando, crime contra a economia popular e por falsidade ideológica. Segundo a denúncia dos promotores, as máquinas contêm uma peça cuja importação não é permitida no País e, além disso, eram manipuladas em prejuízo do usuário.

Accoring to the feds, they arrested Antonio Petrus “The Big Turk” Kalil, Sergio Luzio Marques [de Araújo] and Jose Luiz da Costa Rebello. The [alleged] [scofflaws] were accused of smuggling, crimes against the “popular economy” and falsification. According to the indictment, the machines contained a part whose importation into Brazil is illegal, and furthermore, were manipulated to the disadvantage of the player.

O Globo, however, reports that Captain Guimarães was also arrested, and has turned himself in. Which would make four arrested, right?

On gizmo-rigging, see also

• Rio: One-Armed Bandits Are Rigged! Safadeza Lab Busted!

“New York x the Freguesia de Ó”: More Hell to Pay on Veja and Che

“The murderous, stinking Che, according to Jon Lee Anderson: The fearless Anderson writes and signs his name to it.” “The American Jon Lee Anderson is a courageous writer, without fear of offending his Marxist friends, he writes in his biography of Che about the cold-blooded murderousness of the guerilla icon.”

In the Observatório da Imprensa, journalist Luis Nassif and public relations maven Carlos Brickmann follow up on

• Veja (Brazil) and The New Yorker: The Che Letters

Nassif:

É patética a “represália” da Veja contra o jornalista Jon Lee Anderson – que criticou a capa sobre Che Guevara. Ironiza o fato de ele ser “corajoso, sem medo de se indispor com seus amigos marxistas”. Acha que esse patrulhamento rastaqüera vai afetar um dos repórteres mais prestigiados de uma das revistas mais sofisticadas do planeta.

Pathetic, the “reprisals” by Veja magazine against journalist Jon Lee Anderson — who criticized its cover story about Che Guevara. It jokes that he is “courageous, without fear of getting on the bad side of his Marxist buddies.” It thinks this nouveau-riche thought policing is going to affect one of the most prestigious journalists of one of the most sophisticated magazines on the planet.

Hiring Tina Brown was an example of “sophistication”? (Showing her the door, on the other hand, could be read as “sophistication regained.” I hardly ever read The New Yorker anymore.)

Rastaqüera is not a word that figures in the Houaiss unabridged dictionary (in its usability-nightmare online edition, at least) but has been defined by some amateur lexicographer I googled up as referring to

Indivíduo que chama a atenção por seus gastos luxuosos e ostentações, atitude típica do novo-rico.

An individual who calls attention to himself through ostentatious, luxurious spending, an attitude typical of the nouveau-riche.

É a Freguesia do Ó (com todo respeito) contra New York.

It is the Freguesia do Ó (with all due respect) against New York City.

Wikipedia on the Freguesia, a district in northeastern Saõ Paulo (boil Wikipedia before consuming, as always):

Mexico: Bullet Trumps the Ballot in Michoacán

The bullet trumps the ballot: Mexican voting beans are too refried to recount.

“The pollworkers, in places where the PRI and PRD were strong, were paid off to stuff the ballot boxes. They received 30,000 pesos or more.”

A borrar huellas: “Getting rid of the evidence” (Proceso, Mexico, No. 1621).

Men in ski masks with big guns and combat boots used Molotov cocktails to thwart an audit of ballots from recent elections in Zamora, Michoacan.

File under “Vote Quimby or my friend here will blow your brains out — and get away with it, too. He works for Chief Wiggum.”

Sobre el comando que incendió papelería electoral en la ciudad de Zamora, este semanario obtuvo documentos y testimonios que obligan a investigar si el propósito era eliminar rastros de anomalías favorables al PAN.

Regarding the armed group that set fire to electoral documents in the city of Zamora, this weekly obtained documents and testimony that make it necessary to investigate whether the purpose was to eliminate traces of anomalies favorable to PAN.

ZAMORA, MICH.- El pasado viernes 16, a las 3:30 de la madrugada, unas 10 personas vestidas de negro y azul, con botas tipo militar, armas largas y pistolas automáticas, asaltaron las oficinas del Instituto Electoral de Michoacán (IEM) en esta ciudad y prendieron fuego a la bodega, donde se guardaban las urnas y boletas electorales de los comicios realizados el domingo 11.

Last Friday, November 16, at 3:30 am, ten persons dressed in black and blue, with military-style boots, carrying long arms and automatic pistols, assaulted the offices of the Michoacań state election institute (IEM) in Zamora and set fire to the storage area where ballot boxes and ballots from the November 11 election were being stored.

Mientras en la tierra de Marta Sahagún el PAN llevaba una amplia ventaja, y justamente cuando se realizaba el cómputo de sufragios de los ayuntamientos, los intrusos irrumpieron con violencia, amenazaron y golpearon a varios de los 25 funcionarios, empleados y representantes partidistas, antes de arrojar cuatro bombas molotov sobre la paquetería electoral de la bodega.

As PAN enjoyed an ample margin of victory in the land of Mrs. Fox, and just as the votes were being tallied, the intruders entered violently, threatened and beat a number of the 25 officials, employees and party representatives, then threw four molotov cocktails onto the ballots in the storage area.

De acuerdo con documentos y testimonios obtenidos por Proceso, existen elementos para sospechar que aquel comando pretendía borrar huellas de las irregularidades cometidas en los comicios que renovaron, aparte de las 113 alcaldías, las diputaciones y la gubernatura del estado.

Based on documents and witness statements obtained by Proceso, there are reasons to suspect that this group of commandos intended to destroy traces of irregularities committed in the elections that selected new mayors for the state’s 113 municipalities, as well as the state legislature and the governor.

Así lo establece una tarjeta de inteligencia de la Secretaría de Gobierno de Michoacán –en poder de este reportero–, según la cual el operativo probablemente lo ejecutaron, a juzgar por las armas que usaron, policías de otros municipios o integrantes del Grupo de Operaciones Especiales (Goes), bajo indicaciones “de gente del PAN”.

That is what an intelligence report from the state government secretary — in the power of this reporter — says. According to this document, judging from the weapons used, the operation was likely carried out by police from other cities or members of the Special Operations Group (GOES), on orders from “people from PAN.”

Esto, precisa el reporte, debido a que “hubo muchas irregularidades en las elecciones. Se compró a los representantes de casilla, en sitios donde el PRI y el PRD eran fuertes, para que llenaran las urnas. Las sumas fueron de 30 mil pesos o más. Por eso arrasó el PAN”.

This, the report says, due to the fact that “there were many irregularities in the elections. The pollworkers, in places where the PRI and PRD were strong, were paid off to stuff the ballot boxes. They received 30,000 pesos or more. This explains PAN’s landslide.”

Interrogado al respecto, el presidente del Consejo Distrital 06 del IEM de Zamora, Ignacio Chávez Contreras, confirmó a este semanario que el asalto fue perpetrado “por personas que tenían mucho que perder (en una posible revisión de los paquetes electorales, dadas las impugnaciones existentes), pues sabían perfectamente su objetivo”.

Questioned on the matter, the president of IEM District Council 6 in Zamora, Mr. Chávez Contreras, confirmed to this weeklyn that the assault was carried out by “people who had a lot to lose (from a possible audit of the packaged ballots, given the legal challenges raised). They knew exactly what their objective was.”

Rio: “Duas Caras” Actor Visits Rio das Pedras

“The battle flag of Rio das Pedras, Rio de Janeiro”: The Peacemakers were headed by a senior police inspector who was promoted and decorated by an indicted former police chief whose campaign for the state assembly was allegedly funded by the gambling mobs involved in Operation Hurricane, in which senior judges are charged with selling verdicts that provided legal cover to gambling mafias. The inspector, a fugitive from justice for both areas of criminal activity, was later found with 30 bullets in him, sitting in his Toyota pickup truck outside his girlfriend’s apartment. His paramilitary group ran bingo halls and GatoNet (an illegal cable TV network) and is under investigation for money-laundering. A political rival — whose campaign literature featured the symbol of an area militia (Batman), has now been charged with ordering his assassination and is in protective custody. Policemen and former policemen have been charged with carrying out the assassination.

“This soap opera is showing the good side of the favela. And this story of the militia is very much like ours,” said the young woman, alluding to the way in which Juvenal Antena (Antônio Fagundes) controls Portelinha with an iron hand

A follow-up to

• Rio: “Mayor ‘Concerned’ Over Militia-Themed Soap Opera”
• Rio: “Nadinho Surrenders; Globo Online Readers Overwhelmingly Favor Militias”

Lázaro Ramos: astro de ‘Duas caras’ visita a favela de Rio das Pedras (GLOBO, Brazil): Lázaro Ramos, star of the Globo soap opera “Two Faces,” visits Rio das Pedras.

RIO – Sexta-feira, tarde nublada, Rio das Pedras. A convite do GLOBO, Lázaro Ramos, o Evilásio de “Duas caras”, aceitou passear pela favela de Jacarepaguá, que é tida por seus 80 mil moradores como uma das menos violentas do Rio e inspirou a criação da favela da Portelinha, na novela das 21h da Rede Globo. Assim que chegou, ele apontou a rua larga que dá a acesso à comunidade e dirigiu-se à repórter:

Friday, a cloudy afternoon in Rio das Pedras. At the invitation of GLOBO, Ramos, who plays Evilásio in “Two Faces,” has agreed to stroll through this shantytown in Jacarepaguá, which is held by its 80,000 residents to be one of the least violent in Rio and inspired the fictional shantytown of Portelinha in Globo’s 8:00 pm soap opera. As soon as he arrives, he points to wide street that provides access to the community and addresses the reporter:

- Já foi à cidade cenográfica no Projac? É igualzinha.

“Ever been to the Projac back lot? It’s exactly the same.”

On Hollywood back lots and Potemkin Villages, see also

• Rio: “Favela Lives in Peace Without Militias or The Traffic”

O ator baiano, que vive um romance à la Romeu & Julieta com a personagem de Débora Falabella (Júlia) na trama, foi seguido por fãs eufóricos, que pediam fotos e autógrafos do ídolo. Um jogo de futebol juvenil parou; empregados de lojas próximas abandonaram seus afazeres. Funcionário da poderosa Associação de Moradores da Portelinha em “Duas caras”, Lázaro fez sua primeira parada, justamente, na Associação de Moradores do local.

The Bahia-born actor, who is living a Romeo and Juliet-style romance with the character played by Débora Falabella (Júlia) in the soap, was followed by ecstatic fans who asked their idol for photos and autographs. A children’s football match stopped. Shop workers abandoned their tasks. An employee of the powerful Portelinha Residents Association in Two Faces, Lázaro made his first stop the Residents Association of Rio das Pedras.

- Olha o Foguinho aí! – disse Ely Bittencourt, numa saudação que se repetiria muitas vezes naquela tarde, referência ao personagem da novela “Cobras & lagartos” pelo qual Lázaro está concorrendo ao Emmy Internacional, no próximo dia 19.

“Check out Foguinho there!” said Ely Bittencourt, a greeting that would be repeated many times that afternoon, a reference to the soap opera character for which Ramos has been nominated for an International Emmy, on December 19.

This reporter also seems to have trouble differentiating the actor from his role, reporting that he, the actor, is having a “Romeo and Juliet” romance with the character played by another actor.

The Rede Globo de Televisão tends to operate on this basis: Inviting the viewer to confuse fact with fiction.

Lázaro crivou Ely de perguntas, nem sempre fáceis de responder:

Lázaro peppers Ely with questions, not all of them easy to answer:

- É verdade que aqui não tem violência? Nem tráfico? Como é que se consegue isso?

“Is it true there is no violence here? No drug traffic? How did that happen?”

Momento saia justa, numa comunidade controlada por uma milícia de policiais.

An awkward moment, in a community controlled by a militia of policemen.

The Rashomon Effect and the Narcoavión

The mysterious narcoavión.

Narconews, a Web site dedicated to investigating narcotraffic-related topics, reported that the aircraft was used, not just by the DEA, but by the CIA, to move prisoners to the base at Guantánamo, in Cuba.

In Colombia, police sources believe that the deal was done by one of the paramilitary chiefs who remains at large.

Fiscalía investiga si avión que cayó con 3,7 toneladas de coca en México sirvió a la DEA: “Colombian authorities investigate whether an aircraft loaded with 3.7 tons of coca that crashed was used by the DEA.”

Contemporary reports put the tonnage at 3.3 tons.

Maybe an English-metric equivalency issue?

EL TIEMPO reports — citing, interestingly, Al Giordano’s Narconews project.

Fuentes de esa agencia en E.U. le dijeron que no pueden negar ni desechar esa información, pues es usual que las agencias norteamericanas contraten aviones para diferentes misiones.

Sources at the U.S. agency said they could not deny or discredit this information, since it is normal for U.S. agencies to hire aircraft for different missions.

That is to say, the same aircraft possibly used to transport extradited Colombian narco suspects may have also carried Bolivian marching powder to be consumed at all the best prep schools.

Guns for the Contras fly in, drugs from the Contras fly out? Maybe not. But you can understand why people tend to remember the historical precedent. Taxpayer money being paid out to drug-running cocaine cowboys — especially if it comes from the War on Drugs budget — is a notion I am not that fond of myself.

El avión, Grumman Gulf Stream II de matrícula N- 987 SA, tuvo un aparatoso aterrizaje hace dos meses en zona rural del poblado Tixkokob, en Yucatán, México, donde las autoridades mexicanas tenían preparado un amplio dispositivo antinarcóticos.

The Gulf Stream II, registration N-987 SA, made a force landing in a rural area near Tixkokob, in Yucatán, where Mexican authorities have set up an ample antinarco system.

Había despegado siete horas antes el mismo día del aeropuerto José María Córdova, de Rionegro (Antioquia).

It had taken off seven hours before from the Coŕdova airport in Rionegro, in Antioquia province.

En la operación fueron detenidos el copiloto colombiano Omar Alfredo Jácome Del Valle y los mexicanos Leonel Ayala López y Dante Paz. Estos últimos no iban en el avión, pero llegaron al sitio del accidente y no pudieron explicar qué hacían allí.

Arrested at the scene were the Colombian Omar Alfredo Jácome Del Valle and the Mexicans Leonel Ayala López and Dante Paz. The latter two were not aboard the aircraft, but arrived at the scene of the crash and could not explain what they were doing there.

El caso ocupó por varios días la atención de la prensa mexicana, que destacó en sus noticias que el Ejército mexicano les impidió a seis agentes de la Agencia Antidrogas de E.U. (DEA) acercarse al sitio del accidente.

The case occupied the attention of the Mexican news media for several days. The media emphasized the fact that the Mexican army prevented six DEA agents from approaching the site of the accident.

Ahora, la Fiscalía colombiana investiga no solo quiénes son los narcotraficantes colombianos que están detrás del envío -que según la Policía no se cargó en Rionegro sino en algún sitio del norte del país o Centroamérica- sino el historial de la nave. En concreto, si ese avión había sido utilizado por la DEA para llevar narcotraficantes colombianos extraditados a los Estados Unidos.

Colombian authorities are investigating not only which Colombian drug smugglers are behind the shipment — which according to police was not loaded in Rionegro but rather some location in Northern Colombia or Central America — but also the history of the aircraft. Specifically, whether this plane was used by the DEA to transport extradited narcos to the United States.

Fuentes de la DEA también fueron enfáticos en negar cualquier relación de la agencia con el embarque de droga y aseguraron que no se trató de una entrega controlada, una posibilidad que en su momento fue contemplada por los periódicos mexicanos.

DEA sources emphatically denied any relationship between the agency and drug shipments and stated that this was not a controlled delivery, a theory entertained by the Mexican press.

That is, I am guessing, that it might be an undercover shipment to see who shows up to buy the stuff.

Una fuente en Estados Unidos le dijo a EL TIEMPO que en la última transacción del avión, realizada pocas semanas antes del accidente, tomó parte un piloto, de nombre Greg Smith, que hace algunos años realizó trabajos para la DEA.

A U.S. source told EL TIEMPO that in the aircraft’s last charter, a few weeks before the accident, a pilot named Greg Smith took part who several years ago did work for the DEA.

Narconews, un portal de internet que se dedica a investigar temas de narcotráfico, reportó que el avión no solo fue usado por la DEA sino por la CIA para mover presos hacia la base de Guantánamo, en Cuba.

Narconews, a Web site dedicated to investigating narcotraffic-related topics, reported that the aircraft was used, not just by the DEA, but by the CIA, to move prisoners to the base at Guantánamo, in Cuba.

And why did Al & Co. say that?

did Al & Co. say that?

I find their work very interesting, but I find it astonishing that EL TIEMPO would simply cite that statement without describing the evidence for making it, or giving it an independent reality-test.

The article was by Bill Conroy:

Mysterious Jet Crash Is Rare Portal Into the “Dark Alliances” of the Drug War

Conroy, as it turns out, is not at all categorical about the putative CIA connection.

He definitely does not write, in the indicative mood, that the plane was used by the CIA. He muses on the possibility, sure.

But unless I am missing the latest scoop — it would be helpful if EL TIEMPO cited the story it refers to by byline and date — it does not seem to be the case that Narco News “reported that the aircraft was used … by the CIA …”

Bill Conroy (November 17, 2007) writes:

The fact that the ownership of the aircraft apparently switched hands twice within weeks of the crash, helping to obscure its ownership, has only further fueled media and Internet speculation that the jet’s illegal payload was being transported as part of some larger U.S. government black operation. All that might be true — or not.

It might be true that monkeys fly out of my butt (as Wayne Campbell is fond of saying.) Or it might not. (It is not. At least so far.)

EL TIEMPO: “Colin Brayton reports suffering from flying butt-monkeys!”

Narco News has uncovered at least one fact that is certain to deepen the mystery surrounding the crash of the jet whose tail number, N987SA, is now affixed in the lexicon of CIA folklore. That fact revolves around the name Greg Smith, who was identified in a McClatchy Washington Bureau report on the Gulfstream II’s crash as follows:

NarcoNews uncovered the fact from McClatchy?

A bill of sale obtained by McClatchy Newspapers indicates that Florida pilot Clyde O’Connor bought the plane on Sept. 16 — eight days before it went down in the Yucatan jungle. Another Florida pilot, identified by his license number and signature as Greg Smith, also signed the document, but his relationship to O’Connor isn’t detailed.

Cutting to the chase, NN wonders if this Greg Smith might not be the same Greg Smith mentioned by Baruch Vega, who told NN in an interview:

Well originally… I met Greg Smith… we needed a pilot, a very trustful pilot, someone we could trust to bring in the [Colombian] drug traffickers to surrender. Then the members of the FBI recommended to get in contact with this guy [Smith] because he was very close to them. Ever since we flew only with him. Everything was with him. … I never asked anything [about Smith’s background]. But he [Smith] brought a couple of pilots because we always have two pilots in the plane. He occasionally brought pilots from the US Customs. I tell you one thing. We flew with Greg Smith easily 25 to 30 times. All [the] operations [were] between the end of 1997 to 2000.

Vega says the name of the company that appears on government invoices as having leased an aircraft to the DEA is the same as the company owned by this Smith: “Vega also confirmed that Smith’s company was called Aero Group Jets.”

Another Greg Smith is angry that Florida newspaper identified him as the Greg J. Smith

Another reporter with a Florida weekly also claims to have interviewed the real Mr. Smith. However, as it turns out, when Narco News contacted that individual, he stressed that the reporter had gotten the wrong man. “I was falsely written up … and they named my company,” says Greg Smith, who is with a company called Global Jet Solutions of Pembroke Pines, Fla. “There’s probably three or four Greg Smiths in aviation in South Florida. But it’s not my name on the bill of sale [for the Gulfstream II jet that crashed in Mexico on September 24].”

NN compared the man’s signature with the Greg J. Smith signature. Do not appear to be the same. Go figure.

NN can get a little melodramatic at times, when writing the thing us, but they do usually do true due diligence, and generally do not commit the fallacy of wishful thinking.

Back to EL TIEMPO.

DEA dice que era un embarque del cartel de Sinaloa

DEA said this was a shipment of the Sinoloa cartel

Las autoridades federales y la misma DEA aseguran que se trataba de un embarque del cartel mexicano de Sinaloa en asocio con carteles colombianos. En Colombia, fuentes policiales creen que el negocio era de uno de los jefes paramilitares que siguen libres.

Federal authorities and the DEA itself said this was a shipment by Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel in partnership with Colombian cartels. In Colombia, police sources believe that the deal was done by one of the paramilitary chiefs who remains at large.

La nave está aún en una zona selvática y debió ser desarmada por las autoridades federales para su recuperación.

The aircraft remains in a densely forested zone and is due to be dismanteled by Mexican authorities in an attempt to recover it.

La coca estaba en 3.300 paquetes. Es el mayor decomiso en ese estado y durante un tiempo fue el mayor en México en los últimos años. El cargamento iba para Cancún, a 300 kilómetros de Mérida.

The coke was in 3,300 packages. This was the largest decommision ever in the state and for a time was the largest in Mexico in recent years. The shipment was bound for Cancún, 300 km from Mérida.

La DEA y las autoridades federales han realizado varios allanamientos en el Distrito Federal.

DEA and Mexican federal authorities have realized various raids in [Mexico City.]

Mérida está a 1.800 kilómetros de Ciudad de México. Fuentes judiciales en Colombia explicaron que detrás de este cargamento tienen identificados a los miembros de de una poderosa red de narcotraficantes colombianos y mexicanos, que utilizan diferentes rutas para el envío de droga.

Mérida is 1,800 km from Mexico City. Colombian judicial sources explained that a powerful network of Colombian and Mexican narcos were behind it, a network that uses various routes.

Explicaron que no es el único cargamento de cocaína que se la ha caído a esta organización en los últimos meses. En agosto pasado, otra aeronave, de características similares se accidentó en territorio mexicano.

They said this was not the only shipment of cocaine by this organization that has fallen in recent months. Last August, another aircraft, with similar characteristics, crashed on Mexican soil.

Los investigadores verifican si algunos empleados aeroportuarios en los dos países pueden haber colaborado con estos embarques.

Investigators are looking to whether several airport employes in the two countries might have helped with the shipments.

And so on. Colorful comment from the EL TIEMPO comment thread, more or less chosen at random, and translated with colorful license:

En los ee.uu. los habitantes monos se meten por la nariz hasta los talco mexana, ya es una forma cultural de vivir, como nosotros tomar jugo de naranja o tinto en las mañana,. por eso es que deberíamos enviarle toda la que puedan consumir y seguro nos tratarán como amigos y no como imigrantes ilegales.ademas tendríamos grandes trasatlanticos fondeados todos los días en cartagena

Those idiot Americans even shovel Mexican baby powder up their nose, it’s their way of life, the way we drink orange juice in the morning. That’s why we ought to ship them all the marching powder they can handle. Then they might treat us like friends and not illegal immigrants. What is more, we would have big transatlantic ocean liners dropping anchor in Cartagena every day.

Personally, I never touch the stuff.

You, gentle reader, might consider adopting the same policy. And if you just cannot function without an alkaloidal lift stronger than Turkish coffee, try mate. Mate is atomic supercaffeine brewed from Ilex paraguariensis.

Gauchos consume it as cimmarón or chimarrão. It is also a little too punk rock for me, in my old age, but if I had to make a 30-mile hike in one day to save my life, that is what I would have for breakfast.

“Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged”: Rove Inquisitor Inquired Into

The “we are all prostitutes” meme: a locus classicus. This remark was omitted from the broadcast commentary by Globo’s Arnaldo Jabor as posted to YouTube, after a court ordered removed from the Web site of the CBN radio network— is this really the version that aired? — but does figure in the text of the commentary as published in the O Povo newspaper: “[When Lula alluded to widespread corruption and impunity under Cardoso,] it was like a whorehouse brawl in which the little whores defend themselves by point out the sins of others. ” Lula is a whore! (And so was Cardoso!)” See also A Note on Moral Relativism in Contemporary Banana-Republican Guilty Pleas

Judge not, that ye be not judged. / For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again / And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? –Matthew, 7:1-3

Matthew 7:1 directly contradicts John 7:24 where He uses the same Greek words: “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge [krino] with righteous judgment.” Here He says we are to judge, but He mitigates it with instruction on how to judge, just as in Matthew 7. Certainly, we are to analyze—judge—what is right or wrong, based on the mind of God as expressed in His Word. How we apply that judgment to others is critical, for Christ will take the same attitude with us that we take with others. –The Forerunner Bible Commentary

Mr. Bloch believes the White House may have a conflict of interest in pressing the inquiry into his conduct while his office investigates the White House political operation.

Head of Rove Inquiry in Hot Seat Himself: Wall Street Journal reporter John R. Wilke sources the story to “lawyers familiar with the case.”

The flap exhibits many of the standard prima facie features of a potential “we are all prostitutes” noise-machine campaign — here in Brazil, it is known as the ladrão chamando de ladrão gambit. “He who calls another a thief is himself a thief.”

At the same time, Mr. Bloch has himself been under investigation since 2005. At the direction of the White House, the federal Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general is looking into claims that Mr. Bloch improperly retaliated against employees and dismissed whistleblower cases without adequate examination.

Claims by whom?

And more recently:

Recently, investigators learned that Mr. Bloch erased all the files on his office personal computer late last year. They are now trying to determine whether the deletions were improper or part of a cover-up, lawyers close to the case said.

Do these investigators have a name? Are the investigators the same people as the lawyers close to the case? Did they call the W$J or did the W$J call them?

Bypassing his agency’s computer technicians, Mr. Bloch phoned 1-800-905-GEEKS for Geeks on Call, the mobile PC-help service. It dispatched a technician in one of its signature PT Cruiser wagons. In an interview, the 49-year-old former labor-law litigator from Lawrence, Kan., confirmed that he contacted Geeks on Call but said he was trying to eradicate a virus that had seized control of his computer.

On the degree of compliance with IT policies at the White House in recent years, see also

• “Karl Rove e-mails may have broken the law”

Mr. Bloch said no documents relevant to any investigation were affected. He also says the employee claims against him are unwarranted. Mr. Bloch believes the White House may have a conflict of interest in pressing the inquiry into his conduct while his office investigates the White House political operation. Concerned about possible damage to his reputation, he cites a Washington saying, “You’re innocent until investigated.”

Rio: “Mayor ‘Concerned’ Over Militia-Themed Soap Opera”

… the fictious militia headed by the character played by Antônio Fagundes is what really concerns the government. “A woman who lives in Portelinha needed to regularize title to her home and instead of going to see the Secretary of Urban Planning and the Environment, she goes to see the militia,” says Lupparelli.

Scriptwriter Aguinaldo Silva announced he would take a temporary leave from the show to attend to personal matters in Portugal. He has finished the episodes up until December 26. Early this month, Aguinaldo revealed he had received death threats by telephone and that he would spend some time in Lisbon, where he has a home.

From AQUIDAUANA NEWS (Rondônia, Brazil): The newspaper of this town on the banks of the Moboteteu River in Mato Grosso do Sul (population 44,904), home to several Terena Indian villages, passing along the report from Rio’s O Dia: Complaints from the big-city mayor and his political supporters that the latest Globo soap opera is politicized and deliberately trying to undermine the image of his administration.

A city alderman from the Naked Mayor’s party has just been arrested on charges of ordering a hit on a political competitor in order to guarantee his reelection. See

• Rio: “Nadinho Surrenders; Globo Online Readers Overwhelmingly Favor Militias”
• Rio Police: “Batman Ordered Tostes Whacked”

Globo has an exclusive contract with LIESA, the “league of independent carnivall societies of Rio,” to broadcast the competitive Carnaval parades — a concession granted to LIESA in a contract with the city government that critics says precludes granting exclusive coverage to a single network.

The president of LIESA, Capt. Guimarães, has been arrested and accused of paying off police and very senior judges to keep his gambling businesses operating — and allegedly also sending armed goons around to convince Carnaval jurors to cooperate in a scheme to rig the results of last year’s competition.

The winner of which was featured prominenly on an episode of Big Brother Brasil taped prior to the competition. And in the final episode of the prime-time Globo soap, also taped prior to the competition.

These stories are all torn from the actual headlines — though most of these matters are still pending a legal resolution, mind you.

And here the mayor is complaining about a soap opera.

That political competitor of the DEM alderman, by the way, was a senior police official, the reputed head of the militia in Rio das Pedras, and an alleged equity partner in the electronic gambling machine rackets, along with former state police chief Lins.

Is real life stranger than fiction?

Not that Globo generally recognizes the fact-fiction distinction, mind you.

The report follows:

Pelo Telephony: São Paulo Street Vendors Use Technology To Break The Law!

RICK: How can you close me down? On what grounds?
RENAULT: I am shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here.
CROUPIER: Your winnings, sir.
RENAULT: Oh, thank you very much.

Chefe da polícia
pelo telefone
mandou avisar
Que na Carioca
havia uma roleta
para se jogar …
–Donga, “Pelo Telefone” (1916)

Que o chefe da polícia
Carioca, avisa
Pelo celular
Que lá na praça Onze
Tem um video-pôquer
Para se jogar…
–Gilberto Gil, “Pela Internet” (1997)

“A plane crash kills 200, and who do they arrest? The guy who owns the whorehouse!” –Current São Paulo bar joke

Rádio é a arma dos camelôs: Street vendors of pirate goods use walkie-talkies to avoid getting caught by “The Man,” the Estado de S. Paulo reports.

You don’t say?

Stop the presses!

The first recording of a samba de enredo registerd with Brazil’s national library, “Over the Telephone,” by the legendary Donga, deals humorously with just such a case:

The chief of police called me up on the phone to let me know that there was a roulette wheel to play at the Club Carioca …

Gilberto Gil updated the concept in “Over the Internet,” from the album Quanta (1997), updated the concept:

The chief of the Rio police called me up on the cell phone to let me know there was a videopoker machine to play at the Praça Onze.

Pois é.

Low-tech versions of coordinated communications, for black-market businesses on a budget, also exist: Children’s kites, often, and, less discretely, shooting off crazy amounts of fireworks.

Another, lower-technology technique also reportedly used in some such situations: cash money payments. When the brave new world of cashless payments arrives, will such transactions be powered by Bluetooth?

On my first trip to Brazil, I remember asking a friend what the artillery barrage was that had broken out nearby, in an upscale São Paulo neighborhood. The response: “Either Corinthians has just scored a goal or the latest shipment of drugs has arrived.”

See also

• Rio: “Nextel Cell in Van War Hell”

The dilemma of the camelô — I believe the name for the ubiquitous street vendors comes out of the long tradition of itinerant vendors of Syrian and Lebanese origin, known as mascates — can be understood, in part, I think, mutatis mutandis, as a variation on the Mexican Immigrant Dilemma in New York City.

Without Mexican immigrants, the restaurant industry would simply collapse. This proposition is widely repeated, and there is probably some truth to it.

A friend of the family in the Gotham cuisine racket — Time Out once described his deserts as “geological, rather than architectonic,” whatever the hell that means — admits as much, for example. And the very, very fine gentleman who holds the secret to the secret sauces that are making our friend the chef’s current venture a success is a Mexico City native without a culinary degree, and possibly without a visa as well, who never set once foot in the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) or the like. He learned on the job at the hottest spots in Tribeca, starting as a humble, tearful onion-chopper.

You know the old saying about how you don’t want to know how the sausage gets made? This guy knows. And has an amazing way with a flank steak — shallots and balsamic vinegar and what not.

The issue has gained more visibility here with the upcoming mayoral elections, and the recent arrest of Law Kin — or Law King — Chong, king of the 25 de Março and “reputed to be Brazil’s biggest smuggler.”

See

• São Paulo Diary: Liberty for the Law King of the Camelôs!
• São Paulo Annals of Crime: “Law King is Busted Again”
• São Paulo Diary: “Moral Panic” Over Sino-Paraguayan Smuggling Bust Was Well-Handled, Expert Says

Suffice it to say that here is a curious disconnect between moral panic over rampant law-scoffing and the reality on the street. And not just in São Paulo:

• Rio: Maia is Shocked! Shocked! Over Sino-Paraguayan Shennanigans!

Latest news: Another shopping mall owned by the Law King, the Shopping 25 Brás, has just reopened, after presenting the proper paperwork to a court and applying for a court order permitting it to function.

Meanwhile, another one of those technology-themed stories in which the medium is more important than the message. It is more important to know that some Russians have used YouTube to post a video supposedly showing him beheading someone, than it is to know whether or not the Russians actually have cut someone’s head off.

This is known as “innovation journalism.” See also

• Rio: Social Software-Driven Misanthropreneurism
• Russia: “Confession Over Nazi YouTube Beheading Video”

Os camelôs ilegais do Centro de São Paulo têm conseguido escapar do “rapa” (fiscalização) graças à tecnologia. A tática é simples: eles usam radiocomunicadores pendurados no pescoço. Assim que a fiscalização se aproxima, os ambulantes avisam uns aos outros pelo aparelho. Dessa forma, eles conseguem esconder a mercadoria pirateada, como DVDs e CDs.

Illegal street vendors in Downtown São Paulo have managed to escape from “the dude” (inspectors) thanks to technology. The tactic is a simple one: They use walkie-talkies hung around their necks. As soon as the “The Guy” approaches, the itinerant street vendors warn others using the device. In this way, they succeed in hiding pirated merchandise such as DVDs and CDs.

Mexico: Chinese Whispers on Fox Exposé?

The El U cover story in question. Source: Proceso No. 1621, November 25, 2007, p. 7 [as far as I can figure: The PDF is a bit garbled.]

Chinese whispers or Telephone is a game in which each successive participant secretly whispers to the next a phrase or sentence whispered to them by the preceding participant. Cumulative errors from mishearing often result in the sentence heard by the last player differing greatly and amusingly from the one uttered by the first. It is most often played by children as a party game or in the playground. It is often invoked as a metaphor for cumulative error, especially the inaccuracies of rumours.

La versión desmentida (Proceso, Mexico): El Universal (Mexico) runs a front-page story with a “sneak preview” of a forthcoming book, an insider account of the political dirty wars in Mexico in the run-up to the 2006 election.

Sort of a Mexican version of Scott McClellan’s forthcoming (April) tell-all book on the Bush White House, “What Happened.”

American politics and Mexican politics get more and more similar. No disrespect to the suffering people of Mexico, but as an American, I find this sort of alarming. Don’t you?

Imagine if the “reality-based community” conversation, as reported by Ron Suskind in The New York Times Magazine, never actually took place:

The aide said that guys like me were “in what we call the reality-based community,” which he defined as people who “believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” … “That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he continued. “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.

Or rather, imagine that Newsweek reported that The Magazine had reported that conversation, when Suskind never actually reported that it took place, on the record, in The Magazine.

Or imagine Newsweek reporting both that The Magazine had, and that it had not, reported that.

File under “journalism fails to imitate literature imitating life” and “the Rashomon effect.”

El Universal was criticized earlier this year for running what it claimed was an e-mail from Zhenli Ye Gon (the DEA’s “man behind the meth”) to his friends and associates, without citing its source or explaining how it established its authenticity. See

• The Chinogate Letters: “El Universal’s Farce Unmasked”?

I never did get a clear idea of the paper’s response to that flap. I should go back and research that.
It reminds one of the “smoking gun” letter in the Ra^thergate affair that caused such headaches for CBS and 60 Minutes, and will now be litigated by Rather, who lost his job over the affair.

The CBS news team was accused of not doing the due diligence on a document, attributed to an eyewitness who is now dead, which claimed that Dubya benefited from his family connections in getting out of going to Vietnam.

El viernes 23 el diario El Universal sorprendió a sus lectores al publicar una nota, firmada por los reporteros José Luis Ruiz y David Aponte, con supuestos detalles de un capítulo por adelantado del libro La diferencia. Radiografía de un sexenio, escrito por el excanciller Jorge Castañeda y el exvocero presidencial Rubén Aguilar.

On November 23, El Universal suprised its readers with an article, bylined to José Luis Ruiz and David Aponte, that supposedly contains details of a chapter from the book “The Difference: X-Ray of a Presidential Administration,” written by former foreign secretary and former presidential spokesman Rubén Aguilar.

La nota, que abarcó cinco de las seis columnas de primera plana de ese periódico, señalaba que el libro da cuenta de cómo en el sexenio pasado el presidente Vicente Fox intentó negociar con el jefe de Gobierno de la Ciudad de México, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, el juicio de desafuero emprendido en contra de este último.

The article, which occupied five of the six columns on the front page, claims that book describe how, during the Fox administration, Vicente Fox tried to negotiate with the governor of the Federal District, López Obrador, over the impeachment proceedings against the latter.

Y afirma que López Obrador le soltó un cortante “no” a Fox. “¡Lástima!”, diría el presidente. La nota sostiene que el contacto con el tabasqueño se hizo mediante un intermediario: José Agustín Ortiz Pinchetti, quien fue secretario de Gobierno del Distrito Federal durante la administración lopezobradorista.

It states that López issued a crisp, cutting “no” to Fox. “Too bad!” the president reportedly said. The article maintains that the contact with the Tabasco politician was made through an intermediary, José Agustín Ortiz Pinchetti, who was a member of the Federal District cabinent during the López Obrador administration.

Sin embargo, en la noche del mismo día el Grupo Editorial Random House Mondadori desmintió a El Universal. El pasaje en el que supuestamente López Obrador dice “no” y Fox responde “¡lástima!”, afirmó la casa editora en un comunicado, no existe en el libro de Castañeda y Aguilar.

However, that same day, in the evening, the book’s publisher, Random House Mondadori, denied the El Universal story.

Rio: “Nadinho Surrenders; Globo Online Readers Overwhelmingly Favor Militias”

Nadino surrenders: G1 reporting with TV Globo video. The alderman (city legislator) is at left. Not sure who the naked perp at right is.

According to the charges brought by the public ministry, the alderman planned the exeuction of Félix in order to guarantee his political control of the Rio das Pedras community. The inspector, who was on the staff of Ricardo Halack when Halack was chief of the state judicial police, planned to run for a vacancy on the city council, putting Nadinho’s reelection at risk.

Vereador teria recebido proteção de policiais de milícia no tempo em que ficou foragido: “Rio city alderman allegedly received protection from policemen in the militia while he was a fugitive.” Extra and O Globo (Rio) report.

Last newsflow on the subject:

• Rio Police: “Batman Ordered Tostes Whacked”

And a very long sidebar on the O Globo Online Web site, by Patrícia Sá Rêgo: “Readers express support and tolerance for the activities of the militias.” The lede:

RIO – O que você acha da ação das milícias formadas por policiais e bombeiros para expulsar traficantes das favelas? A pergunta foi feita aos leitores do GLOBO ONLINE em enquete do site. Ao todo, 2.016 internautas votaram. A maioria (63%) mostrou apoio ou tolerância aos grupos que agem na ilegalidade e cobram taxas de moradores de comunidades carentes em troca de proteção. A opção “não é o ideal, mas pelo menos elas (as milícias) dão paz às comunidades” foi escolhida por 35% dos leitores. Outros 28% escolheram a resposta “eu apóio e pagaria pela proteção, se fosse necessário”. A única opção da múltipla-escolha que era integralmente contrária às milícias teve a preferência de 37% dos internautas. Eles optaram por definir esse tipo de atividade como “uma ilegalidade que deve ser tão combatida quanto o tráfico”.

What do you think of the activities of militias formed by police and firemen to expel drug traffickers from the shantytowns. The question was put to readers of GLOBO ONLINE in a Web site survey. In all, 2,016 Internauts voted. The majority (63%) demostrated support or tolerance for illegal groups that collect fees from poor communities in exchange for protection. The option “is not ideal, but at least they bring peace to the communities,” was chosen by 35% of the readers. Another 28% chose the response, “eu support them and would pay for protection, if necessary.” The only option in the multiple-choice survey that was entirely against the militias was chosen by 37% of Internauts. They chose to define this activity as “an illegality which ought to be combated just like the drug trade.”

I wonder if there is any legitimate opinion polling on the subject?

São Paulo Crime Blotter: “Phony Judge Extorts the Law King of the Camelôs!”

The Law King: Found guilty of making a R$1.5 million indecent proposal to the president of a parliamentary probe of pirated goods.

Falsas autoridades extorquiam dinheiro de chinês amigo de Law Kin Chong: G1/Globo reports that “persons impersonating public officials were extorting money from a Chinese man who is a friend of Law Kin Chong.”

On Law Kin, or Law King — the Brazilian press is amazingly indifferent to the spelling of people’s names — see

• São Paulo Diary: “Moral Panic” Over Sino-Paraguayan Smuggling Bust Was Well-Handled, Expert Says
• São Paulo Annals of Crime: “Law King is Busted Again”
• São Paulo Diary: Liberty for the Law King of the Camelôs!

On an interesting parallel case involving the Great Sino-Paraguayan Silk Road of Dubious Provenance, do a search on “Zhenli Ye Gon.”

On impersonating the properly constituted authorities, see also:

• Rio: “Firemen Abetted By Fed in False Arrest Case”
• Rio Crime Blotter: A Genuine Bombshell in the Barra da Tijuca
• Josias 50: The Naked Savage Changes Clothes

There was an weird little case of a toll-both robbery in the Vale do Paraiba earlier this year, or late last year, in which the armed robbers pulled up in what looked to be an authentic Federal Police SUV. The “megaoperation” in the Complexo do Alemão in Rio cited the gang who pulled off this feat as one of its intended targets, I believe. A joint state-federal police operation called Divisas Seguras or some such has been working on cleaning up the Vale do Paraiba transportation corridor all year.

Shantytown dwellers in Rio sometimes complain that they have difficulty knowing the difference between authentic and false police “blitzes.” The taking of the Kelson’s shantytown, for example, was reportedly carried off by men in police uniforms who identified themselves as “militia.” In that case, however, the men apparently were cops. They just happened to be on their coffee break at that moment.

When the Central Bank in Fortaleza, Ceará was emptied of a quarter of a billion reals a year or so back, in a tunneling scheme worthy of Hogan’s Heroes, astonishing tales emerged afterwards of crooked cops all over Brazil going after the heisters — to get their hands on the money, not to arrest them.

The Estadão, as I recall — this is off the top of my head — reported a case of a man in rural São Paulo, with reputed ties to the PCC, who was allegedly murdered for just this reason, dumped in a well — and then buried at city expense. He was an elected city council alternate.

Duas pessoas foram presas em flagrante nesta segunda-feira (26) por extorquir um comerciante chinês naturalizado brasileiro, amigo do também chinês naturalizado Law Kin Chong, apontado pela Polícia Federal como o maior contrabandista do Brasil. Os dois detidos se apresentavam como juiz e promotor de justiça e prometiam facilidades junto à polícia.

Two persons were arrested in flagrante delicto on Monday for extorting a naturalized Brazilian citizen of Chinese origin, a friend of the likewise naturalized Law Kin Chong, who is accused by the federal police of being the biggest smuggler in Brazil. The two men represente themselves as a judge and prosecutor and promised to ease the way for the man with police.

Segundo Fernando Shimidt, delegado titular do Setor de Investigações Gerais (SIG), da Polícia Civil, no momento da prisão, a dupla portava carteira das respectivas atividades (juiz e promotor), além de papéis timbrados da própria Polícia Civil. De acordo com o delegado, a vítima confirmou a amizade com Law. O delegado afirma que não há indícios de envolvimento entre eles.

According to Fernando Shimidt [sic?], the head of the General Investigations Section (SIG) of the state judicial police, at the moment of their arrest, the two men were carrying the ID of those two professions, as well as papers on the letterhead of the state judicial police. According to the investigator, the victim confirmed his friendship with Law. The SIG chief says there are no indications they are involved with one another.

Yes, he is Fernando Shimidt de Paula.

Brazil: “The Past and Future Emperor of Tocantins”

PROJOR study: “Electronic Colonelism of a New Kind (1999-2004): Broadcast licenses as medium of exchange in political bargaining.” Thorough.

As the “sex Senator,” Renan Calheiros of Alagoas, prepares to face charges of illegally controlling two radio stations in his home state — the charges could lead to his removal from office — the Jornal Opção (Goiânia) brings out an exposé on what it says is a similar situation in the Amazonian state of Tocantins, where

o ex-governador Siqueira Campos é tido como dono de um verdadeiro império de comunicação.

Former governor José Wilson Siqueira Campos is held to be the owner of a veritable communications empire.

The headline: “Electronic Colonelism in Tocantins.”

On the concept of “electronic colonelism,” see also

• Brazil: “Electronic Machine Politics in Educational Broadcasting”
• Brazilian Political Radio Games: PROJOR’s Concession Impression
• “O Coronel Cara-de-Pau” (on alleged media hegemony by former president Sarney in Amapá and Maranhão)

I am not vouching for the accuracy of any of this, mind you. I am just going to translate and then try and annotate. It is, one must note at the start, a one-source story with no attempt to solicit comment from the persons accused in it, and highly speculative in nature.

But the paper does also offer what it claims are corporate records that show how the “business ecosystem” allegedly worked — part of the “vast dossier” offered by its source, a state deputy and radio personality named Coimbra — so I thought it would be interesting to try to fact-check.

Jim Moore of Harvard says that the network, not the firm — the “business ecosystem” — is the basic unit to try to understand in postmodern organizational theory, so let us see what shape this network allegedly takes.

In any event I think you can say it illustrates the struggle for political control of the media in some Garcia-Marquezean way of another.

A certain amount of Horace Greeley-style bombast is to be expected of regional papers from extremely distant hinterlands. Nothing wrong with that, if you can spare the ink, but the lack of economy of expression means a lot more typing for the translator.

The editor in chief of Opção is Euler Belém, who has covered — I have heard of this case — the case of a certain Tarzan de Castro, who sued for defamation after being named as an agent of the political police infiltrated into the militant left during the dictatorship.

Tocantins was the scene of what was really the only semblance of a rural guerilla during that period, the Araguaia insurgency — and a very fragile insurgency it was, but still debated fiercely today. Its members were summarily executed and disappeared, and finding their remains a very sensitive cause celebre.

In 2005, Reporters Without Borders issued an alert about a “threat” made against Primeira Página reporter Sandra Miranda de Oliveira Silva, “after the publication of reports on corruption in the Tocantins state government.” Governor Marcelo Miranda told the brother of the journalist — who told RSF a suspicious arson fire had occurred at her home:

« Não permitirei mais a publicação de informações que constituam ataque à minha família. Se as medidas judiciais não tiverem o efeito desejado, tomarei outras disposições».

“I shall no longer permit the publication of information that constitute an attack on my family. If legal remedies do not have the desired effect, I shall take other measures.”

A case in Peru involves the murder for hire of a journalist by other journalists, in a machine-political dispute. A similar dynamic is not unknown in Brazil. Simple-minded martyrdom narratives — the powers that be, crushing the independent press! — can sometimes mislead such cases.

É o que garante o deputado Júnior Coimbra, do PMDB, lembrando denúncia feita pelo filho do ex-governador. “No ano passado, o próprio filho de Siqueira, José Wilson Siqueira Campos Júnior, conhecido como Júnior Siqueira, ganhou as páginas da chamada grande imprensa ao denunciar o esquema montado pelo pai para controlar quase todos os meios de comunicação do Estado nos últimos 20 anos. Uma verdadeira corporação de laranjas”, relembra o parlamentar. Como mostrou o Jornal Opção na semana passada, na matéria “Coronelismo, antena e voto”, a acusação de Júnior Siqueira contra seu pai coloca Siqueira Campos numa situação semelhante à do senador Renan Calheiros — que pode ser cassado sob a acusação de usar “laranjas” para esconder que é dono de emissoras de rádio. De acordo com a lei vigente, políticos não podem ser proprietários de veículos de comunicação, daí o uso de terceiros, feito por Renan Calheiros, para conseguir as concessões das emissoras junto ao Congresso Nacional e ao Ministério das Comunicações, segundo denúncia da revista Veja. Para o deputado Júnior Coimbra, procedimento semelhante foi usado por Siqueira Campos no Tocantins.

That is what state deputy Júnior Coimbra says, recalling charges made by the ex-governor’s son. “Last year, his own son, José Wilson Siqueira Campos Júnior, known as Júnior Siqueira, went to the so-called major media to accuse his father of mounting a scheme whereby he controlled all the media in the state for the past 20 years. A regular syndicate of front-men,” he says. As this newspaper showed last week, in the report “Colonelism [boss-controlled machine politics], the antenna, and the vote,” Junior’s accusation against his father puts the former governor in a situation similar to that of Renan Calheiros ….

The Tomb of the Unknown Donor: Beancounting “For a Decent Brazil”

Transparency Brazil summary of the Decent Brazil accounts: Donations 100% corporate.

Ministério Público recomenda rejeição das contas do PSDB em 2006 (Folha de S. Paulo):  The federal elections prosecutor’s office joins the accounting division of the federal elections tribunal in recommending that the campaign finance report of one member of the “For a Decent Brazil” coalition for the 2006 presidential elections be rejected.

See also

• “Decent Brazil” Beancounting Flap, Reloaded
• Press Blackout on Alckmin Cash Cow Case
• Alckmin Campaign Accounts in Question

The result could be the disqualification of the coalition’s candidate, former São Paulo governor Geraldo Alckmin, from standing for office. He had been talked about as a candidate for the mayor’s office of the city so nice they named it twice: São Paulo, SP.

Em parecer encaminhado ao TSE (Tribunal Superior Eleitoral), o Ministério Público Eleitoral recomenda a rejeição das contas apresentadas pelo comitê financeiro nacional do PSDB relativas à campanha do então candidato à Presidência da República nas eleições de 2006, Geraldo Alckmin.

In an opinion sent up to the TSE, the MPE recommends rejecting the accounts presented by the national finance committee of the PSDB, as it relates to the Alckmin candidacy, be rejected.

Can one get a copy of this recommendation?

Searching …

No parecer, o vice-procurador-geral eleitoral, Francisco Xavier Pinheiro Filho, analisa os pontos que fundamentam a indicação do órgão de controle do TSE pela desaprovação das contas do partido.

The assistant electoral attorney-general, Pinheiro Filho, ticks off the points that provide the basis for the recommendation.

Sobre a realização de gastos em momento anterior à abertura de conta bancária específica, o vice-procurador afirma “não ser crível admitir que os candidatos somente iniciassem a preparação de sua respectiva campanha a partir da abertura de conta bancária específica, quando mais se tratar de campanha de âmbito nacional”.

On the expenditure of money prior to the opening of a bank account for the campaign, he said “it is not credible to think that the candidates only began their campaigning after opening the bank account, especially given that this was a national campaign.

Ele lembra que a legislação eleitoral não proíbe a contratação antecipada de serviços, mas “tão somente” a realização de gastos antes da abertura da conta. “Com relação à realização de despesas sem identificação da documentação fiscal hábil, tampouco mostra-se viável a aprovação das contas”, diz o procurador.

He recalls that elections laws does not forbid prior contracting of services, but “only” can make payments after opening an account. “As to expenditures that lack the appropriate documentation, this also does not make approving the accounts appear viable,” he said.

And which expenditures were those?

Can I get a spreadsheet?

Segundo Pinheiro Filho, o PSDB alegou que a maioria dos fornecedores não estaria obrigada a emitir nota fiscal e tem “certa razão” em relação aos escritórios de advocacia. “Por outro lado, percebe-se a existência de serviços nos quais deveria ter sido emitida a respectiva nota fiscal”.

Pinheiro said the PSDB argued that most of its suppliers were not obliged to issue documentation and have a “certain [?]” with respect to law firms. “On the other hand, the existence of services for which documentation should have been issued was also observed.”

And that is all the Folha has to report.

And the Folha is about the only paper reporting it, except for Extra of Rio de Janeiro, in an even briefer not.

Someone says the numbers do not add up.

Not a single “and what numbers might those be?”

After all the sturm und drang over how campaign finance would be controlled “with an iron fist in a velvet glove,” and all the rhetoric about “transparency” and the moral crusade against corrupição, that is all you get to read about the matter. Weird.

If the accounts really turn out not to add up, is Transparency Brazil’s Às Claras project, which reflects the disputed numbers, really an example of transparency?

Count no bean counted until the count has been audited.

That Web site design, by the way, cuts off the list of donor names so that I cannot read some of them. (Work around: Reduce font size.)

Biggest individual donor to the party listed: Ronaldo Cezar Coelho of Rio, a banker and former candidate for governor and senator.

Biggest corporate donor to Alckmin’s campaign: “CGC Invalid.”

Nearly $8 million.

The “CGC” being the corporate donor’s federal tax ID.

Does that mean Alckmin’s largest donor was “unknown”?

Second: Banco Itaú, with a little under R$4 million.

It gave R$3.5 million to Lula, whose biggest donor was an orange-juice company, Sucocitrico Cutrale.

Smallest contributor to Lula: MARCELO ATIQUE, who gave R$1.

I keep waiting for them to put an asterisk beside those numbers, like the one beside Roger Maris’ single-season home-run record.

Alckmin the Harvard scholarship man

The Past is Prolonged: The Fujimori Story and The Nation of the Future

FHC and AKF: In the Nation of the Future, bringing up the past.

Unger said Lula had “inner greatness and a concern for the future.” In Unger’s view, the future speaks louder than memory does. –See The Apotheosis of Mangabeira Unger

After the [May 1999] election, the OAS and the United States tried to impose sanctions on the Peruvian government. Fujimori opponents, who wanted the sanctions, accused Brazil of having blocked the proposal at the OAS.

La República reports: “Former Fujimori cabinet ministers to be sentenced in coup.”

Se les acusa de apoyar ruptura de orden constitucional. Serían condenados a 18 años de prisión.

Accused of supporting the tearing up of the Constitution. Could be sentenced to 18 years.

Diez ex ministros fujimoristas conocerán hoy su suerte ante la justicia en ocasión del proceso que se les sigue por el autogolpe del 5 de abril de 1992, liderado por el ex dictador Alberto Fujimori.

Ten former cabinet ministers of ex-president Alberto Fujimori will learn their fate from the court today in their trial over the coup d’etat of Abril 5, 1992, led by former dictator Alberto Fujimori.

Al respecto, la Sala Penal Especial de la Corte Suprema programó para esta mañana la lectura de sentencia contra Jaime Yoshiyama Tanaka, Carlos Boloña Behr, Absalón Vásquez, Juan Briones Dávila, Víctor Joy Way, Óscar de la Puente Raygada, Jaime Sobero Taira, Alfredo Ross Antezana, Víctor Paredes Guerra y Augusto Antonioli Vásquez.

The Special Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court has scheduled sentencing this morning for Jaime Yoshiyama Tanaka, Carlos Boloña Behr, Absalón Vásquez, Juan Briones Dávila, Víctor Joy Way, Óscar de la Puente Raygada, Jaime Sobero Taira, Alfredo Ross Antezana, Víctor Paredes Guerra and Augusto Antonioli Vásquez.

Todos ellos han sido acusados del delito de rebelión y podrían ser condenados de 12 a 18 años de prisión por supuestamente haber apoyado al entonces presidente Alberto Fujimori a quebrar el orden constitucional.

All are accused of rebellion and could be sentenced to 12 to 18 years in prison for allegedly supporting the then-president’s violation of the constitutional order.

En esa fecha, mediante un recordable polémico Mensaje a la Nación, el extraditado disolvió el Congreso, cerró el Poder Judicial, persiguió a los opositores, controló los medios de comunicación, etc.

On this date, through his memorable and controversial Message to the Nation, the extradited ex-president dissolved Congress, closed the judiciary, persecuted the opposition, controlled the news media, and so on.

Meanwhile, in Brazil, a bit of history is being rehashed in the same case because former president Cardoso has been called as a witness by Fujimori’s defense.

Brazil: Of Squid, Worms and Higher Learning

The nightmarish tênia.

Cursinhos querem anulação de teste de biologia da Fuvest 2008: “Test prep firms want biology question on FUVEST exam annuled.”

My wife will be interested: She just sat for the FUVEST. She is thinking of getting her master’s in library and information science. She says she just cannot take the journalism racket anymore.

O teste de biologia trata da classificação das lulas, lombrigas, minhocas e tênias e, de acordo com a resposta apontada como correta no gabarito, “as minhocas e lulas apresentam metameria, que não é encontrada nas tênias e nas lombrigas”.

The biology test deals with the classification of squid, [some kind of nonsegmented worm], earthworms, and [worms of the orders Pseudophilidae and Ciclophylidae], and, according to the result pointed to as correct in the answer key, “earthworms and squid present the characteristic known as [the characteristic of being segmented in rings], while the others do not.

Segundo o supervisor de biologia do Sistema Anglo de Ensino, Sezar Sasson, uma carta pedindo a anulação já foi enviada à organização do processo seletivo. “A resposta que a Fuvest aponta como correta diz que a lula teria metameria, ou seja, o corpo segmentado. Isso acontece com a minhoca, mas não com a lula”, diz.

According to biology supervisor of the Anglo Instructional System, Sezar Sasson, a letter asking that the question be annuled has been sent to the exam organizer. “The answer FUVEST indicates is correct says that squid present segmented rings. This is true of the earthworm, but not of the squid,” he says.

Purging the World of PURIFI: How Watching TV Globo Makes You Stupider

NMM(-TV)SNB(B)CNN(P)BS on Google Video follows up on

• Biomagnetism: TV Globo Debunks Itself?

“Under the new rule, it is forbidden to air or publish information obtained through false identities and hidden cameras. According to the text, this can only be done to bring to light information of relevant public interest and when the professional has exhausted all alternatives that would permit him or her to refuse to use it.” –See Brazil: “Journalists Adopt Anti-Videoscandal Principle”

Few writers need to be reminded that we seek and publish a response from anyone criticized in our pages. But when the criticism is serious, we have a special obligation to describe the scope of the accusation and let the subject respond in detail. No subject should be taken by surprise when the paper appears, or feel that there was no chance to respond. –New York Times, Guidelines on Integrity.

Independent research by Dr Robert Becker and Dr John Zimmerman during the 1980’s investigated what happens whilst people practice therapies like Reiki. They found that not only do the brain wave patterns of practitioner and receiver become synchronised in the alpha state, characteristic of deep relaxation and meditation, but they pulse in unison with the earth’s magnetic field, known as the Schuman Resonance. During these moments, the biomagnetic field of the practitioners’ hands is at least 1000 times greater than normal, and not as a result of internal body current. … Prof Paul Davies and Dr John Gribben in The Matter Myth (1991), discuss the quantum physics view of a ‘living universe’ in which everything is connected in a ‘living web of interdependence’. All of this supports the subjective experience of ‘oneness’ and ‘expanded consciousness’ related by those who regularly receive or self-treat with Reiki. –”Science Validates Spiritual Healing“

Correction to the subtitles there above: Not “Ten PGA golfers use magnets,” but “Eight out of 10 PGA golfers use magnets.”

Also, not ” … to help center-fielder Bernie Williams” (go Yankees!) but ” … to heal (sarar) the torn ligament of center-fielder Bernie Williams.”

Which is important: It states quite directly that the magnets are used to heal.

When Globo ran one of its trademark “debunking charlatanism” consumer segments on Fantástico recently (the second segment shown here) — Father Quevedo is a frequent protagonist of this type of Fantástico segment– the company in question, PURIFI, objected violently.

In its rebuttal, PURIFI pointed out the first segment here, in which Fantástico cites a “fashion” for the “Oriental practice” of “biomagnetism” among “famous American athletes,” (1) highlights a number of arguments in favor of the notion that biomagnetism has a scientific basis, (2) interviews not a single skeptic on the subject, and (3) appears to make the claim, in a voiceover, that “more and more, medicine is saving lives using biomagnetism.”

(Note that I have not yet compared the uploaded version with the version from Globo itself.

I should do so, just to make sure that the voiceover making that claim has not been added in later. It sounds like the usual voiceover guy, though. I know that sounds paranoid, but the incidence of  the virulent pathogen of gabbling fabrication here in Brazil really does require such careful boiling, out of an abundance of caution.)

The fact is, as far as I can discover from relatively hasty research — because Globo somehow failed to even mention this important aspect to the story, much less present any factoids about it — that the U.S. FTC and FDA continue to forbid certain advertising claims about the effects of magnetism on the body, and relatedly, about the effects of magnetized water on the body, because they have not been substantiated by scientific testing.

Both Globo and this PURIFIC do seem, on first inspection, to be flirting with making, or implying or insinuating such claims. I am sure a roomful of lawyers could debate the fine points for months.

But the astonishing thing, as always, I think, is the quality of Globo journalism demonstrated here.

Globo journalism is capable of asserting, or insinuating, both A and not-A with equal (lack of) conviction — where neither A nor not-A are well-founded or properly documented, as presented.

“Hugo Chávez Seeks to Establish a Terrorist State in Colombia”: Uribe

Risk to upcoming elections, by municipality, presented by the presence of new groups, emergent gangs, remnants of demoblized paramilitaries, and “structures in formation.” See Infographic of the Week: Colombia’s Elections Observer Mission. Santander, is, if I am reading my map right, a red zone.

There is an organic link between the ParTy of the 40 gangsters, the agro-terrorist MST, the narco-terrorist FARC, the MIR and the kidnap-terrorist PPMR and the narco-retailing PCC, which now doubles as its armed wing, outsourcing terrorism in the service of ideology. –Tribuna Nacional (Brazil), July 17, 2006 (from Google cache)

NGOs dream of using the criminal power and the weapons of the traffic in favor of a social revolution they deem to be imminent and inevitable … It is needful for us not to heed their caveats, and to assume the risks and the collateral damage. It would be impossible to be more explicit than the words of Gov. Sergio Cabral about the narcotraffickers: “They are terrorists, they are evildoers.” – Col. Mário Sérgio de Brito Duarte, former commander of BOPE, the “trooper elite” of the Rio military police — unofficial but highly publicized motto: “We kill to create a better world” – and currently in charge of strategic planning for the state Secretary of Public Security (SSP), Rio de Janeiro. See also BOPE Blogs: “Only the Hard Men Can Save the City”

It is very effective to mobilize mass support against a scapegoated enemy by claiming that the enemy is part of a vast insidious conspiracy against the common good. The conspiracist worldview sees secret plots by tiny cabals of evildoers as the major motor powering important historical events; makes irrational leaps of logic in analyzing factual evidence in order to “prove” connections, blames social conflicts on demonized scapegoats, and constructs a closed metaphysical worldview that is highly resistant to criticism. When conspiracist scapegoating occurs, the results can devastate a society, disrupting rational political discourse and creating targets who are harassed and even murdered. –Public Eye, “Conspiracism”

“The antiestablishment alliance has begun to organize itself spontaneously, through a converence of enemies and phobias. This shared aversion is what holds together the left that failed in May 1968 with the other that came over the Berlin Wall when it fell, along with intellectuals that gave cover to communism and today regard the anti-Western surge of Islamic jihadism with complacency, anti-globalization other-worlders of various stripes, and various forms of indigenous rights movements, populism and religious fanaticism.” –Jose Maria Aznar; see Aznar on the Phantom Menace

 ’Necesitamos mediación contra el terrorismo, no legitimadores del terrorismo’: Álvaro Uribe: “We need mediation against terrorism, not legitimation of terrorism,” says Uribe of the Chávez initiative to negotiate a humanitarian accord with the FARC, and its possible demobilization.

EL TIEMPO reports.

It also reports that former diplomats are saying — in diplomatic terms, of course — that they are having a hard time believing how mind-blowing undiplomatic this pronouncement was.

There is a school of thought in crisis communications according to which, when you face a scandal, the first thing you have to do is create massive moral panic over a counterscandal. Jorge Noguera has been observed doing just that, for example.

• Colombia: Narcoparapolitician Promises FARCopolitics Scandal!

Uribe continues to face mounting pressure over the parapolitics affair — “Vote Quimby or my friend here will blow your brains out.” That friend belonging to a group classified as a terrorist organization by the United States government. See

• Colombia: Senate Suffers More Parapolitical Perplexity

Con esta alusión directa a Hugo Chávez, Uribe respondió sus ataques y el anuncio de congelar relaciones. Uribe también lo acusó de promover un proyecto expansionista que “no entrará a Colombia”.

With that direct allusion to Hugo Chávez,Uribe responded to his attacks and the announcement that relations will be frozen. Uribe also accused [Chávez] of promoting an expansionist project that [he promised] “will not enter Columbia.”

Send in the Ambush-Interview Clowns: The Commedia Dell’Arte of Public Debate (NMM(-TV)SNB(B)CNN(P)BS)

Two things only the people anxiously desire: / Bread and circuses. –Juvenal, Satires, No. 10, l. 80-1.

Mouse and Mandoki: Trash TV & Alt.Cinema in Mexico & Brazil (Daily Motion)

Imagine if U.S. presidential candidates, instead of debating one another, all sent designated circus freaks to debate the public controversies of the day in their place. This is basically the approach to public discourse taken by the wildly popular Ratinho show, an excerpt from which I was wanting to show you. Also, a snippet from an Astillero.TV (Mexico) interview with Luis Mandoki, whose “Fraud: Mexico 2006″ will reportedly screen in the United States early next year. How do these two go together? I can’t think of a gimmick to make them go together at the moment. I just subtitle snippets I am interesting in talking about in the order received. Mass-media versus alt.media south of the Rio Grande?

On Ratinho, see

• Rat Ptui: The Moral Crusade Against Brazilian Trash TV, 1998

On Mandoki, see

• Mandoki Takes “Fraude” on the Road
• Mexico: Katia Goes to Mandoki’s Movie
• La Crónica Hoy on Fraude: “What is Truth?”
• Mexico: You Have Seen the Election Fraud Movie, Now Read the Book
• Mexico: “Fraud Flick Debuts”
• Mexico: “Luis Mandoki is the Leni Riefenstahl of the Mexican Left”

Missing Link: Identity of Identity and Non-Identity in the Tech Section of the Estadão

Pictured: A non-miniscule Asus model.

In given conditions, all contradictory aspects possess the character of non-identity and hence are described as being in contradiction. But they also possess the character of identity and hence are interconnected. This is what Lenin means when he says that dialectics studies “how opposites can be . . . identical”. How then can they be identical? Because each is the condition for the other’s existence. This is the first meaning of identity. –Mao Tse-Tung

The tech section of the Estado de S. Paulo (Brazil) reports today:

Repórter testa o Asus, o menor laptop do mundo

Reporter tests the Asus, the smallest laptop in the world

Click through to the video, however, and you read the following headline

O Link testou o notebook Asus, um dos menores do mundo

The Link section has test-driven the Asus notebook, one of the smallest in the world.

The Estado de S. Paulo seems to have asserted two contradictory proposition as being equally true:

1. The Asus is the smallest notebook in the world
2. The Asus may not be the smallest notebook in the world

A quick google shows the Samsung Q35 also claiming to be the “smallest laptop in the world” at one point. Or rather, the “smallest dual-core laptop in the world.” But I really do not care enough about the issue to run it down. Apparently, neither does the Estadão.

Write Cecil Adams of The Straight Dope. He gets pays to research trivia. You would think that that’s what Estadão reporters get paid for, too, but apparently this is just too much to ask for the R$2.50 newsstand price.

If I hook my palmtop up to one of those folding keyboards — I have one — and secure it in my lap while using it, does it then become a very small laptop?

Tech sections in major metropolitan newspapers all over the world are given to publishing all kinds of gibberish these days, of course. Generally in the name of “innovation journalism.” See, for example

• “Libération Loves Microsoft”: Le Monde Twits the Existentialist Paper of Record
• “The Sweet Teat of Junket Whoredom”: The Public Editor on “Fighting Toadies”

In the case of the Link section of the Estadão, my favorite example is their “test-drive” of the XO — the “famous $100 laptop,” as they consistently referred to it. (The other models competing for a spot in a pilot program did not get a Homeric epithet.)

The one that Peru, for example, just paid about $185 a unit for. Go figure.

This Asus has reportedly now introduced a $199 model.

Harvard Man: “Wake Up and Smell the Crisis”

If anything characterizes our times, it is a sense of pervading chaos. In every field of human endeavor, the windstorms of change are fast altering the ways we live. Contemporary man is no longer anchored in certainties and thus has lost sight of who he is, where he comes from and where he is going. — The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, quoted in my Spinning the World Backwards.

Summers used his position to sing the praises of the so-called “energetic young reformers” – a phrase Boris Yeltsin helped coin that these days is rarely spoken in Russian circles except as a sarcastic insult.

There are children who are working in textile businesses in Asia who would be prostitutes on the streets if they did not have those jobs. –Lawrence Summers

Summers: “Odds Now Favor Recession” (W$J):

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers says “the odds now favor a U.S. recession that slows growth significantly on a global basis.” Mr. Summers, in his Financial Times column, posted on the newspaper’s web site Sunday night, wrote that just three months ago “it was reasonable to expect that the subprime credit crisis would be a financially significant event, but not one that would threaten the overall pattern of economic growth.” “This is still a possible outcome but no longer the preponderant probability,” he said.

The headline: “Wake up to the dangers of a deepening crisis.”

Should we apply the Chicken Little (Boy Who Cried Wolf) principle to this sort of dire prognostication — which is a dime a dozen these days — or is this bearish diagnosis well-founded?

It was interesting to read the following recently in the newly published style guide of the Último Segundo online news service in Brazil — which cites the Financial Times as one of the main sources of its editorial principles (the old Financial Times style guide, which I used to have a copy of, seems to be out of print).

Crise – Só use a palavra para definir um evento decisivo ou uma virada (turning point). Confusões políticas, desentendimentos ou discórdia não são crises. A crise se define por uma ausência de resposta.

Crisis: Only use the word to describe a decisive event or “turning point.” Political dust-ups, fallings out or disagreements are not crises. A crisis is defined by an absence of solutions.

Summers recommends three steps needed to avoid, or minimize the risk of, the deepening crisis.

On September 20, 2007, the Economist published a column called “The Turning Point” to describe the current situation of the U.S. economy. Tagline:

Does the latest financial crisis signal the end of a golden age of stable growth?

The answer: Maybe, but then again, maybe not.

Although it is perverse to argue the golden age has not been tested, it would be foolish to rule out a shock (or combination of shocks) that might break the economy’s resilience. Combine the present discord in credit markets with the seeming vulnerability of housing markets and it is all too easy to imagine the rich-world economies in trouble. … If America falls hard now, it will be a harbinger for the rest of the rich world.

There are three participants in this debate: Perverts, fools and The Economist, which has an active imagination.

(“Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am: Stuck in the middle with you.”)

“It is all too easy to imagine” that Godzilla might emerge from the ocean depths to stomp Tokyo. It is easy to imagine a lot of things.

But how likely is it? The Economist editorial is remarkably noncommital on the hard probabilities — more so, even, than Summers, who frames his argument in terms of “the odds,” at least (though he does not put a number on them, that I can see).

The editorial is shot through with the rhetoric of alarmed speculation. The headline is in the indicative mood, the tagline is an interrogative, and the body of the editorial is firmly rooted in the subjunctive.

For an analysis with similar rhetorical characteristics, see

• IstoÉ Dinheiro on the Risco Cisco: Apocalyptic Scenarios And Anonymous Buzz

We apparently live in an age of crisis.

Or is it an age of merely apparent crisis?

Or an age of constant potential crisis?

As in, “The wake-up call could be a mushroom cloud”?

Is Summers’ prognostication to be received as an example of “brand the crisis” communications or as a credible analysis of the current macroeconomic risk scenario?

Or is it, as often occurs in postmodern journalism — “Can a common ingredient of Yankee pot roast kill you stone cold dead? Tune in at 11!” (The answer: Most probably not) — a case of the latter, but packaged as the former.

What, if anything, does Summers’ track record of prognostications have to tell us on this point?

The Shleifer affair immediately comes to mind. On which see also

• “How Harvard Lost Russia” Wins Top ABSPE Honors

On “brand the crisis, own the crisis” public relations gambits in general, see also

• “Brand the Crisis:” The Gospel According to Toninho Malvadezas

Bada Bingo Bada Bang: Heavy Arms in Vacant Gambling Joint

Bingo Jabaquara, Southern Zone, São Paulo. Jumping-off point for Santos. Source: Fotoagência NMM(-TV)SNBCNNBS-Tabajara (me).

Armas e munições são apreendidas em bingo lacrado em SP: Arms and ammunition found in a sealed bingo in Santana, near the main bus terminal, here in São Paulo.

SÃO PAULO – A polícia apreendeu munição, algumas de uso exclusivo das Forças Armadas, e várias armas por volta das 2h15 desta sexta-feira, 23, no interior do Bingo Cruzeiro do Sul, na zona norta da capital paulista. Localizada na altura do nº 3.108 da Avenida Cruzeiro do Sul, no bairro de Santana, ao lado do terminal rodoviário do Tietê, a casa de jogos foi fechada em definitivo pela Prefeitura em julho deste ano.

Police seized ammunition, some of it reserved for Armed Forces use, and a number of weapons on Friday, November 23, at 2:14 am, from inside the Bingo Cruzeiro do Sul in the northern district of the city. Locate at 3108 Cruzeiro do Sul Ave., in Santana, next to the Tietê bus terminal, the gaming house was shut down for good by the city government in July of this year.

Nesta madrugada, o segurança que toma conta do estabelecimento, ao abrir um dos compartimentos de um armário que era utilizado pelos funcionários, encontrou nele duas pistolas calibre 380, um revólver calibre 38, outro calibre 32, uma granada de ferro, um sinalizador de luz e som e um explosivo de gás lacrimogêneo.

In the early morning hours of Friday, the security guard looking after the establishment, upon opening a closet used by employees, found two .380 pistols, a .38 revolver, a .32 revolver, a hand grenade, a siren and flasher unit, and a tear gas round.

São Paulo Diary: “The Villa Madá Will Be the Place Pigalle of Sampa!”

The famous “graffiti alley” (beco), Villa Madá.

Augusta, graças a deus,
Graças a deus,
Entre você e a Angélica
Eu encontrei a Consolação
Que veio olhar por mim
E me deu a mão.
Augusta, que saudade,
Você era vaidosa,
Que saudade,
E gastava o meu dinheiro,
Que saudade,
Com roupas importadas
E outras bobagens.
Angélica, que maldade,
Você sempre me deu bolo,
Que maldade,
E até andava com a roupa,
Que maldade,
Cheirando a consultório médico,
Angêlica …
– Tom Zê

The departure of the workmen ought to be a relief for the area. At least that is what a report from the merchants association and the city government suggests: “Instead of working men, well-dressed men and woman who are elegant in all aspects of their appearance.”

I guess that leaves me out.

Ruas da Vila Madalena vão virar bulevares: “Streets of the Vila Madalena to become boulevards!” G1/Globo reports, regarding our own neighborhood here in São Paulo.
It may sound cynical to suggest that projects like this have an odd way of coming during mayoral election season, but the cynicism is not mine.

It is cynicism overheard from neighboring tables at our favorite Vila Madalena boteco, and really almost a folkloric theory of neighborhood improvement: When the incumbent mayor needs your vote, your street gets a quick repave, along with a cheerful “Vote Quimby!”

By the time the potholes reappear, after the next stiff rain, the election is already over. Plus ça change, plus ça la meme chose.

The Garotinhos of Rio de Janeiro recently had their political rights suspended for several years over an alleged scheme to peg street paving to the production of a specified number of “votes for Quimby.”

Governor Cabral recently said he had put an end to a similar scheme in which high scorers on police promotion exams must deliver similar quotas — deliver the votes — for political patrons in order to secure the promotion.

But see also

• Rio: “Armed Groups Interfere With Freedom of Association”

And see also

• Paraiba, Brazil: “The Governor Paid My Water Bill with a Mountain of Flying Money!”

Sa(l)vaging The Capitalist Brand: Memo from the Red Team

Support for democracy in Latin America, 1995-2007. “Democracy is the best form of government “(54%); “In some circumstances, a nondemocratic government might be preferable” (17%); “Authoritarian or democratic, it makes no difference to us” (20%); “No response/Don’t know” (4%). Source: Latinobarómetro. Does not add up to 100%.

Capitalism is the future of Latin America, but not just any form of capitalism. A capitalism with a terroristic, guerrilla warfare mentality does not build prosperity, although it may be good business for some. This type of capitalist culture delegitimizes free enterprise in the eyes of society.–Fernando Javier Ruiz, Centro para la Apertura y el Desarrollo de America Latina

Agência Carta Maior (Brazil) reviews a recent local appearance by the Hungarian Marxist philosopher István Mészáros.

I often get accused by extreme right-wingnuts of being a “cryptomarxist pseudojournalist,” but I really do not think that is quite the case. These sort of people, of course, tend to think that even if one honestly has the intentions one says one has, one’s cryptomarxism can still be explained by Manchurian Candidate-style brainwashing and exposure to insidious cryptoprogranda such as that college course in which you read Rawls’ A Theory of Justice (and Nozick as well, of course):

• “Rawls’ Theory of Justice is a Cryptomarxist Manchurian Brainwashing Campaign!”

When I read the local Communist newspaper, Vermelho, on the grotesque Daslu affair, for example, I stop well short of the drastic conclusions the paper wants me to reach: “And thus we see the inherent corruption of the capitalist order!”

But that the affair was grotesque and revealing about the local poster-children for the capitalist brand, I find this hard to deny.

I like to see myself as a red-team public relations specialist for the capitalist brand.

In wargaming, the opposing force in a simulated military conflict is known as the Red Team, and is used to reveal weaknesses in current military readiness. The approach and the value is depicted in the movie The Dirty Dozen, where a small team of Red Team infiltrators is able to capture the generals in the Blue Team command post.

Reading the CPMI dos Correios: Donald Segrettism au Go Go in the Sweltering Tropics

You can’t tell the players without a program: social network analysis of the postal service scandal, the CPI dos Correios, here in Brazil.

Privatization of the state is a system under which a state functionary has replaced the law, and different rules are applied to different people. Civil servants use the offices of the state for their personal enrichment and state functions are either not performed at all or performed for the benefit of those who use the state for illicit purposes.
–Vladimir Brovkin, “Fragmentation of Authority and Privatization of the State: From Gorbachev to Yeltsin”

The most important thing here is to look into the possible overlap between industrial espionage and political espionage, brokered by a state agency, the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN). –CPMI dos Correios, Final Report, Vol. I, Section 5, “Espionage in the Postal Service”

The story so far: An MIT- trained economist and Brazilian venture capitalist, Daniel Dantas of Opportunity, gets into trouble in Brazil for hiring Kroll (the “risk management” arm of the MMC Companies) to spy on government officials, business competitors and business associates.

The espionage activities focus specifically board members of Brasil Telecom, many of them representing pension funds for federal employees. The wrongdoing charged involves illegal wiretapping, among things — a phenomenon that appears to be rampant in Brazilian political life, if the case against the late Senator Magalhães, which forced his temporary withdrawal from office several years ago, is any indication.

A former CIA agent known as Frank Holder worked the case for Kroll.

Also involved in the case is the director of ABIN, the “Brazilian CIA,” Mauro Marcelo de Lima e Silva, who resigned during the joint congressional investigation of an alleged political slush fund scheme in which Dantas was also implicated. I need to understand better the reason given for that resignation, and the circumstances. Lucas Figueiredo’s The Ministry of Silence, on the history and prehistory of ABIN, only takes us up to 2005.

See also

• Dantas and Kroll: Early Daze

After Dantas and associates are arrested, indicted and put on trial for illegal wiretapping and related charges — in a federal police investigation known as Operation Jackal — Dantas approaches Veja magazine with a “dossier” on members of the government, a prominent opposition politician who is a former head of the federal police, and the current head of the federal police, Paulo Lacerda.

The “dossier” charges that these officials have secret, illegal offshore bank accounts into which bribes have been deposited.

Veja fact-checks the dossier, finds that it cannot be corroborated and may well be fraudulent, and yet runs it anyway, under the argument that despite the lack of solid evidence for them, it nevertheless finds the allegations “plausible.”

Ecce Veja. See

• Veja (Brazil): Behind the Scenes of an “Exemplary” Investigative Report

More recently, a number of publications, including Consultor Jurídico and most especially IstoÉ Dinheiro, have revived the theory according to which Telecom Italia bribed senior government and law enforcement officials and then framed Dantas to hush the matter up. See

• The Persecution of Daniel Dantas: An Italian Opera in (?) Acts

Meanwhile, Lacerda has left the federal police and been named to head ABIN, even as the federal attorney, as CartaCapital is complaining at the moment, has yet to issue a finding on the question: Did Lacerda take bribes and funnel them into Swiss bank accounts?

In Brazil, the wheels of justice often grind slower than the fossilization of amber — and exceedingly gross.

Romeu Tuma, a former federal police chief himself and now a federal senator from São Paulo, whose name appeared on the Dantas-Holder list of senior officials with illegal offshore bank accounts, recently left the opposition DEM-PFL party and went over to the PTB (which is currently renegotiating the terms of its support for the government benches in the Senate.)

Harvard Law professor Mangabeira Unger published an op-ed in the Folha de S. Paulo in October 2005 in which he summed up the charges against the Lula government:

He [Lula] meddled, and let those close to him meddle, in private disputes and businesses. And he commanded, with one eye open and one eye shut, a political machine that traded money for power and power for money, and then tried to buy, with budget allocations, political support to interrupt the investigation of his abuses.

Mangabeira formerly represented Daniel Dantas on the board of Brasil Telecom — and indeed, reportedly petitioned the government ethics board to continue doing so while serving in the cabinet.

The Harvard theory of “innovation in public administration” in action: Those are not conflicts of interest! Those are innovation synergies! See

• Mangabeira Unger and DVD: Applying the Teste da Farinha
• “Mangabeira Unger Rebuffed by Ethics Board”

Late appointed to a cabinet-level planning post, Mangabeira retracted those statements and apologized. The theme of his inaugural speech: “Let us look to the future, not the past!”

His defenders– astonishing excuse, this — argued that he had simply made the honest mistake of believing what he read in the Brazilian news media. See

• Mangabeira Unger Apologizes; Long-Term Deep Thinker Says He Rushed to Judgment

What to make of all this? This byzantine affair makes the Hewlett-Packard “pretexting”scandal look like a straightforward case of Nelson Muntz shaking down the other kids for their lunch money.

But the feature that interests me most, I guess, is the suggestion that sectors of the Brazilian news media has lent itself wholeheartedly and whole hog throughout to information warfare on behalf of certain of the warring parties.

And further, that the affair reflects a certain Putinesque struggle to seize state assets and funnel them into private hands — from whence they flow back to political actors who have committed to protecting those private interests.

It strikes me that many of Mr. Brovkin’s observations on the formation of a “criminal corporatist oligarchy” in Russia, operated by and for the benefit of members of the state intelligence apparatus controlled by Putin, do seem to apply in some ways, mutatis mutandis, to the Brazilian situation.

Readings in Wanderley Guilherme dos Santos and Elio Gaspari tend to reinforce that tentative and preliminary hypothesis, filling in some of the historical background.

In Brazil, the theory goes — very roughly put, in a “for dummies” version, mind you — there is the State — a vast Indonesian archipelago of bureaucratic latifúndios controlled by what Luis Nassif calls “the permanent operators”– and then there is the so-called Government de plantão — the idiots elected by the idiot electorate to keep up the appearance that democracy is in full force.

State actors of a certain mentality do not recognize the Government as their legitimate employer. If they do not like the government’s policy initiatives, the Government can, not to put too fine a point on it, go fuck itself.

These actors can rely on the mass media to back their play. With the amplifier turned up to eleven. A likely example:

• Miriam Leitão: “Authoritarian” Moral Panic Moment No. 999

This is how the story shapes in my head at this moment, but mind you, I am going on incomplete information here and still slogging through the factual background.

Which is why I am trying to slog through the report of the CPMI dos Correios, whose 1,857 pages represent the most concerted attempt to date to produce detailed fact-finding into the activities of the Ben Hur-sized cast of characters in this tropical parapolitical Jacobean revenger’s tragedy.

Today, my mind wanders to the question: So, how did this whole mess begin, anway?

With the astonishing confessions of a PTB lawmaker named Roberto Jefferson, who, accused of (and later impeached over) running a bribery scheme in the national postal service, charged senior government officials with would later become the “big monthly” scandal. On whom, see

• “Nerves of Steel”: A Brazilian Autohagiographer Blogs, and a Blogger Blogs It

A gravação da fita de vídeo, em que o funcionário dos Correios, Maurício Marinho, é flagrado recebendo R$ 3.000,00, foi resultado da chamada espionagem industrial ou comercial. No entanto, o mais importante é analisar a possível imbricação entre a espionagem industrial e a espionagem política por intermédio de um órgão do Estado, a Agência Brasileira de Inteligência (ABIN).

The videotap in which Postal Service employee Maurício Marinho is caught taking a R$3,000 bribe was the result of so-called industrial or commercial espionage. However, the most important thing here is to look into the possible overlap between industrial espionage and political espionage, brokered by a state agency, the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN).

Peru: The Occultation of the Hidden Fujimori?

“Clash in high places”: La República, June 16, 2007, on the Fujimorist gambit to stack the Supreme Court ahead of Fujimori’s extradition to stand trial on charges of — being a Constitutional innovator death squad-running, judge-intimidating, media-bribing self-enriching dictator.

Una norma con nombre propio: “A law with one man’s name on it.” La República (Lima) reports on a bill that would alter criminal procedure significantly, allegedly in time for the trial of former President Alberto Fujimori.

An attempt to pack the Supreme Court with Fujimori loyalists was averted earlier this year:

• Peru: “Total Bork of Fujimorist Court-Packing Plan”

Una extraña propuesta. El proyecto de Ley de Simplificación del Juicio Oral que, a principios de este mes, el Ejecutivo envió al Congreso para su “urgente” aprobación, permitiría que el extraditado Alberto Fujimori evite ser confrontado con sus coacusados en los procesos que se le sigue por corrupción y violaciones de DDHH.

A strange proposal. The proposed Law for the Simplification of Oral Proceedings which the Executive sent the Congress at the beginning of this month for “urgent” deliberations would permit the extradited Alberto Fujimori to avoid being confronted with his co-defendants in his trials for corruption and human rights violations.

El presidente del Instituto de Defensa Legal (IDL), Hans Landolt, advirtió que la modificación planteada en el proyecto de ley a los artículos 243 y 256 del Código de Procedimientos Penales favorecería al ex dictador pues le permitiría no estar presente en el proceso una vez que escuche la acusación fiscal, evitando así estar expuesto a un desgaste político al no enfrentarse a sus coacusados, testigos o familiares de las víctimas.

The president of the Institute for Legal Defense (IDL), Hans Landolt, warned that the proposed modifications to Articles 243 and 256 of the Code of Criminal Procedure would favor the former dictator by permitting him to be absent from the courtroom once he hears the charges read against him, thus avoiding being exposed to the politicial embarrassment of being confronted by co-defendants, witnesses and family members of victims.

El artículo 243 señala que “el acusado no podrá alejarse de la audiencia sin permiso de la Sala; sin embargo, una vez escuchada la formulación de cargos y por razones justificadas podrá autorizársele el permiso, en cuyo caso será representado por su defensor”.

Article 243 provides that “the accused may not be absence from trial sessions with leave from the Court; however, once the charges and justifications are read, the accused may be permitted to be absent, in which case the accused shall be represented by defense counsel.”

Agrega que “si el acusado ha prestado su declaración en el juicio oral o se acoge al derecho de guardar silencio y deja de asistir a la audiencia, esta continuará sin su presencia y será representado por su defensor”.

It adds that “if the accused has given his testimony in the oral proceedings or asserts the right to remain silent and is no longer attending court sessions, such sessions will continue without his presence and he shall be represented by defense counsel.”

Mientras que el artículo 256 precisa que “la Sala, de oficio o a solicitud de parte, puede ordenar que el acusado no esté presente en la audiencia durante un interrogatorio, si es de temer que otro de los acusados o un testigo o perito no dirá la verdad en su presencia”. Además, refiere que si los testigos o peritos no pueden asistir por causa justificada, podrán declarar a través de una videoconferencia u otro sistema de reproducción a distancia.

Meanwhile, Article 256 [as revised] would provide that “the court … may order the accused not to be present in the courtroom during testimony if there is reason to fear that other defendants or a witness or expert will not tell the truth in the presence of the accused.” It also provides that if witnesses or experts cannot attend for a justifiable reason, they can testify by videoconference or other system of telecommunications.

Sin embargo, indica que “las diligencias de confrontación, de debate pericial o de reconocimiento estarán sujetas a las mismas reglas”.

It provides, however, that “the procedures for cross-examination, expert deliberation and recognition shall be subject to the same rules.”

Brazil: New Notes on Belo Horizonte Baldy’s Plastic, Fantastic Pipeline of Invisible Money

The Bald One: The DNA Propaganda king is the key man in Brazil’s oddly bifurcated political slush-fund scandal, and yet the case does not bear his name, for reasons I cannot understand. It’s as though Shakespeare gave Hamlet the title The Triumph of Fortinbras or Gertrude Has a Bad Hair Day.

With degrees in engineering and economics, Bahian banker Daniel Dantas, 50, owner of the Opportunity group, is one of the richest men in Brazil. His empire was built based on pension funds and foreign partners. In 1998, Dantas was at the heart of investigations into suspected favoritism in the privatization of the Telebrás system. Last year (2004), Brasil Telecom — controlled up to that point by Dantas — was accused of hiring Kroll to spy on Telecom Italia. The investigations reportedly overflowed the boundaries of the corporate world to involve federal officials.

Privatization of the state is a system under which a state functionary has replaced the law, and different rules are applied to different people. Civil servants use the offices of the state for their personal enrichment and state functions are either not performed at all or performed for the benefit of those who use the state for illicit purposes. –Vladimir Brovkin

“Não tenhais medo dos homens, pois nada há de encoberto que não venha a ser revelado, e nada há de escondido que não venha a ser conhecido.” –Matthew 10:6; epigram of the final report of the CPMI of the Postal Service

The following is just me thinking out loud, inefficiently and probably without sufficient solid information to go on. Caveat lector.

The Diario do Amazonas (Brazil) editorializes today on the long-awaited indictment of Sen. Azeredo of Minas Gerais on charges that his 1998 gubernatorial campaign laundered illegal private donations and public money through the publicity budgets for sporting and entertainment events and the like, including a motocross championship and (I think I read) Rock in Rio.

News coverage of the indictment tends to focus on the Kremlinological aspect. Will the Toucans (PSDB), who are having their national convention at the moment, back Azeredo? The big headline, therefore: Former president Cardoso utters what sounds like a version of a mantra often heard from his successor as well: “These things must stop, no matter who gets hurt.”

See also

• “Every Toucan For Himself, As Baldy Drops the Other Shoe”

The Amazonian editorialist:

A denúncia revela que o plano originário em Minas foi uma espécie de laboratório para o esquema de caixa 2 usado mais tarde pelos petistas. Em ambos os casos, havia desvio de recursos públicos para financiar campanhas políticas em total desrespeito às leis vigentes no País.

The charge reveals that the scheme that originated in Minas Gerais was a kind of laboratory for the “slush fund” scheme used later by the PT. In both cases there was misappropriation of public funds to finance political campaigns in total disrespect of Brazilian law.

It surprised me to read this, because I recall reading that the Supreme Court declined to indict all but one of the defendants of the “financial-political partisan nucleus” for misuse of public funds.

A number of commentators pointed to this as the principal difference between the [alleged] “big monthly of Minas” and the [alleged] national big monthly.”

The basis of this claim of moral equivalence is apparently new evidence presented by the federal attorney last week.

Whether or not there is a moral equivalence between the two scandals — “We are all prostitutes” — and particularly on this specific point, will be hotly debated, I am sure.

One form that debate takes is to try to quantify the pillaging of the public treasury that allegedly took place.

Who stole what, and how much? (It is very common to read, in the Tupi noise-machines and blog comments, that “Under Cardoso, they stole millions, but Lula is stealing billions.” This seems unlikely, but in any event cannot be plausibly asserted until the beans get counted.)

In those cases where public money was stolen, that is. There seem to be two problematic behaviors here (1) siphoning off public money ( from state-owned firms) and (2) taking undeclared private campaign donations.

Defenders of the government will ask how the “Minas big monthly” can be called a “dress rehearsal” for the “national big monthly” if the dollar amounts allegedly involved in the “dress rehearasla are much larger, the undue use of public funds (if any) in the “opening night” scheme are more limited, and the period of operation of the “dress rehearsal” was allegedly much longer?

And indeed, the indictment in the “dress rehearsal” case reads less like the description of an R&D lab than of a widget factory running at 110% capacity in order to fill its Christmas orders in time.

Unfortunately, Brazilians are not going to have any answers to those questions before 2010 — the next presidential election year, coincidentally.

No caso do fundo Visanet, a Polícia Federal rastreou, desde a sua origem, a verba utilizada em pagamentos à empresa DNA, do publicitário Marcos Valério Fernandes de Souza, feitos com recursos de cota do Banco do Brasil no Visanet, no valor de R$ 73,8 milhões. O banco sempre negou que o dinheiro fosse público.

The “new evidence” in the “big monthly” case, as reported by the Folha de S. Paulo:

In the case of the Visanet fund, the federal police traced to its origins the money used to pay the DNA advertising agency headed by Marcos Valério, which were made with funds invested in Visanet by the Bank of Brazil, in the amount of R$73.8 million. The bank had always denied that the money was public.

Did I understand the point correctly there?

If so, how much of that R$73.8 million was used to pay DNA Propaganda?

And how much of that was misused and waylaid — that is, paid out for services not actually rendered and tucked in away in bank accounts for later withdrawal by sneaky politicians or their secretary-girlfriends?

DNA and its partners do face something like 700 criminal counts, but then again, no one has said that there was fraud in every single account it ever worked on. Sometimes ads did actually get produced, it seems.

Visanet is the Companhia Brasileira de Meios de Pagamento, a credit card and payments network run by a consortium of banks in partnership with Visa International.

Which actually makes this story on-topic for a blog that tries to follow news about electronic money.

In 2005, Reuters provided this snapshot of Visanet’s alleged role in the affair, which at least starts to suggest the main points of intersection between the strange saga of Daniel Dantas and the shrieking, and weirdly bifurcated, political slush-fund scandal.

I say “weirdly bifurcated” because it really does seem incredible to me that the case should be divided up into a “dress rehearsal” and “opening night” in this way.

From all that I have read about it, there is one mechanism pumping along, night and day, throughout, like an oil-well in West Texas or the big backyard of the bawdy Saudis: Belo Horizonte Baldy’s Plastic, Fantastic Pipeline of Invisible Money.

Which reminds me a bit of the “International Food Court”at the Springfield fair, at the beginning of that episode of The Simpsons, you know the one: The point of view cuts away from all the different restaurants featuring different national cuisines to show that all of them are fed from the same vat of “mystery meat.”

There are those who will tell you that the reason it is bifurcated in this way is because the administration of justice is politicized in an extremely unhelpful way and to an undesirable degree in Brazil. The theory makes some general sense to me.

The only member of the PT government answering to charges of misappropriating public money for these skeevy purposes is Luis Gushiken, a former cabinet-level Lula aide who was in charge of government advertising budgets at one point.

But again, it always seems to me that, in all these cases, the common factor seems to be, not political party affiliation, but the fact that nearly everyone involved as an alleged middleman is in the advertising and public relations racket.

The same actually goes for the “sex Senator’ scandal, whose central figure is a former TV Globo talking head turned political marketer — and Playboy Brasil (Editora Abril) nudie cutie — Mônica Veloso. See

• Monicagate: The Senator, The Globo Talking Head, the Palimony Lawyer, and Veja

Which is why I tend to think that if you could manage to filter out all the political noise, what you tend to come up with is the question, “what exactly is it with the Brazilian advertising and media industries, anyway?”

What brave new world is this, that has such creatures as Belo Horizonte Baldy, Daniel Dantas and Ali Kamel in it?

It really seems to have less to do with who is playing the political game on any given Sunday than it does with the people — Nassif refers to them as the “permanent operators” — who own the stadium, write the rulebook, hire the beer vendors, and pay (off?) the referees.

Três empresas de telefonia ligadas ao Opportunity, de Daniel Dantas, e o consórcio controlador dos cartões Visanet foram identificados pela CPI dos Correios, segundo análise preliminar, como origem de mais de dois terços dos depósitos de terceiros recebidos no Banco do Brasil pela DNA Propaganda Ltda.

Three telephone companies with ties to Daniel Dantas and Opportunity, as well as the consortium that controls the Visanet credit card system, were identified by the CPI of the Mails, according to a preliminary analysis, as the origin of more than two-thirds of the deposits received by DNA Propaganda in its Bank of Brazil account.

A DNA é uma das empresas com participação acionária de Marcos Valério Fernandes de Souza, acusado de ser operador do suposto pagamento de propinas a políticos conhecido como “mensalão”.

DNA is one of the companies in which Marcos Valério, accused of operating the alleged political bribery scheme known as the “big monthly,” has a stake.

Um levantamento inicial feito pela CPI foi entregue à Reuters na noite de terça-feira (27) por um parlamentar, com o compromisso de não ser identificado. O documento mostra que a conta 601.999 da DNA Propaganda na agência 3608 do Banco do Brasil recebeu no período analisado (últimos cinco anos) R$ 230 milhões em depósitos.

An initial study performed by the CPI was provided to Reuters by a lawmaker on the condition that the lawmaker not be identified. The document shows that Account No. 601,999, belong to DNA Propaganda, at Branch No 3608 of the Banco do Brasil, received R$230 million in deposits in the last five years.

A própria DNA abasteceu a conta com depósitos e transferências que somam R$ 71 milhões. Os demais R$ 159 milhões resultam de depósitos de 27 empresas, na maioria identificadas como clientes ou empresas de comunicação, e de órgãos do governo de Minas Gerais.

DNA itself filled the account with deposits and transfers of R$71 million. The other $159 million were deposited by 27 firms, most identified as clients or media companies, as well as agencies of the state government of Minas Gerais.

A análise inicial mostra que o maior depósito individual de uma empresa para a DNA, no valor de R$ 44,217 milhões, tem como origem a Companhia Brasileira de Meios de Pagamento, segundo o relatório da CPI.

An initial analysis shows that the largest individual deposit, in the amount of R$44.22 million, originated with [the Visanet consortium], according to the CPI report.

Trata-se de uma associação criada em 1995 pela Visa Internacional, Banco do Brasil, Bradesco e Banco Real, responsável pelos cartões de pagamento eletrônico Visanet.

Visanet was an association created in 1995 by Visa International, the Banco do Brasil, the Bradesco bank and the Banco Real, which manages electronic the electronic payment card network Visanet.

MAIORES DEPÓSITOS EM CONTA DA DNA PROPAGANDA NO BANCO DO BRASIL

[Table] Largest deposits in the DNA Propaganda account at the Banco do Brazil, in R$millions

• Opportunity telephone holdings (Telemig Celular, Amazônia Celular and Brasil Telecom) – 62,123
• Visanet – 44,217
• Eletronorte — 16,5
• Servinet – 6,4
• Fiat Automotive – 4,6
• TV Globo – 3,6
• Goverment of Minas Gerais 2,7

A assessoria de imprensa da DNA informou que a agência detém, desde 1994, a conta publicitária dos cartões de crédito do Banco do Brasil, que operam pelo sistema Visanet.

DNA spokespersons said the agency has handled the ad contract for Banco do Brasil credit cards, which operate on the Visanet network, since 1994.

A Companhia Brasileira de Meios de Pagamento (Visanet) informou em comunicado “que os pagamentos efetuados para a agência de publicidade DNA foram aprovados como verba de marketing para o lançamento de novos produtos, incentivo à emissão e ativação de cartões de crédito e débito do Banco do Brasil, principal emissor de cartões do país”.

Visanet said in a press release “that the payments made to the DNA ad agency were approved as part of the marketing budget for new product launches, issuance incentives and the activation of debit and credit from the Banco do Brasil, the principal issuer of cards in Brazil.

Outra operadora de cartões, a Servinet, depositou R$ 6,4 milhões. A Redecard fez dois depósitos que somam R$ 144 mil. Até as 20h20, a Redecard não havia comentado a informação.

Another payment card operator, Servinet, deposited R$6.4 million. Redecard made two deposits totalling R$144,000. By the deadline for this report, Redecard had not commented on this information.

And Servinet? Did they comment?

A Telemig Celular e a Amazônia Celular, controladas pelo Opportunity, fizeram nove depósitos que somam R$ 61,3 milhões. Outra controlada do Opportunity, a Brasil Telecom, fez um depósito de R$ 823 mil.

Telemig and Amazônia, controlled by Opportunity, made nine deposits totaling R$61.3 million, while another Opportunity company, Brasil Telecom, deposited R$823,000.

Segundo a assessoria de imprensa da Brasil Telecom, a DNA realizou em 2003 uma campanha de utilidade pública, em rádio, em toda a área de cobertura da operadora.

Brasil Telecom said DNA did a public service campaign, on the radio, throughout its coverage area in 2003.

As duas outras operadoras divulgaram um comunicado conjunto informando que “todos os pagamentos realizados às empresas DNA Propaganda Ltda. e SMP&B Comunicação Ltda. foram decorrentes tão somente de relação estritamente comercial existente entre as partes, fundamentada em efetiva prestação de serviços de publicidade pelas agências às Companhias”.

The two other cell-phone companies issued a joint press release informing that “all the payments to DNA Propaganda and SMP&B Communications were strictly related to a business relationship among the parties, based on the provision of advertising services by those agencies to the Companies.”

A estatal Eletronorte fez três depósitos que somam R$ 16,5 milhões. O governo de Minas Gerais fez depósitos na conta da DNA por meio de sua conta única, da Secretaria de Fazenda e da Secretaria de Saúde, no valor de R$ 2,7 milhões.

That state-owned Eletronorte made three deposits totaling R$16.5 million. The government of Minas Gerais deposited money in the DNA account through its consolidated account for the state treasury and health secretary, in the amount of R$2.7 million.

Formado em engenharia e economia, o banqueiro baiano Daniel Dantas, 50, dono do grupo Opportunity, é um dos homens mais ricos do Brasil. Seu império foi construído em cima de fundos de pensão públicos e de sócios estrangeiros. Em 1998, Dantas esteve no centro das investigações sobre suspeitas de favorecimento na privatização de empresas do Sistema Telebrás. No ano passado, a Brasil Telecom -controlada até então por ele- foi acusada de contratar a Kroll para espionar a Telecom Italia. As investigações teriam extrapolado o mundo empresarial, atingindo figuras do governo federal.

[SIDEBAR] With degrees in engineering and economics, Bahian banker Daniel Dantas, 50, owner of the Opportunity group, is one of the richest men in Brazil. His empire was built based on pension funds and foreign partners. In 1998, Dantas was at the heart of investigations into suspected favoritism in the privatization of the Telebrás system. Last year (2004), Brasil Telecom — controlled up to that point by Dantas — was accused of hiring Kroll to spy on Telecom Italia. The investigations reportedly overflowed the boundaries of the corporate world to touch federal officials.

Segundo a assessoria de imprensa da Eletronorte, “todos os serviços de publicidade da empresa são contratados via DNA, que foi escolhida por meio de licitação pública em 2001, obedecendo a legislação”.

According to Eletronorte’s press office, “all the advertising services of the company are provided by DNA, which was chosen through a public auction in 2001, in compliance with the law.’

A Subsecretaria de Comunicação Social disse que o governo mineiro tem contrato com a agência DNA, para prestação de serviços de publicidade, desde dezembro de 2003, para atendimento às áreas de saúde e meio ambiente.

The Minas government’s press office said it had a contract with DNA for publicity in the areas of health care and the environment, dating to December 2003.

It had prior contracts with the agency, however.

“Portanto, a transferência de recursos à agência destina-se ao pagamento de serviços de produção e veiculação de campanhas publicitárias”, disse a subsecretaria à Reuters.

“Thus, the transfer of funds to the agency comes as payment for production and distribution of publicity campaigns,” the government press office told Reuters.

A assessoria de imprensa da DNA disse à Reuters que os depósitos correspondem ao pagamento pela prestação de serviços a essas empresas, incluindo criação, produção e veiculação de publicidade. Segundo a assessoria, a DNA tem condições de provar a execução de todos os serviços.

DNA’s press office told Reuters that the deposits correspondent to payments for services rendered to those companies, including the creation, prodution and distribution of advertising. According to DNA, it can prove that it provided all of the services for which it was paid.

O levantamento da CPI também inclui três depósitos da Fiat Automóveis, totalizando R$ 4,6 milhões.

The CPI also mentions three deposits by Fiat, totaling R$4.6 million.

“A DNA foi agência de propaganda da Fiat de agosto de 2000 a abril de 2005 na publicidade de varejo no Estado de Minas Gerais. É uma relação comercial normal e absolutamente transparente”, disse a assessoria da Fiat.

“DNA was our ad agency from August 2000 to April 2005 and handled retail advertising in Minas Gerais. This is an absolutely transparent business relationship,” said a Fiat spokesperson.

Os documentos da CPI mostram também dois depósitos da Construtora Norberto Odebrecht totalizando R$ 149 mil. Em um comunicado, a empresa diz que o relacionamento com a DNA começou em 2002.

The CPI documents also show two deposits from the Odebrecht construction firm totalling R$149,000. In a press release, the company said its relationship with DNA began in 2002.

“Pelo contrato, que foi rescindido em 15 de julho passado, a construtora obrigava-se, na primeira fase do projeto, a remunerar a agência com um percentual de 0,45% sobre o valor geral das vendas”, o que representou para a DNA “a quantia de R$ 387 mil”, diz a empresa no comunicado.

“According to the contract, which was rescinded last July 15, Odebrecht was obliged, during the first phase of the project, to pay the agency 0.45% of the value of all sales,” which would represent for DNA “a sum of 387,000,” the company said in a written statement.

A empresa afirma ainda que “uma segunda fase do projeto foi iniciada em abril de 2005″ e tinha a mesma forma de representação da etapa anterior, “o que significaria uma remuneração da ordem de R$ 202 mil” à DNA, se não tivesse havido a rescisão do contrator.

Odebrecht also says “the second phase began in April 2005″ and had the same terms as the prior period, “which would have implied payment of R$202,000″ to DNA, had the contract not been revoked.

O Sistema Pitágoras de Ensino depositou R$ 186 mil. A família do ministro do Turismo, Walfrido Mares Guia, é acionista da empresa, que também é cliente da DNA Propaganda.

The Pitágoras Education System deposited R$186,000. The family of Tourism minister Mares Guia is a shareholder in that firm, which is also a DNA client.

Mares Guia — an excellent name for the Tourism minister of a country with a very long coastline and fabulous beaches — just resigned in the “Minas monthly” scandal, co-indicted with Senator Azeredo.

The headlines: [In huge type] “Lula minister indicted!” [In small type] “Senator Azeredo says he did not do it.”

O relatório da CPI identificou dois depósitos da TV Globo, somando R$ 3,6 milhões, e dois da Globosat, que somam R$ 180 mil.

The CPI also identified two deposits by TV Globo, totaling R$3.6 million, and two from Globosat, totaling R$180,000.

Segundo a Central Globo de Comunicação, “como todos os veículos de comunicação que veiculam publicidade, a TV Globo pagou comissão legalizada a uma agência de publicidade regularmente estabelecida”.

According to Globo Communications Central, “like all media companies that air or publish advertising, TV Globo paid a [legalized [?]] commission to a properly constituted ad agency.”

A Editora Abril é identificada como responsável por um depósito de R$ 303 mil. Em nota oficial, o Grupo Abril afirma que “mantém relacionamento comercial com a grande maioria das agências de publicidade do país e que pagamentos de comissões em nome de agências fazem parte das práticas normais da atividade”.

The Editora Abril is identified as making a deposit for R$303,000. In an official statement, it said it “has a business relationship with the great majority of ad agencies in Brazil, and payments of commissions to those agencies is a normal activity.”

Other persons contacted explained exactly what the money was spent on. Abril and Globo did not.

O relatório da CPI demonstra que a DNA também fez transações bancárias com as empresas de comunicação Folha da Manhã (Folha de S. Paulo), Ogilvy Brasil, Grupo Três (IstoÉ), For Comunicação, Símbolo Editora e Editora JB (Jornal do Brasil e Gazeta Mercantil).

The CPI showed that DNA also had dealings in this account with the Folha da Manhã [Folha de S. Paulo], Ogilvy Brasil, Grupo Três (Istoé magazine), For Communications, the Símbolo publishing house, and the Editora JB (Jornal do Brasil, Gazeta Mercantil).

O relatório informa que a DNA autorizou transferências eletrônicas (TEDs) para a Folha da Manhã, Editora JB e Grupo Três que, por algum tipo de erro, foram devolvidas à conta da agência e contabilizadas como depósitos. A assessoria da DNA informou que compra regularmente espaço publicitário dessas empresas para seus diversos clientes.

The report shows that DNA authorized electronic fund transfers to the Folha da Manhã, Editora JB and Grupo Três that, due to some sort of error, were returned to the agency account and accounted for as deposits. DNA says it regular buys ad space from this companies for various clients.

“Some sort of error”?

DNA Propaganda had quite a business ecosystem, as they say.

All right, so I guess the main question here is this : A lot of these companies and government agencies make a point of saying they received all the services they paid for, so that none of the money was left over for decanting into political slush funds.

To what extent is that true, to what extent not true? Criminal charges say it was not at all true in some cases, but I have yet to see anyone produce a big fat spreadsheet accounting for all the money. I imagine the beancounters at the federal police police are working on one, though.

Mino Carta has taken Globo to task for demonizing parties simply for having dealings with the agency — the mote in another’s eye — and not applying the same standard to itself — the mote, if not the beam, in its own.

That seems fair enough to me.

Upon leaving office, Mrs. Garotinho, the last governor of Rio, provided the account number of an offshore account she said Globo used for caixa dois purposes. Never followed up on, either in rebuttal or confirmation, that I know of.

The CPI of the Mails — which wandered far afield from a simple videoscandal over some postal service guy taking a measly little bribe — concluded … well, you know what? It is Saturday, I have nothing else to do, maybe it is time for me to finally read the whole 1,857-page report.

I just finished Thomas Pynchon’s Against The Day and am looking for new bedside reading.

“David Brooks Outsources His Brain”

The RTS-PTM: “How IBM maintains its competitive edge: Data from Kurzweil’s The Age of Spiritual Machines.” Source: IBM.com.

Goodness gracious alive
If you wanna survive
You can’t forget to use your brain
‘Cause if you do you’re gonna go insane
And get left out in the rain
Feelin’ the pain …
–Zebu Cavaco and his Cur-Deus Homos, “Do the Math”

Few informed people still see the original ideal of fully automatic high-quality translation of arbitrary texts as a realistic goal for the foreseeable future. Many systems require texts to be preedited to put them in a form suitable for treatment by the system, and post-editing of the machine’s output is generally taken for granted.–Martin Kay, “Machine Translation: The Disappointing Past and Present“

Homo Tertius: Columnist Thomaz Woods Jr. of the Fundação Getúlio Vargas writes an elegant and funny little “management” column for CartaCapital magazine (Brazil) — a weekly three-minute read — that I always enjoy.

A sample, translated, as ever, draft-quality and in haste, as fast as I can type, just for the exercise.

I thought David Brooks of the New York Times — one of the most deeply silly of what passes for a public intellectual on the American scene these days — might want to know that he is being made (very effective) fun of in New World Portuguese.

 

A onda da terceirização teve início discreto na década de 1980. Primeiro, foram os serviços gerais: o refeitório, a limpeza e a manutenção predial. A década seguinte levou os serviços de apoio: o departamento de pessoal e a informática. Mais uma década e foram-se a produção e a logística. As empresas mais afoitas terceirizaram até sua estratégia, delegada para onipresentes consultores e seus oráculos. A se manter o ritmo, em mais duas décadas as empresas serão constituídas apenas por três funcionários: primeiro, um presidente loquaz e bem apessoado, para prover declarações insipientes e posar para revistas de negócios; segundo, um financista, para manter contentes os acionistas e o mercado financeiro; e terceiro, um mestre de operações, para controlar, de seu console, as voláteis hordas de terceirizados.

The outsourcing wave began quietly in the 1980s. First it was general services: The cafeteria, facilities cleaning and maintenance. The following decade saw support services join the trend: human resources and IT. In the next decade, manufacturing and logistics. More adventurous firms went so far as to outsource their strategy, delegating it to the ubiquitous consultancies and their crystal balls. If the trend continues, in another two decades corporations will all have just three employees: A talkative and affable CEO to give inspid quote and pose for the cover of business magazine; a chief financial officer to keep shareholders and the financial markets happy; and finally, a COO to control the shifting hordes of outsourced labor from his management console.

Colombia: Senate Suffers More Parapolitical Perplexity

Risk to upcoming elections, by municipality, presented by the presence of new groups, emergent gangs, remnants of demoblized paramilitaries, and “structures in formation.” See Infographic of the Week: Colombia’s Elections Observer Mission. Santander, is, if I am reading my map right, a red zone.

The more than 60 hours of recordings show how Ana María Flórez, director of the Fiscalía office in the province, leaked information to the AUC through her secretary, Magali Moreno.

Organized crime groups have taken over functions of the state by providing protection, security, and insurance, coupled with extortion, racketeering, and money laundering. Twenty-five thousand private security firms employing 800,000 people have privatized contract fulfillment by their own methods.  [One] criminal group, by means of violence, threats, and extortion, extracts a tribute from 30 percent of [capital city] businesses. The press is flooded with reports of contract killings, usually reported as … mafia settling of accounts. In fact, these are not only punishment for undelivered services or unpaid debts, but also part of endless turf wars or cases of revenge for refusal to pay tribute.

Colombia?

Rio de Janeiro?

Mexico?

Russia.

The source is “Fragmentation of Authority and Privatization of the State: From Gorbachev to Yeltsin,” by Vladimir Brovkin of the United Research Centers on Organized Crime in Eurasia at the Center for the Study of Transnational Crime and Corruption, American University.

Ricardo Elcure, el reemplazo de Mario Uribe, enredado con grabación de diálogo con paramilitar: “Elcure, Mario Uribe’s replacement, is caught on a recording talking with a paramilitary leader.” EL TIEMPO (Bogotá) reports.

You can listen to the tapes, but no transcript yet. Quite a conversation. What impressed me most was the discussion of lining up media support behind the candidates selected by this latest incarnation of those fun-loving, drug-running, hooker-pimping, massacre-committing “moral equivalents of the Founding Fathers.”

President Uribe’s cousin, Mario Uribe Escobar, resigns from the Senate. He is investigated over allegations that he practiced “parapolitics” — “vote for me or my friends here will blow your brains out.”

Uribe goes ape. See

• Colombia: Uribe Fulminates in Parapolitics Showdown

Conocido en Norte de Santander como ‘El Chico’ es conocido como el senador con la menor votación de la historia reciente de esta corporación: 4.017 votos.

Known in Norte de Santander province as “El Chico,” he is famous for being the Senator with the fewest votes in the recent history of that body: 4,017 votes.

El pasado martes, el desmovilizado jefe ‘para’ de los llamados bloques Catatumbo y Fronteras, Iván Laverde, alias ‘El Iguano’ o ‘Pedro Fronteras’, le aseguró a la Fiscalía que en el 2003 le entregó 80 millones de pesos a Elcure para ayudar a financiar su campaña a la gobernación de Norte de Santander.

Last Tuesday, the demobilized paramilitary leader of the so-called Catatumbo and Fronteras Blocs, Iván Laverde … told the Fiscalía that in 2003 he handed over 80 million pesos to Elcure to help finance his campaign for the governship of the province.

Some 5,000 corpses are credited to the Fronteras group, described as followed by the Fundación Progresar:

El ‘bloque Fronteras’ tenía la misión de controlar las economías ilícitas en su área de influencia (prostitución, venta de droga) y la comercialización y envío de la cocaína proveniente de las zonas de cultivos ilícitos que protegía el ‘bloque Catatumbo’, que trabajaba más en la zona rural.

The Fronteras bloc had the mission of controlling the underground economy in its area of influence (prostitution, drug sales) and the marketing and shipment of cocaine from the areas of cultivation protected by the Catatumbo bloc, which operated more in the rural zone.

Resume coverage.

Las grabaciones que lo involucran

The recordings that implicate him

El hecho no hubiera pasado de ser una de las tantas menciones aisladas que hacen los ex ‘paras’, de no ser por la existencia de unas grabaciones -obtenidas por la Dijín y por la Fiscalía, en el 2003- en las que alias ‘Pacho’ ‘para’ de esos mismos bloques, habla de darle apoyo a Elcure en su carrera a la gobernación, que perdió por más de 80 mil votos con Luis Miguel Morelli.

The incident might not have wound up as anything more than another of the many isolated charges that former “paras” make were it not for the existence of recordings obtains by DIJIN and the Fiscalía in 2003 in which “Pacho,” a paramilitary from those same blocs, talkes of supporting Elcure in his gubernatorial aspirations. Elcure lost to Morelli by more than 80,000 votes.