As police move in on Rio's favelas, a drug lord seeks amnesty

RIO DE JANEIRO -– As authorities move to bring some of Rio de Janeiro’s worst slums under their control, the leader of a powerful drug-trafficking gang there has said he wants to turn over his weapons and the territory he commands to the Brazilian government in exchange for amnesty.
           
Marcelo Piloto, head of the Comando Vermelho, or Red Command, gang in the Mandela favela in northern Rio, said that he and many other drug traffickers would be eager to take advantage of a voluntary demobilization program similar to that available to leftist guerrillas in Colombia.
 
“I’d do whatever it takes to get some kind of amnesty,” the heavily armed leader said in an interview on his home turf recently. “Any way I can pay my debt to society.”
 
The offer took on more urgency this week, when authorities in Rio announced they would invade and retake the favela that Piloto controls Sunday. In the past, they’ve entered with tanks and helicopters to reclaim a small number of the more than 1,000 favelas in the city that until recently had been out of the reach of the state.

Drug gangs still dominate many of the city’s slums, but over the last few years security forces have begun a process of “pacification.” Police continue to expand their control, and many believe they could eventually take back the whole city.

“Many, many drug traffickers are saying they want amnesty,” said Jose  Junior, head of AfroReggae, a favela-based cultural organization that has worked with traffickers to turn themselves over. “But amnesty doesn’t exist in Brazil. What exists at the moment is that there are benefits for those who turn themselves rather than being caught.”

According to a website belonging to Rio police, Piloto is wanted and a reward of thousands of dollars is offered for his capture. His current whereabouts are unknown.

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--Vincent Bevins

Photo: A Brazilian police sharpshooter secures a position atop a school building in front of a favela  as Rio de Janeiro's government moved to "pacify" the slum on Sept. 20. Credit: Antonio Scorza / AFP/Getty Images

Municipal elections in Brazil provide welcome news for President Rousseff

SAO PAULO, Brazil – Municipal elections throughout Brazil on Sunday saw Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes easily reelected, while in Sao Paulo two mayoral candidates faced a second round runoff.

Paes, a popular incumbent who won with an outright majority, will serve as mayor as Rio hosts the 2016 Summer Olympics. He is a member of the centrist Democratic Movement Party.

In Sao Paulo, South America’s largest city, election results left Jose Serra of the Social Democratic Party and Fernando Haddad of the governing Workers’ Party looking at a second round of voting Oct. 28.

For most of the election season, pollsters watching the Sao Paulo race predicted Celso Russomano, a television personality widely believed to be backed by evangelical Christian churches, would fair well with voters. Russomano, who continually denied any links to the churches, faced political attacks in the last weeks of the campaign and finished in third place Sunday.

Brazilians voted largely to keep the major parties in charge of their cities, providing welcome news to President Dilma Rousseff of the Workers’ Party.

USB sticks provide look inside criminal gang, say Brazilian officials

SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Authorities say they have uncovered extensive information about the inner workings of Sao Paulo state's largest criminal gang, which is suspected in the killings of 73 police officers so far this year.

Police recovered information contained on USB sticks that they believe were on their way to imprisoned leaders of Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC, and that revealed over 1,300 active members of the gang in 123 cities, a monthly average income of $3 million and vast holdings of weapons, vehicles and real estate.

In May 2006, the PCC was suspected of ordering a wave of attacks on police that spread panic throughout South America's largest city and caused the deaths of almost 100 people. But the gang had largely stayed out of headlines from that time until the beginning of this year, when reports of deadly clashes with police began to reappear.

Authorities believe that officers are being attacked for making inroads into the organization’s profitability, according to local media, which on Monday published the gang information released by authorities.

Google executive detained in Brazil for YouTube videos

SAO PAULO, Brazil -- The head of operations for Google in Brazil has been arrested after the site declined to remove two videos that criticized a local candidate, federal police said.

Fabio Jose Silva Coelho was to be released from custody in Sao Paulo immediately after signing a pledge to face the charges in court. He faces up to a year in jail if convicted.

Google had no immediate official comment on the arrest but had said it was appealing the “court’s decision to remove a video from YouTube because, as a platform, we are not responsible for the content uploaded to our site."

Brazilian politicians widely pride themselves on the country's freedom of expression, and the Web is full of critical content. But there are laws that prohibit “slander, insults or defamation” of candidates during electoral season. The country votes in municipal polling Oct. 7.

In this case, two videos accuse Alcides Bernal, who is running for mayor of Campo Grande, of “instigating abortion, drunkenness, harming a minor physically, illegally enriching himself” and “contempt and prejudice against the poor,” according to the decision issued by a court in the sparsely populated southwestern state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

“We don’t want anything bad to happen to Google’s director,” Bernal told a local newspaper. “What we can’t allow is people with bad intentions, acting criminally, to use Google and YouTube to wage defamatory campaigns against people ... asking the people for votes.”

Last week, a similar order was issued for the arrest of Edmundo Luiz Pinto Balthazar, another Google executive, but a higher court overturned it, saying Balthazar couldn’t be held responsible for the contents of YouTube.

The most recent order was carried out Wednesday afternoon.

Courts have also backed a request by the National Union of Islamic Entities to force Google to remove the infamous “Innocence of Muslims” video, which sparked protests around the world. Google said Wednesday that it has not received any formal order in that case.

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-- Vincent Bevins in Sao Paulo and Emily Alpert in Los Angeles

Photo: Google executive Fabio Jose Silva Coelho, seen in a file photo, was detained by federal police Wednesday. Credit: Carol Carquejeiro / Agencia O Globo

Must Reads: Cash crunch, bikes and a Russian battlefield

From doing battle over Russian cottages to biking to freedom in a Brazilian prison, here are five stories you shouldn't miss from this last week in global news:

Brazil prisoners ride bikes toward prison reform

Archaeologists hope to unearth some Richard III mysteries

Russia's historic Borodino battlefield is in war with cottages

Palestinian Authority faces cash crunch, raising risk of unrest

Egypt town's Muslim-Christian unrest speaks to bigger challenges

-- Emily Alpert in Los Angeles

Photo: An inmate pedals a stationary bike to charge a battery at a prison in Santa Rita do Sapucai, Brazil. Credit: Felipe Dana / Associated Press

Probe of Air France crash in Atlantic blames pilots, training

The investigation of the 2009 crash of an Air France jet into the Atlantic Ocean concludes that the cockpit crew took the wrong steps to correct a high-altitude stall and blamed the errors on poor training of those piloting today's highly automated aircraft.

In its final report issued Thursday, the French civil aviation authority's Bureau of Surveys and Analysis said its review of flight data recorders recovered almost two years after the crash disclosed that the two junior pilots at the controls of AF 447 were "completely surprised" by the failure of cockpit instruments to guide them out of the disaster.

All 228 passengers and crew on board died in the June 1, 2009, crash of the jet en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The Airbus A330-203, built by a European consortium that includes the French government, suffered a rare cruising-altitude loss of power while the flight captain was outside the cockpit on a scheduled break, the French investigative agency reported.

It said the two copilots, both in their 30s, didn't know what to do when ice accumulation caused the aircraft's autopilot to disconnect, and that they took the opposite action from what was needed, which was nosing the plane down to recover lift.

"In the first minute after the autopilot disconnection, the failure of the attempt to understand the situation and the disruption of crew cooperation had a multiplying effect, inducing total loss of cognitive control of the situation," said the report of the investigative bureau based in Le Bourget, outside Paris.

Pilots should be trained to deal with crises when automated controls malfunction, and "a review of pilot training did not provide convincing evidence that the associated skills had been correctly developed and maintained" in the case of the Air France crew, the report concluded.

The bureau made 25 recommendations for improved training, communication and emergency response procedures, based on its analysis of the crash.

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-- Carol J. Williams in Los Angeles

Japan, Norway and allies vote down South Atlantic whale sanctuary

An idea raised by several South American countries to create a haven for whales in the South Atlantic was shot down Monday at the International Whaling Commission.

Though little whaling takes place in the zone, the plan was rejected by Japan, China, Norway, Russia and Iceland, plus several smaller countries that environmentalists accuse of pandering to Japan to keep aid.

"You can't really believe that Nauru or Tuvalu has an interest or has studied the sanctuary. They are voting because Japan tells them to," Jose Truda Palazzo, who spearheaded the proposal and now works at the Cetacean Conservation Center in Brazil, told the Agence France-Presse.

Japan and its allies contended that the move was simply unnecessary. The protected zone would have spanned the waters between South America and Africa south of the equator, touching the edges of an existing sanctuary in the Antarctic. If approved, it would have been the third active sanctuary created by the international commission since its founding, covering breeding grounds for all large whales in the South Atlantic. Activists argued that it would create a seamless safe zone for migrating whales.

The South Atlantic sanctuary was first suggested in 1999 but has been repeatedly blocked by whaling countries. Japan led other countries in a walkout over the proposed sanctuary last year, leaving the International Whaling Commission short of the quorum needed to even hold a vote.

Under commission rules, three-fourths of the countries represented in it had to agree to create the sanctuary. Thirty-nine voted in favor, but 21 votes against and two abstained. 

The commission vote, taken at its annual meeting in Panama City, frustrated environmental groups.

“We are extremely disappointed that the whaling bloc has harpooned the sanctuary proposal despite support of a clear majority,” said Patrick Ramage, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Global Whale Program. He blamed “opposition led by Japan -- a country not even in this region.”

Japan argued that with an existing global moratorium on commercial whaling, creating a new sanctuary was like "building a roof on top of a roof." It has insisted that whaling is a culturally important practice and has continued to kill whales in Antarctic sanctuary waters using a loophole for research. Its objections were echoed by Norway and Iceland, which said the proposal wasn't scientifically justified.

Though Japan succeeded in batting away this plan, its whaling industry has suffered this year, falling short of its quotas. Last month, Japanese news media reported that three-fourths of whale meat offered for sale in Japan had gone unsold at auction, which activists say shows the Japanese appetite is shrinking.

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-- Emily Alpert in Los Angeles

Photo: A Franca Austral whale is spotted in the New Gulf near Puerto Piramides in Argentina in 2006. Credit: Juan Mabromata / Agence France-Presse

Paraguay faces fallout after president's ouster

SAO PAULO, Brazil -- The governments of South America have united to punish Paraguay for  removing President Fernando Lugo on Friday, suspending the country’s membership in regional organizations for what some leaders are calling a coup.

When news spread that the Paraguayan Senate had voted to oust the left-leaning former Catholic bishop, widespread condemnation came quickly from leaders in a region with bad memories of dictatorships and democratic instability. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said her government would not recognize the new government formed by Federico Franco, who served as Lugo’s vice president before turning against him.

“Argentina will not validate the coup d’etat in Paraguay,” Kirchner said. “This is about more than Lugo.... This is a definitive attack on institutions and a replay of situations we had thought were totally forgotten.”

For all of Latin America’s varied ideological stripes, the negative response was surprisingly unanimous. Left-wing governments in Venezuela and Ecuador announced they’d cut off shipments of oil. Chile’s conservative government pulled its ambassador from the country. Colombia’s president, Miguel Santos, issued a statement saying there may have been an “abuse” of the proceedings. And regional powerhouse Brazil has put forward the possibility of further sanctions against Asuncion.

U.S. State Department representative Victoria Nuland said on Monday that Washington is “quite concerned about the speed of the process used for this impeachment in Paraguay."

Paraguay has been suspended from both Unasur, or the Union of South American Nations, and Mercosur, the regional trading bloc, until new elections take place.

Mercosur will hold an emergency meeting this week in Argentina to decide what action to take against the poor, land-locked nation. Lugo continues to consider himself the legitimate president of Paraguay and said he will attend the summit to explain the situation. It’s unclear what effect the actions will have on the new government in Paraguay, which has denounced its dismissal from the organizations.

It’s also unclear why the Paraguayan Senate voted now to oust Lugo, who would have been replaced in nine months during an election in which he could not participate.  The Senate's  impeachment proceedings consisted of broad charges of mismanaging the country after a land dispute turned deadly. It was conducted in a matter of hours, and Lugo was not allowed to prepare his own defense. The vote was nearly unanimous.

The government of Mexico, which is not a member of the South American organizations, released a statement affirming that “even if the political judgment took place according to the procedures established in the Paraguayan Constitution, Mexico considers that the proceedings did not give ex-President Lugo the time and space needed for the defense he had a right to.”

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-- Vincent Bevins

Photo: Ousted Paraguay President Fernando Lugo gives one of his bodyguards a traditional drink before a meeting  in Asuncion, Paraguay. Credit: Cesar Olmedo / Associated Press

 

 

 

 



Brazil may offer visitors thrills, but there's nothing cheap about it

RIO DE JANEIRO -- For those still clinging to the notion that South America provides cheap, exotic experiences for foreign visitors, arriving in Brazil these days can be a bit of shock.

Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the country's biggest cities, are more expensive for the outsider than  any city in the United States, as well as some of Europe's pricier travel destinations.

According to the 2012 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey published last week by Mercer, a global consulting firm, Sao Paulo is the world's 12th-most expensive city for expatriates, followed by Rio at 13. London is 25 and New York City, the highest-ranking U.S. location on the list, is 33. Los Angeles lags behind at 68.

Tens of thousands of foreigners have descended on Rio over the last few weeks in preparation for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, which started Wednesday, and many are finding their money isn't worth so much here these days.

“Even after being warned that Brazil is expensive now, I never expected this,” said Lisa Curtis, a media relations officer from Oakland who is attending the conference for a environmental group. She dined Tuesday on a personal pan pizza she bought for $15, or 29 reals, but it was so small it left her hungry, she said. “Even the best bargains I've found here are no better than the prices we have back home,” she said.

Her delegation opted to stay at a hostel, with 12 people sharing a room.

Global death toll of environmental activists rising, report says

In April, Chut Wutty was shot to death in the Cambodian forests he was so outspoken in defending, a slaying that outraged human rights activists suspicious of the conflicting explanations given by police.

His death appears to be part of a chilling trend. Growing numbers of activists and others defending the environment have been killed over the last decade, according to a new report from the environmental watchdog group Global Witness.

The London-based group says more than 100 people were killed last year while protesting or investigating environmental causes -- the highest death toll it has found in a decade of tracking such killings.

It linked the apparent rise in environmental slayings to fierce competition for dwindling resources worldwide that have put local activists "in the firing line" as they protest against being forced out of their homes to make way for development, losing the forests they rely on and other disputes.

Such killings often go unpunished, Global Witness lamented. In Brazil, for example, fewer than 10% of such cases have gone to court and barely 1% of them have led to convictions, the report said, quoting the Catholic Land Commission.

The death toll is "the sharpest of wake-up calls" for delegates convening in Rio de Janiero on Wednesday as the United Nations holds the biggest conference in its history to save the environment, Global Witness campaigner Billy Kyte said. "Over one person a week is being murdered for defending rights to forests and land."

The watchdog group consulted with other human rights groups, journalists and the United Nations and scoured website and academic studies to come up with its figures. It found that Brazil, Peru, Colombia and the Philippines had the highest numbers of killings, though it cautioned that there was an alarming lack of information and monitoring in much of Asia and Africa, which might mask killings there.

"It's difficult to know whether [the apparent increase in killings] is because there are more murders or whether it has now become more difficult for these things to be ignored," Radford University professor Bill Kovarik was quoted in the report released Tuesday. Either way, it's "an emerging and visible pattern."

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-- Emily Alpert in Los Angeles

Photo: A woman cries during the funeral in April for Chut Wutty, a prominent environmental activist killed in the Cambodian forests he was so outspoken in defending. Credit: Mak Remissa / European Pressphoto Agency