Revellers used annual carnival to ‘protest’ and pay tribute to the councilwoman nearly a year after the still-unsolved murder
Nearly a year after the still-unsolved murder of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman and LGBT activist Marielle Franco, Brazilian revellers have used their country’s annual carnival to demand answers.
Related: Lights, sequins, samba: Rio carnival at the Sambadrome – in pictures
Continue reading...From giant turtles to Roman centurions, Rio de Janeiro’s two nights of carnival parades at the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí began in a burst of fireworks and continued with the cheers of thousands of tourists and locals who also enjoyed street celebrations all around the city
Continue reading...The Raposa Serra do Sol reserve in northern Brazil is home to 25,000 indigenous people, whose land has been targeted by the country’s rightwing president, Jair Bolsonaro
Continue reading...Residents of Raposa Serra do Sol are determined to face down the threat posed by mining
“A united people will never be defeated!” shouted Maria Betânia Mota, as the indigenous assembly in a partially burned-out agricultural college began. Hundreds of voices roared back in approval.
Betânia Mota is the women’s secretary of its organisers, the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR), which represents the majority of those living in the 1.7m hectares of savannah and scrub that make up the Raposa Serra do Sol reserve in Brazil’s northernmost state.
Continue reading...Fabio Schvartsman and other executives resign after claims firm knew dam was unstable
The boss of the Brazilian iron ore mining firm Vale has resigned, following growing public and political anger over the collapse of a dam in which at least 186 people died.
Fabio Schvartsman and several other senior executives resigned on a “temporary” basis on Saturday after prosecutors recommended their dismissal. The move came after a leak of official documents suggested that Vale knew the dam was at a heightened risk of collapse.
Continue reading...Former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva left prison on Saturday to attend the funeral of his seven-year-old grandson, reiterating his innocence before political leaders and relatives who had gathered to mourn.
Lula, who is serving a 12-year sentence for corruption and money laundering, was released at 7am local time from a prison in the Paraná state capital, Curitiba. He flew to São Paulo before taking a helicopter to São Bernardo do Campo, where the funeral took place. He was scheduled to return to his cell later in the afternoon.
Continue reading...New education minister admits ‘mistake’ after asking schools to film students singing the national anthem and as slogan is read
Brazil’s new education minister has been forced into a humiliating retreat after he asked schools in the country to film students singing the national anthem in front of a Brazilian flag and being read the campaign slogan of new far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.
“I recognised the mistake,” Ricardo Vélez Rodríguez said on Tuesday, a day after the education ministry emailed his instructions to schools across the country – and provoked a storm of outrage.
Continue reading...After water, concrete is the most widely used substance on the planet. But its benefits mask enormous dangers to the planet, to human health – and to culture itself
In the time it takes you to read this sentence, the global building industry will have poured more than 19,000 bathtubs of concrete. By the time you are halfway through this article, the volume would fill the Albert Hall and spill out into Hyde Park. In a day it would be almost the size of China’s Three Gorges Dam. In a single year, there is enough to patio over every hill, dale, nook and cranny in England.
After water, concrete is the most widely used substance on Earth. If the cement industry were a country, it would be the third largest carbon dioxide emitter in the world with up to 2.8bn tonnes, surpassed only by China and the US.
Continue reading...While the world watches supporters of Guaidó and Maduro at the Colombian frontier, a remote region sees days of drama and fear
On Saturday, presidents, music stars and activists backing the Venezuelan opposition’s attempt to break a government blockade and bring food and medical supplies into the country, and most of the journalists covering the showdown, clustered around the border with Colombia.
Related: Juan Guaidó: 'keep all options open' to remove Venezuela's Maduro from power
Continue reading...Presidential challenger Juan Guaidó says he will urge foreign leaders to keep ‘all options open’ at a meeting on Monday
At least four people have been killed and hundreds injured in a wave of violence that convulsed Venezuela’s border regions on Saturday, as opposition activists tried to defy a government ban and bring food and medical supplies into the country.
After the failed attempt to breach government blockades, opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared the fight would continue, and said “we must keep all our options open for the liberation of our homeland”.
Continue reading...Move comes days before opposition leaders planned to bring in foreign aid
Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has ordered the vast border with Brazil to be closed, just days before opposition leaders plan to bring in foreign humanitarian aid he has refused to accept.
Maduro said he’s also weighing up shutting the border with Colombia. He made the announcement on state TV on Thursday, surrounded by military commanders.
Continue reading...Analysis of community where 73% of residents contracted Zika in 2015 offers new clues about epidemic
Scientists studying the 2015 Zika outbreak in Brazil have discovered that people previously exposed to dengue may have been protected from the virus.
Three-quarters of the inhabitants of a favela in the country’s north-east caught the mosquito-borne Zika virus during the epidemic. The outbreak left more than 3,000 babies across Brazil with microcephaly, a birth defect caused by mothers catching the virus during pregnancy.
Continue reading...Campaigners say Black Lives Matter movement is emerging after action in five major cities
Brazilian activists have taken to the streets in five major cities after the death of a young black man who was restrained by a supermarket security guard.
Campaigners said the protests are feeding a nascent Black Lives Matter movement in Brazil, where nearly three-quarters of all homicide victims are black.
Continue reading...Images show Donata Meirelles, who is white, sitting on a throne-like seat flanked by four black women dressed in white
The fashion director of the Brazilian edition of Vogue has resigned after photos from her 50th birthday party drew criticism for evoking colonial depictions of slavery.
Images from the party showed Donata Meirelles, who is white, sitting on a throne-like seat flanked by four black women dressed in white at the celebration in Bahia, Brazil’s blackest state.
Continue reading...Ricardo Salles’ comments fuel criticism of administration’s stance, which environmentalists say is excessively pro-business
Brazilian environmental groups have blasted Jair Bolsonaro’s environment minister after he dismissed the murdered Amazon rain forest defender Chico Mendes as “irrelevant”.
Related: Climate change a 'secondary' issue, says Brazil's environment minister
Continue reading...Flamengo president says it is ‘the worst tragedy to happen to the club in its 123 years’
Rio de Janeiro has declared three days of mourning as investigators seek to determine the cause of the fire that killed 10 teenage footballers at the training centre of the city’s Flamengo football club on Friday morning.
Cláudio Castro, the vice governor of Rio de Janeiro state, said authorities were looking at the possibility of a short circuit in an air conditioning unit.
Continue reading...Five hundred people told to leave area around Sul Superior tailings dam at mine near Belo Horizonte
Brazilian authorities have ordered the mining company Vale to evacuate hundreds of people from the vicinity of a dam in Minas Gerais, two weeks after a dam breach at another Vale mine in the state killed an estimated 300 people.
Vale said it was evacuating 500 people from three communities around the Sul Superior tailings dam at the Gongo Soco mine, near Belo Horizonte, on the orders of the national mining agency. It said it was a preventive measure after an engineering consulting firm, Walm, refused to give the dam a declaration of stability.
Continue reading...Fears and repairs preceded January collapse in which 134 people died and 199 are still missing, near Brumadinho in Minas Gerais state
The Brazilian mining dam which collapsed in January, killing hundreds of people, suffered a leak last year that compromised its safety, according to employees who allege the mine’s operators did not inform the workforce or relocate a canteen and administration building that were destroyed in the disaster.
One hundred and forty-two people died and 194 are still missing after the dam near Brumadinho in Minas Gerais state collapsed on 25 January.
Continue reading...More than 230 remain missing after an avalanche of liquid mining waste swept through the countryside of Minas Gerais
Helicopters clattered overhead as teams of men and sniffer dogs picked their way across the few areas of red mud solid enough to walk on. Other recovery teams gathered around a digger as its shovel scooped up the sludge and drained it, again and again.
Related: Brazil dam collapse: bodies pulled from toxic mud as hope fades for survivors
Continue reading...Footage shows destructive torrent of mining waste, while ceremony pays homage to 110 victims
A week after the deadly collapse of a mining dam in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, dozens paid homage to the 110 victims killed and 238 who are still missing, while newly released video footage showed the moment that a powerful wave of waste began sweeping over everything in its path.
A ceremony was held at the site of the disaster around 1pm local time, the hour at which the dam breached on 25 January, unleashing a destructive torrent of reddish-brown mining waste.
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