Category Archives: Brazil

McDonald’s investigated over racism and harassment claims in Brazil

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Federal prosecutors say complaint presents ‘worrying evidence’ of sexual harassment and discrimination

It was a busy day at a McDonald’s branch in São Paulo. Marcelo says he was struggling to keep up with demand while manning the chips and white meat stations when the shift boss called him a “damned stupid blackie”.

Marcelo protested and said he would pursue legal action for racism. The store manager fired him the next day, according to his statement in court documents seen by the Guardian.

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Brazil bar ‘massacre’: 11 people reportedly killed by group of gunmen

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Authorities unable to explain why seven attackers converged on bar in northern city of Belém and then started shooting

A group of gunmen have killed 11 people in a bar in Brazil, according to media reports, with state officials confirming only at “a massacre” had occurred.

The G1 news website reported police reported that seven gunmen were involved in the attack in Belém city in the northern state of Pará, which also wounded one person, who is now in police protection.

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‘They have free rein’: Rio residents fear police violence under far-right rule

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New governor promised ‘slaughter’ of gangsters, drawing comparisons with bloody Philippines drug war

The residents were chatting outside when the police helicopter swooped over the polluted river at the end of their street in Rio’s sprawling Maré favela complex. They fled as the officers riding in it fired volleys of bullets during a raid to catch a renegade gang boss.

Controlled by two rival drug gangs and a small paramilitary group, this roughshod community has grown used to violence and gunfights. But the police response was extreme even by those standards.

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Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro abruptly cancels US visit after protests

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Climbdown by far right leader, who was due to receive prestigious award, called ‘a very big embarrassment’

Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has abruptly cancelled a US trip to receive a prestigious award following a storm of protest over his history of homophobic, racist and misogynist remarks and plans to erode environmental protections in the Amazon.

The cancellation, announced suddenly on Friday, came after the original venue ditched the event, the mayor of New York City attacked his presence and major corporate sponsors pulled out. Bolsonaro’s spokesman blamed ideological attacks from interest groups and Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York.

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Rio de Janeiro: killings by police hit a record high in Brazilian state

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Rise comes under Governor Wilson Witzel, a Bolsonaro ally who has promised a zero-tolerance policy against criminals

Police killings in the state of Rio de Janeiro have hit a record high, rising by 18% in the first three months of this year.

Official data reviewed by the Associated Press on Friday show police forces in Rio killed 434 people during clashes in those months, compared with 368 people in same period last year.

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Call for students to film ‘biased’ teachers brings Brazil’s culture wars to classroom

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President Bolsonaro has accused schoolteachers of indoctrination but educators say his aim is to stifle critical thinking

Jair Bolsonaro has encouraged school students to film teachers during class if they suspect them of pushing leftist ideas, reigniting a battle in one of the most contested arenas of Brazil’s raging culture wars.

“Teachers need to teach and not indoctrinate,” Bolsonaro tweeted this week as he shared a video shot in class by a student who accused her teacher of criticizing the far-right president.

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The Vale do Amanhecer religious community in Brazil – in pictures

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This eclectic community holds its most important ritual of the year on Labour Day to honour the mediums who communicate with good and bad spirits. The group combines a range of religious practices, including Christian and Hindu, with symbols borrowed from the Incas and Mayans, as well as a belief in extraterrestrial life and intergalactic travel. With some 600 temples throughout Brazil, Portugal, Germany, Japan, Bolivia, Uruguay and the US, the religious movement claims to have 800,000 members

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Financial Times pulls out of gala honouring Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro

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Corporate boycott of New York event grows after campaign by LGBT rights activists

The Financial Times has pulled its involvement in an event honouring Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, after a campaign by LGBT rights activists against the celebration of the self-declared homophobe.

The recently elected South American leader is due to be honoured at the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce’s person of the year gala dinner, which is scheduled to take place in New York later this month.

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Freddy the parrot makes it back to zoo after being stolen, shot and bitten by snake

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The bird, Freddy Krueger, found his way back to Brazil zoo after thieves abducted him – the latest survival in his tumultuous life

An Amazonian parrot called Freddy Krueger has made headlines in Brazil after managing to find its way back to the zoo from which it was stolen while recovering from a four-year nightmare that saw it shot in a gun battle, abducted by armed thieves and bitten by a snake.

The turquoise-fronted Amazon parrot – whose Elm Street-inspired moniker stems from its bullet-disfigured face – was pilfered from a zoo in the southern city of Cascavel on the night of 16 April.

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Model, 26, dies after collapsing on catwalk at fashion show in Brazil

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Paramedics failed to save 26-year-old Tales Soares after he fell to the floor at the parade in Sao Paulo

A model has died after becoming sick and falling on the catwalk at Sao Paulo fashion week in Brazil.

A statement from organisers said Tales Soares took ill on Saturday while in a parade of fashion brand Ocksa. A medical team attended to him on the catwalk and Soares was later taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

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Turf war breaks between Bolsonaro’s sons and Brazil’s vice president

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Spat points to ideological rift between two factions while some see it as distraction

A turf war has broken out at the pinnacle of Brazilian politics, pitting a presidential son nicknamed ‘pitbull’ and a Steve Bannon-backed polemicist against a group of retired military chiefs led by Brazil’s vice-president, Hamilton Mourão.

The animosity between the two factions was exposed last week after Carlos Bolsonaro – son of the incumbent far-right president Jair Bolsonaro – repeatedly bashed Mourão on Twitter for urging the US-based Olavo de Carvalho to stop meddling in Brazilian politics and return to his former career as an astrologer.

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Brazil governed by ‘lunatics’ and US ‘lackeys’, says ex-president Lula

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Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president from 2003 and 2011, is in jail over corruption charges that he disputes

Brazil is being governed by “a bunch of lunatics” and United States “lackeys” who have shattered its international reputation, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has claimed in his first interview since being jailed one year ago.

Lula, Brazil’s president from 2003 and 2011, surrendered himself to police last April after being convicted on corruption charges he disputes.

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Bolsonaro accused of inciting hatred with ‘gay paradise’ comment

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Campaigners react strongly to Brazilian president saying he was opposed to gay tourism

Brazil’s far-right president, the self-declared homophobe Jair Bolsonaro, has been accused of inciting hatred towards LGBT people after declaring the South American country should not become a “gay tourism paradise”.

“If you want to come here and have sex with a woman, go for your life,” Bolsonaro reportedly told journalists in the capital, Brasília. “But we can’t let this place become known as a gay tourism paradise. Brazil can’t be a country of the gay world, of gay tourism. We have families,” Bolsonaro added, according to the Brazilian magazine Exame.

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‘Death by a thousand cuts’: vast expanse of rainforest lost in 2018

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Pristine forests are vital for climate and wildlife but trend of losses is rising, data shows

Millions of hectares of pristine tropical rainforest were destroyed in 2018, according to satellite analysis, with beef, chocolate and palm oil among the main causes.

The forests store huge amounts of carbon and are teeming with wildlife, making their protection critical to stopping runaway climate change and halting a sixth mass extinction. But deforestation is still on an upward trend, the researchers said. Although 2018 losses were lower than in 2016 and 2017, when dry conditions led to large fires, last year was the next worst since 2002, when such records began.

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Brazilian comedian gets jail sentence for video attacking leftwing politician

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Danilo Gentili, a conservative known for his aggressive attacks on the left, was tried over a 2017 clip he shared on social media

A row over free speech has erupted in Brazil after a foul-mouthed conservative comedian was given a six-month jail sentence for abusing a leftwing politician.

Known for his aggressive attacks on the Brazilian left, Danilo Gentili, 39, was sentenced by a judge in São Paulo on Tuesday for his comments about Maria do Rosário, a congresswoman for the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. He remains free pending appeal.

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Brazil: 10 soldiers arrested after firing more than 80 bullets into family’s car

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One man was killed and two others wounded after army patrol opened fire on family driving to a baby shower

Ten Brazilian soldiers have been arrested after firing more than 80 bullets into a car carrying a family, killing one man and wounding two other people.

Evaldo dos Santos Rosa, 51, a musician and security guard, was driving the family to a baby shower on Sunday afternoon, when an army patrol opened fire on them in the low-income neighbourhood of Guadalupe.

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Brazil: high-risk expedition to contact isolated tribe declared success

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Thirty-person expedition, including Funai officials and a doctor, contacted and vaccinated 34 people from the Korubo tribe

Brazil’s biggest and most ambitious expedition in decades to contact a voluntarily isolated indigenous tribe has been declared a success after venturing deep into remote and inaccessible Amazon jungle.

The rare, high-risk expedition aimed to prevent potential conflict between tribal groups in a vast and remote reserve near Brazil’s Peruvian border.

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Brazilian police kill 11 alleged robbers in ATM heist shootout

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  • Gang tried to simultaneously blow up two bank machines
  • Assailants took hostages and fought running gun battle

Police in São Paulo state have shot and killed 11 assailants who were preparing to simultaneously blow up ATMs at two branches early on Thursday, authorities said.

São Paulo state’s public security secretariat said in a statement that about 25 suspects were involved in the attempts to blow up the machines to get at the cash inside, a common type of crime in Brazil. Along with the 11 killed, another two men were arrested. No money was stolen.

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Brazil education minister accused of whitewashing 1964 coup and dictatorship

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Ricardo Vélez accused of ‘historical revisionism’ after saying school history books will be rewritten to give ‘a fuller version’

Brazil’s education minister has been accused of “historical revisionism” after saying school history books will be rewritten to give a positive spin to the country’s 1964 coup and 21-year military dictatorship.

Related: Brazil: tortured dissidents appalled by Bolsonaro's praise for dictatorship

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Brazil: judge rules identical twins must both pay support for nine-year-old girl

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Twins will each pay 30% of Brazil’s monthly minimum salary after DNA test failed to identify which man was her father

A Brazilian judge has ruled that two identical twins must both pay maintenance for a nine-year-old girl after a DNA test failed to identify which was her father.

Each man will have to pay 30% of Brazil’s monthly minimum salary – around £59 – and share the mother’s medical, dental, clothing and school costs.

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