|
The government of the United States decided to wrap up the investigation of Brazil it had been conducting as part of the periodic review of the General System of Preferences.
After an investigation that lasted five years, the US government concluded in its report that Brazil has taken satisfactory measures to combat piracy. According to a note issued by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations, the decision "represents a significant victory for Brazil and Brazilian exporters," since it eliminates the risk of Brazil's being struck from the list of countries whose products can enter the US paying lower import duties.. In his recap of last year, the executive secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Luiz Paulo Barreto, confirmed that 2005 was "an historic year for Brazil" in the battle against piracy. He assured that this effort will continue in 2006, since any activity connected with piracy will no longer be tolerated. US$ 84 million in counterfeit merchandise was confiscated just last year, 130% more than the value of the goods seized in 2004. Altogether, 1200 individuals associated with this kind of activity were arrested, as against 40 in 2004. "2005 was the period in which the largest number of arrests were made involving individuals involved in piracy schemes," he affirmed. In 2006, the secretary informed, the Federal Police, Federal Revenue agency, and the Federal Highway Police will act in conjunction to combat piracy and contraband in every state of the Federation. "We really must attack it with professionalism. And, in 2006, this will also be one of the government's priorities, since piracy does serious harm to consumers, domestic companies, and, as a result, the country, which is deprived of tax revenues," the secretary pointed out. Around half a million counterfeit CDs and DVDs seized all over the country in 2005 were destroyed in December in front of the National Congress. This symbolic act marked National Anti-Piracy Day. The creation of the National Anti-Piracy Council by the federal government at the end of 2005 also constituted a significant watershed in the way combating piracy is approached, according to Barreto. Since its implantation, it is possible to perceive the progress in repressing this type of crime, the executive secretary emphasized. Agência Brasil
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose. 
The push of vigilante groups in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) in the last three years is the most important and alarming information of the just-released study by the Rio de Janeiro University's Violence Research Center (Nupev-Uerj). 
A dispute over drug trafficking territory in Rio de Janeiro has intensified lately, leaving in its wake unprecedented acts of violence, such as the downing of a police helicopter in the northern zone of the city on October 17. Three policemen died and another two were injured. This event has drawn the attention of the international media, who are raising the issue of public security for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio.