Random news items from today

Today’s edition of "O Liberal" had some interesting stories worth brief commentaries.

The telenovela* América ends today. Basically, the series covers the life of an illegal immigrant to Miami who gets deported back to Brazil. I don’t have a TV and have only seen portions of a few episodes, so I can’t vouch for the quality of the program. América is very popular here and people say that it is good.

Speaking of deportation, there was also a story about the third plane load of illegal immigrants being shipped back to Brazil, this time departing from Texas. Many of the illegal immigrants to the U.S. from Brazil come from the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. The state has paid for the entire cost of the flights, and the governor of Minas is complaining that it is not fair for his state to have to pay for the flights when they contain residents of other Brazilian states. He is also concerned about the image of Minas. He proposes that the federal government share in the costs of the flights and that the flights stop in various Brazilian state capitals. Minas Gerais is one of the richest states in Brazil.

Some people have asked about the drought in the Amazon. Most of the stories in the international press have been about Peru, although Brazil is also affected by what is said to be the Amazon's worst drought in 40 years. A story in today's paper focused on the problems communities near Santarém are having problems with transportation, potable water, and the spread of disease. It hasn’t rained much Belém, but the water level is normal. I plan to investigate the effects of the drought with a visit to the Santarém region in a few weeks.

Belém was rated by the Fundação Getúlio Vargas as the second worst place to live among Brazilian capitals, bested only by Rio Branco, the capital of Acre state in the western Amazon. According to the study, Belém’s biggest problems are violence, vandalism, and lack of adequate sanitation. Brasília, the federal capital, has the best quality of life.

And for some levity, one letter to the editor complained about the ever-earlier Christmas decorations that are starting to pop up all over Belém. It isn’t even Halloween, but I guess Brazilians can’t jump the gun on Thanksgiving. Yamada, which is basically Wal-Mart, has gigantic plastic Santas outside of one of its stores. I’ll try to remember to take some photos.


*A telenovela is like a soap opera that runs every night of the week for 3 – 4 months and then ends.