Brazil to Congressional Clown: Prove You Can Read and Write

"The Sao Paulo Electoral Court held a closed-door exam for the clown turned congressman-elect on Thursday to determine if he meets a constitutional mandate that federal lawmakers be literate."

Congressman-elect Francisco Silva aka Grumpy the Clown thought he had the last laugh in October's elections, in which turnout was high for an up-ballot vote on the successor to popular outgoing President Lula da Silva. Grumpy received 1.3 million votes, "nearly twice as many as the next-highest-vote-getter" in the election.

Unfortunately for Fancisco, his jealous fellow legislators have raised the specter of literacy, questioning why the handwriting on his electoral application is dissimilar to the handwriting on a document that explicitly declares that he can read and write, a Constitutional requirement (10 percent of Brazilians are illiterate, according to the article).

Jacob Nelson

The 'Axis of Lula' vs. the 'Axis of Hugo'

By: Micah Bacheller

Both of these "axis" belong to countries in Latin America. The Axis of Hugo (Venezuelan president) are the countries with extreme leftist leadership. Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua are all part of this Hugos axis. They are opposed to any American intervention and leadership, and are trying to implement "21st-century socialism."

The "axis of Lula" (Brazilian president) is India, China and countries from the European Union. Since Brazil is a strong emerging economy, investors have a degree of confidence. This explains its ties with India and China. While Lula is is from a communist party, (workers party, PT), his government body is not much interested in being a communist country. He is trying to grow strong ties to the USA and gain momentum for the Brazilian economy.

The interesting part about this article is that a leftist president, Mauricio Funes, was just elected in El Salvador. The past 20 years the presidents in El Salvador have been from the right wing, closely tied to the USA. Now with a leftist president, will El Salvador take part of the Axis of Lula, or the Axis of Hugo? It seems that president Funes wants to have a more balanced government (even being from the left, the needs of the country bring him closer to the middle - as in Brazil). This is because his first act as president was to travel to Brazil and talk to Lula. He said that Brazil is a "reference of a leftist, democratic government that can instill confidence in foreign investors." Funes is scheduled to visit Hugos Venezuela next.

Slave Labor in Brazil

The Brazilian government is stepping up their efforts to eradicate slavery from their country, according to CNN. Human slavery is an issue that affects approximately 12.3 million people worldwide. Within Brazilian borders, it is said that between 25,000 and 40,000 citizens are victims of some form of slavery. In Brazil, citizens are recruited for employment far away from family and friends. Once separated from their social network, they are forced to work to pay off debt from loans or transportation. After this, they have no control over working conditions or what they are paid. In an effort to fight this, the Brazilian government employees a "Special Mobile Inspection Group" made up of labor inspectors, federal officers, and attorneys. They raid workplaces looking for people being forced to work against their will. In 2007, they freed 5,999 workers. Since 1995, they have successfully freed 33,000 workers.
While slave labor is an issue, it is not the issue. Slave labor as a practice is a direct result of poverty. One in four Brazilians live in poverty, and bringing this number down is made more difficult by the vastness of the country and business interests. Brazil is approximately the size of the United States, and has a large agricultural sector. Besides the use of special task forces, the government has relatively few tools to combat the situation. The powerful agriculture companies have fought proposed legislation enabling the government to confiscate lands on which slave labor has been used.