MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Thousands of students and teachers took to the streets of Brazil to protest bugget cuts
Protests began in the capital Brasilia in the morning and spread across the country to more than 80 cities, local media reported. 
Bolsonaro, who has railed against socialism, described the May 15 protesters as “useful idiots” and accused leftist militants of stoking the rallies. Thousands of protesters took to the streets in dozens of cities in Brazil on Thursday for a second nationwide demonstration in as many weeks over the government's plan to slash education spending.
Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's government has provoked outrage among students and teachers over its proposal to freeze 30% of discretionary spending for public universities in the second half of this year. A suspension of post-graduate scholarships for students in science and the humanities has also fueled anger.
Protests began in the capital Brasilia in the morning and spread across the country to more than 80 cities, local media reported.
In Rio de Janeiro, protesters carried signs describing Bolsonaro as “the enemy of education.” “We can't simply pretend everything is OK -- it is not OK,” said university student Isadora Duarte, 24.
Tens of thousands protested across Brazil on May 15 -- the first nationwide demonstration since Bolsonaro took power in January, which underscored growing opposition to the embattled president.
Bolsonaro, who has railed against socialism as he seeks to promote his ultraconservative ideas, described the May 15 protesters as “useful idiots” and accused leftist militants of stoking the rallies.
But Thursday's turnout could be lower after the government said it would free up 1.59 billion reais in funding (about US$400 million) for the sector.
Thursday's demonstrations come after thousands of pro-Bolsonaro protesters marched in cities across Brazil on Sunday in a show of support for the leader, who has seen his popularity plummet in his first five months in office.
Among their demands was for Congress to speed up approval of the government's stalled pension overhaul, seen as key to unlocking other much-needed reforms that are crucial to kick-starting economic growth.
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Read all commentsMafias run by rogue …#2
Jun 01st, 2019 - 12:02 am 0Violence and politics have long been intertwined in Rio de Janeiro. In the 1950s a federal deputy from Duque de Caxias prowled around with a German machinegun. A film in 1986 romanticised his life, but historians pin several dozen violent crimes on him, including at least one murder. Brazil’s military dictatorship, which fell in 1985, used police death squads to kill political opponents (some of whom were urban guerrillas) and other unwanted people.
Militias evolved out of citizen-led vigilante groups that emerged in the 1990s to tackle drug gangs, says Mr Alves. Today they are de facto mafias. They thrive in the power vacuum of Rio’s peripheries, offering what Mr Alves calls “false security”. They are popular with politicians thanks to their talent for getting out the vote. Police officers among their members help them to thwart investigations. Their political ties help them to filch public money.
In 2007 Marcelo Freixo, then a state congressman from the left-wing Socialism and Liberty Party (psol), proposed a parliamentary commission to investigate militias. But it was not until 2008, after militiamen kidnapped and tortured two journalists and their driver, that politicians agreed to the inquiry. After months of testimony, the commission released a 282-page report that accused 226 people of having militia connections, including police and army officers and city and state politicians. Most were eventually jailed.
Those who avoided prison and worse—25 of those named in the report have since been murdered—shifted their strategy to become less brazen and more enterprising, often outsourcing violence. Duque de Caxias is among Brazil’s richest municipalities thanks to its oil refinery, chemical industry and position on the highway. That makes it an attractive market for what Gabriel Ferrando of the state police’s organised-crime unit (draco) calls the militias’ “power project”. They have “an absurd capacity to adapt”,.
REF: “budget cuts”
Jun 01st, 2019 - 08:40 am 0http://www.chargeonline.com.br/php/DODIA//son.jpg
Mafias run by rogue … #4
Jun 01st, 2019 - 11:46 am 0The government’s plans may end up strengthening militias. Sérgio Moro, the justice minister, has introduced a bill that would shield from prosecution police who kill criminals because of “excusable fear, surprise or intense emotion”. Mr Bolsonaro has expanded the right to own and carry guns, suggesting people need them to protect themselves from criminals. “We’re returning to the origin myth that fuelled the militias,” says Tarcísio Motta, the leader of psol in Rio’s city council.
However, the militias’ links with Mr Bolsonaro’s government may provoke a backlash. There was an outcry after the murder in March last year of Marielle Franco, a city councilwoman from psol. In March two former cops were arrested for her murder and accused of belonging to a militia in Rio’s West Zone. One lived in the same condo as Mr Bolsonaro; his daughter had dated the president’s son. Another of Mr Bolsonaro’s sons, Flávio, a senator from Rio, employed the wife and mother of a fugitive police officer accused of leading the same militia. Flávio and the aide who hired them are under investigation for money laundering, involving real estate deals. On May 29th President Bolsonaro’s wife’s uncle was arrested on suspicion of ties to an allegedly land-grabbing militia near Brasília. All deny wrongdoing.
Mr Ferrando of draco admits that militias were “not a priority” in the past. Now, he says, police, prosecutors and regulatory agencies will use lessons from Brazil’s Lava Jato anti-corruption investigations to attack the militias’ economic activities. This “follow the money” strategy will be put to the test in Muzema, a favela in Rio’s West Zone where two apartment buildings collapsed in April, killing 24 people. The illegal properties had been built by the militia thought to be responsible for Ms Franco’s murder. In the days after the tragedy, relatives watched as firefighters pulled bodies from the rubble. The sound of their pneumatic drills blended with those at new
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