Brazil: The Foolishness of Sending Troops to Haiti

If Brazil's federal government does not have the courage to take
on its constitutional duties and re-establish the rule of law in a
Rio de Janeiro converted into a no-man's-land, let it at least show
its apprehension and its solidarity with the Brazilians of Rio, at the
mercy of the pusillanimity of the governing couple, the Garotinhos.

Alberto Dines

The couple which governs the State of Rio (Governor Rosinha Garotinho and Public Security Secretary Anthony Garotinho) has invented a new formula for dealing with emergencies: silence. And at the same time the federal government discovered that looking to the side is the best way of disguising blind spots.

Together, they produced, in the last few days, one of the most shocking displays of insensitivity and irresponsibility on the part of the public sector in the face of the brutality which took place in one of the parts of the Brazilian federation.

What was shocking about the carnage at the Casa de Custódia de Benfica, in Rio, was not simply the high number of deaths (between 30 and 38), nor the form of the executions, in the best Islamic terrorist style.

The uncertainty about the number of victims, almost a week after the beginning of the prison mutiny, added to the news published yesterday, that order still had not been restored, bears witness to the incompetence and disregard of those involved directly or indirectly.

The sly maneuverings of the Garotinhos to bury in silence the shadowy episode in Benfica were only successful because they found in the federal government a partner with the same taste and equal inclination for juggling and empty twaddle.

It has to be said as strongly as possible that the Republic and Brazilian state are being flagrantly violated not only by rioters and murderers, but above all, by those in government who do not fulfill their obligation to guarantee a state of laws, and hardly have the stature to face the dimensions of the institutional catastrophe provoked by their neglect.

If the federal government does not have the courage to take on its constitutional duties and re-establish the rule of law in a federal unit converted into a no-man's-land, let it at least show its apprehension and its solidarity with the Brazilians of Rio, at the mercy of the pusillanimity of the Garotinhos.

The muteness and inaction of Brasília were decisive in stimulating the muteness, inaction, and principally, the cynicism of this arriviste duo contracted expressly to humiliate and ruin the former Federal Capital.

The most dramatic thing is that while in Benfica the moral and physical integrity of the Brazilian state was collapsing, in Brasília, at the Praça dos Três Poderes, the sending of troops to establish the integrity of the Haitian state was being celebrated

Recently arrived from the Chinese picnic, dressed, by presidential decree, as diplomats, those working on our governability are now only thinking about our image outside Brazil. The style for the moment is lace cuffs.

The chaos on the unhappy Caribbean island takes priority; in Brasília no one knows where Benfica is, nor assesses the political effects of the demoralizing of a Casa de Custódia by a criminal faction.

To hell with how things look internally, who cares about the sense of dereliction and unprotection that has taken hold of the population of the second most important state in Brazil.

All that is important is to imagine that after our triumphant visits abroad we will be immediately chosen to be permanent members of the Security Council—although without the resources to construct prisons able to resist the hammering of those imprisoned.

Part of the Rio press cannot be exempted from this malicious conspiracy of passivity. Shivering with the autumn cold, suddenly Europeanized, or simply conned by the Garotinhos, the truth is that this depressing picture can only happen in a society where part of the press is distracted. Or without muscle.

The announcement of a mobilization for the impeachment of Governor Rosinha would have fatally changed the agenda for the recent ministerial meeting in Brasília. Even though her party, the PMDB, is part of the Lula's political coalition and completely controls Rio's legislative assembly.

The blowout which followed the announcement of the formidable measures to promote development would be understood in Benfica and in Rocinha if, instead of coming up with soccer balls to distribute in Haiti, the authorities had awoken from their lethargy. Or at least enough to remember that they are authorities.

Alberto Dines, the author, is a journalist, founder and researcher at LABJOR—Laboratório de Estudos Avançados em Jornalismo (Laboratory for Advanced Studies in Journalism) at UNICAMP (University of Campinas) and editor of the Observatório da Imprensa. He also writes a column on cultural issues for the Rio daily Jornal do Brasil. You can reach him by email at obsimp@ig.com.br.

Translated from the Portuguese by Tom Moore. Moore has been fascinated by the language and culture of Brazil since 1994. He translates from Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and German, and is also active as a musician. Comments welcome at querflote@hotmail.com.