RAPIDINHAS
JUNE
1998

Show Biz

Beauty
and the
Beasts

Like pop singer Madonna who handpicked personal trainer Carlos Leon to father Lourdes Maria, her daughter, Xuxa, Brazil's material girl, was also choosy when looking for a sperm donor who would make true her old dream of becoming a mother. Marriage was also out of question for the kids' TV presenter whose blonde, lascivious, gorgeous-looking image is known worldwide. The Brazilian superstar chose docile, pretty model Luciano Zsafir, 29, six years younger than her.

Unlike Madonna, who disappeared from the public eye to savor her pregnancy and motherhood, Maria da Graça Xuxa Meneghel has made a continuous circus-like spectacle of her pregnant state. The revelation that she was going to be a mother was made on Domingo do Faustão, a live Sunday entertainment show on TV Globo. Since the December disclosure, the pregnancy has become a public affair with the nation following Xuxa's goings to the gynecologist, the ultrasound, and the choice of the name Sasha when the sex of the child was determined.

Not only every Sasha heartbeat is being heard and followed by 160 million parents, grandparents, and siblings, the whole country has also been sharing with the mother her beliefs, values, and philosophy. Last thing to hit the TV fan was a public sparring between Xuxa and her in-laws. The precarious romance between Xuxa and the father of the child seems in shakier ground than ever since the Queen of the Shorties on May 10 declared to daily Folha de São de Paulo: "Nobody is pretty in his family. Only Luciano. I have nothing against them or in favor, but if my daughter has to look with someone there, I hope it will be with Luciano."

That was enough to transform the cold war between Xuxa and the Zsafirs into a full-blown battle. Gabriel and Beth Zsafir, Luciano's parents, released a note to the press criticizing Xuxa and Marlene Mattos, her all-powerful manager, hinting of a lesbian relationship between both. "This is clearly a cheap provocation from two very close lady friends (Vox populi, vox Dei), with the intention to make people believe that Luciano is the villain in the farce by forcing him to abandon the show before it ends."

Luciano's twin sister, Priscila Bochner, was incensed: "I hope my niece will not be contaminated by Xuxa's foolishness." Big sister Alexandra Lebelson Szafir de Nicola initially didn't accept the provocations: "I don't believe Xuxa said that and I am waiting for an official recantation." Since there was no forthcoming retraction, Alexandra, joined the fray: "Xuxa does not even know me. How can she call me ugly? From the pictures I see on magazines my family beats hers ten to one."

The always conciliatory Luciano, who lives by himself in a house that is a 20-minute ride far from Xuxa, this time sided with his own family. He reminded everyone that his mother was a coveted beauty and cover girl in her youth and classified Xuxa's comments as unfortunate. In a so-called official note sent by fax to newsrooms he delivered a stinging message to his girlfriend: "As is common knowledge, beauty is an ephemeral quality, and, with the passing of the years, particularly cruel with women."

Mother Beth, who thinks the TV presenter is just using her son, never hid her displeasure towards Xuxa: "Luciano is not a nobody. Before she ever thought about having money in life, he was already traveling first class with his siblings accompanied by the nanny."

Xexéo, a renegade Rio's Jornal do Brasil columnist wrote: "Let's imagine that Sasha looks like her mother. It is not possible that Xuxa is thinking that she is going to inherit the features that the mother acquired through plastic surgery. That would be funny. Sasha will have her mom's face but she will be completely different from Xuxa."

After delivering the first explosive salvo, Xuxa kept a rare low profile. To the demands from the Szafirs that she make a public apology all she could manage to say was: "Everybody makes mistakes, me included".

Odd

Baby's
Baby

As any other baby, Luciano passes his days alternating long sleeping hours, with crying and taking the breast. When it is time for feeding, the mother, who is nursing him, has to leave her dolls and rush to the child. It happens that Luciano's mom is just slightly older than he is. M. (the Brazilian Justice forbids the use by the press of full names of minors involved in police cases) is only 11 years old and she was raped in August 1997 allegedly by her neighbor—a 38-year-old peasant called Roberto Celeste—in the city of Sapucaia, state of Rio de Janeiro, where she lives.  

Abortion is illegal in Brazil, but since 1940 the Penal Code establishes that the procedure is allowed until the 12th week of gestation when the mother's life is threatened or in cases of rape. The Justice had granted M.'s parents special permission to abort the fetus but religious leaders convinced them to let the child have the baby. The Catholic Church Committee on Life's Defense offered house and board plus psychological and medical assistance during the gestation and continues helping the girl's family.

For obstetrician Altamiro Sather Filho, an Evangelical, the birth had a taste of sweet revenge. The doctor, who helped convince M's family that she could have the child without a problem, was criticized by colleagues for putting the girl's life at risk. Soon after the birth he declared:

—The success of the operation proves that I was right when I said that the girl was not subject to life risk. I am happy for saving as a doctor one more life.

Despite being a preemie, the baby who was delivered by caesarian on May 13 is doing fine. As for M. she is back in school where she is in third grade. Her parents, Walter and Maria da Penha Machado, and the older sister take care of Luciano when she is out.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one million teen-agers give birth every year in Brazil. In 1992, there was another infamous case of rape and pregnancy of a little girl. It was J., a 10-year old, who gave birth to a girl in Mogi das Cruzes, state of São Paulo. The Church intends to use the latest case as a symbol for a national campaign against abortion.

Sex

The Blue
Craze

Viagra, the Yankee blue bird of male sexual bliss, has taken the world by storm. In Brazil, the sexual-potency pill was supposed to be officially and legally introduced in June, but you would never know that. The drug has been widely available even through classified ads on the papers since its American release. Health Ministry Decree 107 published on February 5 expressly forbids the import of Viagra into the country even though the domestic production of the medicine and its commercialization is allowed .

The demand for the miracle pill was so overwhelming, however, that Pfizer, the laboratory that created Viagra, anticipated to June the launching of the product in Brazil.

It is estimated that 10 million Brazilian men could put the erection pill to good use it they only had the money for the pricey tablet. Brazilian doctors pressed by impatient patients started writing prescriptions for Viagra as soon it appeared in the US, knowing that the eager men would find a way to get the product. They were right. But even without a prescription anyone with the money could get it. Muambeiros or sacoleiros (travelers who buy products in New York and Miami to resell in Brazil) started to reserve room in their luggage for the happiness drug. A bottle with 30 pills being sold for $258 in Miami is being bought for $400. For those in a hurry, the pills can be delivered home for $700.

Some pharmacies started selling the product. Soon the medicine was also entering Brazil through the frontier with Paraguay, a country on the south with a tradition for smuggled goods, and was also available from camelôs (street vendors) for about $20 one pill. Some of the boxes come with printed instructions in Portuguese on how to use the product. Counter indications are conveniently omitted though.

Some of the pills are crude falsification. And according to doctors not many Brazilian men will be helped by Viagra. Dr. Marilene Cristina Vargas from the World Society for Impotence Research warned that only 29% of those with impotence problems in Brazil will benefit from the drug, since most of the impotence cases in the country have an organic origin and Viagra has better results when psychological causes are involved.

Work

Presidential
Offense

By calling those who retire before the age of 50 as "lazy bums" President Fernando Henrique Cardoso seems to have offended almost everyone in Brazil, a land in which many people for sheer necessity start working as early as 14 or even sooner. According to the law, these workers can retire after 30 years of contribution to the social security service. Cardoso was addressing the National Forum in Rio on May 11 when he said to an assembly of businessmen, economists, and college professors: "People who retire before they are 50 are lazy bums who enrich from a country of poor and miserable."

The two-days-later explanation that his target was a few privileged public officials didn't convince and the newspapers were swift to point out that the President himself had retired from his job as a professor at Universidade de São Paulo at age 37. For that he receives a monthly pension of close to $5,000. Cardoso was 48 when the political amnesty made it possible for him to reclaim his teaching post, but he preferred to become a professional politician.

Wrote Rio's daily O Globo: "Overworked, he (Cardoso) ended up showing a side unknown to a good many allies. The joker, good-humored and conciliatory, has given way to the president who says what he thinks."

The newspapers were inundated by protest letters like this one send to Rio's Jornal do Brasil by retired elementary teacher Lília Levy: "I am one of the many lazy bums who retired before age 50 after having dedicated 18,000 hours of my life to the children of such neighborhoods as Paquetá, Cidade de Deus, Copacabana, and Rocinha. But my effort was rewarded and for the good services rendered I receive the exorbitant pension of R$530 ($460). I'd like to apologize for my lack of patriotism."

Also in Rio, composer and guitarist João de Aquino got together with other music aces like Nélson Sargento, Nadinho da Ilha, and Marquinhos de Oswaldo Cruz, to protest against the slur. In a party atmosphere they sang "Um Milhão de Vagabundos" (One Million Lazy Bums), a musical response to what was taken as a presidential provocation.

Um Milhão de Vagabundos  João de Aquino and Dalva Lazaroni Quando eu me aposentar com o baita de um salário mínimo ai! Vão querer me taxar de marajá de tremendo vagabundo! Pro mundo do submundo pra lá de 300 vagabundos de carteirinha assinada só oito anos...e mais nada! Minha gente! Minha gente! Brasileiros! Brasileiras! Que é isso, presidente? Aposentado? Tem é gente! Quando fala! Deve pensar! Se não pensar... lá vem nhém...nhém...nhém lá vai blá...blá...blá! Que é isso, presidente Vagabundo? Não é bem a gente! Deixa de drama... segura sua banda! Vagabundo a ninguém se chama !

One Million Lazy Bums   When I retire with a huge minimum wage alas! People will label me a maharajah, a super lazy bum! For the underworld world with more than 300 lazy bums with official documents 8 years are enough...nothing more (1) My folks! My folks! Brazilian men and women! What's that, President? Retired? These are people! When you talk You must think If you don't think...you get senseless yak yak there goes blah-blah-blah! What's that, President? Lazy bum? This is not really us! Don't do a drama...hold your band! You can't call anyone lazy bum!

(1) An allusion to congressmen who can retire with full benefits after eight years in office.

The Cardoso administration seems to have opened a poetic vein among its critics. Normally-restrained Josias de Souza, a renowned columnist for daily Folha de São Paulo lambasted a recent cabinet rearrangement in a rhymed poem.

A reforma em versos Josias de Souza Ah, governo das ilusões perdidas Dos tucanos depenados  Das biografias falidas Dos pefelês animados Das armações desabridas Serra, sujeito esquisito Da Saúde, sonha em ser presidente Por ora, só combate o mosquito E irrita muita gente Diz-se que é de Bornhausen Afirma-se que é de Maciel Ora, meu Deus, que bobagem É a ACM que Waldeck é fiel Nada é o que parecia O verniz falsificado O discurso enlatado O compromisso abandonado Caiu-se numa fria Botafogo é Flamengo doente Vem das Relações Exteriores Nomeou-o o presidente Mas é a Maluf que deve favores Às favas com os escrúpulos Despiram o rei O Congresso está aos pulos FHC virou Sarney De Collor foi amigo ardoroso Na defesa do confisco, estava na liça Agora sob o professor Cardoso Renan foi parar na Justiça Foram-se os ideais Foi-se a filosofia Os tucanos viraram pardais Foi-se a sociologia Nem ética há mais Pobre Freitas Neto Ícone da fase chinfrim FHC arrematou o soneto Entregando-lhe um certo Mirin Ah, incrível mistério Por que tanto papelão? De onde saiu tal ministério? Por que Ruth não disse não? Oh, supremo prejuízo O FHC puro sumiu Salve-se quem tem juízo O ACM assumiu

The Reform in Verse   Ah, government of lost illusions Of plucked toucans (1) Of failed biographies Of lively PFLs (2) Of unabashed schemes Serra (3), weird fellow of Health, dreams to be president For now, he only fights the mosquito (4) And irritates many people They say he's for Bornhausen (5) They tell you he's for Maciel (6) Oh, my Good, how dumb Waldeck (7) is loyal to ACM (8) Nothing is what it seemed to be The falsified gloss The canned speech The abandoned commitment We fell into a trap Botafogo (9) is crazy for Flamengo (10) He comes from the Foreign Ministry The President appointed him But he owes favors to Maluf (11) To hell with scruples They disrobed the king Congress is jumping FHC (12) became Sarney (13) He was a fervent friend of Collor (14) He was on the ring defending the confiscation Now under professor Cardoso Renan (15) ended in the Justice The ideals are gone The philosophy is gone The toucans became sparrows The sociology is gone Not even ethics was left Poor Freitas Neto (16) Icon from the shabby phase FHC concluded the sonnet Bestowing him a certain Mirin (17) Ah, incredible mystery Why so much fiasco? Where this cabinet came from? Why Ruth (18) didn't say no? Oh, supreme loss The pure FHC is gone Whoever is in his mind should leave ACM is now in charge

(1) Toucan is the epithet for politicians belonging to the PSDB (Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira—Brazilian Social Democracy Party), the President's party

(2) PFL (Partido da Frente Liberal—Party of the Liberal Front), a right-wing party allied to the President

(3) José Serra, the new Health Minister, and Cardoso's close friend 

(4) A reference to a dengue epidemic in the country

(5) Jorge Bornhausen, from Santa Catarina, president of PFL

(6) Marco Maciel, the Vice-President

(7) Waldeck Ornelas, senator from Bahia, the same state of senator Antônio Carlos Magalhães.

(8) ACM, Senator Antônio Carlos Magalhães, the all-powerful PFL's de-facto chief

(9) José Botafogo Gonçalves. Botafogo is also the name of a popular soccer team in Rio

(10) Flamengo is Rio's most popular soccer team

(11) Paulo Salim Maluf, former mayor of São Paulo and president of the PPB (Partido Progressista Brasileiro—Brazilian Progressive Party)

(11) FHC, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the President

(12) José Sarney, former President, criticized for being to chummy with the military regime

(14) Fernando Collor de Mello, former president who was impeached for corruption

(15) Senator Renan Calheiros from Alagoas was Collor's leader in the House, but he broke with the President when it was revealed that there was corruption in the administration

(16) Antônio Freitas Neto, PFL's senator from Piauí

(17) Mirin (Ministério Extraordinário das Reformas Institucionais—Special Ministry for Institutional Reforms) was the name given facetiously to a new ministry, apparently created just to accommodate another one of the government's allies. Mirin reminds people of mirim, small.

(18) Ruth Cardoso, the First Lady, an anthropologist

Prices

Airfare
Warfare

For decades, gouging has been the favorite pastime of the Brazilian airline industry. Foreign competition however is bringing radical changes and cuts up to 60% off regular air ticket prices. The last salvo in this unheard war was given by Vasp (Viação Aérea São Paulo), the second largest Brazilian airline, which in partnership with American Continental is offering a $452 ticket to New York, more than 50% off the $999 regular high-season price. The three other airline companies, Transbrasil, TAM, and Varig (Viação Aérea Rio Grandense), the largest of them all, have also promised reductions up to 60% off their national and international prices.

The national skirmish started when regional air carrier TAM (former Transportes Aéreos Marilienses and now Transportes Aéreos Regionais) was allowed to fly the shuttle flight between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the busiest air corridor in the country, and started charging 25% less than the competition. For more than 30 years, the so-called ponte aérea (air bridge) between the two most populous and developed cities in the country was the fiefdom of the three airlines, which divided the territory among themselves establishing a very lucrative high-priced, low-service route. Lately they were offering 30 daily flights covering the 225 miles between Rio and São Paulo—a 50-minute hop each way—charging more than $300 for a round-trip ticket. With TAM's entry now is everyone for himself. Varig decided to abandon the pool, but not the route and will offer the same 25% discount given by TAM.

In an ironic twist, Vasp has started a price war at the same time when its pilots and other workers were ready to strike due to late payment of salaries and Vasp's threats to cut wages from 30% to 40%. Unable to match the competition Transbrasil has started to delay their salary payments too and owner Omar Fontana has already signaled that he is ready for marriage with a wealthier foreign airline. Some experts believe that no more than two airlines will be able to survive in the new competitive skies.

Architecture

Bum
Busters

São Paulo seems to be in the forefront of an architecture aimed at keeping the homeless at a distance. Public and private buildings, parks and even churches have incorporated the most ingenious stratagems to scare beggars and their likes without calling too much attention to the devices used. The subway company, the São Paulo Metro, for example, uses paving stones placed in very irregular position to discourage people from even walking around their stations, much less sitting or sleeping. In an example that has been mimicked by others, the Teatro Cultura Artística has installed the "anti-beggar douche", a device disguised under the marquis of a building that throws water jets at pre-established intervals.

In an interview with O Estado de São Paulo, Paulo Calux, manager of the theater in downtown São Paulo, boasts of being the inventor of the bum-buster sprinkler 12 years ago. He uses the device together with video cameras that monitor the presence of homeless or other undesired people. "Our intention," Calux explained, is not to wet people, but the sidewalk so people will not lie down here." The sprinklers are activated every hour during the night and every two hours during the day.

Another common device used is a sharp metal rail placed on windows and around grassy surfaces to prevent people from feeling comfortable and sitting there. Some have also adopted the use of thorny bushes. It goes without saying that such measures are controversial and people have been hurt by the metal and the thorny plants.

Behavior

Playing
With
Fire

Three popular saints in Brazil are celebrated in June. They are Saint Anthony on the 13th, Saint John on the 24th, and Saint Peter on June 29. Because of this the whole month is dedicated to the so-called Festas Juninas. These are joyous celebrations often held at night around a bonfire (it is winter in Brazil) accompanied by typical food (popcorn, sweet potatoes and a strong ginger-laced alcoholic concoction known as quentão, which is served very hot) and folk songs and dances. It is also time for firecrackers and fireworks.

There is a junina tradition, however, that Brazilian authorities are trying to get rid of: the custom of sending fire-propelled balloons into the sky. Despite the fires caused by the paper devices every year and institutional campaigns to eliminate the practice, the balloon tradition is hard to die. In Rio, for example, there are clubs that collect money just to build huge balloons that use 50 pound gas steel vessels to go up.

These gismos have become so dangerous that American Airlines and Lufthansa have threatened to suspend their flights to Rio and São Paulo if the balloon problem—they are invisible to the radar—is not solved. A collision of a plane with of the bigger balloons might cause an explosion and a tragedy in the air.

Only in February, law 9,605 was introduced making it illegal and subject to one to three years jail terms all those who manufacture, transport and release balloons into the sky. Balloons are a serious threat to residences, businesses and forests and has become a nightmare for oil refineries and other industries that work with inflammable material. From the 4996 fires extinguished last year by Rio's firefighters, 2500 were caused by balloons.

Life

At Closer
Range

Despite all the news about violence in Rio, some areas had escaped unscathed the crime wave. Cariocas (Rio natives) themselves never stopped their daily or nightly stroll by Copacabana's beach calçadão (large sidewalk), for example. Criminal street kids known as pivetes have become more daring in recent weeks though and many residents from Copacabana and neighboring Leme are not venturing on the beach anymore, not even during the day. Talking to Jornal do Brasil, Itamárcia Marçal, president of Amaleme (Associação de Moradores do Leme—Leme Residents' Association) said that the worse problem is in the Ary Barroso square, where there is a big concentration of pivetes, drug dealers and prostitutes. "We had several muggings in the area," she noted.

According to the IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística—Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) 55% of Copacabana's residents are 50 or older. They are also the most frequent targets of the street kids. The problem became big news in mid May when renowned jurist and member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters Evaristo de Moraes Filho, 81, a Copacabana resident for 40 years, was mugged and thrown on the pavement by a pivete while strolling on Avenida Atlântica, the avenue by the sea, on a Saturday afternoon. He broke his right leg and had to be hospitalized and operated on.

The police say that they are doing what they can and even using officers on horseback, but authorities complain that when they arrest a minor he is released in a few hours and comes back to the same place where they were caught. They also complain that tourists and residents alike are too complacent and careless in the streets.

In another front battle against assaults, Rio's buses are starting to install video cameras inside the vehicles. The idea is being copied from a similar successful experiment on New York's subway. In 1997 there were 6,574 assaults on Rio's 6500 buses, an average of 18 daily occurrences. This number has increased by 50% in the last five years. Made in Canada, the bulletproof cameras being used are a little bigger than a cigarette pack. If the idea proves workable every bus will get two of these devices. Bus companies are also trying other deterrents as radio transmitters and a sign that blinks for help in the front panel of the vehicle when the bus is in trouble.

Economy

Upgraded

For more than 10 years Brazil has been watched carefully by Washington's Commerce Department as a criminal on probation. Accusing the country of disrespect for intellectual property, the U.S., in 1987, threatened to impose more than $1 billion in economic sanctions against Brazil. The boycott was avoided by President Fernando Collor de Mello who started to correct the situation. In the years since the first moves to make Brazil respect pharmaceutical, music, computer and other patents, the nation has been upgraded from "priority country" (with serious problems) to "in observation with priority" to simply "in observation".

Only in May Brazil was taken altogether from the list. It doesn't mean however that problems have ended. Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky from the Commerce Department cited considerable progress in the country, but also urged Brazil to take additional steps to fight intellectual property piracy.

Entertainment

Fresh
Icons

For years the world of entertainment and TV in particular has given Brazil the idols it thirsts for. And Brazilians have not been let down lately. There is an abundance of new faces ready to be today's heroes. They are all young, pretty and well packaged. They are people like songstress Ivete Sangalo, who made Bahia state axé music a must-hear rhythm in the richer South; Alexandre Pires, the crooner of the Só pra Contrariar, a pagode (a samba style) band, the bestseller musical phenomenon with three million CDs sold—-a record in the Brazilian recording industry—; and child actress Fernanda Souza, who plays Mili in Chiquititas, a big-hit soap opera among the kids. In other times they might be snubbed and considered not sophisticated enough to be consumed by the elites. Thanks to a democratization and leveling of tastes though the new idols popularity reaches all segments of the population.

The list of the emerging new stars also include the funk duo Claudinho & Buchecha from Rio and the samba group É o Tchan!, which made blonde Carla Perez and brunette Scheila Carvalho, both dancers, sex symbols and role models for kids and teens. Thanks to this new generation of entertainers 80% of the CDs sold today in Brazil are from national artists. On TV, mondo cane show hosts Márcia Goldschmidt on SBT and Ratinho on Record, both with a huge following are helping to define the national taste.

Another TV hero contributing to maintain the dumb blonde stereotype is 24-year-old Carioca (from Rio) Danielle Winits, star of Globo TV novela (soap opera) Corpo Dourado (Golden Body), In the soap Winits plays Alicinha, a model worried that she is getting to old for her career. Danielle is also in Cabaret, a play being shown in São Paulo. Winits's agenda is full and her star is rising. She will be Brazilian's Playboy cover girl in August and in October people will be able to see her in José Zaragoza's movie Até Que a Vida Nos Separe (Until Life Do Us Apart). She has patented her name and soon all sorts of products bearing her DW trademark should start cropping up.

Information

Cheap
Chip

The Brazilian experience with the $1,000 computer was short lived. So successful was the pioneering promotion that all the machines offered flew off the shelves the very first day the deal started. The sales stunt was made by Carrefour, the French hypermarket chain, which put for sale a very powerful machine: a MMX system with 233 MHz, 16 megabytes of memory RAM, and a 2.1 gigabyte hard drive. The computer comes loaded with multimedia resources and a fax-modem. The monitor is included in the price. Brazilians normally pay 50% more at least for a similar system.

The campaign was supposed to last 12 days in Carrefour's 50 stores, but according to the company, all 5,000 computers in stock were sold in just a few hours. Five thousand other people who also wanted the computer on the first day of sale could not be helped. The deal was offered through a partnership with American computer firms Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and United Information Systems (UIS). How successful was the promotion? Carrefour sold 5,000 machines of its three bestseller brands during the whole year of 1997 and 50,000 is the total number of computers of all makes that Carrefour expects to sell this year.

Brazil is playing catch-up in the computer area. The so-called "market reserve" system that lasted from 1984 to 1992, and whose intention was to protect a domestic computer domestic that never took off, imposed heavy taxes for the import of foreign computers. The measures didn't fulfill the dream of a Brazilian computer industry, but helped to create a blooming black market for foreign machines.

Behavior

Disk R
for
Racism

One week after its launching in mid May the service SOS Racismo—(071) 321-7777—in the city of Salvador, state of Bahia, had already received eight complaints from the population, seven of them from black people saying they were discriminated. Only a white woman made the same charge. The inverse proportion of people complaining would make more sense. Official statistics reveal that 89% of Salvador's population is black.

The historical 449-year old town, whose city council always had a minority of black members, seems to live in an official apartheid system. Blacks are rare in the best schools and in some others there is not even one white. Case in point, the Steve Bilko school never had a white student in its five-year existence.

Sex

Bed and
Rubber

Motel in Brazil is synonym for whoopee hotel. Now, in Rio de Janeiro, where there are more motels by the square mile than any other place in the country, a new legislation will guarantee that the habitués from these houses will practice safe sex. Law number 2,929 signed in May by Rio's governor Marcello Alencar requires that all motels in the state offer condoms to their customers together with AIDS-prevention literature.

City

Motaxi

In search of a solution for their traffic woes some Brazilian towns seem to have found the answer in the noisy, dangerous, but low-cc, portable, and cheap motorcycle. The two-wheeled vehicle is officially being used in several northeastern towns as moto-taxi. The idea that was first introduced in 1995 in Fortaleza, capital of the state of Ceará—there are 6,000 moto-taxis there—has spread throughout the region.

Authorities sometimes have been forced to legalize the situation of these two-wheeled taxis, but in many smaller communities the service is being offered without the backing of the law. According to weekly magazine Veja, while about 100 towns have legalized the moto-taxi service, it already exists in more than 1,000 localities.

Moto-taxi drivers generally use colorful outfits and circulate till someone signal for them. Passengers by law must be offered a helmet. There are no official statistics, but it is known that the motorbikes have been involved in several accidents.

The practice is also contributing to booming sales of motorcycles—the favorite is the 250cc model—,which cost three times less than the cheapest model of car (approximately $3,000 against $9,000). Since 1994 the number of motos sold in the country has risen 220%. This is not a reaction to a possible bigger buying power brought in by the real, the new currency, and the economic stability that accompanied it. Sales of automobiles, for example, have declined 9.5% in March when compared to the same month in 1997. Moto sales, however, have increased by 58% in identical period.

Happening

Evil
Cannibal

At age 60, José Celso Martinez Corrêa continues to be the enfant terrible of the Brazilian stages, a title he holds unchallenged since the '60s when the director and his troupe staged modernist Oswald de Andrade's (1890-1954) O Rei da Vela, a satirical take on chauvinism. The last outrage of the controversial theater man happened May 2 and 3 at Rio's Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, at the end of the show Trinta Anos de 68—Vanguarda, Desbunde e Utopia (Thirty Years From '68—Avant-Garde, Dazzle, and Utopia). Joining the Mangueira samba school percussion band, Zé Celso wrapped in a parangolé—a tunic of the '68 Tropicalism movement created by Hélio Oiticica (1937-1980), another professional provocateur—started a strip tease that ended with the director completely in the buff throwing himself at the spectators. Horrified, many in the auditorium, which had small children as well as octogenarians, left the place. But many other stayed and joined the clean fun with their clothes on. Later, Corrêa explained that the disrobing had been didactic. "You need to be naked to feel entirely a work of art," he explained, adding: "We need to cannibalize the tedium this country is going through."

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