International
Bolsonaro finds strong support in Rio’s ‘Brazilian Miami’
AFP | Eugenia Logiuratto
Posh-looking drivers in expensive cars are honking their horns on a beachfront avenue in Rio de Janeiro, blaring their approval at a vendor selling green-and-yellow Brazilian flags outside President Jair Bolsonaro’s former home.
Welcome to Barra da Tijuca, the neighborhood known as the “Brazilian Miami,” a bastion of support for the far-right incumbent as he fights to win reelection in his October 30 runoff battle against leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010).
Known for its upscale shopping malls, gated communities and luxury condos with sweeping views of the emerald coastline, Barra voted heavily for Bolsonaro in the first-round election on October 2, when Lula took 48 percent of the vote nationwide, to 43 percent for the incumbent.
In Barra, Bolsonaro won 50 percent of the vote, to 37 percent for Lula — a preference visible in the abundance of Brazilian flags fluttering from the west-side neighborhood’s balconies, a symbol adopted by the president’s supporters.
“People here in Barra are very in sync with Bolsonaro ideologically. The majority of people support him, because there are a lot of businesspeople,” says resident Felipe Fontenelle, a 58-year-old entrepreneur who owns a communications security firm and stakes in two restaurants.
Lula, he warns, represents “communism.”
Developed in 1969 by renowned modernist urban planner Lucio Costa, Barra underwent a demographic boom in the 1980s, becoming a magnet for celebrities, politicians and the upwardly mobile as they sought a haven from the city’s violence.
Now home to some 135,000 people, its elite status was cemented when it was chosen as the site for the Olympic village for the 2016 Rio Games.
“It’s a neighborhood for the nouveau riche, especially people who believe in the idea of the self-made man: that they worked hard and succeeded,” says sociologist Paulo Gracino Junior of Candido Mendes University, calling it an enclave of executives, professionals and military top brass.
He points out it is also home to ex-cop Ronnie Lessa, a convicted arms trafficker who is the chief suspect in the 2018 killing of black LGBT activist and Rio city councillor Marielle Franco.
Lessa and Bolsonaro lived on the same street.
Bolsonaro’s hood
Bolsonaro, then a congressman representing Rio, moved to Barra with his family in the 2000s.
They still own the house they bought in Vivendas da Barra, a gated community that sits behind a cement wall topped with barbed wire.
The private condo has become a rallying point for Bolsonaro backers.
Visiting Rio from the southern state of Santa Catarina, retired lawyer Mirian Rebelo and her son Rodrigo, a dentist, stopped there to take selfies, both sporting Tommy Hilfiger T-shirts and sunglasses.
“I love the president’s focus on the family. And he doesn’t mince words. He speaks his mind,” says Mirian, 65.
“Every country deserves a Bolsonaro,” says Rodrigo, 41, praising the president’s “crackdown on corruption and the ideology of evil.”
Cacalo Matarazzo, a lawyer and jiu-jitsu teacher who lives next door to Bolsonaro’s condo complex, says he counts the president as a friend.
“Everyone here knows him well. He even invited me over for coffee before his inauguration” in 2019, says the stern, square-jawed 73-year-old, after proudly showing a series of photographs of himself with Bolsonaro on his cell phone.
“But it’s not just about Bolsonaro, it’s about a guy who’s fighting to build a better Brazil.”
Matarazzo is no fan of Lula, who makes a cameo among the Bolsonaro merch on sale out front.
There, the veteran leftist, who was jailed in 2018 on controversial, since-overturned corruption charges, appears in effigy as an inflatable doll in a prison uniform.
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Aerial view of the Barra da Tijuca neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on October 10, 2022. - Posh-looking drivers in expensive cars are honking their horns on a beachfront avenue in Rio de Janeiro, blaring their approval at a vendor selling green-and-yellow Brazilian flags outside President Jair Bolsonaro's former home. Welcome to Barra da Tijuca, the neighborhood known as the "Brazilian Miami," a bastion of support for the far-right incumbent as he fights to win re-election in his October 30 runoff battle against leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010). (Photo by CARLOS FABAL / AFP)
International
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.
During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.
“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.
“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”
Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.
On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.
International
Vatican releases special “Sede Vacante” stamps ahead of papal transition
he Vatican’s post offices and select collector shops began selling special edition stamps this week to mark the period between the death of Pope Francis and the election of his successor.
Known as “Sede Vacante” stamps, they feature an image used on official Vatican documents during the interregnum between popes — two crossed keys without the papal tiara. These stamps went on sale Monday and will remain valid for postal use only until the new pontiff appears at the window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
Until then, they can be used to send letters, postcards, and parcels. “Once the new pope is elected, the stamps lose their postal validity, but their collectible value rises,” said Francesco Santarossa, who runs a collectors’ shop across from St. Peter’s Square.
The Vatican has issued the stamps in four denominations: €1.25, €1.30, €2.45, and €3.20. Each is inscribed with “Città del Vaticano” and “Sede Vacante MMXXV” — Latin for “Vacant See 2025.”
International
Conclave to choose pope Francis’ successor could begin in early may
The conclave, which in the coming weeks must choose the successor to Pope Francis, will strictly follow a precise protocol refined over centuries.
The 135 cardinal electors, all under the age of 80, will cast their votes four times a day — except on the first day — until one candidate secures a two-thirds majority. The result will be announced to the world through the burning of the ballots with a chemical that produces the eagerly awaited white smoke, accompanied by the traditional cry of “Habemus Papam.”
The start date for the conclave could be announced today, as the cardinals are set to hold their fifth meeting since the pope’s passing. Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich suggested it could begin on May 5 or 6, following the traditional nine days of mourning. According to German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the conclave could last only “a few days.”
Although the late Argentine pontiff appointed the majority of the cardinal electors, this does not necessarily ensure the selection of a like-minded successor. Francis’ leadership style differed significantly from that of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, a German theologian who was less fond of large public gatherings. It also marked a contrast with the popular Polish pope, John Paul II.
The Argentine Jesuit’s reformist papacy drew strong criticism from more conservative sectors of the Church, who are hoping for a doctrinally focused shift. His tenure was marked by efforts to combat clerical sexual abuse, elevate the role of women and laypeople, and advocate for the poor and migrants, among other causes.
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