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The Right-Wing Brazilian Politicians vs Venezuela and FARC

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

[Venezuela's permanent entry into Mercosur, while approved by almost
all of its South American members and by Brazil's President Lula da
Silva, was blocked late in 2007 by the right-wing pro-oligarch
legislators in Brazil. These are the same interests who approve of
right-wing paramilitary operations in Colombia, their incursions into
Venezuela, the USA's dismally failed drug war (called Plan Colombia)
and are [leased to see Colombia's President Uribe's recent dithering,
demented, or perhaps just deceptive behavior, as he changes his tune on
the FARC prisoner negotiations almost daily.

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Lula to Visit Fidel in Cuba Next Week

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

Radio Havana Cuba
http://www.radiohc.cu/ingles/portada.htm

Brazilian President to Visit Fidel Castro Next Week

Brasilia, January 9 (RHC)-Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
is scheduled to visit his Cuban counterpart Fidel Castro next week
after attending the swearing in ceremony of Guatemala's President elect
Alvaro Colom.

Lula will travel to Guatemala Sunday, afterwards will visit Cuba on
Monday on an official visit, according to a government spokesperson.

During one day visit, the Brazilian Head of State will meet with
authorities, sign bilateral agreements and visit the Cuban leader.

Government sources had indicated that the Brazilian state oil company,
Petrobras was reportedly interested in signing an agreement for oil
exploration in Cuban waters.

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Thousands Rescued in 2007 from Slavery in Brazil

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN)
http://ainch.ain.cu/mailman/listinfo/ingles

Thousands Rescued in 2007 from Slavery in Brazil

Havana, Dec 19 (acn) Some 5,000 people living under conditions "similar
to slavery" were rescued this year, reported the Brazilian government,
which has sets out to put an end to this scourge.

According to international media outlets, more than 5,000 farm workers
subjected to nearly poverty conditions were rescued from Brazilian
haciendas in 2007, making this one of the most successful years in this
struggle.

"Slavery is still a reality in some regions of our country but this
government has set it as a priority to eradicate the problem," said a
spokesperson from the President's human rights office of Brazil, as
quoted by Granma newspaper.

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Bolivia-Brazil Begin New Era in Energy Cooperation

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Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN)
http://ainch.ain.cu/mailman/listinfo/ingles

Bolivia-Brazil Begin New Era in Energy Cooperation

Havana, Dec 18 (acn) Bolivia's Evo Morales and Brazil's Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silva, set in motion Monday in La Paz a new era in bilateral
relations by signing accords mainly related to energy, reported Granma
newspaper.

The two heads of state, along with the presidents of Yacimientos
Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) and Petrobras (Brazil) state
oil companies and the ministers of energy, signed several accords in an
alliance that according to Lula, "will lead to the broader goal of
South American integration."

Among the main agreements is one under which Petrobras will invest
between US $750 million and 1 billion over three years.

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Brazil: Rape inquiry over teenaged girl jailed with 20 men

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

sent by Lynette Dumble - activ-l

The Guardian - Nov 24, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/brazil/story/0,,2216361,00.html

Rape inquiry over girl jailed with 20 men

by Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro

Authorities in the Brazilian Amazon came under fire this week after
reports that a 16-year-old girl had been repeatedly raped and tortured
while being held in a prison cell with at least 20 men.

According to reports in the Brazilian press, the teenager was arrested
last month after being caught stealing in Abaetetuba, a town on the
outskirts of Belem, the capital of the Amazon state Para.

She reportedly spent 26 days in a cell at the local police station,
although no formal charges were brought. This week the girl emerged
from custody covered in bruises and cigarette burns.

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Brazil: "Tupi" Field Opens Door to Big Oil

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Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Brazil: "Tupi" Field Opens Door to Big Oil

by Carlos A. S!nchez

The discovery of a huge hydrocarbon deposit along the coast of Brazil
feels like a gust of fresh air in a turbulent world upset by the
endless hike in oil prices, the campaign of the United States against
Iraq and Iran, and forecasts of increasing depletion of world fuel
supplies.

It is true the "Tupi" field is about 4.3 miles deep under the seabed
and because of that it is estimated to start producing only in about
five years. The fact is that this find brings a renewal of hope that
the era of big oil discoveries of good quality has not ended and
although at a higher cost, still findings of big-scale economically
exploitable oil can be made.

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Brazil: An Oilfield Can be a Political Tool

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

The New York Times - November 19, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/19/world/americas/19braziloil.html

Brazil Discovers an Oil Field Can Be a Political Tool

By Alexei Barrionuevo

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 17 ? With the price of oil hovering near $100 a
barrel, the discovery of the biggest deep-water oil field off the
southeastern coast has the potential to transform Brazil into a global
energy powerhouse and to reshape the politics of this energy-starved
continent.

While Brazil's state oil company, Petrobras, has known of the field for
more than a year, it only finished assessing its full potential in
recent months. It announced on Nov. 8 that the field held some five
billion to eight billion barrels of crude oil and natural gas.

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Lula to Get His Ass to Cuba?

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

[The Cuban press has not reported anything about this visit yet; it
all sounds extremely tentative so far.]

AFP via Caribbean Net News - Nov 14, 2007
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-4513--5-5--.html

Brazil's Lula to visit Cuba

BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP): Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
will visit Cuba on November 22-33 and hopes to see ailing leader Fidel
Castro during the trip, the foreign ministry announced Tuesday.

On the official visit Lula is tentatively planning to meet with Fidel
Castro's brother Raul, who has acted as interim president ever since
Fidel underwent surgery in July 2006, according to government officials.

But the meeting still needs to be confirmed, the officials said.

Lula indicated he might go to Cuba at the Ibero-American summit last
week in Santiago, Chile.

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Brazil & Nukes: Lula Wants His Yellow Submarine

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Council on Hemispheric Affairs - Oct 26, 2007
http://www.coha.org/2007/10/26/lula-wants-his-yellow-submarine/

Lula Wants His Yellow Submarine

Nuclear-R-Us: Is Brazil's proposed Construction of a Nuclear Submarine
the result of Imperial Ambitions or a matter of diving to the depths of
pandering politics on Lula's part?

by Alex S!nchez, COHA Research Fellow

* Lula reignites the dream of the military junta: a nuclear
submarine of its own.

* Washington derides Iran's and North Korea's nuclear plans but
mums the word when it comes to Brazil

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Venezuela Skips WB-IMF Meeting; Brazil Attends and Blasts the "Dinosaur"

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Reuters via Yahoo - Oct 21, 2007
http://in.news.yahoo.com/071021/137/6m7g7.html

Venezuela to skip IMF, World Bank meetings

CARACAS - Venezuela will not attend the upcoming meetings of the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which leftist President
Hugo Chavez accuses of being pawns of Washington, the Finance Ministry
said on Saturday.

Chavez earlier this year promised to withdraw the OPEC country from the
IMF, but later backed away when government leaders became aware the
move could affect billions of dollars in Venezuelan foreign debt.

Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas will travel to Washington on Sunday to
make presentations promoting the Bank of the South, a lender Chavez is
creating as a counterweight to the Washington-based multilaterals.