Cachita by any other name smells as sweet..

I remember the first bedtime story I ever heard. I remember who told it. It was Mima Fela, my dad's stepmom, but she loved me like a "real" grandmother, probably more so, because her two children from her first marriage never gave her grandkids. She told me the story of La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, or Our Lady of Charity, the patroness of Cuba. In her version, one of the three Juanes was called "Danielito". A good storyteller knows how not to spoil a tale with facts. I figure anyone reading my blog is probably family and knows the story, but just in case, here is a quikie, wikipedia version:

The story behind the La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, began around 1608(sometime between 1604 and 1612 depending on the source). Two brothers, Rodrigo and Juan de Hoyos, and their slave, Juan Moreno, set out to the Bay of Nipe for salt. They are traditionally called the "three Juans". They needed the salt for the preservation the meat at the Barajagua slaughter house, which supplied the workers and inhabitants of Santiago del Prado, now known as El Cobre. While out in the bay, a storm arose, rocking their tiny boat violently with ongoing waves. Juan, the slave, was wearing a medal with the image of the Virgin Mary. The three men began to pray for her protection. Suddenly, the skies cleared, and the storm was gone. In the distance, they saw a strange object floating in the water. They rowed towards it as the waves brought it towards them. At first they mistook it for a bird, but quickly saw that it was what seemed to be a statue of a girl. At last they were able to determine that it was a statue of the Virgin Mary holding the child Jesus on her right arm and holding a gold cross in her left hand. The statue was fastened to a board with an inscription saying "Yo Soy la Virgen de la Caridad" or "I am the Virgin of Charity." The statue was dressed with real cloth and the Virgin had real hair and skin of a mixed woman. Much to their surprise, the statue remained completely dry while afloat in the water.

That is just the story of the apparition.

Let me tell you another story, about the patroness of Brazil, Our Lady of Aparecida, or as she is known here, Nossa Senhora Aparecida. Stop me if the story sounds familiar: (again, a quickie wikipedia version)

The official account of the Aparecida apparition took place in October 1717, when Dom Pedro de Almeida, Count of Assumar and Governor of the Province of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, was passing through the area of Guaratinguetá, a small city in the Paraíba river valley,^[1][4] during a trip to Vila Rica, an important gold mining site.

The people of Guaratinguetá decided to hold a feast in his honour, and though it was not fishing season, the fishermen went down to the Paraíba waters to fish for the feast.^[1][4] Three of the fishermen, Domingos Garcia, João Alves, and Filipe Pedroso, prayed to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, and asked God's help.^[1][4] They were unable to catch any fish, and after several hours in the river, they were ready to give up when João cast his net once more near the Port of Itaguaçu.^[1][4] Instead of fish, he hauled in the body of a statue with a missing head.^[1][4] They cast their net again, and brought up the statue's head.^[1][4] After cleaning the statue, they found that it was a black version of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.^[1] Legend has it that when the fishermen recovered the body, then the head, the slender figure of the Aparecida Virgin became so heavy that they couldn't budge it.^[2]

After that, according to the official account, they named their find Nossa Senhora da Aparecida Conceição (English: Our Lady of the Appeared Conception), wrapped it in cloth and continued to fish; now their catch was so great that they returned to port because the weight of the fish threatened to sink their craft.^[5] This was the first miracle attributed to Our Lady of Aparecida.

A bit similar to the first story right? Also a bit similar with the "black" virgin, La Virgen de la Regla.

There is more....

Look again carefully at the image on the left, and Cubans reading the blog, tell me who it is...

See where it says NS Navegantes? It is Our Lady of Navigators. The image is identical to the one Cubans use for La Virgen de la Caridad! Same aparition, different name. For some reason, even though the story says it was three boys, the image has changed over the years to show a somewhat older dude in the boat. Don't know how or why. Anyways, I always thought it intersting how the stories were similar in the case of the patroness and how the same image was known by a different name.

BTW, yes, yes, I know and understand, there is only ONE Virgin Mary and all are the same, just different manifestations and apparitions of the same person.

I dunno whether to laugh, cry, or scratch my head...

I dunno whether to laugh, cry, or scratch my head...

Obama and Lula are most popular presidents in Latin America

According to LatinBarometer 2009, an annual poll that measures the preferences of Latin Americans, Barack Obama, U.S president, and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, are the most respected presidents in the region. Colombian president Alvaro Uribe is in the middle of the list, while Hugo Chavez, from Venezuela, and Fidel Castro, Cuban leader, garnered the least support, making them the most disliked figures in the region. The poll includes more than 2000 interviews in 18 countries throughout the region.

And the hits just keep on coming

OK, so what were the most popular posts? Well, far and away, not one post came close to this one about a Brazilian arms shipment going to Venezuela. This was actually a repost from another blog. I got some interesting hits on it: two from Cuba, a handful from Venezuela, and someone, I don't know who, who works at the State Dept. in Wash. DC got it in an email and then resent it to other people there. I know this from the stat tracker that shows where they got the link from. The second most popular post is the review to Bad Buddhist Radio I mentioned yesterday. #3 is a post that was pretty popular among the ex-pats living in Brazil because it deals with "Brazilian pizza". It seems a lot of people had been meaning to do a similar post on the differences. This post about "real crime" shows in Brazil got a respectable number of hits, it seems some Brazilian found the video funny and started emailing it around and around, and I got more email than I expected about it, as did the "price of a can of Pepsi" post that I also mentioned yesterday. The cricket posts all got a good number of hits, but these two about Mark Vermeulen and this one about Mohammad Asif got a good number more than the rest.
Thanks for stopping by....

Pics of the "lost" Amazon Tribe

Got some emails about the Indian tribe found in the western part of the country close to the Peru border. BBC has a few photos here, and here is a good shot that details what the items are in the photo. Here is National Geographic's take on the story. Keep in mind that while many articles are saying "uncontacted" that may not be entirely accurate. It's not like they have never encountered life outside the tribe. Many of these tribes have come in contact with rubber trappers, loggers, etc., but for the most part have kept to themselves and decided not to organize with FUNAI which is the Brazilian government's National Indian Foundation

The Brazilian Economy

The Economist, which while I can read online is one of the things I miss about being able to buy when I was back in the States, and probably the best magazine out there, has an interesting article on the state of the Brazilian economy.

TAKE two neighbouring economies, both heavily dependent on commodity prices to make their trade figures look good. Give one an orthodox monetary policy, watch it embrace foreign investors and float its currency. Hand the other over to mavericks who have resorted to fixing prices, banning or taxing some of their own exports and baldly lying about the inflation rate. The result? The rascal—Argentina—continues to grow at a blistering 9% clip, while by contrast well-behaved Brazil plods along (see chart). Is it time to rewrite the economics textbooks? Argentines would like to think so. But there are signs that Brazil may yet come out ahead.

Check out the full write up here.

Is this getting much press in the States, cause it is making the rounds here in Brazil. I found this article in English:

Clinton Link in Brazil Ethanol Probe

By ALAN CLENDENNING – 14 hours ago

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) — A team from Brazil's Labor Ministry found "degrading" living conditions for 133 sugarcane workers employed by an ethanol company whose investors include former President Clinton and other high-profile financial players.

At five sites inspected, workers "complained they were suffering from hunger and cold, and all of the locations were overcrowded and with terrible sanitary conditions," according to a statement issued Friday by Jaqueline Carrijo, who led the inspections last month.

The target of the probe, Brazil Renewable Energy Co., known as Brenco, apologized over the weekend and said it is fixing the problems at its rural operations, which turn sugarcane into ethanol.

Clinton's connection is via an investment in Brenco by The Yucaipa Cos., a U.S.-based fund in which Clinton was a senior advisor until last year. His investment in Brenco is valued between $15,001 and $50,000, according to a financial dislosure report submitted last year by his wife, presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Yucaipa, whose chairman is prominent Democratic billionaire Ron Burkle, holds an overall 2.8 percent stake in the initial $200 million raised by Brenco last year to start up operations in Brazil's booming ethanol sector.

Bill Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna said that the former president's investment made via Yucaipa was small but that he had been assured Brenco was "committed to the highest ethical standard with regard to the treatment of its workforce and of the environment."

"The president finds these allegations deeply troubling and expects Brenco to move swiftly to ensure that those responsible are held accountable," McKenna said, adding that Clinton is "taking steps to ensure that there is an appropriate transition for his business relationships should Senator Clinton become the Democratic nominee."

The Brazilian labor probe focused mostly on living conditions for the workers, including 17 who were paying rent to live in housing overrun by rats and cockroaches, Carrijo said. In addition, trucks lacked special seatbelts for workers who ride atop the vehicles as they throw sugarcane seedlings to the ground, she said.

Brenco chief executive Henri Philippe Reichstul traveled Monday to personally inspect the living arrangements of his company's workers. He said in an interview that the 17 workers cited by Carrijo were not living in company housing, but that the company agreed with labor inspectors that there were housing problems for the remaining 116 workers.

No workers are "in this situation any more," he said. "If there are fines to pay for it, we will pay the fines. We are not breaking the spirit or the confidence that we got from our shareholders to start a project of sustainable growth."

Details of the investigation were first reported Saturday in the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, Brazil's largest.

Reichstul, the former chief executive of Brazil's state-run oil company, said the problems happened while the ethanol company was mobilizing 3,500 workers to plant sugarcane on 86,500 acres in three central Brazil states.

Many of those hired had to be recruited to move near the sugarcane plantations because they live far away, and the scramble to erect and set up living quarters coincided with weeks of torrential rainstorms.

Brenco's investors include Vinod Khosla, a venture capitalist who was one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems; America Online founder Stephen Case; Hollywood producer and Democratic fundraiser Steven Bing, another close Clinton ally; and former World Bank President James Wolfensohn.

The company is run by Henri Philippe Reichstul, the former chief executive of Brazil's state-run oil company, Petroleo Brasileiro SA.

Yucaipa spokesman Frank Quintero characterized the fund's investment in Brenco as small and said it has no management role.

"Newspapers report that Brenco has taken immediate action to remedy the situation," he said in a statement. "If that is not the case we will sell our shares in the company."

Brazil is the world's second-largest producer of ethanol after the United States, but is the No. 1 exporter. Experts say Latin America's largest nation could become an ethanol superpower because its sugarcane is more efficient for ethanol production than the corn used in the U.S.

UNICA, Brazil's association of sugar and ethanol producers, has acknowledged that working conditions in Brazil's cane fields have caused an image problem that could hurt exports.

While cane cutters receive good salaries by Brazilian standards, they spend long hours in the hot sun and suffer a litany of bone and muscle injuries and machete cuts. Their eyes and lungs are punished by ash from working in fields recently burned to facilitate cutting and to kill off rats, snakes and scorpions.

Most of Brazil's sugarcane-ethanol operations are owned by Brazilian individuals and companies, but foreign investment is increasing rapidly.

Reichstul said Brenco is committed to providing decent living conditions for workers, and that their quarters include dormitories and restaurants with areas set aside for sports fields and game and television rooms.

Associated Press writers Devlin Barrett in Washington and Peter Muello in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, contributed to this report.

Brazilian Arm Shipment Coming Up A Bit Short?

Yesterday I posted about a possible shipment of Brazilian arms ending up in Venezuela. I received an email from a blogger (Mike) who did a bit of checking into it and seems the shipment came up light, when you take into account the the total weight (31.5 tons) and the number of arms mentioned (50,000-70,000). Mike says:

Not saying that Brazil is not transferring arms to Venezuela, just that the numbers in this report don't make sense, and therefore, I question the accuracy of this specific allegation. On the other hand, Mini-me Chavez may be arming his supporters for a wild Saturday night.

Mike is not a Chavez apologist, just questioning this new allegation.

Breaking News: Brazilian Arms secretly flown to Venezuela

From "Swimming Against The Red Tide" I copy and paste this item of note. The post seems to have an error in formatting, and the link carries over its frame so I copied over here. Great blog with informative posts on South American news/ happenings/ political coverage, with a emphasis usually on Brazil.

Breaking News: 31.5 tonnes of Brazilian Firearms Flew Secretly to Venezuela!

A friend of mine just send me this: Where are all those who claimed Lula was a "counterbalance" to Chávez in Latin America?
Lula is the creator of the Foro de Sao Paulo, the evil organisation behind the "return of the living dead"-commies to power in the region and the most perfect imposter of Brazil´s history, pretending to be "not a leftist" anymore while helping his friends in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicarágua, Colombia (FARC), Peru and Bolivia. Here you can see him in his utter ugliness, just like an uncovered "Portrait of Dorian Gray".

Many people in North America fell into this trap so naively that it is difficult to explain. Only their wishful thinking could explain such distorted opinions on Brazilian president while he always said one thing but acted otherwise.

------------------------------------

http://www.world-check.com/articles/2008/03/02/yet-another-high-risk-indicator-venezuela-surfaces/

Financial Crime Consultant, for World-Check
More about the Author
Yet another high-risk indicator for Venezuela surfaces
2 March 2008
If you remember the chaos that surrounded the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), you know that financial institutions simply cannot operate under conditions of street violence. The tenuous situation in Venezuela could soon reach that state, in light of disturbing new developments that have come to light. Read the details below, and decide for yourself whether a civil war is on the horizon in Caracas.

Here is what we know so far:

a.. Four secret flights are scheduled into Venezuela, on TAM Brazilian Airlines, transporting 31.5 tonnes of firearms made in Brazil. The first flight has already arrived, carrying 1.5 tonnes of weapons; each additional flight is scheduled to bring in ten tonnes each.

a.. Whilst the exact types of weapons are unknown, one can safely estimate that between 50,000 and 70,000 weapons will be contained in these shipments, which are not consigned for the Ministry of Defence, but are to be quietly delivered directly to the Miraflores Presidential Palace, on the orders of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez Frias. Why all the secrecy?

a.. In a country where the armed forces and the police are already well-equipped, these weapons can only have one intended use; to arm civilian supporters of the current regime, who will use it upon the opposition in an expected violent confrontation that could degenerate into a civil war.

A civil disturbance would result in the complete shutdown of the financial system in the capital. Watch for any preliminary signs of organised violence, closure of shoppes and businesses, and attacks upon civilians.

Ricardinho Adjusts To Life In Detroit

Article on Brazilian soccer player Ricardinho adjusting to life in a new country, and a different version of "futebol", indoor soccer in the MISL.

The Super Bowl In Brazil

As a kid, I always got a kick during the Super Bowl broadcast when they would switch to the international feed for a play or two. I always wondered, what it is like to watch the game in another country. Well, last night, after more than two years in Brazil, I watched my first NFL game in as long a time. Of all the sports, NFL is probably the one I miss the least, I would much rather watch an NBA or NHL game, and a NASCAR race would be awesome. On the "pay networks" they do show a good amount of NBA, and some NFL, especially on ESPN. The game was shown live on one of those networks, I think ESPN, but I got the "free feed" and that is the one I will review.

For starters, I turned the game on half way through the second quarter. I live in the northeast of Brazil, and the rest of Brazil is in DST, so we are one hour ahead of the rest of the country. When they announced the game would be on at 1 AM (we are -3 GMT, and that means I am 2 hours ahead of whatever time it is in New York when they are in DST) I totally forgot to adjust the time. What they did was broadcast the game. Just the game, plays, none of the "down time". You can't believe how much useless stuff adds to the length of the game. They stopped as soon as the play was dead, and started when the ball was snapped. The entire broadcast took an hour and a half. They only showed commercials (they showed 'local' commercials, not the ones from the regular broadcast) at halftime. They showed replays, for key plays only, and as far as the halftime show, all I got to see was "American Girl" by Tom Petty. The commentators were enjoyable. Most everything is pronounced the "same", albeit in Portuguese, sack, field goal, pass, etc, they names don't change, they are just said with an accent. Same with the player names. The best was any time a "bomb" or long pass was thrown, and they would yell "FOGO NA BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" which literally translates to "Fire on the bomb" but they would strech it out much like they do with a goal in soccer. The commentators were pretty informed about the NFL, they would explain the ins and outs of the game, explain rules quickly, and they really seemed to enjoy the "first down" marker that the broadcasts superimpose on the field, they would explain to the viewers that the yellow line really "does not exist", it is just there for the viewers, and that the official sport is kept with the field markers. I was impressed with the quality of the commentators and how they explained the game to the viewers, and I was really impressed that the whole broadcasts was over in less than an hour and a half.

Old Traditions Live At Brazil's Carnival

Wanted to pass this along since it mentions Carnival traditions in Pernambuco, the state I live in

OLD TRADITIONS LIVE AT BRAZIL'S CARNIVAL

NAZARE DA MATA, Brazil (AP) — As morning breaks over the rolling green cane fields, the 19-year-old sugar cane cutter takes an herbal bath and offers a prayer to indigenous and African spirits before transforming himself into something resembling an electric, Day-Glo lion from outer space.

Josenildo Estevao da Silva dons colorful pantaloons, hoists a rack of cow bells onto his back and tops off the outfit with a brilliantly sequined poncho and a screaming headdress of neon ribbons. Then he marches several miles down dirt roads to rehearse with hundreds of other lance-wielding revelers who will converge on the state capital of Recife Sunday.

"When I'm all dressed up I become a warrior. It's a very powerful feeling," says Silva, a member of Cambinda Brasileira, a group of Maracatu revelers founded in 1898.

The most visible manifestation of carnival occurs more than 1,000 miles to the south in Rio de Janeiro, where nationally televised samba parades have fans rooting for their favorite groups with a passion usually reserved for soccer teams.

But nearly every region of Brazil has its own carnival traditions. In recent years, a growing number of revelers turned off by the commercialism of Rio's grand spectacle have begun looking elsewhere, to states such as Bahia and Pernambuco, where more homegrown rhythms dominate the celebrations.

Perhaps none of these traditions has benefited as much from renewed attention as maracatu, a deeply secret, semi-religious ritual born among former slaves in the sugarcane fields of Pernambuco state, with roots stretching back to African and indigenous cultures.

"We have the most democratic carnival in Brazil. It's open to everyone and it's free. You don't have to sit in a stadium like in Rio or pay to party in a cordoned-off area like in Bahia," says Recife Mayor Joao Paulo Lima Silva, who for eight years has dressed up as a maracatu lance-bearer to kick off the party.

Anthropologists say the origins of the ritual are mysterious, a mixture of several traditions with the dancers fancying themselves warrior members of an Indian tribe for reasons that are not entirely clear.

The music of maracatu consists of improvised verses sung a capella and answered by the thundering of trumpets, trombones and host of percussion instruments — a very different sound from the drums of Rio's samba schools.

Maracatu was disappearing in the 1980s, and in 1989 only 11 groups remained in Pernambuco state.

But then an association was formed to promote the tradition, and authorities cracked down on violence by maracatu groups who would often attack their rivals to steal their costumes.

The number of groups grew to 112 as they admitted women and children. Women cannot perform as lance-bearers, but take on roles that had previously been performed by men in drag.

Maracatu also received a boost from popular musicians Chico Science and Nacao Zumbi, who dressed as maracatu lance-bearers in their video for "Maracatu Atomico," a huge hit on MTV Brazil. Science died in a car crash in 1997, after working to restore Brazilian music's reliance on traditional rhythms rather than American pop.

The success of that movement sent hordes of middle-class Pernambuco residents into rural areas and slums to study at the feet of long-forgotten masters, breathing new life into maracatu and other traditions.

But some say the growing popularity of maracatu is watering down the tradition.

"Some groups today have lost their religious link and a lot of the younger people no longer respect the rules. They are interested in the look (of the costumes) but have no interest in sustaining the meaning of the ritual," said Sumaia Viera, a researcher of traditional cultures at the Federal University of Pernambuco.

The groups themselves are secretive about their spiritual preparations, which include abstaining from sex for two weeks and imbibing special potions, including one made of sugarcane brandy and gun powder.

But many maracatu supporters welcome the newcomers.

"If you're going to be picky about who is going to dance, you're not going to have too many people dancing," says Manoelzinho Salustiano, vice president of the Association of Maracatus Baque Solto of Pernambuco. He says old-timers teach the new arrivals about the rituals, and "the more they learn about it the more interested they get."

Carnival float to have Holocaust theme

Jewish groups in Brazil have expressed disgust over a controversial float to appear in Brazil's upcoming carnival parade that depicts dead victims of the Nazi Holocaust.

Carnival is getting ready to go full swing. I have to say, after watching the past few years, the floats, the costumes, the whole show makes the Rose Bowl parade seem like some mid-America high school marching band revue. The whole production is impressive. First, a quick explanation of how it works: There are various "schools" are part of a club, usually by neighborhood or areas of the city. Many times a certain school is from a club that also has a football/ soccer team, or there is a close connection between them. It varies from place to place in Brazil. They get graded on various aspects of the float, and it is extremely competitive. The floats usually have some sort of message or theme, they will tell a story, or depict a historical event, or series of events. Last year there was one depicting the "burning girl" (I know I can look up her name but I am pressed right now) from the Viet Nam era picture. They had her dressed in a skin colored suit, and dancers depicting the flames, really impressive. Well this year it seems there will be one depicting the Holocaust. Despite the "festive" atmosphere surrounding the event, I have usually found the most "critical" of floats to be done in a tasteful manner. Here is the crux of the argument:

'Tragedy in their skin'

Sergio Niskier, the president of the Israelite Federation of Rio de Janerio, said it was "inappropriate" to punctuate the festival atmosphere of carnival with a scene symbolising the systematic murder of 6 million people in Nazi concentration camps between 1938 and 1945.

"Really, it makes no sense to highlight this issue with drums and dancing girls when there are still survivors of that horror and many of their descendants who carry the mark of that tragedy in their skin," he told reporters.

Barros, however, said he informed the Jewish group of his plans months ago.

"They were anxious about putting this float in a carnival atmosphere," he admitted.

But, he predicted: "When the float goes by, people will feel respect."

A counterpart at the rival Grande Rio samba school, Roberto Szaniecki - himself of Polish Jew descent - disagreed.

"It's insensitive. The parade is going to be broadcast in Europe. I don't have grandparents because of the Holocaust," he told the newspaper O Dia.

Lula To Visit Cuba, Wants To Meet With Fidel

Brazilian President Lula will be visiting Cuba next week and hopes to meet with his good friend Fidel. Fidel and Lula are old friends. It is not mentioned in the articles, but I am pretty sure while Lula was exiled from Brasil he spent time in Cuba. Many in Lula's inner circle surely did. His former Chief of Staff, who resigned in one of the many scandals here, Jose Dirceu, "trained" as a "revolutionary" during the late 60's and early 70's. There is no denying Lula is leftist. But to his credit, he did not take Brasil on a sharp left turn as many expected. Before Morales and Chavez and Bachilet, there was Lula. When he took office many feared the worst. Now, perhaps because of his election, and the fact that he wasn't as bad as many thought, fears eased up a bit and that led to the elections in other countries. The Brasilian economy is strong, stronger than it has been in recent memory anyways, and the business sector has not had its worst fears realized. Lula however, is red as red can be, and his friendship with Fidel is all I need to know about him. A few years back there was even a scandal that Cuba donated dollars to Lula's re-election campaign and his party, the PT, Partido Trabalhadores, the Workers party. (There are hundreds of political parites here, an alphabet soup, all known by initials). Anyways, Lula is visiting Cuba and wants to meet with his old buddy Fidel. Anyones guess if this actually happens. Lula has "bought" into the Fidel myth and doesn't realize Fidel has no friends. There was even a huge split in his party because Lula refused to denounce Human Rights abuses in Cuba. The purpose of the visit is to say goodbye to friend before he dies, I mean make some business deals. More here and here.