Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

With Inspiration From Turkey, Brazil Discovers Mass Protests

Lourdes Garcia-Navarro — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:51:00 +0000

They are young, they are angry and they have drawn inspiration from protest movements a world away in places like Turkey and the Middle East.

Tens of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets across the country Monday night, and more demonstrations are slated for the coming week. Brazil doesn't have a history of this kind of mass dissent, but it seems to be catching on very quickly.

"The social movements in the world are learning from each other," said Marco Antônio Carvalho Teixeira, a professor at Fundacao Getulio Vargas in Sao Paulo.

Angry At Brazil's Government, Protesters Take To The Streets

Lourdes Garcia-Navarro — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:16:00 +0000

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Just because a government is democratically elected does not mean it is immune to protest. We've been watching demonstrations and the government response in Turkey. And now the demonstrations we're about to hear about took place in Brazil.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHANTING PROTESTERS)

INSKEEP: That's some of the sound from last night as tens of thousands of people took to the streets across the country, marching against government corruption and also spending on next year's soccer World Cup, which is to be held in Brazil.

Criminals Fleeing Rio Crackdown Set Up Shop In The Suburbs

Lourdes Garcia-Navarro — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 07:24:00 +0000

The provincial town of Mage seems a world away from the violence and drug dealing that plague Brazil's larger cities. On a recent afternoon, the central square is a picture of calm. Children play around a fountain; older people sit on the many park benches dotting the area, under the shade of trees.

Mage, about 35 miles northwest of Rio, is close enough that people can commute to the city, which many of them do. Yet it's far enough away that nothing much really happened here in the past.

Once Unsafe, Rio's Shanty Towns See Rapid Gentrification

Lourdes Garcia-Navarro — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 15:51:00 +0000

A new gastronomic guide to Rio de Janeiro's shantytowns — for a cool $35 — has just been published. A new boutique hotel perched on top of one of Rio's previously most dangerous favelas is about to open. And yes, there is a jazz club and yoga, too.

These are new services catering to a new kind of favela resident.

"It's actually very conveniently located for my work," says Natalie Shoup, a 22-year-old American who lives in a favela called Babilonia, or Babylon. "This has a good amount of transportation to every part of the city. It's nice.

Rio Goes High-Tech, With An Eye Toward Olympics, World Cup

Lourdes Garcia-Navarro — Fri, 31 May 2013 17:48:00 +0000

We are standing in front of a huge bank of screens, in the middle of which is a glowing map that changes focus depending on what the dozens of controllers are looking at.

The room looks like something straight out of a NASA shuttle launch. The men and women manning the floor are dressed in identical white jumpsuits.

'We Are Not Valued': Brazil's Domestic Workers Seek Rights

Lourdes Garcia-Navarro — Mon, 27 May 2013 18:13:00 +0000

The phone is ringing off the hook at the crowded waiting room at the Domestic Workers Union in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil.

In the past decade, millions of Brazilians have joined the middle class.

Brazil Looks To Build A 10,000-Mile Virtual Fence

Lourdes Garcia-Navarro — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:04:00 +0000

Brazil's borders are so vast, and the terrain so inhospitable, that attempting to secure them has seemed a virtually impossible task.

But Brazil's rapidly expanding economy has made the country a magnet for illegal immigration, drug smuggling and other illicit activities, and now the country has announced its own border protection program.

Called the Sistema Int

C-Sections Deliver Cachet For Wealthy Brazilian Women

Lourdes Garcia-Navarro — Sun, 12 May 2013 09:34:00 +0000

The office is immaculate, as you would expect in an upscale neighborhood in Sao Paulo — all sterile, white, modish plastic furniture and green plants. Behind the reception desk are pictures that would look more appropriate in a pop art gallery than a private maternity clinic.

The list of services at the clinic in Brazil's largest city is long: fertility treatments, specialized gynecology and, of course, obstetrics. But one thing they rarely do here is preside over a vaginal delivery.

Dr. Alexandre Sasaoka struggles to remember the last time he assisted at one.

As Youth Crime Spikes, Brazil Struggles For Answers

Lourdes Garcia-Navarro — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:39:00 +0000

In Rio de Janeiro, tourists are drawn to Copacabana for its wide beach and foliage-covered cliffs. But a month ago, not far from the tourist hub, an American woman and her French male companion were abducted. She was brutally gang-raped; he was beaten.

Perhaps what was most shocking to Brazilians, though, was the age of one of the alleged accomplices: He was barely in his teens.

"Why? That's what you ask yourself," says Sylvia Rumpoldt, who is walking with a friend at dusk by the sea in Rio. "It's horrible. It's criminal energy."

Her friend, Maria de Paula, agrees.

Brazil Seeks To Avoid Own Goal Ahead Of World Cup

Lourdes Garcia-Navarro — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:17:00 +0000

Soccer isn't just a sport in Brazil, it's a religion, and the main temple is the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro.

The venue is not only the biggest stadium in Brazil but the biggest in South America. Over the weekend, the newly renovated complex reopened to great fanfare, with stirring musical numbers, a light show and dignitaries including Brazil's president.

The headlines in the local media, however, focused not on the fanfare but on the many problems, from flooding in the VIP area to malfunctioning seats and turnstiles.