Keep it Moving

Editorial

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The last month has been big for us, lots of important international and local news, and a major step forward in the doubling of our Print circulation. Now we look towards the holiday season, with Carnival soon to follow, and there is no rest for the weary, we have to keep it moving.

The same can be said for the Brazilian government, media and public interest as we witness yet another high ranking politician exit under allegations of corruption. Brazil’s Labor Minister, Carlos Lupi, became the latest to leave office since President Dilma Rousseff took office January 1st, 2011.

It was just in June the Ministries of Tourism, Transport, Agriculture all left office behind scandals, including the forced resignation of Rousseff’s Chief of Staff. The Brazil’s Minister for Sport, Orlando Silva, announced his resignation in October.

Some may complain that there is a witch-hunt mentality happening capable of crippling the government’s ability to operate and be effective, threatening the very progress that sparked the cycle of success Brazil enjoys now… but those are the same power-drunk public-service pocket-liners that the country’s citizens need to watch out for.

Yet still in the world today, Brazil seems to be doing better then most. The daunting U.S.-EU dept crisis has the IMF calling, and new political and economic blocs lining up to get theirs. Even with the slowing growth of the Brazilian economy, it still looks a lot better then most points on the map.

Rio de Janeiro has changed so much that popular culture is going to have to catch up with the fact that the day of the traficantes is over… maybe, hopefully. With the November ‘pacification’ of Rocinha and Vidigal favelas in Zona Sul (South Zone), and last year’s progress in Complexo do Alemão favelas in Zona Norte (North Zone), the paradigm has shifted.

Rio and Brazil still have a long ways to go though, so we need vigilance. The levels of corruption in the government, public and private sectors runs deep as part of the ‘irregular economy’. The poverty and lack of opportunity that divides the favela communities may even get worse before it gets better.

For the health and prosperity of all Brazilians and foreigners living here, we have to keep at it.