A consulta pública disponível no site do Ministério das Relações Exteriores (MRE)
Uma consulta sobre mudanças climáticas está disponível no site do Ministério das Relações Exteriores (MRE). O objetivo da consulta à sociedade civil é subsidiar o processo de preparação da contribuição que o Brasil levará à mesa de negociações do novo acordo sob a Convenção-Quadro das Nações Unidas sobre Mudança do Clima (UNFCCC, na sigla em inglês), de forma a ampliar a transparência do processo e dar oportunidade a que todos os setores interessados da sociedade participem e opinem.
A consulta será realizada em duas fases. Esta primeira, aberta até 18 de julho, busca definir devem ser os elementos principais da chamada “contribuição nacionalmente determinada” brasileira. São perguntas abertas com base em um questionário orientador, e comentários adicionais podem ser enviados por e-mail.
Com base nos aportes recebidos, será elaborado um relatório preliminar com indicação de possíveis opções e modalidades para a contribuição nacional – compromisso a ser assumido pelo Brasil no contexto da negociação internacional. Na segunda fase, esse documento será submetido a uma nova rodada de consultas.
Estão em andamento negociações de um novo acordo sob a convenção, a serem finalizadas em 2015, para entrada em vigor a partir de 2020. Nesse contexto, a 19ª Conferência das Partes na UNFCCC (COP-19, realizada em Varsóvia, Polônia) instou os países signatários a iniciar ou intensificar as preparações domésticas de suas pretendidas contribuições ao novo acordo e a comunicá-las antes da COP-21.
Os testes só serão admitidos em produtos com ingredientes que tenham efeitos desconhecidos no ser humano e caso não haja outra técnica capaz de comprovar a segurança das substâncias
O Plenário da Câmara dos Deputados aprovou nesta quarta-feira (4) a restrição ao uso de animais em testes na indústria de cosméticos, higiene pessoal e perfume. Os testes só serão admitidos em produtos com ingredientes que tenham efeitos desconhecidos no ser humano e caso não haja outra técnica capaz de comprovar a segurança das substâncias. A proposta segue para análise do Senado Federal.
Os parlamentares aprovaram o parecer do deputado Weverton Rocha (PDT-MA) ao Projeto de Lei 6602/13, do deputado Ricardo Izar (PSD-SP). O texto aprovado é menos severo que o projeto original, que bania qualquer uso de animal na indústria cosmética, mas incluiu na proibição os produtos de higiene pessoal e perfumes.
Pelo texto aprovado, a pesquisa em animais será banida quando os ingredientes utilizados em cosméticos, perfumes, ou produtos de higiene pessoal forem comprovadamente seguros para uso humano ou quando se tratar de produto cosmético acabado, a ser definido pela Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (Anvisa).
Quando houver produto com efeito desconhecido, a proibição de uso de animais só será aplicada em até cinco anos contados do reconhecimento de uma técnica alternativa capaz de comprovar a segurança para uso humano.
Weverton Rocha destacou que o texto não é o ideal, mas inicia o debate para acabar de vez com o uso de animais nas pesquisas para cosméticos. “Ainda não é o que individualmente gostaríamos, mas é uma boa saída entre governo e oposição para levar ao Senado um marco zero para abolir o uso de animais em testes em cosméticos, como já ocorre na União Europeia”, disse.
Rocha afirmou que o Brasil deixa de exportar cerca de R$ 900 milhões em cosméticos para a Europa pelo fato de usar animais nos testes.
Instituto Royal
O debate sobre o uso de animais em testes e pesquisas de cosméticos ganhou força após o caso do Instituto Royal. Em outubro de 2013, 178 cães da raça beagle e sete coelhos usados em pesquisas foram retirados por ativistas e moradores de São Roque, no interior paulista, de uma das sedes do instituto.
Deputados criaram uma comissão externa para investigar o caso e recomendaram a votação da proposta. Ativistas também passaram a cobrar a instalação de uma comissão parlamentar de inquérito (CPI) na Câmara para investigar os maus-tratos em animais.
Multas
O projeto também aumenta o teto das multas para quem violar as regras para o uso de animais em ensino, testes e pesquisa, que poderão chegar a até R$ 500 mil.
A multa para instituições que violem as regras será elevada de R$ 5 mil a R$ 20 mil para R$ 5 mil a R$ 500 mil; e a penalidade para pessoas que descumpram as regras será aumentada de R$ 1 mil a R$ 5 mil para R$ 1 mil a R$ 50 mil.
Empresas estrangeiras
O deputado Domingos Sávio (PSDB-MG) apresentou uma emenda para impedir a importação de cosmético que tenha ingrediente testado em animais sem cumprir os requisitos da lei brasileira, mas a emenda foi rejeitada, o que gerou protestos do deputado.
“Sabemos que outros países permitem o teste, assim as empresas fazem a pesquisa com animais lá fora e importam o produto. Além de criar concorrência desleal, continuam sacrificando animais”, disse.
Summary: While western eyes are focused on the ongoing problems of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor site, thousands of people are still evacuated from their homes in north-eastern Japan following the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency. Many are in temporary accommodation and frustrated by a lack of central government foresight and responsiveness to their concerns.
While western eyes are focused on the ongoing problems of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor site, thousands of people are still evacuated from their homes in north-eastern Japan following the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency. Many are in temporary accommodation and frustrated by a lack of central government foresight and responsiveness to their concerns.
With the exception of the ongoing problems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor, outside of the Tohoku region of Japan, the after effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, and the subsequent tsunami and nuclear disaster, are no longer front page news. The hard work of recovery is the everyday reality in the region, and for planning schools and consultants across the country the rebuilding of Tohoku dominates practice and study.
But while physical reconstruction takes place, progress is not smooth. Many victims of the disasters and members of the wider public feel that the government is more interested in feeding the construction industry than addressing the complex challenges of rebuilding sustainable communities. This is a region that was already suffering from the challenges of an aging population, the exodus of young people to Tokyo and the decline of traditional fisheries-based industries. In the worst cases people are facing the invidious choice of returning to areas that are still saturated with radioactive fallout or never going home.
The frustration is reflected in four short pieces in Planning Theory and Practice’s Interface Section from architecture, design and planning practitioners working with communities in four different parts of Tohoku.
Christian Dimmer, Assistant Professor at Tokyo University and founder of TPF2 — Tohoku Planning Forum which links innovative redevelopment schemes in the region says:
“The current Japanese government’s obsession with big construction projects, like mega-seawalls that have already been shown to be not likely to be effective, is leading to really innovative community solutions being marginalized, the voices of communities being ignored, and sustainability cast aside.”
According to community planner and academic, Kayo Murakami — who edits this Interface section: “The troubles of the Tohoku reconstruction are not just a concern for Japan. They highlight some of the fundamental challenges for disaster recovery and building sustainable communities, in which people are really involved, all over the world.”
Journal Reference:
Kayo Murakami, David Murakami Wood, Hiroshi Tomita, Satoshi Miyake, Rieko Shiraki, Kayo Murakami, Koji Itonaga, Christian Dimmer. Planning innovation and post-disaster reconstruction: The case of Tohoku, Japan/Reconstruction of tsunami-devastated fishing villages in the Tohoku region of Japan and the challenges for planning/Post-disaster reconstruction in Iwate and new planning chal. Planning Theory & Practice, 2014; 15 (2): 237 DOI:10.1080/14649357.2014.902909
Summary: Was it humankind or climate change that caused the extinction of a considerable number of large mammals about the time of the last Ice Age? Researchers have carried out the first global analysis of the extinction of the large animals, and the conclusion is clear — humans are to blame. The study unequivocally points to humans as the cause of the mass extinction of large animals all over the world during the course of the last 100,000 years.
Skeleton of a giant ground sloth at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, circa 1920. Credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Was it humankind or climate change that caused the extinction of a considerable number of large mammals about the time of the last Ice Age? Researchers at Aarhus University have carried out the first global analysis of the extinction of the large animals, and the conclusion is clear — humans are to blame. A new study unequivocally points to humans as the cause of the mass extinction of large animals all over the world during the course of the last 100,000 years.
“Our results strongly underline the fact that human expansion throughout the world has meant an enormous loss of large animals,” says Postdoctoral Fellow Søren Faurby, Aarhus University.
Was it due to climate change?
For almost 50 years, scientists have been discussing what led to the mass extinction of large animals (also known as megafauna) during and immediately after the last Ice Age.
One of two leading theories states that the large animals became extinct as a result of climate change. There were significant climate changes, especially towards the end of the last Ice Age — just as there had been during previous Ice Ages — and this meant that many species no longer had the potential to find suitable habitats and they died out as a result. However, because the last Ice Age was just one in a long series of Ice Ages, it is puzzling that a corresponding extinction of large animals did not take place during the earlier ones.
Theory of overkill
The other theory concerning the extinction of the animals is ‘overkill’. Modern man spread from Africa to all parts of the world during the course of a little more than the last 100,000 years. In simple terms, the overkill hypothesis states that modern man exterminated many of the large animal species on arrival in the new continents. This was either because their populations could not withstand human hunting, or for indirect reasons such as the loss of their prey, which were also hunted by humans.
First global mapping
In their study, the researchers produced the first global analysis and relatively fine-grained mapping of all the large mammals (with a body weight of at least 10 kg) that existed during the period 132,000-1,000 years ago — the period during which the extinction in question took place. They were thus able to study the geographical variation in the percentage of large species that became extinct on a much finer scale than previously achieved.
The researchers found that a total of 177 species of large mammals disappeared during this period — a massive loss. Africa ‘only’ lost 18 species and Europe 19, while Asia lost 38 species, Australia and the surrounding area 26, North America 43 and South America a total of 62 species of large mammals.
The extinction of the large animals took place in virtually all climate zones and affected cold-adapted species such as woolly mammoths, temperate species such as forest elephants and giant deer, and tropical species such as giant cape buffalo and some giant sloths. It was observed on virtually every continent, although a particularly large number of animals became extinct in North and South America, where species including sabre-toothed cats, mastodons, giant sloths and giant armadillos disappeared, and in Australia, which lost animals such as giant kangaroos, giant wombats and marsupial lions. There were also fairly large losses in Europe and Asia, including a number of elephants, rhinoceroses and giant deer.
Weak climate effect
The results show that the correlation between climate change — i.e. the variation in temperature and precipitation between glacials and interglacials — and the loss of megafauna is weak, and can only be seen in one sub-region, namely Eurasia (Europe and Asia). “The significant loss of megafauna all over the world can therefore not be explained by climate change, even though it has definitely played a role as a driving force in changing the distribution of some species of animals. Reindeer and polar foxes were found in Central Europe during the Ice Age, for example, but they withdrew northwards as the climate became warmer,” says Postdoctoral Fellow Christopher Sandom, Aarhus University.
Extinction linked to humans
On the other hand, the results show a very strong correlation between the extinction and the history of human expansion. “We consistently find very large rates of extinction in areas where there had been no contact between wildlife and primitive human races, and which were suddenly confronted by fully developed modern humans (Homo sapiens). In general, at least 30% of the large species of animals disappeared from all such areas,” says Professor Jens-Christian Svenning, Aarhus University.
The researchers’ geographical analysis thereby points very strongly at humans as the cause of the loss of most of the large animals.
The results also draw a straight line from the prehistoric extinction of large animals via the historical regional or global extermination due to hunting (American bison, European bison, quagga, Eurasian wild horse or tarpan, and many others) to the current critical situation for a considerable number of large animals as a result of poaching and hunting (e.g. the rhino poaching epidemic).
Journal Reference:
C. Sandom, S. Faurby, B. Sandel, J.-C. Svenning. Global late Quaternary megafauna extinctions linked to humans, not climate change. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2014; 281 (1787): 20133254 DOI:10.1098/rspb.2013.3254
Máquina seria capaz de prevenir doenças congênitas
Cientistas britânicos lançaram nesta semana um pequeno robô, capaz de operar fetos ainda no útero das mães. A máquina, que custou cerca de R$ 30 milhões, pode revolucionar o tratamento de más formações congênitas.
O minúsculo aparelho é capaz de fornecer imagens em 3D dos bebês imersos na placenta. Com a visão do “paciente”, o robô começa as intervenções médicas, controladas por uma equipe de especialistas que ficam nos bastidores. A invenção poderia, por exemplo, fazer cirurgias ou até implantar células-tronco em órgãos com deformações da criança.
O projeto é coordenado por engenheiros da University College London (UCL) e Universidade Católica da Lovaina, na Bélgica. De acordo com o líder da pesquisa, Sebastien Ourselin, o máquina evitará riscos tanto às mães quanto aos bebês.
– O objetivo é criar tecnologias cirúrgicas menos invasivas para tratar uma ampla gama de doenças no útero, com muito menos risco para ambos – disse Ourselin ao The Guardian.
O primeiro alvo em vista dos médicos é o tratamento de casos mais graves de espinha bífida, má formação da espinha dorsal que pode atinge um entre cada mil fetos. Ela ocorre quando a coluna não é plenamente desenvolvida, dando margem para que líquido amniótico penetre e leve consigo germes que poderiam atingir o cérebro e prejudicar o crescimento da criança. A intenção é que o novo robô possa fechar esses espaços na espinha, prevenindo a doença.
No entanto, cientistas alertam que operações deste tipo têm elevado risco cirúrgico, com fortes chances de sequelas nas mães. Intervenções médicas em fetos só podem ser realizadas após, pelo menos, 26 semanas de gestação. O procedimento é praticamente impossível atualmente.
O robô é composto por uma sonda muito fina e altamente flexível. A cabeça do equipamento teria um fio equipado com uma pequena câmera que iria usar pulsos de laser e ultra-som detecção – uma combinação conhecida como imagens foto-acústica – para gerar uma fotografia 3D no interior do útero. Estas imagens, então, seriam utilizadas pelos cirurgiões para orientar a sonda para a sua meta: a lacuna na coluna do feto.
Con un espectacular tiro libre de “Gomito” Gómez, de 39 años y máximo ídolo del club, el cuadro de Mataderos venció por 1-0 a Colegiales como visitante y se adjudicó el título.
Nueva Chicago logró el ascenso a la B Nacional al vencer por 1-0 como visitante aColegiales y obtener así el campeonato de la Primera B Metropolitana.
El “Torito” de Mataderos se impuso con un golazo de Christian “Gomito” Gómez, de tiro libre a los 15 minutos del primer tiempo, en la cancha de Colegiales, y allí, en Munro y ante una multitud de hinchas “neutrales” (no está permitido el ingreso del público visitante), festejó el ansiado retorno a la antesala del fútbol grande.
De la mano de su técnico Pablo Guede, Chicago alcanzó 73 puntos y les sacó una diferencia irremontable a sus seguidores Temperley (65 con dos partidos por jugar) y Atlanta (64).
“Gomito” Gómez, enganche de 39 años y máximo ídolo de la institución, volvió a ser la figura del equipo de Mataderos como en toda la temporada y goleador, ahora con 10 tantos.
La gran campaña de Chicago para resultar campeón y ascendido a una fecha del final incluyó 20 victorias, 13 empates y seis derrotas, con 42 goles a favor y 22 en contra.
Barrio de guapos, historia pura
Chicago es patrimonio de un barrio del oeste de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, donde desde el 1899 se instaló el Matadero Municipal, que también tiene una antigua prosapia tanguera y donde nacieron el cantor Horacio Deval y el bailarín Juan Carlos Copes.
Uno de los signos distintivos del club Nueva Chicago es su seguidora hinchada, que si bien en los últimos tiempos le ha dado dolores de cabeza a sus dirigentes por las sanciones que acarrearon sus comportamientos, se caracterizó siempre por ser una de las más conocidas del Ascenso.
Esa hinchada fue, por su fuerte identificación peronista, un baluarte de resistencia durante la dictadura militar y sufrió, por ejemplo, el 25 de octubre de 1981, el arresto de 49 de sus miembros, que fueron llevados al trote a la comisaría 48va. de la Federal, por cantar la marcha partidaria durante un partido contra Defensores de Belgrano.
Nueva Chicago, apodado “El Torito de Mataderos”, igual que aquel prestigioso boxeador de peso liviano llamado Justo Suárez, también nacido a principios del siglo XX en el corazón del barrio de los corrales y los frigoríficos, fue fundado el 1 de julio de 1911 por iniciativa de un grupo de jóvenes en las calles Tellier (hoy Lisandro de la Torre) y Francisco Bilbao.
El nombre elegido para el nuevo club fue “Los Unidos de Nueva Chicago”, en coincidencia a la ciudad estadounidense que al igual que el barrio porteño nucleaba en el país del norte a los frigoríficos.
Los colores de la camiseta, tras largas discusiones, fueron elegidos de manera singular ya que, estando reunidos los fundadores, pasó por la avenida Crovara una ‘chata’ hacia los corrales cargada con fardos de pasto que tenía los colores verde y negro y José Varela al verla exclamó:
“Muchachos, ya tenemos los colores, serán el verde y negro”, que fue aceptado por la mayoría. La primera y modesta cancha estuvo ubicada en un predio delimitado por las calles San Fernando (hoy Lisandro de la Torre), Tandil, Chascomús y Jachal (hoy Timoteo Gordillo) y, a partir de 1940, se mudó al terreno donde se encuentra su actual estadio República de Mataderos, en las calles Justo Suárez, Cárdenas y Francisco Bilbao.
El estadio fue famoso porque también allí se desarrollaron a partir de la década del ’70, alrededor del campo de juego, las carreras de autos categoría ‘midget’ (sin caja de velocidades y sin frenos).
Chicago militó mucho tiempo en el ascenso, pero tuvo también la oportunidad de jugar en Primera División en 1930 (bajó de categoría en 1934), 1981 (luego descendió en 1983), 2001 (en el 2004 se fue a la B Nacional) y 2006 (bajó en 2007).
De todas esas épocas, el resultado más resonante fue la victoria contra Boca Juniors, por 5-0, en el Torneo Metropolitano de 1983, partido jugado en Vélez. En ese histórico encuentro anotaron Claudio Otermín (2), Carlos Acuña (2) e Ignacio Vera Benítez.
Na Argentina, elas foram reprimidas por baionetas quando indagaram, em 1977, pelos filhos presos. Os generais golpistas debocharam: “son las locas de Plaza de Mayo“. Obstinadas, não desistiram. Desafiaram o terror e continuaram ocupando a Praça de Maio, desfilando o seu protesto semanal diante da Casa Rosada e da catedral até que, finamente, reconhecidas pela sociedade, contribuíram para o fim da ditadura e a prisão dos torturadores.
No Brasil, vários movimentos nos fizeram ouvir a voz de quem foi silenciado. No entanto, como ninguém entende línguas indígenas, nem se interessa por aprendê-las, não se escuta o clamor dos índios, seja de mães indígenas por seus filhos ou de índios por seus pais desaparecidos. Desta forma, os índios, sempre invisíveis na historia do Brasil, ficaram de fora das narrativas e não figuram nas estatísticas dos desaparecidos políticos. Na floresta, não há praças de maio.
Mas agora isso começa a mudar. Relatório do Comitê Estadual da Verdade do Amazonas, que será em breve publicado pela Editora Curt Nimuendajú, de Campinas (SP), dá voz aos índios e mapeia os estragos, comprovando que na Amazônia, mais do que militantes de esquerda, a ditadura eliminou índios, entre outros, Cinta-Larga e Surui (RO/MT), Krenhakarore na rodovia Cuiabá-Santarém, Kanê ou Beiços-de-Pau do Rio Arinos (MT), Avá-Canoeiro (GO), Parakanã e Arara (PA), Kaxinawa e Madiha (AC), Juma, Yanomami e Waimiri-Atroari (AM/RR).
O foco do primeiro relatório, de 92 páginas, já encaminhado à Comissão Nacional da Verdade (CNV), incide sobre os Kiña, denominados também como Waimiri-Atroari, cujos desaparecidos são conhecidos hoje por seus nomes, graças a um trabalho cuidadoso que ouviu índios em suas línguas, consultou pesquisadores e indigenistas, fuçou arquivos e examinou documentos, incluindo desenhos que mostram índios metralhados por homens armados com revólver, fuzil, rifles, granadas e cartucheira, jogando bombas sobre malocas incendiadas.
Os desaparecidos
De noite, nas malocas, os sobreviventes narram a história da violência sofrida, que começou a ser escrita e desenhada por crianças, jovens e adultos alfabetizados na língua Kiña pelos professores Egydio e Doroti Schwade com o método Paulo Freire. Toda a aldeia Yawará, no sul de Roraima, participou do processo, em 1985 e 1986, até mesmo crianças de colo. A comunicação foi facilitada pelo fato de o casal morar lá com seus quatro filhos pequenos, antes de ser expulso pelo então presidente da Funai, Romero Jucá, lacaio subserviente das empresas mineradoras.
Todo o processo de alfabetização ocorreu num clima que iniciou com a narração oral das historias e continuou com a criação dos desenhos, a leitura dos desenhos, a discussão sobre eles e, finalmente, com a escrita alfabética.
Durante esse período, Egydio registrou, com ajuda de Doroti, as narrativas contadas por quem testemunhou os fatos ou por quem ouviu falar sobre eles. Os primeiros textos escritos por recém-alfabetizados, ilustrados por desenhos, revelaram “o método e as armas usadas para dizimá-los: aviões, helicópteros, bombas, metralhadoras, fios elétricos e estranhas doenças. Comunidades inteiras desapareceram depois que helicópteros com soldados sobrevoaram ou pousaram em suas aldeias” – diz o relatório.
Com a abertura da rodovia BR-174 e a entrada das empresas mineradoras, muitas outras aldeias foram varridas do mapa. “Pais, mães e filhos mortos, aldeias destruídas pelo fogo e por bombas. Gente resistindo e correndo pelos varadouros à procura de refúgio em aldeia amiga. A floresta rasgada e os rios ocupados por gente agressiva e inimiga. Esta foi a geografia política e social vivenciada pelo povo Kiña desde o início da construção da BR-174, em 1967, até sua inauguração em 1977” – segundo o relatório.
Alguns sobreviventes refugiados na aldeia Yawará conviveram durante dois anos com Egydio e Doroti. Lá, todas as pessoas acima de dez anos eram órfãs, exceto duas irmãs, cuja mãe sobreviveu ao massacre. O relatório transcreve a descrição feita pelo índio Panaxi:
“Civilizado matou com bomba” – escreve Panaxi ao lado do desenho, identificando um a um os mortos com seus nomes: Sere, Podanî, Mani, Priwixi, Akamamî, Txire, Tarpiya.
A eles se somaram outros de uma lista feita por Yaba: Mawé, Xiwya, Mayede – marido de Wada, Eriwixi, Waiba, Samyamî – mãe de Xeree, Pikibda, a pequena Pitxenme, Maderê, Wairá – mulher de Amiko, Pautxi – marido de Woxkî, Arpaxi – marido de Sidé, Wepînî – filho de Elsa, Kixii e seu marido Maiká, Paruwá e sua filha Ida, Waheri, Suá – pai de Warkaxi, sua esposa e um filho, Kwida – pai de Comprido, Tarakña e tantos outros.
Quem matou
A lista é longa, os mortos têm nomes, mas às vezes são identificados pelo laço de parentesco: “a filha de Sabe que mora no Mrebsna Mudî, dois tios de Mário Paruwé, o pai de Wome, uma filha de Antônio”, etc. O relatório se refere ao“desaparecimento de mais de 2.000 Waimiri-Atroari em apenas dez anos”. Na área onde se localiza hoje a Mineradora Taboca (Paranapanema) desapareceram pelo menos nove aldeias aerofotografadas pelo padre Calleri, em 1968, em sobrevoos a serviço da FUNAI. Os alunos da aldeia Yawará desenharam casas e escreveram ao lado frases como:
– Apapa takweme apapeme batkwapa kamña nohmepa [o meu pai foi atirado com espingarda por civilizado e morreu] – escreveu Pikida, ao lado do desenho que ilustra o fato.
– Taboka ikame Tikiriya yitohpa. Apiyamyake, apiyemiyekî? [Taboca chegou, Tikiria sumiu, por que? Por que?]
A resposta pode ser encontrada no ofício 042-E2-CONF. do Comando Militar da Amazônia, de 21/11/1974, assinado pelo General Gentil Nogueira, que recomendava o uso da violência armada contra os índios, segundo o relatório encaminhado à Comissão Nacional da Verdade. Era uma política de Estado a serviço de interesses privados, implementada com métodos de bandidagem.
Um mês e meio depois, o sertanista Sebastião Amâncio da Costa, nomeado chefe de Frente de Atração Waimiri-Atroari (FAWA), em entrevista ao jornal O Globo (06/01/1975), assumiu de público as determinações do general Gentil, declarando que faria “uma demonstração de força dos civilizados que incluiria a utilização de dinamite, granadas, bombas de gás lacrimogêneo e rajadas de metralhadoras e o confinamento dos chefes índios em outras regiões do País”.
O resultado de toda essa lambança é descrito por Womé Atroari, em entrevista à TV Brasil, relatando um ataque aéreo a uma aldeia e outros fatos que presenciou:
– Foi assim tipo bomba, lá na aldeia. O índio que estava na aldeia não escapou ninguém. Ele veio no avião e de repente esquentou tudinho, aí morreu muita gente. Foi muita maldade na construção da BR-174. Aí veio muita gente e pessoal armado, assim, pessoal do Exército, isso eu vi. Eu sei que me lembro bem assim, tinha um avião assim um pouco de folha, assim, desenho de folha, assim, um pouco vermelho por baixo, só isso. Passou isso aí, morria rapidinho pessoa. Desse aí que nós via.
Os tratores que abriam a estrada eram vistos pelos índios como tanques de guerra. “Muitas vezes os tratores amanheciam amarrados com cipós.Essa era uma maneira clara de dizer que não queriam que as obras continuassem. Como essa resistência ficou muito forte, o Departamento Estadual de Estradas de Rodagem do Amazonas-DER-AM, inicialmente responsável pela construção, começou a usar armas de fogo contra os indígenas”.
Sacopã e Parasar
O relatório informa que “as festas que reuniam periodicamente os Waimiri-Atroari foram aproveitadas pelo PARASAR para o aniquilamento dos índios”. Conta detalhes. Registra ainda o desaparecimento de índios que se aproximaram, em agosto de 1985, do canteiro de obras da hidrelétrica do Pitinga, então em construção:
“É muito provável que tenham sido mortos pela Sacopã, uma empresa de jagunços, comandada por dois ex-oficiais do Exército e um da ativa, subordinado ao Comando Militar da Amazônia, empresa muito bem equipada, que oferecia na época serviços de “limpeza” na floresta à Paranapanema no entorno de seus projetos minerais. Os responsáveis pela empresa foram autorizados pelo Comando Militar da Amazônia a manter ao seu serviço 400 homens equipados com cartucheiras 20 milímetros, rifle 38, revolveres de variado calibre e cães amestrados”.
Os autores do relatório dão nomes aos bois, esclarecendo que quem comandava a Sacopã no trabalho de segurança da Mineração Taboca/Paranapanema e no controle de todo acesso à terra indígena eram dois militares da reserva: o tenente Tadeu Abraão Fernandes e o coronel reformado Antônio Fernandes, além de um coronel da ativa, João Batista de Toledo Camargo, então chefe de polícia do Comando Militar da Amazônia.
É Rondon de cabeça pra baixo: “Matar ainda que não seja preciso; morrer nunca”, num processo iniciado com o colonizador e ainda não concluído. Na Amazônia, o cônego Manoel Teixeira, irmão do governador Pedro Teixeira, em carta ao rei de Portugal, em 5 de janeiro de 1654, escrita no leito da morte, na hora da verdade, declara que “no espaço de trinta e dois anos, são extintos a trabalho e a ferro, segundo a conta dos que ouviram, mais de dois milhões de índios de mais de quatrocentas aldeias”.
O relatório é um bom começo, porque evidencia que os índios precisam de uma Comissão da Verdade não apenas para os 21 anos de ditadura militar, mas para os 514 anos de História em que crimes foram e continuam sendo cometidos contra eles. Assim, podem surgir praças de maio dentro das malocas para que o Brasil generoso e solidário cobre mudanças radicais na política indigenista do país, impedindo que o Estado continue a serviço de interesses privados escusos.
Na próxima terça-feira, 3 de junho, a Comissão de Agricultura, Pecuária, Abastecimento e Desenvolvimento Rural da Câmara dos Deputados realizará audiência pública para debater sobre a revogação do Brasil à subscrição da Convenção 169 da Organização Internacional do Trabalho (OIT).
A Audiência pública foi requerida por Paulo Cezar Quartiero, Deputado Federal (DEM) ruralista denunciado pelo Ministério Público Federal por crimes cometidos contra indígenas em Roraima, principalmente durante o processo de desocupação da Reserva Indígena Raposa Serra do Sol, em 2008. Neste período Quartiero chegou a ser preso acusado de posse ilegal de artefato explosivo e formação de quadrilha. O deputado reponde ou já respondeu por pelo menos seis ações penais na Justiça Federal.
Foram convidados para a audiência pública Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim, Ministro de Estado da Defesa, Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, ministro de Estado das Relações Exteriores, General Maynard Marques de Santa Rosa, Oficial da Reserva das Forças Armadas, Lorenzo Carrasco, e o antropólogo Edward Mantoanelli Luz.
A Convenção 169 da OIT é uma conquista internacional dos povos indígenas e demais comunidades tradicionais cujas condições sociais, culturais e econômicas apresentam significativas diferenças quanto a outros setores da coletividade nacional. Vigente no Brasil desde 2004, quando foi aprovada pelo Congresso Nacional, a convenção garante a indígenas, quilombolas e povos tradicionais importantes direitos, como o direito à terra, à saúde, educação, a condições dignas de emprego e o direito fundamental de serem consultados sempre que sejam previstas medidas legislativas ou administrativas suscetíveis de afetá-los diretamente.
Para Fernando Prioste, advogado popular e o coordenador da Terra de Direitos, a iniciativa ruralista é um claro ataque a indígenas, quilombolas e povos tradicionais que lutam pela efetivação de direitos. “Muitos dos direitos previstos na convenção já estão assegurados em outras normas, inclusive na Constituição Federal. Contudo, existem direitos específicos que podem sofrer grandes retrocessos, como o direito de Consulta Livre, Prévia e Informada, além do direito à terra para povos e comunidades tradicionais”.
O advogado aponta que o princípio da proibição do não retrocesso social é um dos principais fundamentos contra a revogação da Convenção 169 da OIT no Brasil, já que os direitos assegurados por esse instrumento normativo são essenciais para a sobrevivência digna de indígenas, quilombolas e povos tradicionais. “Se de um lado o Governo Federal não tem atuado para assegurar a realização de direitos dos povos do campo e da floresta, por outro os ruralistas tentam derrubar as poucas leis que reconhecem direitos”.
Investida ruralista
A iniciativa ruralista faz parte de um pacote de medidas com o objetivo de retirar direitos fundamentais dos povos do campo e da floresta. Entre as tentativas de retrocesso está a Proposta de Emenda à Constituição – PEC 215, que visa transferir a competência da União na demarcação das terras indígenas para o Congresso Nacional, possibilitar a revisão das terras já demarcadas e mudar critérios e procedimentos para a demarcação destas áreas.
Também afetando diretamente os povos indígenas, a Portaria 303 da Advocacia Geral da União (AGU) quer restringir os direitos constitucionais dos índios e afronta tratados internacionais com a Convenção 169 da OIT, especialmente no que diz respeito à Consulta Prévia, Livre e Informada, e a Convenção Internacional sobre a Eliminação de Todas as Formas de Discriminação Racial.
As comunidades quilombos têm seu direito à terra questionada pela Ação Direta de Inconstitucionalidade (ADI) 3239, ajuizada pelo partido Democratas (DEM) em 2004, contra o Decreto Federal 4887/03, que trata da titulação de territórios quilombolas. A ADI teve o primeiro julgamento no Supremo Tribunal Federal-STF em 2012, quando o Ministro Relator Cesar Peluso votou pela inconstitucionalidade. Outros dez ministros do Supremo Tribunal Federal ainda deverão votar, por isso não é possível afirmar a posição do STF acerca do tema. Em dezembro de 2014 o Tribunal Regional Federal da 4ª Região (TRF4) decidiu pela constitucionalidade do Decreto.
Estudo do genoma de espécies do Semiárido e do Cerrado (como opequi) que são tolerantes a temperaturas elevadas e à escassez hídrica pode contribuir para o melhoramento genético de culturas como soja, milho, arroz e feijão, diz pesquisador da Embrapa (foto: Wikipedia)
02/06/2014
Por Noêmia Lopes
Agência FAPESP – A seriguela e o umbuzeiro, árvores comuns do Semiárido nordestino, e a sucupira-preta, do Cerrado, fazem parte de um grupo de plantas brasileiras que poderão desempenhar um papel importante para a agricultura no enfrentamento das consequências das mudanças climáticas. Elas estão entre as espécies do país com grande capacidade adaptativa, tolerantes à escassez hídrica e a temperaturas elevadas.
De acordo com Eduardo Assad, pesquisador do Centro Nacional de Pesquisa Tecnológica em Informática para a Agricultura (CNPTIA) da Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa), o estudo do genoma dessas espécies pode ajudar a tornar culturas como soja, milho, arroz e feijão tão resistentes quanto elas aos extremos climáticos. Assad foi um dos palestrantes no quarto encontro do Ciclo de Conferências 2014 do programa BIOTA-FAPESP Educação, realizado no dia 22 de maio, em São Paulo.
“O Cerrado já foi muito mais quente e seco e árvores como pau-terra, pequi e faveiro, além da sucupira-preta, sobreviveram. Precisamos estudar o genoma dessas árvores, identificar e isolar os genes que as tornam tão adaptáveis. Isso pode significar, um dia, a chance de melhorar geneticamente culturas como soja e milho, tornando-as igualmente resistentes”, disse. “Não é fácil, mas precisamos começar.”
Assad destaca que o Brasil é líder em espécies resistentes. “O maior armazém do mundo de genes tolerantes ao aquecimento global está aqui, no Cerrado e no Semiárido Nordestino”, disse em sua palestra O impacto potencial das mudanças climáticas na agricultura.
Os modelos de pesquisa realizados pela Embrapa, muitos deles feitos em colaboração com instituições de outros 40 países, apontam que a redução de produtividade de culturas como milho, soja e arroz decorrente das mudanças climáticas deve se acentuar nas próximas décadas. “Isso vale para as variedades genéticas atuais. Uma das soluções é buscar genes alternativos para trabalhar com melhoramento”, disse Assad.
Outras plantas do Cerrado com grande capacidade adaptativa lembradas pelo pesquisador são a árvore pacari e os frutos do baru e da cagaita. No Semiárido Nordestino, árvores como a seriguela, o umbuzeiro e a cajazeira foram apontadas como opções importantes não só para estudos genéticos como também para programas voltados à geração de renda pela população local.
“Em vez de produzir culturas exóticas à região, é preciso investir naquelas que já fazem parte da biodiversidade nordestina e têm potencial de superar as consequências do aquecimento global”, adiantou Assad.
Para o melhoramento de espécies, de forma a que se tornem tolerantes ao estresse abiótico, a Embrapa planeja lançar, em 2015, uma soja resistente à deficiência hídrica, produzida a partir de um gene existente em uma planta do Japão. “Testamos essa variedade este ano, no Paraná, em um período sem chuvas. Ainda há estudos a serem feitos, mas ela está se saindo muito bem”, disse o pesquisador.
Assad também citou avanços empreendidos pelo Instituto Agronômico do Paraná (Iapar), que já lançou quatro cultivares de feijão com tolerância a temperaturas elevadas, além de pesquisas feitas no município de Varginha (MG) em busca de variáveis mais tolerantes para o café.
Prejuízos e mudanças no sistema produtivo
Cálculos da Embrapa feitos com base na produtividade média da soja mostram que somente esse grão acumulou mais de US$ 8,4 bilhões em perdas relacionadas às mudanças climáticas no Brasil entre 2003 e 2013. Já a produção de milho perdeu mais de US$ 5,2 bilhões no mesmo período.
A área considerada de baixo risco para o cultivo do café arábica deve diminuir 9,45% até 2020, causando prejuízos de R$ 882 milhões, e 17,15% até 2050, elevando as perdas para R$ 1,6 bilhão, de acordo com análises feitas na Embrapa e na Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp).
Diante dos prejuízos, outra solução apontada por Assad é a revisão do modelo produtivo agrícola. “A concentração de gases de efeito estufa na atmosfera aumentou mais de 20% nos últimos 30 anos, tornando indispensável a implantação de sistemas produtivos mais limpos”, disse à Agência FAPESP.
“O Brasil é muito respeitado nesse tema, em especial porque reduziu o desmatamento na Amazônia e, ao mesmo tempo, ampliou a produtividade na Região Amazônica”, disse.
Segundo Assad, isso abre canais de diálogo sobre a sustentabilidade na agricultura e sobre a adoção de estratégias como integração entre lavoura, pecuária e floresta, plantio direto na palha, uso de bactérias fixadoras de nitrogênio no solo, rochagem (uso de micro e macronutrientes para melhorar a fertilidade dos solos), aplicação de adubos organominerais, além do melhoramento genético.
“O confinamento do gado é outro ponto que está em discussão por pesquisadores e criadores em diversas partes do mundo. Ele pode resultar em menos emissão de gases de efeito estufa, mas torna o rebanho mais vulnerável à doença da vaca louca. Nesse caso, uma alternativa é a recuperação de pastos degradados”, afirmou Assad.
Estudos feitos na Embrapa Agrobiologia mostram que um quilo de carne produzido em pasto degradado emite mais de 32 quilos de CO2 equivalente por ano. Já em pasto recuperado a partir do que a agricultura de baixa emissão de carbono preconiza, a emissão por quilo de carne pode ser reduzida a três quilos de CO2 equivalente anuais.
“Isso mostra que ambientalistas, ruralistas, governo e setor privado precisam sentar e decidir o que fazer daqui em diante – qual sistema de produção adotar? Com ou sem pasto? Com ou sem árvores? Rotacionado ou não? São mudanças difíceis, de longo prazo, mas muitos agricultores já estão preocupados com essas questões, com os prejuízos que o aquecimento global pode trazer, e começam a buscar soluções”, disse.
A new study co-authored by Neil Burgess, Head of Science at UNEP-WCMC has proved the scientific value of indigenous and local knowledge collected from community members using focus groups.
Bringing together “western scientific” and “indigenous and local” knowledge is a goal of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The information is needed to fulfil a function of IPBES which is to produce assessments of the state of the planet’s environment, and identify changes over time. However, assuring its usefulness and quality is a challenge of bringing together western science and indigenous knowledge.
To test the utility of focus groups for validating data collected by a local community, UNEP-WCMC collaborated in a study led by Nordisk Fund for Miljø og Udvikling. The Miskito and Mayangna communities who live in the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve in Nicaragua – an area that is a global priority for conservation – participated in community-level focus group discussions on the abundance of natural resources such as mammals, birds and plants.
At the same time, data was collected by trained scientists or members of the local community using transect lines which is a common scientific method. All participants from the local community had considerable experience of hunting and collecting forest products which made them ideal candidates for the accurate identification of the species, and both males and females were represented.
When compared, the information provided by the focus groups was as accurate as the data collected using the more traditional scientific methods. In addition, the focus group approach empowered the indigenous and local communities who generally have limited engagement in such activities.
The results of this study confirm that indigenous and local knowledge is valid source of information for assessment processes such as IPBES. The focus groups were also found to be eight times cheaper than deploying scientists to conduct transect lines so this method could be a cost-effective and efficient way of supplying the increasing demand for environmental information.
FAMOUS FAN: A natural poster boy for the campaign was one of Sport Recife’s most famous fans, 69-year-old Ivaldo Firmino dos Santos, who received a heart transplant 12 years ago.
Published — Monday 2 June 2014
Last update 2 June 2014 12:07 am
RIO DE JANEIRO: An organ donation campaign by one of Brazil’s biggest football clubs targeting its fans has led to a massive rise in the number of life-changing transplants and reduced waiting lists for organs in the area almost to zero.
“Every Brazilian is born with football in the soul,” says Jorge Peixoto, of Sport Club Recife, one of the top teams in the north-east of the country.
For the last two years though, he has been more concerned about what happens to fans’ bodies when they die.
The club decided it “must look beyond the 11 players on the field and use its power for bigger things,” says Peixoto, the club’s vice-president for social programs.
It asked them to become “immortal fans” donating their organs after they die so that their love for the club will live on in someone else’s body, the BBC reported.
“I promise that your eyes will keep on watching Sport Club Recife,” says one man waiting for a cornea transplant in the television ad made to publicize the campaign.
“I promise that your heart will keep on beating for Sport Club Recife,” says a potential recipient of a transplanted heart.
The video is screened at every match in the club’s Ilha do Retiro stadium, a venue that seats 35,000 but could be filled almost twice over with the number of people who have signed up for a donor card — 66,000 so far.
The waiting list for organ transplants in the city of Recife was reduced to zero in the first year, Peixoto says, and the impact has also been felt throughout the surrounding state of Pernambuco.
“We used to perform from five to seven heart transplants a year, but last year we achieved 28… it was an incredible increase,” says Fernando Figueira, director of heart transplants at Pernambuco’s Institute of Integrated Medicine.
“There is a very tight connection between the campaign and this rise.”
People can apply online for the Sport Donor card — it’s the size of a credit card, the words printed over the outline of a heart with a fiery red backdrop.
According to Brazilian law, it’s up to the family to decide whether the organs of their loved ones will be donated after their death. But making this decision is not easy in such painful moments.
The success of the campaign has been noticed around the world and Sport Recife has been contacted by Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona, both thinking about adopting similar campaigns, Peixoto says.
He hopes the forthcoming World Cup will help spread the idea further.
A New York Times investigation of match fixing ahead of the last World Cup gives an unusually detailed look at the ease with which professional gamblers can fix matches.
JOHANNESBURG — A soccer referee named Ibrahim Chaibou walked into a bank in a small South African city carrying a bag filled with as much as $100,000 in $100 bills, according to another referee traveling with him. The deposit was so large that a bank employee gave Mr. Chaibou a gift of commemorative coins bearing the likeness of Nelson Mandela.
Later that night in May 2010, Mr. Chaibou refereed an exhibition match between South Africa and Guatemala in preparation for the World Cup, the world’s most popular sporting event. Even to the casual fan, his calls were suspicious — he called two penalties for hand balls even though the ball went nowhere near the players’ hands.
Mr. Chaibou, a native of Niger, had been chosen to work the match by a company based in Singapore that was a front for a notorious match-rigging syndicate, according to an internal, confidential report by FIFA, soccer’s world governing body.
FIFA’s investigative report and related documents, which were obtained by The New York Times and have not been publicly released, raise serious questions about the vulnerability of the World Cup to match fixing. The tournament opens June 12 in Brazil.
The report found that the match-rigging syndicate and its referees infiltrated the upper reaches of global soccer in order to fix exhibition matches and exploit them for betting purposes. It provides extensive details of the clever and brazen ways that fixers apparently manipulated “at least five matches and possibly more” in South Africa ahead of the last World Cup. As many as 15 matches were targets, including a game between the United States and Australia, according to interviews and emails printed in the FIFA report.
Although corruption has vexed soccer for years, the South Africa case gives an unusually detailed look at the ease with which professional gamblers can fix matches, as well as the governing body’s severe problems in policing itself and its member federations. The report, at 44 pages, includes an account of Mr. Chaibou’s trip to the bank, as well as many other scenes describing how matches were apparently rigged.
After one match, the syndicate even made a death threat against the official who tried to stop the fix, investigators found.
“Were the listed matches fixed?” the report said. “On the balance of probabilities, yes!”
The Times investigated the South African match-fixing scandal by interviewing dozens of soccer officials, referees, gamblers, investigators and experts in South Africa, Malaysia, England, Finland and Singapore. The Times also reviewed hundreds of pages of interview transcripts, emails, referee rosters and other confidential FIFA documents.
FIFA, which is expected to collect about $4 billion in revenue for this four-year World Cup cycle for broadcast fees, sponsorship deals and ticket sales, has relative autonomy at its headquarters in Zurich. But The Times found problems that could now shadow this month’s World Cup.
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A letter from Football 4U International to the South African soccer federation offered to provide referees for South Africa’s exhibition matches before the World Cup.
■ FIFA’s investigators concluded that the fixers had probably been aided by South African soccer officials, yet FIFA did not officially accuse anyone of match fixing or bar anyone from the sport as a result of those disputed matches.
■ A FIFA spokeswoman said Friday that the investigation into South Africa was continuing, but no one interviewed for this article spoke of being contacted recently by FIFA officials. Critics have questioned FIFA’s determination and capability to curb match fixing.
■ Many national soccer federations with teams competing in Brazil are just as vulnerable to match-fixing as South Africa’s was: They are financially shaky, in administrative disarray and politically divided.
Ralf Mutschke, who has since become FIFA’s head of security, said in a May 21 interview with FIFA.com that “match fixing is an evil to all sports,” and he acknowledged that the World Cup was vulnerable.
“The fixers are trying to look for football matches which are generating a huge betting volume, and obviously, international football tournaments such as the World Cup are generating these kinds of huge volumes,” Mr. Mutschke said. “Therefore, the World Cup in general has a certain risk.”
Mr. Chaibou, the referee at the center of the South African case, said in a phone interview that he had never fixed a match, and he denied knowing or having ever spoken to Wilson Raj Perumal, a notorious gambler who calls himself the world’s most prolific match fixer and whom FIFA called one of the suspected masterminds of the South Africa scheme.
“I did not know this man,” Mr. Chaibou said. “I had no contact with him ever.”
Mr. Chaibou said FIFA had not contacted him since his retirement in 2011. He declined to answer any questions about money he may have received in South Africa.
The tainted South African matches were not the only suspect ones. Europol, the European Union’s police intelligence agency, said last year that there were 680 suspicious matches played globally from 2008 to 2011, including World Cup qualifying matches and games in some of Europe’s most prestigious leagues and tournaments.
“There are no checks and balances and no oversight,” Terry Steans, a former FIFA investigator who wrote the report on South Africa, said of the syndicate’s efforts there in 2010. “It’s so efficient and so under the radar.”
An exhibition match between Guatemala and host South Africa in May 2010 at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane was “manipulated for betting fraud purposes,” a 44-page FIFA report found.CreditAssociated Press
Referees for Sale
As players from South Africa and Guatemala gathered for their national anthems, Mr. Chaibou stood between the teams at midfield. He was flanked by two assistant referees who had also been selected by Football 4U International, the Singapore-based company that was the front for the match-rigging syndicate.
They were present because of a shrewd maneuver the fixers had begun weeks earlier to penetrate the highest levels of the South African soccer federation.
A man identifying himself as Mohammad entered the federation offices in Johannesburg carrying a letter dated April 29, 2010. The letter offered to provide referees for South Africa’s exhibition matches before the World Cup and pay for their travel expenses, lodging, meals and match fees, taking the burden off the financially troubled federation. “We are extremely keen to work closely with your good office,” the letter read.
It was signed by Mr. Perumal, the match fixer, who was also an executive with Football 4U.
Penalty kicks in an exhibition match between Guatemala and host South Africa in May 2010 awarded by the referee Ibrahim Chaibou aided South Africa’s 5-0 victory. According to FIFA’s report, Mr. Chaibou received as much as $100,000 to fix the match. Mr. Chaibou said he had never fixed a match.CreditGianluigi Guercia/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
The offer sounded strange to Steve Goddard, the acting head of refereeing for the South African Football Association at the time. An amiable, heavyset Englishman who sometimes used a table leg for a walking stick, Mr. Goddard had had an eclectic career in and out of soccer. He sang in Welsh choirs and worked as a sound engineer for an album made at Abbey Road Studios. He knew that FIFA rules allowed only national soccer federations to appoint referees. Outside companies, like Football 4U, had no such authority.
Several days later, Mr. Goddard said, Mohammad returned and offered him a bribe of about $3,500, saying he was holding up the deal. Mr. Goddard said he declined the offer.
Nevertheless, other South African executives moved forward with Football 4U. At least two contracts were drafted, giving Football 4U permission to appoint referees for five of the country’s exhibition matches. The FIFA report called the contracts “so very rudimentary as to be commercially laughable.”
One contract, unsigned, bore the name of Anthony Santia Raj, identified by FIFA as an associate of the Singapore syndicate. The other contract was signed by Leslie Sedibe, then the chief executive of the South African soccer federation.
In an interview, Mr. Sedibe said that someone from Football 4U had lied to him about the company’s intentions, and that the FIFA report belonged “in a toilet.”
“It is the biggest load of rubbish,” he said.
Mr. Santia Raj could not be reached for comment.
Investigators found that South African soccer officials performed no background checks on “Mohammad” or Football 4U. The company was already infamous: It had attempted to fix a match in China about eight months earlier. Mohammad turned out to be Jason Jo Lourdes, another associate of the Singaporean match-fixing syndicate, according to the FIFA report. Mr. Lourdes could not be reached for comment.
The report said the South African soccer officials were “either easily duped or extremely foolish.”
But their behavior “inevitably leads to the conclusion” that several employees of the federation “were complicit in a criminal conspiracy to manipulate these matches,” the report said.
Fixers are attracted to soccer because of the action it generates on the vast and largely unregulated Asian betting markets. And if executed well, a fixed soccer match can be hard to detect. Players can deliberately miss shots; referees can eject players or award penalty kicks; team officials can outright tell players to lose a match.
Most fixed bets are placed on which team will win against the spread and on the total number of expected goals. Gamblers often place large bets in underground markets in Asia. By some estimates, the illegal betting market in Asia amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars annually.
The South African federation, troubled by financial difficulties and administrative dysfunction, was a ripe target. Once Football 4U had insinuated itself, the syndicate was able to switch referees at the last moment, and it had access to dressing areas and the sidelines.
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According to an email from Wilson Raj Perumal to Ace Kika, a South African federation official, the Singapore syndicate asked to provide referees for matches.
“The situation was ideal for the criminal organization using Football 4U to exploit these vulnerabilities and to offer money to SAFA staff, who were themselves suffering financial hardship,” the FIFA report said.
Mr. Perumal did not respond to requests for an interview. But he wrote a memoir, published in April, that captured his brazenness and provided details consistent with FIFA’s report. He wrote that his group offered $60,000 to $75,000 to Mr. Chaibou and his crew for each exhibition match they would fix.
“I can do the job,” Mr. Chaibou replied, according to Mr. Perumal’s memoir, “Kelong Kings.” (“Kelong” is Malay slang for match fixing.)
The memoir says Mr. Chaibou was paid $60,000 for manipulating the South Africa-Guatemala match.
The day of the match, Mr. Chaibou walked with Robert Sithole, a South African member of the officiating crew, to a Bidvest Bank in Polokwane, about three hours northeast of Johannesburg, Mr. Sithole said in the report.
Mr. Sithole told investigators that he watched as Mr. Chaibou deposited a “quite thick” wad of $100 bills, perhaps as much as $100,000, though Mr. Sithole could not be certain of the amount. Mr. Chaibou said he wired the money to his wife in Niger, according to the report.
A woman at the bank gave Mr. Chaibou a gift of coins bearing the likeness of Mandela, an apparent reward for “having deposited a huge amount of money on this account,” Mr. Sithole told FIFA investigators.
Hours later, Mr. Chaibou arrived at Peter Mokaba Stadium for the match. Another referee from Niger was scheduled to officiate.
Instead, Mr. Chaibou took the field.
Questionable Calls
That night, only seats in the lower bowl were full, but the crowd of about 25,000 was noisily expectant.
As the match began, FIFA’s Early Warning System, which monitors gambling on sanctioned matches, began to detect odd movements in betting. Gamblers kept increasing their expectations of how many goals would be scored, a possible sign of insider betting.
Before the match, the betting line had been 2.68 goals, an ordinary number, said Matthew Benham, a former financial trader who runs a legal gambling syndicate in England. By kickoff, the expected goals rose drastically, to 3.48, and then to more than 4 during the match, Mr. Benham said.
The questionable calls began early. In the 12th minute, South Africa scored on a penalty kick after a Guatemalan defender was called for a hand ball even though he was clearly outside the penalty area. At halftime, the two assistant referees from Tanzania “looked shivering, nervous,” Mr. Sithole said in the report. He was part of the officiating crew.
South Africa vs Guatemala (5-0) HighlightsVideo by Ecuatoriano122395
In the 50th minute, Guatemala was awarded a suspicious penalty kick for a hand ball, even though a South African defender stopped a shot in front of the goal with his chest, not his arm.
Mr. Goddard watched from the grandstands, where he noticed others seemed just as incredulous about the refereeing. A South African broadcaster kept looking in his direction in disbelief. A fellow South African soccer official repeatedly turned to Mr. Goddard with open arms, as if to say, “What about that?”
In the 56th minute, another debatable penalty kick was awarded to South Africa, which resulted in the team’s fourth goal in a 5-0 rout.
The FIFA report stated plainly that “we can conclude that this match was indeed manipulated for betting fraud purposes.”
‘We’re Going to Eliminate You’
South Africa had one more warm-up match, against Denmark on June 5, before it opened the World Cup. While expectations for the team soared, some officials in the South African soccer federation had grown concerned about the refereeing.
The night before the match with Denmark, several South African officials delivered a stern lecture to the appointed referees, who were from Tanzania and had been selected by Football 4U. Nothing inappropriate would be tolerated, they were told.
Ace Kika, one of three South African federation officials present, was vehement. He later complained to investigators that men connected to Football 4U had consistently tried to enter the referees’ dressing room at halftime of the exhibition matches.
The morning of the Denmark match, the scheduled chief referee withdrew, citing a stomach bug, although the report described him as “clearly alarmed.” A substitute referee was needed — fast.
Given the officiating in the Guatemala match, Mr. Goddard already had another referee on standby. “I was prepared for anything to happen that afternoon,” he said in an interview.
He persuaded Matthew Dyer, a respected South African referee, to officiate, even though it was unusual for a referee to work a match involving his home country.
But when Mr. Goddard arrived at the stadium, he found a familiar figure already there — Mr. Chaibou.
As the teams prepared to take the field, Mr. Dyer was hidden away in an unused room to perform his warm-up exercises. Mr. Chaibou received a massage and completed his own warm-ups, but that was as far as he got.
As Mr. Chaibou waited in a tunnel to lead the teams onto the field, Mr. Goddard said, he put his hand on Mr. Chaibou’s shoulder and told him: “I am kicking you out of the match. You are joining me in the grandstand.”
Another South African soccer official said he locked Mr. Chaibou in the referees’ dressing room while Mr. Dyer took the field instead.
Steve Goddard, the acting head of refereeing for the South African Football Association in 2010, said he had refused a bribe from Football 4U International, a front for a match-fixing syndicate, over the appointment of referees.CreditJoao Silva/The New York Times
South Africa won, 1-0. In Mr. Perumal’s memoir, he wrote that the fixers had wanted three goals in the match, and that $1 million “went up in smoke.” He also wrote that Mr. Goddard was “a big troublemaker.”
After the match, as Mr. Goddard drove away from the stadium, his cellphone rang. It was Mr. Perumal, who had once been convicted of assault for breaking the leg of a soccer player in an aborted match-fixing attempt.
“This time, you really have gone too far and, you know, we’re going to eliminate you,” he said, according to Mr. Goddard. Mr. Perumal later bragged about the episode, the report said. But in his memoir he said that he had threatened only to sue Mr. Goddard for breach of contract, not kill him.
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Goddard testified that Mr. Perumal threatened his life.
The South African officials made no written report of the threat and did not alert FIFA or the police at the time.
But Mr. Goddard said he took the threat so seriously that “to save my life,” his colleague, Mr. Kika, suggested that they allow the Singapore syndicate to pick the referee for the next day’s exhibition match between Nigeria and North Korea. Under duress, Mr. Goddard said, he agreed.
“That was basically to save my neck,” he said in an interview.
That night, at 8:26, Mr. Kika sent an email granting permission for Football 4U executives to appoint the referee. Mr. Kika declined a request for comment.
The referee in the Nigeria-North Korea match made several questionable calls. FIFA investigators could not confirm whether it was Mr. Chaibou, but they said the referee was definitely not the Portuguese official who had been assigned.
The referee took “a very harsh stance” in giving a red card for a seemingly lesser infraction, and he later took “a very liberal stance” in awarding a suspicious penalty kick, the report said. Nigeria won, 3-1.
If the Singapore syndicate was not shocked by the result, many bettors were. “We were absolutely trashed in that game,” said Mr. Benham, the professional gambler. “It made no sense at all in the betting market.”
As South Africa faced Denmark on June 5, the United States defeated Australia, 3-1, in another exhibition. According to an email from Mr. Perumal to Mr. Kika on May 24, the Singapore syndicate asked to provide referees for the match. In an interview, Mr. Goddard said that Football 4U proposed using three referees from Bosnia and Herzegovina who, according to the FIFA report, would later receive lifetime bans from soccer for their involvement in match fixing.
Mr. Goddard said he had warned American and Australian officials of Football 4U’s intentions. Ultimately, South African referees officiated the match.
United States soccer officials said they did not recall receiving any warnings about fixers or a change in referees. The FIFA report gives no indication that the game was manipulated.
“We’ve never heard anything about this before and have no reason to doubt the integrity of the match,” said Sunil Gulati, the president of the United States Soccer Federation.
Even if it could not place referees in the United States match, Perumal wrote in his memoir that the Singapore syndicate walked away from the South African exhibitions “with a good four to five million dollars.”
Shrugging at the Evidence
Mr. Perumal remained in South Africa until June 30, 2010, deep into the World Cup, according to the FIFA report. Mr. Perumal wrote that he offered a referee $400,000 to manipulate a World Cup match, but that the referee declined because he thought Mr. Perumal had a “loose tongue.”
After the World Cup, a freelance journalist, Mark Gleason, reported suspicions among some African soccer officials that exhibition matches had been rigged. FIFA did nothing at the time.
In fact, FIFA did not investigate the suspicious games for nearly two years, until March 2012. By then, Mr. Chaibou had reached FIFA’s mandatory retirement age, 45. FIFA has said it investigates only active referees, so its investigation of Mr. Chaibou stopped. “It took a while to get around to it, longer than we would have liked,” Mr. Steans, the author of the report, said in an interview.
At the time, FIFA’s investigative staff amounted to five people responsible for examining dozens of international match-fixing cases, he said. The group has no subpoena power or law enforcement authority.
Investigators spent only three days in South Africa and never interviewed the referees or the teams involved, the report said. An unsuccessful attempt was made to interview Mr. Chaibou at the time, according to Mr. Steans.
FIFA officials in Zurich received the report in October 2012 and passed it to the soccer officials in South Africa; it had little meaningful effect there. A few South African officials were suspended but later reinstated. And no one was charged with a crime even though FIFA had found “compelling evidence” of fixed exhibitions and apparent collusion by some South African soccer officials.
“We never got to speak to the referees, which was sad,” said Mr. Steans, who operates his own sports security firm. “It would have tied up a lot of loose ends. I’m sure they would have given us some relevant information.”
Mr. Sedibe, then the chief executive of the South African soccer federation, shrugged off the report as a politically motivated witch hunt. “Why is it taking so long to get to the bottom of this?” he said. “Why not refer this matter to the police to investigate and bring closure to it?”
Three months after the suspicious South African matches, Mr. Perumal was linked to another daring scheme. In September 2010, he organized a match in Bahrain in which the opponent was a fake squad claiming to be the national team of Togo, in West Africa. The referee for that match? Mr. Chaibou.
The presence of Football 4U and Mr. Chaibou made soccer organizers uneasy. In 2011, a South African official, Adeel Carelse, said that after being misled by some in his national federation, he learned that Mr. Chaibou was about to referee an under-23 age-group match in Johannesburg. Mr. Carelse said he raced across the city with a car full of South African referees to replace Mr. Chaibou’s crew at the last minute.
Ibrahim Chaibou, second from left in Nigeria in 2011, the referee at the center of the South African case, was seen depositing a “quite thick” wad of $100 bills before a suspect exhibition match, according to FIFA.CreditSunday Alamba/Associated Press
Mr. Chaibou retired to Niger in 2011.
Mr. Perumal was arrested in Finland in 2011 and found guilty of corruption. He was given a two-year sentence, although he was released early. He was arrested again in Finland in late April for his continued role in match fixing.
Since the South African episode, Mr. Steans has left FIFA. He said the investigative staff in Zurich had a docket of about 90 match-fixing cases worldwide. along with other security duties. To seriously combat match fixing, Mr. Steans said, FIFA needs at least 10 investigators working full time on monitoring the manipulation of games, and two offices in each of its six international soccer confederations.
“You need the local intelligence and local knowledge on the ground,” Mr. Steans said. “You need to be talking to sources face to face to get live information that helps you counter match fixing before the fix happens.”
A FIFA spokeswoman said Friday that the Zurich staff now included six investigators and that FIFA worked with a broad network of law enforcement officials including Interpol. Delia Fischer, the spokeswoman, said that for the World Cup, 12 security officers would be assigned to each stadium, with the monitoring of potential match fixing among their duties.
In addition, Ms. Fischer said, a security staff of 18 will be on hand from FIFA headquarters in Zurich. Mr. Mutschke, FIFA’s security chief, said on the organization’s website that a primary concern about fixing is the third and final game of the group phase of the World Cup, when a particular team has been eliminated or has already qualified for the second round.
“Prevention is not something where you can see easy success stories the next day,” Mr. Mutschke said in the FIFA.com interview. “So we are investing in long-term solutions, and we certainly need the help of our member associations as well to be successful in the end.”
In late 2012, an elite anticorruption police unit, called the Hawks, said it was investigating potential corruption linked to the match-fixing scandal inside South Africa’s soccer federation, including a possible bribe of about $800,000. But in March, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa said he would not form a commission to examine charges of match fixing, leaving the matter to FIFA.
“I’m disappointed for South African football,” Mr. Steans said. “I’m disappointed for football in general because when these things happen to the game, they need to be investigated and the truth found. And two years, well, four years since this happened was way too long.”
The other day, as she was priming her re-election campaign, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff hit a speed bump. There she was, racing across the country to launch shiny public-works projects ahead of the World Cup, and the only thing those annoying journalists wanted to know was if the airports would be renovated on time and up to “FIFA standards.” The reference, of course, was to the rigorous Switzerland-based global soccer authority. “The airports will not be FIFA-standard,” she shot back. “They will be Brazil-standard airports.”
And there it was, in a sound bite, the official spin on Brazil’s complicated moment in the sun, a candid take on the rolling public-relations disaster that has been this country’s relationship with the wider world and its international gatekeepers. Rousseff’s prickly riposte might have been calculated. With presidential elections scheduled for October, she has been struggling in the polls. Hardly a week passes without some angry klatsch or another taking the streets — not least because of Brasilia’s perceived weak hand in dealing with those overweening bean counters from Zurich. A mini-genre of anti-FIFA articles has bloomed here and abroad. It’s about time the Brazilians kicked back, she said.
It’s an odd moment to circle the wagons. Brazil is days away from the curtain call for the crown event of the most popular sport on the planet. Two years from now, Rio de Janeiro will stage the Summer Olympics, drawing hundreds of thousands of athletes and tourists, plus billions of television viewers. And yet nationalism and resentment have flared, and with them memories of times that Brazilians had imagined were behind them. “FIFA go home,” says a message stenciled in white on the pavement of Copacabana, Rio’s signature beachfront neighborhood.
Squint a little and you can see the faded graffiti of another cranky time, some three decades ago, when international creditors were banging on Brazil’s door for their due and the International Monetary Fund was their policeman. FIFA Go Home! is the direct heir to IMF Go Home!
This is passing strange. Brazil, with the world’s seventh-largest economy, traffics in a globalized world and its signifiers and acronyms, from the Gini coefficient, which measures economic inequality, to the International Organization for Standardization, which sets proprietary, industrial and commercial standards. When the country excels, Brasilia trumpets the achievement. The nation’s traditionally skewed income inequality score has improved since the beginning of the last decade, even as most fast-growing developing nations become more lopsided. When the country flops, such as in the PISA — the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s yardstick for 15-year-olds, measured by standardized scholastic tests (Brazil is a lowly 58th on a scale of 65 nations) — the official handlers rush to print disclaimers. Then there’s the mother of all acronyms, the WTO. Not only does a Brazilian, Roberto Azevedo, head the World Trade Organization, few countries have been as aggressive as his in wielding its authority, taking protectionists to task 26 times since 1995.
That’s one of the big reasons that Brazilians revere soccer. Roberto DaMatta, the brilliant anthropologist, nailed it when he said that futebol isn’t some opiate for the witless. Brazilians love the game because it is fair, has transparent rules and is played on a level playing field. What counts on the pitch is how you play, not who you know. It’s a scale model of a better world. The current World Cup anger notwithstanding, Brazilians have always been proud of their FIFA standing (currently fourth), and they will remind visitors that they got there the proper way: by beating the best.
More than an ankle kick at Brazil’s intrusive outsiders, Rousseff’s FIFA outburst was essentially the declaration of an era. To her predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil was destined for glory. He pushed for a seat on the United Nations Security Council and a nuclear energy deal with Iran. He opened 40 new embassies abroad. Bagging the World Cup was part of the package. Brazil “will now with great pride do its homework,” he promised the FIFA brass in Zurich. That was then.
To contact the writer of this article: Mac Margolis at macmargolis@terra.com.br.
To contact the editor responsible for this article: James Gibney at jgibney5@bloomberg.net.
Na Argentina, elas foram reprimidas por baionetas quando indagaram, em 1977, pelos filhos presos. Os generais golpistas debocharam: “son las locas de Plaza de Mayo“. Obstinadas, não desistiram. Desafiaram o terror e continuaram ocupando a Praça de Maio, desfilando o seu protesto semanal diante da Casa Rosada e da catedral até que, finamente, reconhecidas pela sociedade, contribuíram para o fim da ditadura e a prisão dos torturadores.
Todo o processo de alfabetização ocorreu num clima que iniciou com a narração oral das historias e continuou com a criação dos desenhos, a leitura dos desenhos, a discussão sobre eles e, finalmente, com a escrita alfabética.
A lista é longa, os mortos têm nomes, mas às vezes são identificados pelo laço de parentesco: “a filha de Sabe que mora no Mrebsna Mudî, dois tios de Mário Paruwé, o pai de Wome, uma filha de Antônio”, etc. O relatório se refere ao“desaparecimento de mais de 2.000 Waimiri-Atroari em apenas dez anos”. Na área onde se localiza hoje a Mineradora Taboca (Paranapanema) desapareceram pelo menos nove aldeias aerofotografadas pelo padre Calleri, em 1968, em sobrevoos a serviço da FUNAI. Os alunos da aldeia Yawará desenharam casas e escreveram ao lado frases como:
O relatório informa que “as festas que reuniam periodicamente os Waimiri-Atroari foram aproveitadas pelo PARASAR para o aniquilamento dos índios”. Conta detalhes. Registra ainda o desaparecimento de índios que se aproximaram, em agosto de 1985, do canteiro de obras da hidrelétrica do Pitinga, então em construção:
Uma (in)certa antropologia 
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