Bush to Brazilians: There’s No Jail Like Home
March 09th. US president george bush is in São Paulo, Brazil. He goes out to visit a Non-Governmental Organization (Meninos do Morumbi). People who live near the NGO get two and a half hours of home arrest.
Yes, that's right.
Because of Bush's visit, the Brazilian Army forbid the neighbors to live their homes. The "home arrest" began at 03:00 PM. Bush arrived at 04:10 PM. Those at home, weren't allowed to get out. Those who were out and tried to return home, could not get trough the 250 soldiers block.
"I've lived 33 years in this neighborhood, and I've never seen such an aggression. I was home arrested. We were only allowed to get out of the house after Bush left." said Glaucio Maroni, 33 years old.
"I tried to go to the bakery, but they didn't let me. It's absurd." said Sandra Mara, another neighbor.
The employees and customers of two business located in front of the NGO were shut in since 15:00 PM until Bush's departure. Women with children who wanted to cross the street were escorted by soldiers, outside of the blocked area.
People locked in their own homes, streets invaded by men in black suits and armed soldiers. And I was wondering why people hate Bush (in a personal way) so much.
I know the US president can't go out by himself, like a regular "John Nobody". But I don't think visiting an NGO is vital, something he must do. And it certainly was not worth the aggression and the disrespect suffered by innocent, common people.
Does president Bush think a PR stunt (the visit to the NGO was nothing but that) it's more important than civil rights? If somebody told him Brazilians are used to get home arrested, for no good reason and out of the blue, he was misinformed.
Source (in Portuguese): Folha Online
March 14th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Ola Elaine, como vai? You heard, didn’t you, that the guy who arranged this visit and whom Bush most wanted to be photographed with, Rodrigo Baggio, refused to meet Bush because of this “invasion” and maltreatment of the favela folks? Baggio’s Committee for Democracy in Information Technology (CDI) runs a very successful computer clinic in the favela (and in every state in Brazil plus six other Latin American countries) to teach poor kids to be IT techs using the teaching methods advocated by the late Paulo Freire. He said that between the way the residents were treated, and the request that he rehearse beforehand his questions and conversation with Bush, were “unethical” and he would be no part of it. Can’t say that I blame him…
Um abraço,
Keith
March 16th, 2007 at 8:46 am
Hi, Keith!
Thanks for the info, I didn’t knew about this. I’ll turn it into a post, I think everybody should know about this.
March 19th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Hello Eliane! How are you? I live in São Paulo and work near the Hotel where Mr. Bush stayed. I felt all trouble that the President of the US caused to our city. But what makes me affraid about brazilian image around the world is read a notice like this one associating monkeys to brazilian people. Am I right about this impression? Thank you very much!