exports

Brazil police break up key Amazon deforestation gang

Anadolu Agency – Image: Deforested area of Mato Grosso, photo by Ben Tavener

SÃO PAULO — Seven people suspected of orchestrating mass logging operations in the Amazon have been arrested as part of a long-running investigation, police in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso confirmed to the Anadolu Agency on Thursday.

Police chief Maria Alice Barros Amorim, who is coordinating the operation, told AA that in all 13 arrest orders had been issued in the state, meaning six individuals are still wanted in connection with logging and other environmental crimes.

Officers from the special environment police department have also carried out searches at 18 locations as part of Operation Fluxo Verde (Green Flow) and say “huge quantities” of illegally-logged wood have been found.

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Senate Approves Ports Regulation Bill

The Brazilian Senate has approved by a wide majority a bill that changes rules governing how the country’s ports are regulated, in a victory for the ruling government, despite last-minute attempts by opposing senators to derail the bill.

Leônidas Cristino, minister for Brazil’s Special Ports Secretariat (center), heralded the passing of the bill, photo by Fábio Rodrigues Pozzebom/ABr.

Leônidas Cristino, minister for Brazil’s Special Ports Secretariat (centre), heralded the passing of the bill. Photo by Agência Brasil.

The bill aims to open state-run ports to more private investment and lift restrictions on the building of privately-run ports.

Officially known as MP 595, the bill was voted in without amendment after receiving the support of 53 votes, with just seven votes against and five abstentions. The text now goes to President Dilma Rousseff for evaluation.

The bill finally reached the Senate on Thursday after a final 40 hours of debates in the Chamber of Deputies, many of whom had expressed their frustration and sheer exhaustion following the longest-running debate by deputies in the last 22 years.

According to Leônidas Cristino, minister for Brazil’s Special Ports Secretariat, this approval was vital, but most of the work remains ahead to work out the finer detail of new ports regulations, which would be analysed “item by item.”

Paulo Skaf, President of the Federation of Industry of São Paulo State (FIESP), said the bill was vital for the country’s competitiveness:

“Brazil is calling for a clash of competition. The measure meets the demands of the most important production sectors: it allows an increase in what operators can offer, promotes greater competition and, consequently, reduces port costs,” Mr Skaf said.

The bill was also seen by many as an important step towards making sure the country’s ports – considered a serious bottleneck in Brazil’s external trade – work more efficiently, eradicating excessive waits currently endured for cargo to be unloaded.

It was recently reported that ports that should have started running 24 hours a day since mid-April were still failing to do so.

The government has earmarked over R$54 billion for 159 port projects through Brazil to be implemented by 2016 as part of plans to improve the country’s infrastructure, also including upgrades to airports, roads and railways.

First published on The Rio Times website.

Brazil Firearm Sales to U.S. Grew Strongly under Lula

Sales of Brazilian-made firearms to the U.S. increased 187.5% while former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was in office, compared to the same eight-year period that his predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, was in power.

The U.S. purchased nearly 7.9 million, or 80%, of the 9.9 million exported Brazilian firearms in the past forty years, Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reports.

Gun by Brazilian company Taurus have proved popular in the US. Photo by Flickr/castironskillet.

Gun by Brazilian company Taurus have proved popular in the U.S. Photo by Flickr/castironskillet.

The total of 7,873,321 firearms sold to the U.S. between 1971 and 2011 dwarfs sales to the next biggest importers of Brazilian guns: Argentina (215,216), Paraguay (154,711), Yemen (112,272) and Germany (109,273).

Of the 9.9 million firearms sold, 42.2% were revolvers, 23.8% were shotguns (espingardas), 17.8% were pistols, with the rest a mixture of different types of rifles, including semi-automatic weapons.

Figures from the Brazilian Army Command, released after a request by the São Paulo newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act, showed that 59% of this total, 4.6 million units, was exported between 2003 and 2010, enough to arm every person in the state of Louisiana today.

In 2011, the final year included in the Army report, Brazil exported more firearms to the U.S. than Austria and Germany combined, the second and third biggest firearms exporters to the US, after Brazil.

Brazilian arms manufacturer Taurus, headquartered in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, has been responsible for over half of Brazilian arms exports to the U.S. since 1971, and around half of the products this company makes are sold to American buyers.

The company, founded in 1941 and arriving in the U.S. in 1968, is now one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of small firearms and the fourth biggest in the States. Taurus USA was created in 1984 and, along with its factory in Miami, the company reportedly arms police forces in over 70 countries.

In Brazil, according to Taurus, the company’s revenues were R$701 million last year, a 13.4% increase.

Read the full article on The Rio Times website