Sao Paulo

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on January 2nd, 2012
Hi, old friend! Obama and Rousseff in Brasilia in March. [Roberto Stuckert Filho/PR]

In one of her last official appearances of 2011, on December 22, Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s president, arrived in a sweltering gymnasium in downtown Sao Paulo to give a speech to a few hundred working-class social activists.

In her speech, she mentioned “Lula” more than 10 times.

At one point the audience briefly broke into chants of “Lula, Lula, Lula!”

Lula wasn’t even present.

“Lula” is Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the wildly popular and charismatic former president of this country.

This is the man who in 2009 told a ballroom of CEOs at a regional World Economic Forum meeting in Rio de Janeiro he was going to scrap the speech his advisors had prepared and instead gave a blistering and empassioned critique of how the rich, developed nations were resonsible for the global economic mess and it was poor all over the world paying the price.

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on June 25th, 2011
Picture of Maria Lucimar Pereira, believed to be 120 years old. Photo: Courtesy via Folha.com

Her name is Maria Lucimar Pereira and she is reportedly 120 years old. No, that is not a typo.

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on April 12th, 2011
A Brazilian flag hanging in Sao Paulo. Photo: Alexandre Rampazzo/Al Jazeera

In the industrial outskirts of Sao Paulo, workers at Bandeiras Sukets, a small flag-making factory, are hunched over sewing machines. With great precision, the workers are stitching together high quality, hand-made Brazilian flags.

But the work of making the Brazilian flag is quickly an evaporating profession inside Brazil. Local flag makers are being put out of business thanks to cheap, low-quality imports of Brazilian flags from China.

In the age of globalisation, Brazilians are finding out that even their national symbol is not immune to China’s exports.

"We have been in the Brazilian flag making business for over 15 years," Sueli da Silva Teixeira, the owner of Bandeiras Sukets, told Al Jazeera.

"There used to be flag making places all over this area, it was a good business, there was a lot of work for everyone.

"Today, no, it’s changed.

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on March 18th, 2011

A week ago Koichi Nakazawa, 66, lived a simple and quiet life in Sao Paulo.

But after the earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan over 7 days ago, things have changed. Life is distressing now for Nakazawa, who is the president of the Miyagui Kenjinkai Association of Brazil, a community support group for people from the Miyagui region of Japan. That is the regional province where Sendai, Japan is located, one of the worst hit areas from the disaster.

File 15631 Koichi Nakazawa, above, now spends his days helping others locate missing loved ones in Miyagui region of Japan. (Maira Elena Romero/Al Jazeera)

By Al Jazeera Staff in Middle East on February 17th, 2011
Saif Gaddafi, the son of Libya's leader, warned of 'civil war' in a speech on Sunday night.

As protests in Libya enter their eighth day, following a "day of rage" on Thursday, we keep you updated on the developing situation from our headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

(All times are local in Libya GMT+2)

Blog: Feb17 - Feb18 - Feb19 - Feb20

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on January 22nd, 2011
Not all the bodies will be discovered under the vast areas still covered in mud and debris [Maria Elena Romero/ Al Jazeera]

This was the phrase I heard most last week while covering the devastating mudslides in the Serrana region of Rio de Janeiro state: "I have never seen anything like this in my life."

Ten biggest natural disasters in Brazil

- Meningitis epidemic, Sao Paulo, January 1974: 1,500 dead.
- Mudslides, Rio state, January 2011: 785 dead (as of this writing -
- Floods in Rio, January 1967: 785 dead.
- Mudslides, Sao Paulo, March 1967: 436 dead

By Teresa Bo in Americas on October 30th, 2010
Picture from AFP

Brazil has changed in the past years and even though poverty and inequality continue to exist in Sao Paulo's poorest areas, those changes are evident. Brazil’s most important banks have opened branches in two of this city's largest slums, surrounding the area there are restaurants, supermarkets and electronic shops…. This talks about how much purchasing power has changed. President Lula Da Silva is credited for taking around 20 million people out of poverty and it’s in these areas where those changes are seen the most…

There is an air of tranquility in Brazil if you compare it to previous elections. In the past, there was uncertainty before an election.

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on September 29th, 2010
Photo by Reuters

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won’t be on the ballot on Sunday when 136 million Brazilians cast a vote for president, but his famous Lula name will be – it just won’t be the president himself.

Meet Luiz da Silva. Not the president. But the candidate for the federal deputy from Lula’s Workers Party.

Not only is his name almost identical to that of the Brazilian president, but he even has the same thick beard and portly stature. His deep, scratchy voice is almost identical too. And he is even missing part of a finger just like President Lula da Silva.

File 3660

Luiz 'Lula' da Silva, candidate for congress, and the man who looks a lot like the popular Brazilian president. Photo: Tatiana Polastri/Al Jazeera.

By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on June 17th, 2010
AFP photo

Brazil football fans have a singular focus on the World Cup in South Africa, Sunday’s game against the Ivory Coast, and next Friday’s match against Portugal.

By Gabriel Elizondo in Middle East on May 16th, 2010
Photo by Ricardo Stuckert/PR

As I type this post it is about 7pm Sunday in Sao Paulo, shortly after 2am Monday in Tehran.

I just spoke on the phone with a source within Brazil's diplomatic delegation currently in Iran who tells me that after 18 hours of negotiations the Brazilians are "very optimistic" and that talks on Sunday went "very well" on a negotiated solution to the Iran nuclear standoff.

The Brazilian member of the diplomatic corps said there was hope that an agreement could be announced as early as Monday morning.

Brazil's foreign minister, Celso Amorim, who is spearheading Brazil's negotiating team, apparently returned to his Tehran hotel room shortly after 11pm.

The news from the Brazilians seems to back up a late Reuters report on Sunday night in which Turkey Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was asked by a reporter whether there would be an agreement and he allegedly said: "Yes, it has been reached after almost 18 hours of negotiations."

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