Freedom in the World 1998 - Brazil

1998 Scores

Status: Partly Free
Freedom Rating: 3.5
Civil Liberties: 4
Political Rights: 3

Overview

In 1998, Brazilian voters, worried about their country's economic collapse and a lack of public safety, once again opted for modernization and moderation by reelecting President Fernando Henrique Cardoso for a second term. However, allegations of corruption involving two top government officials threatened to undermine Cardoso's plan to stabilize South America's largest economy.

After gaining independence from Portugal in 1822, Brazil retained a monarchical system until a republic was established in 1889. Democratic rule has been interrupted by long periods of authoritarian rule, most recently under military regimes from 1964 to 1985 at which time elected civilian rule was reestablished. A new constitution went into effect in 1988 providing for a president elected for four years, a bicameral Congress consisting of an 81-member Senate elected for eight years, and a 503-member Chamber of Deputies elected for four years.

Civilian rule has been marked by corruption scandals. The scandal having the greatest political impact led to the impeachment by Congress of President Fernando Collor de Mello (1989-92). Collor resigned and was replaced by a weak, ineffectual government led by his vice president, Itamar Franco.

In early 1994, Cardoso, Franco's finance minister and a market-oriented centrist, forged a three-party, center-right coalition around his own Social Democratic Party (PSDB). As his anti-inflation plan appeared to work dramatically, former Marxist Cardoso jumped into the lead backed by big media and big business. In October 1994, Cardoso won the presidency with 54 percent of the vote, against 27 percent for Luis Ignacio "Lula" de Silva, the leader of the leftist Workers' Party (PT) and an early-form front-runner. The Senate was divided among 11 parties and the Chamber of Deputies among 18. Cardoso's coalition did not have a majority in either house.

Cardoso spent 1995 cajoling and horse-trading for the congressional votes needed to implement his economic liberalization program. That fall his government was rocked by a bribery and phone-tapping scandal. In April 1996, Cardoso indicated that he favored a constitutional amendment to drop the one- term limit, allowing him to run for re-election in 1998, and in 1997, he secured Congressional approval for such a measure.

Land issues were high on the political agenda in 1996. In January, Cardoso announced presidential decree 1775, which allows states, municipalities, and non-Indians to challenge, at the federal level, proposed demarcation of Indian land. Following the decree, miners and loggers increased their encroachments on Indian land. In another development, a radicalized movement representing landless peasants continued to occupy mostly fallow land in rural areas in order to pressure the government to settle rural families. The activism contributed to scores of violent conflicts between peasants and the military, police, and private security forces, which act with virtual impunity.

Cardoso's first-ballot victory (nearly 52 percent of the votes cast) over Lula, his nearest rival, was tempered by a less convincing win at the congressional and gubernatorial levels. His win was also overshadowed when published accounts of secretly recorded conversations seemed to indicate that two top officials appeared to be steering a bid to privatize part of the state-run telephone holding company to a consortium of personal friends, who ended up losing the auction.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Citizens can change governments through elections. The 1998 elections were considered free and fair, with opposition candidates winning the governorships of three of the biggest states – Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul. Parliament remains dominated by the Executive Branch. Professional staff capabilities are not used by members of Congress. Concern has been expressed about Cardoso's use of "provisional measures" (decrees) in order to bypass Congress.

The constitution guarantees freedom of religion and expression as well as the right to organize political and civic organizations. Cardoso is credited with initiating a sea-change in attitudes concerning international criticism on rights issues, from aggressive nationalistic rejection to dialogue and openness. He created a ministerial rank secretariat charged with defending human rights. The crime of torture was upgraded from a misdemeanor to a serious crime punishable by up to 16 years in prison. He has also proposed making all violations of rights federal crimes, thus moving their investigation from the jurisdiction of state, civil, and military police forces. In an attempt to roll back the current climate of police impunity, Cardoso has pledged to put federal judges in charge of cases involving allegations of military police brutality, removing them from the jurisdiction of military tribunals. In Sao Paulo state, Cardoso ally Governor Mario Covas has taken the lead in combating police misconduct even as anti-crime hysteria seized the population.

The climate of lawlessness is reinforced by a weak judiciary. Brazil's Supreme Court is granted substantial autonomy by the constitution. However, the judicial system is overwhelmed (with only 7,000 judges for a population of more than 150 million), and vulnerable to the chronic corruption that undermines the entire political system. It has been virtually powerless in the face of organized crime. A national breakdown in police discipline and escalating criminal violence – fueled by a burgeoning drug trade and increasing ties to Italian and other foreign criminal organizations – have intensified a climate of lawlessness and insecurity. Human rights, particularly those of socially marginalized groups, are violated with impunity on a massive scale.

Brazil's police are among the world's most violent and corrupt. Grossly underpaid in the lower ranks, their work conditions are poor. Extra-judicial killings are disguised as shootouts with dangerous criminals. Federal police as well as the state civil and military police routinely practice torture, particularly against poor, criminal suspects. Military policemen in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have secretly been caught on videotape attacking people on the street, extorting money, opening fire upon, and killing motorists during routine operations. Although officers are rarely punished, in October 1998, a former policeman nicknamed "Rambo," captured on videotape beating motorists and fatally shooting one passenger, was sentenced to 65 years imprisonment. In Rio de Janeiro, state civil police sold weapons to drug-trafficking gangs that control many of the city's hillside shantytowns. In many cities, "death squads," often composed of off-duty state police, terrorize shantytown dwellers and intimidate human rights activists attempting to investigate abuses. Opinion polls in Sao Paolo showed 42 percent of those interviewed had either experienced police violence or had a relative who had, and fully 70 percent of city residents were terrified of the military police.

Since 1994, the federal government has deployed the army in order to quell police strikes and bring order to Rio de Janeiro's 400 slums, most of which are ruled by gangs which are in league or in competition with corrupt police and local politicians. Public distrust of the judiciary has resulted in poor citizens taking the law into their own hands, with hundreds of reported lynchings and mob executions. In response to U.S. pressure, the Brazilian military is playing an increasing role in anti-narcotics efforts.

The press is privately owned. There are dozens of daily newspapers and numerous other publications throughout the country, and the print media have played a central role in exposing official corruption. In January, the editor of a weekly newspaper in Bahia, was murdered after publishing several articles linking several individuals close to the state's governor and one of its senators with corruption. A photographer who was a key witness in the 1996 massacre by police of 19 landless peasants was murdered in November 1998 shortly before he was scheduled to testify in the government's investigation of the case.

Brazil has one of the most concentrated land distribution patterns in the world. Large landowners control nearly 60 percent of arable land, while the poorest 30 percent share less than two percent. In rural areas, violence linked to land disputes is declining, but courts have supported increasingly backing the eviction of landless farmers. Land disputes have risen sharply in recent years, as innumerable invasions of "unproductive" land have been organized by rural activists in order to draw attention to the plight of an estimated 4.8 million families without land. According to the Catholic Church, in 1997 there was a drop in the number of assaults, torture, death threats and illegal expulsions sponsored by landowners in response to the disputes. Thousands of workers are forced by ranchers in rural areas to work against their will, and have no recourse to cops or courts.

Violence against women and children is a common problem as protective laws are rarely enforced. In 1991, the Supreme Court ruled that a man could no longer kill his wife and win acquittal on the ground of "legitimate defense of honor," but juries tend to ignore the ruling. Forced prostitution of children is widespread. Child labor is prevalent, and laws against it are rarely enforced. A recent UNICEF study reported that 53 percent of the 17.5 million children and young people forced to work in Latin America are in Brazil, and of these 1,000,000 are under the age of ten. A report from the state juvenile court in Rio de Janeiro claims that, on average, three street children are killed every day in Rio, many by police at the request of local merchants. In July 1998, the Brazilian government announced a major initiative against domestic violence.

Violence against Brazil's 250,000 Indians continues. In May 1998, the coordinator of the Organization of Indigenous Peoples was murdered by unidentified gunmen. The 1988 constitution guarantees indigenous peoples land rights covering some 11 percent of the country, and by law, outsiders can only enter Indian reserves with permission. Decree 1775 has opened Indian land to greater pressure from predatory miners and loggers. A government decision to reduce and fragment the key Raposa-Serra do Sol area in Roraima state was considered a pay off to special interests in Congress for their support for Cardoso's reelection gambit, despite its implications for Indian lands. Cardoso also slashed the budget of the agency responsible for demarcating Indian lands.

Industrial labor unions are well-organized and politically connected, and many are corrupt. The right to strike is recognized, and there are special labor courts. Hundreds of strikes have taken place in recent years against attempts to privatize state industries.