Barbarians - São Paulo

First and foremost, I would like to say that bad stuff happens everywhere. The fact that I am talking about bad stuff in this blog and about Brazil is simply because I live here. When I head back home to the US later this year, there will be bad stuff there. And I will see it and I will talk about it. In particular, inexplicable violence (like a runner being shot because shooters were bored and needed something to do) and lynching (people being dragged behind cars) is not a foreign concept in my homeland.

I have been horrified by the recent spate of vigilante justice here, in particular in Rio de Janeiro, as residents "fight back" against crime. What exactly am I talking about? A boy who was attempting to steal a bicycle is tied to the street sign. In the photo above, a man trying to rob a luncheonette was grabbed and tied up (this happened not in Rio but in a small town in the state of Santa Catarina). The idea, I assume, is to publicly humiliate and exhibit the criminal.

I am completely opposed to this kind of "justice". We are one step away from public stonings. I understand that many here feel that police forces are not able to provide protection and that the legal system is broken--if we cannot even jail people who have stolen millions from the country, how are we going to convict and jail those of lesser crimes? Given that the prison system here makes little attempt to rescue and re-educate criminals, I don't think jail is the answer either. And any crime that has a penalty under four years means that the criminal does not go to jail. There isn't any room left for minor criminals.

So, is the answer local justice? Tying people to poles? We are not far then from people judge and jurying other people to death. As in, I think you killed my daughter--no, I'm sure of it-- so I am now going to kill you. I don't have a solution to the police or justice issues here but I know that eye for an eye is not a good plan.

This morning I read an opinion piece by Antonio Prata, a writer and columnist for Folha de São Paulo. It is a beautiful column and for those who read Portuguese, I would suggest reading its entirety on the site.

Here is the paragraph that most affected me (translation is my own):

“….Our country is strange, my friend. Horrible things are happening, and instead of people thinking about how to stop these horrible things happening again, they want to inflict these horrible things on who first inflicted them. …what they are asking for is not justice or vengeance, but the right to their own share in the barbarism, like children who complain ‘Why can he play on the swing and I can’t ; ‘Why can he play mobster and I cannot?’.  Every other day I open the newspaper to see someone defending lynching as a form of direct democracy.”

And that is what I am thinking about on this overcast Sunday. Democracy...one step away from barbarism.

Glory days at the Maksoud- São Paulo

Photo credit: www.maksoud.com

See that painted lady in the middle of the photo? That's the Maksoud Plaza Hotel, the site of the South Africa trade event I attended on Tuesday. I have subtitled it: crazy 70s hotel in search of a novela (soap opera). 

So I think I may have said earlier this week that it was a 1960s throwback. Turns out it was inaugurated in 1979, and that paint job is intentional though a more recent addition. I think someone famous did it. Or not. It's hard to know. It seems like make Romero Brito could re-do it and get some more attention for this puppy. Although it might not need more attention--it is rated as a 5-star hotel after a recent renovation (rating by a Brazilian rating agency). But man, that place is troubled.

Henry Maksoud, in happier days. Photo: www.istoe.com.br

Henry Maksoud is the founder of the hotel--he is still alive and nearing 90 years old. His son Roberto was running the place for quite some time, until at least 1996, when a major family fight made him check out. Certainly Henry has some business and familial issues--the hotel has twice been auctioned off to pay debts to workers from the holding company. 

And here's where things get a little crazy. Before the last auction of the hotel in 2008, Henry put a "stay" on the result, claiming he had settled the debts. That means that though JSL Holdings won the auction with the minimum bid of $70 million reais, they are not the owners. Yet. An article from July 2012 said that the courts said the auction was valid, but of course Henry has appealed the decision. He is listed on the website as the Hotel President. Meanwhile the hotel carries on.

Yes, it has all the makings of a novela. Complete with an ex-wife who sued Henry at least twice for non-payment of spousal support. Last lawsuit was when they were both around 75 years old and Henry was sentenced to 60 days of house arrest. He chose to spend his house arrest at the hotel rather than in his 17,000 square meter house in Chacara Flora. You know, he'd feel a little squished there. Henry also has an ongoing fight with a son, but his grandson is a director there at the hotel. I am way too confused to even know where to research all of this.

Meanwhile the Maksoud charges upwards of US$250 a night. It's doing just fine. Not sure its workers are, but it is hard to get that out of the newspaper. I personally found the interior a little dated, but frankly you could put most hotels in New York City in that category. They just smell dated.  Yes, suspended gardens, open atriums, reflecting pools, check, check check. It's pretty--I'm sure that at the time of its inauguration (the first of the open atrium type hotel here in Brazil), it must have been just breathtaking. I didn't see the inside of a room but the conference room was the same as any other hotel one I've ever been in. As in, fine.

Source: hotel website

So, perhaps not the Maksoud's finest hour? Hard to judge (and I mean that literally). The greatest moment in Maksoud Plaza history: Frank Sinatra himself sang there in 1981 for a four day, 700 person per night intimate audience.  Catherine Deneuve has stayed there, as did Margaret Thatcher. I think One Direction might skip it though...not much their style.

Reminds me of some of the lyrics of a Bruce Springsteen song, Glory Days:
....

Now I think I'm going down to the well tonight
and I'm going to drink till I get my fill
And I hope when I get old I don't sit around thinking about it
but I probably will
Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture
a little of the glory of, well time slips away
and leaves you with nothing mister but
boring stories of glory days

Glory days well they'll pass you by
Glory days in the wink of a young girl's eye
Glory days, glory days

-------------------------------------

Sources for this blog post: 

http://hoteliernews.com.br/2012/10/a-tradicionalidade-libanesa-do-maksoud-plaza-na-capital-paulistana/

http://www.conjur.com.br/2004-dez-21/dono_maksoud_plaza_volta_hotel_prisao

http://www.metrolyrics.com/glory-days-lyrics-bruce-springsteen.html

Yipes (Rough Justice) - São Paulo

Some of you may remember a post I wrote about the death cocktail that was served to two killers of a 5-year-old child. If not, here it is. At that point in the story, two of the other accomplices (including the actual "author" of the shot) were fugitive, having been allowed out of prison on Mother's Day, a common "amnesty" day when you get to leave for the day as long as you promise to come back. You all know my feelings on that wackiness.

Two bodies found in July have now been identified as these two fugitive accomplices. And a letter has turned up that seems to indicate that the PCC (the huge criminal gang active in São Paulo) ordered the deaths of all four. Why? The PCC does not allow its members to kill kids. And if you happen to be along for the ride when one of the group kills one, well, it's bye-bye-bye.

The family of the boy left Brazil forever shortly after the crime, and of course this rough justice will be of little comfort to them. Or anyone else left where they used to live; the Bolivian family was assaulted four times in the six months they lived in São Mateus, a neighborhood here in São Paulo.

Again, a story it is hard to be happy about. And one now closed in this blog at least.

Full story here: http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/2013/09/1341343-faccao-e-suspeita-de-mandar-matar-assassinos-de-menino-boliviano.shtml

Hallmark holidays and murder - São Paulo

Justice for Brayan? Maybe.

Here is one of these urban stories which has no redemption. There is no good lesson to be learned from this. You choose whether or not to read on.

On June 28 of this year, a Bolivian immigrant family was held up in their house. When they could not cough up more than $4500 reais (US$2100), the assailants threatened to shoot the 5-year old son, who was apparently screaming and crying. And they ended up doing so; in leaving the house, one of the assailants killed Brayan with a gunshot to the head.

The four assailants were subsequently caught and put into prison (a teenager is also suspected but is in the juvenile prison system). Prison in Brazil is not fun (I'm guessing it's not fun anywhere but fortunately don't know the truth of it). The PCC is the organized prison mafia and runs a pretty tight ship of hierarchy and membership dues, etc. It is pretty hard to leave prison a better man or woman.

What happens in prison, stays in prison. In one of those prison justice moments that send chills up your spine, two of the four suspects were killed by fellow prisoners last week. They were forced to drink a lethal cocktail of cocaine and Viagra, mixed with water and disinfectant. Taken to the prison hospital, they soon died. While it seems somewhat obvious (to me) that this is retaliation for taking the life of a child, there is no final answer.

Drink up!

But, as they say, read on. And you know I can't resist reading on a Folha article. What happened to the other two adult assailants, including the one that is suspected of being the gunman? Let's see...they are "foragido" or fugitive. How did they get out? Did they escape? Not hardly. It turns out that were released for Mother's Day. A Hallmark holiday if ever there was one. Yes, the amnesty of mother's day where all good murderers get to go home and kiss their mothers. Who will want to kiss the murderer of a tiny tot.  I am beginning to believe that amnesty is a way of easing the prison overcrowding--what percentage of these folks actually go back to prison at the end of the day? I don't know. Not sure I want to find out.

True story. Look here.