Central do Brazil

Amid the numerous countries I had the chance to visit in the past 10 years, Brazil is the one I utterly promised myself to return. So I did for a month, bearing in mind that I also wanted to discover new areas and above all, lay a more analytic eye on this magnificent country, which could integrate 280 Belgium’s size-wise. Brazil is big, Brazil is proud and Brazil is becoming one of the most closely watched emerging markets along with China, India and Turkey.

Boosting a growth of 5% fuelled among other things by China’s soaring demand, Lula’s Brazil is showing signs of stabilization with a controlled inflation. I had not come back to Brazil in about 6 years, and my first reflex getting there was to “listen to the buzz”, in other words, what are people talking the most about… In Brazil it is rather easy since everybody talks a lot, furthermore in a language that glitters and shines. After some time it appeared quite obvious that Jose Padilha’s movie “Tropa de Elite” had monopolized the headlines for quite some time. So be it, “Tropa de Elite” would be my starting point. Funny enough, it is only half-way through my trip that someone gave me a ripped-DVD of the movie, and luckily enough I watched it with a Brazilo-Frenchman who tipped me on the very specific favela-like slang. And for the record I wasn’t the only one to watch a pirate version of the movie since most Brazilero actually saw the movie before it even came out, an unprecedented phenomenon in the Brazilian movie industry. Rumours say that even the Culture Minister, Gilberto Gil, organised a preview at home using a version downloaded on the Internet…

“Tropa de Elite e realidad” says everyone. A real-fiction based on a true story, which must be far from reality since it is still a fiction, are you following? The movie shows the VVC, the very vicious circle that surrounds Rio with drug trafficking, golden youth, blues police and, above all, corruption at all level. Corruption, described by Lawrence Lessig as “money guiding politics” has also grown to become one of the biggest concerns impeding emerging markets’ development.

In this context, “Tropa de Elite” (translate Elite Squad) plays a matchless role amid law enforcment divisions in Brazil. Also known as BOPE, these super cops operate above the law and you’ll find in the movie’s subtext that there is supposedly no room for corruption among them. In “Tropa de Elite”, The vicious circle is bluntly sketched. From the depressed BOPE captain who can‘t handle the pressure no more, to the Zona Sul’s golden youth ending with a full picture of how drug business is conducted in the concrete Favela.

For some, Lula himself is some kind of “Tropa de Elite” himself. Consistently asked by the press to respond on corruption accusations against his own cabinet, Lula uses a “I didn’t know” policy which allows him to avoid classic PR mistakes. To back this idea, Lula’s supporter would then tell you that the president hasn‘t even helped his own brother when he was involved into scandale galore. Flare or genuine transparency?

Further during my trip, I heard about IBAMA (not Obama), which appeared to be an institution that grew into becoming more powerful, as it is in charge of the environmental protection. Surfing on Al Gore’s wave of environment fanatism, IBAMA is now the sole gatekeeper to naturally wealthy regions such as the Amazon. Closing John Perkin’s book, “Confessions of an economic Hit man”, Brazil’s public TV station, Globo, reported on the controversial plans for a multi-billion dollar hydro-electric dam in the Amazon rain forest, which will allegedly contribute to delocalize around 10,000 people, and destroy large indigenous communities for the general good. Granting the authorization, one could wonder whether IBAMA act as a green protector or as a corrupted contract facilitator?

TV News is usually an accurate reflection of a country’s state of mind as well as the people willingness to educate and get educated. Two aspects are worth being noticed. First, I was pleasantly surprised to learn about my own country, during a half hour thorough explanation on what Belgium political situation (or rather non-situation) was going through. Any Brazilian watching this analysis would have had a better overview compared to any News program in Europe.

TV Desarollo? Next topic was of course Brazil’s extraordinary oil discovery, granting the country with a wild card into the world top 10 oil producer club. The announcement was made during a South American leader’s summit, during which Chavez qualified Lula as the new “Latino Sheikh”. Himself known as the King of Petrol, most of Latin leaders were pleased to see his support shrink in the last half year, leading to a vote contra his massive constitution change where he would have been granted increasing power and continued deprivatization.

All in all, the feeling is extremely positive and the enthusiasm is palpable, everyone wants a piece of the growing cake. Oil on top! Brazil is an integral part of the BRIC markets (Brazil/Russia/India/China), as used by Goldman Sachs to describe rapidly developing markets, leveraging vast amounts of capital through an increasingly mature financial market. Having just moved to Turkey, the same feeling is in the air and my feeling is that we should now add a T, for completeness sake.

Government, Media, corporations are now promoting internally Brazil’s growth through a heavy advertising campaign covering topics such as environment protection (of course), investment, introductory courses to capital markets etc… According to the 2008 BCG Top 100 Global Challengers Report, Brazil accounts now for 13 of the most promising global companies, in various sectors such as Energy, Agriculture, Food production and Manufacturing. But a large part of Brazil’s PR strategy comes naturally from its beaches, forest, amazing landscapes and infinite activities.

Nord-Este is developing in that sense, and destinations such as Jericoacoara, which were practically unknown 7 years ago when I first visited Brazil, has now become kite surfers and windsurfers’ Mecca. Born in Pernambuco, Lula has fiercely pushed for the state’s development, Recife becoming Brazil’s third largest economic centre, with brand new infrastructure and what was promised to be a state-of-the-art Stadium for the upcoming holly 2014 Brazil World Cup.

With no real opponents, this stand-alone victory will contribute to inject several billions of dollars into the economy, and according to analyst, boost construction material prices up to a point where Brazil could soon become an ‘expensive’ country to buy land and build on it. A bon entendeur, salut!

The point is, there is no point. Only a succession of interrelated observations illustrating Brazilian's awareness towards their own and their country's potential. Debt time is over, and Brazil along with other Latin American countries, are re-building their sovereignty ready to eat up a large chunk of the Global economic pie, notwithstanding major externalities, the main being corruption.