Fev 24 2023 | Nº. 55

Editorial

A tragic natural disaster marred Brazil’s carnival season, resulting in death and devastation for dozens of people. Along the northern coast of São Paulo state, heavy rains caused landslides and flooding, resulting in the deaths of almost forty people. State officials reported that precipitation in the area in one day surpassed 23.6 inches (600 millimeters), one of the highest amounts ever recorded in a 24-hour period. São Paulo governor Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas announced that he was temporarily moving his office to the affected site so as to oversee the state response and coordinate with federal entities. President Lula interrupted his carnival recess to visit the area. During an address, flanked by the São Paulo governor and the mayor of São Sebastião, Lula promised unwavering federal aid as the region moves toward a long rebuild. He also downplayed any political differences: “I think this partnership that we are building here is a good picture for our country. I know which party the mayor belongs to, which party Tarcísio belongs to. You know which party he ran for in the elections. And look what a beautiful and simple thing. We are together. The election is over. He [Tarcísio] has the obligation to govern the state of São Paulo, the mayor has the obligation to govern the city and I have the responsibility to govern the country.” Notably, both the governor and the mayor supported Jair Bolsonaro in the presidential election against Lula. In the São Paulo governor’s race, Tarcísio defeated Lula’s current finance minister and former minister of education Fernando Haddad.

These collaborative gestures garnered considerable attention in a nation still polarized after a close election and an insurrection last month in the capital city by supporters of the defeated president against the outcome of the vote. Indeed, Lula’s willingness to praise Tarcísio and the São Paulo governor’s embrace of Lula in the wake of calamity has reportedly drawn some concern from their respective political bases. The far-right extremists aligned with Bolsonaro who voted for Tarcísio at the former president’s urging see any collaboration with Lula as a betrayal. But, as journalist Alberto Bombig reported, members of Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT) in the state of São Paulo also worried about the political implications of the president associating himself too closely with Tarcísio. They worry that Lula might be providing political cover for Tarcísio, who many imagine has national political ambitions of his own. Working closely with Lula could bolster Tarcísio’s claims to being a more moderate conservative than Bolsonaro. Such moves could further hinder the local PT, which has never governed Brazil’s wealthiest and most populous state. On the other hand, some argue that Lula’s insistence on working with those in the opposing ideological camp serves to differentiate his leadership from Bolsonaro, who refused to cancel his own vacations when disaster struck and steered federal resources toward allies at the expense of needy opponents. What the people of the northern shore of São Paulo need, however, is clear: close collaboration between officials at the federal, state, and local levels.

Highlights

• TRAGEDY AND DEATHS. At least 49 people died, 36 are missing, and 2,500 were displaced because of the storm that hit the north coast of the state of São Paulo on the weekend of February 18th and 19th. Among the dead were 13 children. The causalities, compiled as of Thursday, February 23, may still rise, as firefighters, the military ,and members of the civil defense service reach the affected regions.

• BIGGEST RAINFALL IN HISTORY. The volume of rainfall was the highest ever recorded in the 24-hour interval in the history of rainfall measurements made in Brazil, according to the National Center for Monitoring and Alerts of Natural Disasters and the National Institute of Meteorology. In Bertioga, a city on the coast of São Paulo, 27 inches accumulated in the period measured.

• VULNERABLE HOUSING. The area affected by the tragedy is on the north coast of the state of São Paulo, in the southeastern region of Brazil. The heavy rains soaked the land and caused landslides on the slopes of the hills that are part of a low-altitude mountain chain called Serra do Mar, which is a part of the Atlantic rainforest. This region is one of the biggest summer tourist centers in the state of São Paulo. It is an area that mixes neighborhoods made up of summer houses built by tourists and homes of poor and working-class people living in the area. The residencies of the poorest people were the most affected, as they are located in hillside areas, more subject to landslides. In addition to the loss of lives, the tragedy also destroyed Rio-Santos highway that connects Santos to Rio de Janeiro.

• POLITICAL REPERCUSSIONS. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva interrupted his day off during the Carnival holiday and traveled to the region on Monday, February 20, accompanied by nine of his ministers. Tarcísio de Freitas, the governor of the state of São Paulo, who, before being elected governor, had been a minister of President Jair Bolsonaros, did the same. Lula and Tarcísio are political opponents, but they reacted in a coordinated and unified manner. As Lula commented in São Sebastião, the most affected city, where 48 of the 49 deceased persons lived: “I want to show you a scene that you haven't seen for a long time: a governor, a president, and a mayor sitting around a table because of something in common that affects all of us. The presence of the governor and the mayor demonstrates that it is possible to exercise our role in democracy even when we are from different parties or think differently. The common good of the people is much greater than our political differences.”

• CARNIVAL IN BRAZIL. The tragedy on the coast of São Paulo occurred precisely during the Carnival holiday, one of the biggest, most popular and most traditional festivals in Brazil. Despite the mourning, the party was not interrupted. In Rio de Janeiro, the champion samba school of this carnival was Imperatriz Leopoldinense. In São Paulo, Vai-Vai won. In addition to the competition of the samba schools parades, Carnival revelers also participate in thousands of blocos, festivities organized in different neighborhoods that are spontaneous and decentralized parties.

Feature Article

The Haitian crisis and the international stalemate

“Brazil is back on the global stage.” That is the main message president Lula carried during his visits to United States, Uruguay, and Argentina. Fighting climate change and world hunger, defending democracy, and ending the war in Ukraine and other locations are probably the main challenges that lie ahead. But in this contemporary search for a larger international presence of Brazil, the Haitian crisis might also receive appropriate consideration.

With surprising speed, we watch a profound deterioration of the humanitarian, political, and security situation in Haiti. Hunger and armed violence by urban gangs disputing territories are intensifying, especially in the capital, Port-au-Prince, where according to UN figures they control around 60 percent of the city. The country’s political system finds itself in wreckage with not a single elected senior official in office.

The Haitian crisis has the potential to become an important theme in Brazil-US relations regarding hemispheric security and humanitarian affairs. However, the prospect of an international military intervention is finding strong resistances in Haiti and internationally.

Since October, Haitian prime-minister de facto Ariel Henry is waiting for a foreign intervention. Henry formally requested it to the international community and reinforced the invitation during the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) summit in Argentina in January. But the position of the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Western Hemisphere countries is not uniform. 

Still, in October Mexico and the United States submitted to the Council a resolution regarding the creation of an international force to intervene in Haiti under chapter VII of the UN Charter, but despite support from France and United Kingdom, Russia and China were resistant, and the resolution was tabled. But even if the political barrier is crossed and a position in favor of a multilateral intervention gained support, operational problems remain. The United States is currently not willing to send many troops or to lead the military aspect of the engagement, and Canada, another strong candidate to conduct the mission, already sent signs that it prefers maintaining sanctions rather than deploying the military.

That month, Brazilians Celso Amorim and Aloizio Mercadante along with political figures from other Latin American countries signed an emphatic statement of the Grupo de Puebla criticizing the intervention proposal. In the text, Amorim who is the now Lula’s foreign affairs adviser and Mercadante, the new president of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) recognized the role that frequent foreign interferences in Haiti played in the recurrence of its crisis and considered it urgent to seek alternative forms of engagement.

The last foreign military intervention that occurred in Haiti was in 2004, when the United States, France, Canada, and Chile sent troops in a UN Security Council authorized action to curb the growth of armed violence after the coup that overthrew President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Then the soldiers of the coalition were substituted by the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), a mission militarily led by Brazil, as force commander and largest troop contributor.

The legacy of the mission, which lasted until 2017, are at least problematic and considering them helps us understand the frequent manifestations of resistance of Haitian and international civil society organizations. MINUSTAH was unable to build the foundations to avoid the recurrence of political and social instability, conflicts between armed groups, and the humanitarian crisis. The Haitian National Police, trained with the help of the international community, notably the United States since the mid-1990s, is still not able to contain the activities of these armed groups. There are also many reports about cases of violence and violations of human rights committed by UN peacekeepers, such as excessive use of force, summary executions, and sexual crimes. The UN Blue Helmets are also blamed for causing the cholera epidemic that ravages the country. 

In Brazil, the military engagement in Haiti is recognized by some leaders as a mistake. It empowered and legitimized several senior military officers who later began to be increasingly involved in politics, and even supported the far-right government of President Jair Bolsonaro. Furthermore, the same violent and rights-violating engagement tactics used in poor communities of Port-au-Prince were also put into practice in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, raising criticism from social movements of MINUSTAH.

The crisis in Haiti affects Brazil’s domestic policy in a less significant way that that of the United States, especially if we consider migration policies, the fight against transnational organized crime, and the electoral dynamics in Florida. However, it is necessary to consider the position of Brazil’s return to regional action in Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighted by Lula during his speech at CELAC. Even if Brazil seems unwilling to act as the military leader of an international intervention in Haiti, the country will not be absent from outlining alternative forms of action and contributions. In the Buenos Aires Declaration of January 24, 2023 CELAC countries, including Brazil, encouraged their members to consider the possibility of engaging in an intervention in Haiti. This position, although collective, may also indicate a slight change in the Lula government’s position if compared with the tone and content of the letter from the Puebla Group mentioned above. But it expresses an important continuation of the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ diplomacy since 2022.

João Fernando Finazzi has a PhD in International Relations from the San Tiago Dantas Program (Unesp, Unicamp, PUC-SP). He is a researcher at the National Institute of Science and Technology for Studies on the United States (INCT-INEU) and the Study Group on International Conflicts (GECI/PUC-SP).

Feature articles express the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or WBO.