91Èȱ¬

I’m going to talk about nice things and the dark side that many people don’t know.

Ranking fifth among the world’s most populated countries (approximately 180 million inhabitants - 2004), the majority - 81% - is in urban areas. The land area of Brazil extends over 8.5 million square kilometres, occupying just under half (47%) of the area of Latin America. The country possesses 20% of all the world’s biodiversity; an example of this natural wealth is the Amazon Rainforest, with 3.6 million square kilometres.

We have nice and important cities like Rio de Janeiro (best known for its wonderful beaches), Recife, São Paulo (the richest state/city of Brazil), Manaus, Porto Seguro, Gramado, João Pessoa and so on. We also get a diversified mixture of races which makes rich our culture. In a nutshell, we have a wonderful weather, an amazing people, awesome food and marvellous places as well as other things.

But, we also have problems. Problems that make my country live in the shadow of the world. The main problem is politics. Unfortunately we do not have a serious one. Scandals are quite common around here and practically each week emerge a new one. Politicians just think in making money and get power and don’t mind about population basic needs. This has been happening since the colonisation of Brazil by Portuguese in 1500 and I can’t predict whether it could change one day… I just hope so.

There’s corruption in the whole sphere of Brazilian system. Whatever in Executive, Legislative or Judiciary system, we never know if there’s someone who really work to people or just for themselves. I’d like to believe it might change one day and I’m also doing what I can do to wipe out this kind of dirt and so, I wish I can see my country emerging as powerful and strong one as many others around the world. I hope one day have pride in being Brazilian as much as British, American, French, Australian, Saudis and so many others countries – economically talking.

Rio, one of the most beautiful cities in the world (or at least it was), is abandoned. Who is in charge for that city is a criminal organization; the government do not have powers enough to stop them. Exchange of shoots between police and drug dealers is just a routine. Lots of people were killed in a short space of time by reason of lost bullets, this year. Last year, were killed more people in Rio than in Iraq war!! This is just a little bit what have been happening around here and government don’t care about. It’s shameful, but it is real.

So, this is my country. We own nice things but corruption and violence overshadow these ones. I was wondering if you could describe your country, our differences and similarities, and what did you use as solution to this.
If you just want to make a comment or to talk about things that is not politics you are also welcome. I like making friends and knowing new cultures and thoughts.

Feel free to use this space.

Thanks for reading.