Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota Fired

Brazil has made international headlines in recent weeks because of the role reporter David Miranda played in the Edward Snowden NSA leak. However, a new event may be taking it off the front page.

According to a recent article from the Wall Street Journal, Brazil’s foreign minister Antonio Patriota was fired this week after rising diplomatic tension with neighboring Bolivia. This stems from an incident where a Brazilian diplomat helped a Bolivian opposition senator facing criminal charges flee the country.

The senator, Roger Pinto, had been hiding out in Brazil’s embassy after leaking Bolivian documents that allegedly show a connection between drug traffickers and the government. He claims to have received death threats since doing so. Pinto received asylum in June but Bolivian officials did not grant him permission to leave the country.

Word out of Patriota’s camp is that the foreign minister had no knowledge of the plan to extract Pinto and issued a statement that said his department would be investigating the incident. Bolivian officials have called Pinto a fugitive and have said they will seek extradition.

“The controversy illustrates Brazil’s tricky diplomatic role as the economic might of South America’s largest country has grown,” the article reads. “[Bolivian President Evo]. Morales is an ally of Brazil’s leftist government, and Brazil has sought to stay out of Bolivian politics.”

This move should help soothe the feelings between the two countries but it will be important to see how these two countries are able to interact while a solution is worked out.

Oil Royalties to Fund Educ. and Health Care

The citizen protests in Brazil features outrage over a lack of funding for the health care and education systems. Making matters worse is that the government is shelling over piles of cash to fund the upcoming World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games. Over the last few months, residents have taken to the streets to show their outrage and legislators are finally listening.

It was announced this week that Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is expected to sign a bill into law that is considered a “historic victory.” It is a plan to exploit the country’s oil discoveries through domestic and foreign partnerships which will bring in royalties of between $150-300 billion over the next 35 years. The new bill will take 75 percent of that money and put it toward funding public education, while the remaining 25 percent will be used for the national health care system. Next year that royalties will equal $800 million.

There are some who question whether the money will actually be used in the ways that it has been declared. This is because of the history of corruption within the government. Despite this, President Dilma sees this as a positive step.

“For me and my government education is the principal pillar to transform Brazil into a great nation, assuring that our people are freed from poverty,” Dilma said in a radio address.

This issue has been a focal point of the protests that started back in June and the bill is a direct result of that. It was proposed on July and passed by the Senate. It just passed through the lower house last week.

Brazil sues Samsung

Employee rights are a hot topic in countries around the world. It is impossible to debate the fact that workers deserve to be treated fairly, paid a livable wage and have conditions that are up to safety codes, but unfortunately, that is not always the case. However, there are laws in place and courts to bring companies that violate them to justice.

This week, the Brazilian Ministry of Labor has filed a lawsuit against technology company Samsung. The reasons stem from precarious working conditions imposed of the 6,000 employees at a manufacturing facility in the country.

According to a statement released by prosecutors, several irregularities were found at the factory in Manaus. This includes working shifts of up to 15 hours, lack of seats in the production line, lack of breaks and days off. This lead to some 2,000 employees taking sick leave of up to 2 weeks in 2012 alone because of back problems and repetitive strain injuries. On top of that, there are also claims of harassment in the workplace.

Samsung has responded, saying it will conduct a thorough review and co-operate with Brazilian officials to investigate these claims.

“We take great care to provide a workplace environment that assures the highest industry standards of health, safety and welfare for our employees across the world,” the company said.

If found guilty, the company could be forced to pay $109 million in damages. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and what effect it could have on the manufacturing industry as a whole.