Word: brasilia
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Finally the government stepped in. It wanted no trouble, and with a foreign debt of $55 billion, Brasilia had good use for new gold. Last May federal police descended on the site. All miners were registered. Liquor, gambling and the presence of women were forbidden. At the same time, however, the government offered to mediate all claim disputes, set a minimum daily wage ($18) and provided free medical care. Federal experts began to advise the miners on safety precautions and on how to increase output. Before government officials arrived, for example, many of the garimpeiros had been throwing away "black...
Finally the government stepped in. It wanted no trouble, and with a foreign debt of $55 billion, Brasilia had good use for new gold. Last May federal police descended on the site. All miners were registered. Liquor, gambling and the presence of women were forbidden. At the same time, however, the government offered to mediate all claim disputes, set a minimum daily wage ($18) and provided free medical care. Federal experts began to advise the miners on safety precautions and on how to increase output. Before government officials arrived, for example, many of the garimpeiros had been throwing away "black...
...return for help of this kind, Brasilia demanded only one thing: a monopoly on buying up the treasure of Serra Pelada. The state mining company, Companhia Vale do Rio, opened an office at the site, and miners began to line up to weigh in and sell their gold at prices that stand at about 30% below the international peg. (The largest daily intake by the Serra Pelada so far is close to 327 lbs.) At first, many of the miners would accept only cash; it took officials some time to persuade the garimpeiros to take federally endorsed checks...
Those were only two emotional events in a twelve-day, 9,000-mile journey with an exhausting itinerary that took the Pope all over Brazil, the world's largest Roman Catholic nation. The papal plane touched down at Brasilia, the futuristic capital of Brazil, where the Pope marked out one of his major themes by offering President Joao Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo a sermon on social justice. The tour's pitch rose in Belo Horizonte, the nation's third largest city. Youths cheered wildly and chanted, "The Pope is our king!" John Paul spoke movingly to them...
Speaking to President Figueiredo and others at a Brasilia reception. John Paul listed "seven rights" that instantly became a declaration for activists: "The right to life, to security, to work, to a home, to health, to education, to religious expression. " In the slums of Rio he called out to the rich: "Look around a bit. Does it not wound your heart? Do you not feel remorse of conscience because of your riches and abundance?" He urged economic reorganization and a "more just distribution" of wealth. In a land where the church once preached passivity and fatalism, he urged the poor...