Word: silva
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Within days of taking power in January 2003, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva flew his team of ministers to the three poorest municipalities in Brazil - he wanted the political elite to take a firsthand look at the living conditions of the impoverished voters that had elected them. On a makeshift stage in Brazil's northern scrubland, Lula, like a triumphant band leader, presented his troupe one by one. The crowd welcomed them all politely, but cheered raucously for Benedita da Silva, the black, former housemaid who picked to oversee Lula's social programs, for Culture Minister Gilberto...
...Silva, the new Environment Minister, cut an especially peculiar figure as she ambled timidly into view. While most of the crowd standing under a burning sun wore T-shirts and shorts or miniskirts and halter tops, Silva, a hard-core Evangelical Protestant in the world's biggest Catholic country, was dressed in a skirt down her ankles, and she appeared somber and unmoved by the attention, as though she felt unworthy of such acclaim. But the poor voters had cheered her because she was one of them. She was also a potent symbol of both Lula's all-inclusive government...
...This week, that symbolism went the same way as 17% of the Amazon, when Silva resigned her post and disappeared from view. Although she had looked increasingly worn down by the recent power struggles with governors and ministers who prioritize economic development over environmental protection, her decision was unexpected, and it left Lula and the mandarins of Brasilia stunned...
...Worse, it confirmed what many green activists had long feared - that the fig leaf Silva had provided her boss was stripped away, leaving his image unprotected and exposed, like the environment itself...
...really prefer tea over coffee? -Nimna De Silva, Colombo, Sri LankaPG Tips [tea]. All Brits drink PG Tips...