Indeed, the story had been on the front pages of papers and magazines for the previous days and weeks, and, eventually, everybody was discussing the matter over coffee.
The scandal involves two Senators, Mr. Antonio Carlos Magalhaes (PFL), from the state of Bahia, and Mr. José Roberto Arruda (Distrito Federal), from the ruling PSDB. Mr. Magalhaes (who was elected by nearly 2 million votes in the 2000 elections) allegedly asked an officer of the Senate to ilegally disclose a list of each Senator's vote. Commissions and special inquiry teams have come and go to determine whether he violated or not the secrecy of voting; in the meantime, his political future is in jeopardy.
(UOL, Brazil's largest Web portal, ran a poll asking users which of the two Senators, Arruda or Magalhaes, would be dismissed first; at the time of writting most people actually thought both of them would step down).
Hundreds of reporters and photographers gather around the Senate headquarters in Brasilia, the federal capital. Anchors are asking to speak directly with either Magalhaes or Arruda, and some actually succeed in their endeavour.
If it's politics, it has to be Brasilia.
On 21 April, Brasilia hold a festival to mark the 40th anniversary of the city's foundation. I didn't get to see it, for I did not arrive in town until next day, and workers were already dismantling a large, covered scenario where the fun had taken place.
For any visitor, Brasilia is a mixture of emotions, but still it is amazing, and it's quite an achievement. President Juscelino Kubitschek, under whose tenure the capital city was conceived and erected at fast speed, was clearly aiming high in the geopolitical arena with such a monster city.
Brasilia is dull, full or ugly skyscrappers, concrete buildings, highways and artificial gardens. If you don't have a business here (say, you're not a politician, an architect, a journalist or a diplomat) you might end up either bored or disappointed. My suggestion is, try to enjoy it while it lasts.
I agree with an entry on the Lonely Planet South America travel guide: 'It is better to read about Brasilia than to see it'. Still, there's plenty in the air that catches the amazement of visitors.
For instance, think about Brasilia as a symbol of power. The Avenida dos Ministerios, a very long avenue featuring ten dull buildings on each side of the road; the Praca dos tres Poderes with the landmark Executive tower with an artificial lake... They just fit the grandeur of a country which is the fifth largest in the world, which covers almost all the South American continent and is central to its economy just as Germany is to Europe or the United States to North America. Still other countries -like Argentina- will disagree, but actually Brasil has for long been moving in the direction of an active foreign policy. Policy makers would like to counter the influence of Washington's designs (and the recent debate over the Plan Colombia illustrates the point) but, in general, Brazilians (and some non-Brazilians alike) think of a nation whose strenght in global affairs equals its amazing size. Is Brazil, an emerging, fast developing country, the nation of the future? No one could tell for certain, but politicians and diplomats continue lobbying the U.N. to get the country a permanent seat in the Council of Security, weighting the same status as China, Russia, France, England and the United States.
Brazil certainly has what it takes to enter the club of the very mighty, and not just militarily. No other country in Latin America beats Brazil's numbers; even recentrly, scientists announced that they succesfully clonned a ship, making the first Latin American 'dolly'.
Whatever the architects and politicians had in mind when they drew Brasilia, the place still has a grey feeling about it. The area around the municipal rodoviaria, just a few blocks from the seat of federal powers, is sleazy and dangerous at night.
The concrete buildings have more the style of a communist dictatorship than the appereance of an interplanetary, XXIII century capital.
An yet, with so many highways and automobiles, Brasilia ressembles more the typical American city, where you need a car to go anywhere in town!
