Brazil: Brisk growth amid nagging problems

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Brazil’s economy is booming. Sales are spiking, folks are buying homes, the real is climbing inexorably against the embattled dollar, lately the global punching bag of currencies. Energy independence is within the country’s reach, thanks to new oil and gas discoveries, plus brisk bio-fuel production. A reinforced social safety net has made headway against rural hunger. Some Brazilian expats in the United States are even said to be returning home to share in the newfound prosperity.

But not everyone’s doing well. The chasm between haves and have-nots in Brazil remains vast. Police in Osasco, near Sao Paulo, are looking for a hungry thief: He breaks into houses, steals food, changes clothes and departs, reports O Globo. Crime remains a major preoccupation, especially in cities. Just before Carnaval, Folha reports, a mass resignation of officers stung the police department in Rio de Janeiro, where cops and drug traffickers battle for control in hillside neighborhoods. And unrest continues to shake Brazil’s notorious jails and prisons. Some lawmakers are fed up with inmate riots. ‘Below-zero tolerance has been declared,’’ said Gov. Andre Puccinelli, outraged after violence at the Campo Grande lockup in Mato Grosso do Sul state, reports Folha. ‘If someone causes trouble, it’s the governor’s order: Shoot your gun toward them!’’

-- Marcelo Soares in Sao Paulo and Patrick J. McDonnell in Buenos Aires