4A
SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2011
INTERNATIONAL EDITION
THE AMERICAS
MiamiHerald.com
THE MIAMI HERALD
Union leader released from jail in Venezuela
FELIPE DANA/AP
SHAKING A LEG: Revelers perform during the ‘Mameludicos Euforicos’ street carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday.
Rio’s Carnival bacchanal kicks off, city celebrates BY JULIANA BARBASSA Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO — Revelers packed streets and danced to samba beats in this seaside city’s Carnival celebration — a bacchanal of music, booze and flesh that officially opened Friday when King Momo, the mythical figure ruling over the chaos, was handed the keys to the city. The rotund King Momo embodies Carnival, a raucous free-for-all where excesses are encouraged and the natural order of things is turned upside down — men dress as women, the poor parade as kings, rules are bent and everyone escapes their drab daily existence for a few days of catharsis. This year the celebration is expected to draw about 756,000 visitors, both foreign and Brazilian, who will pack hotels to nearly 100 percent capacity and spend about $559 million, according to Rio state’s tourism department. While pre-Carnival parties have stoked the wild atmosphere in Rio for a few weeks, several tragedies have already struck revelers. A fire burned through warehouses containing more than 8,000 samba group costumes on Feb. 7, forcing the organizations to scramble for weeks to make up what they lost before the parades on Sunday and Monday. A police investigation concluded Thursday the fire was accidental, and not arson. A woman in Rio de Janeiro died Feb. 20 after falling from a Carnival sound truck, and eight days later in rural Minas Gerais state a downed power
line electrocuted a crowd dancing in a packed street parade, killing 16 people and injuring dozens of others. The losses were mourned, but didn’t put a dent in the partying. In addition to the elaborate two-day samba group parade and the high-dollar costumed balls where the rich spend a lot to wear very little in the most exclusive company, Rio’s free, opento-all street Carnival is bigger than ever. This year, 424 street bands and “blocos,” as mobile street parties are called, have registered with the city. Starting several weeks before Carnival, they parade all over town, playing their own songs or traditional Carnival tunes with a following of hundreds or tens of thousands of revelers dancing, drinking, and singing heartily in their wake. Lording over the sweaty, frenzied masses is Momo. “He’s the sovereign reigning over Carnival, commanding the party,” said Haroldo Costa, an author of several books about Brazil’s Carnival traditions. “Handing the city’s key over to him is a great symbol — from this moment on, he is the physical and spiritual leader of the city and his cheer is omnipresent.” Rio has had a King Momo since the 1930s, when the first one — a rotund, harddrinking sports journalist — was chosen by colleagues to parade around town in a crown and colorful costume, spreading the party spirit. As with that first King, Momo traditionally was re-
quired to carry extra weight. He is, after all, the standardbearer for all things excessive. Until 2004 Rio had a requirement that anyone competing for the post had to weigh at least 330 pounds. With diabetes and obesity on the rise in Brazil, Rio removed the weight requirement. Many other cities have followed. It was the dismissal of the weight category that first gave the current King Momo the hope of ascending to the throne. Back then, Milton Rodrigues, a bank manager in the offseason, was in pretty good shape — a mere 255 pounds on a 6-foot frame. “There was this taboo, you couldn’t be the king if you weren’t a big guy,” he said. “But I’ve always loved Carnival, lived for it, ever since I was a teenager. I would run off to samba group rehearsals so I could dance.” When he saw a relatively trim man take the crown in 2004, he decided to run. Four years and four attempts later, Rodrigues was elected, and has won ever since. Momo candidates are judged on how well they can samba, their knowledge of Rio’s Carnival traditions, and their friendly cheer. They take home a $12,000 purse and the chance to be the face of a party that showcases Rio de Janeiro to the rest of the world. During the five-day festivities, the king shuttles around town in a van with a chauffeur provided by the city together with the Queen of Carnival and two princesses, chosen by jurors for their dancing, good looks and Carnival spirit.
Bahamas shantytown inferno leaves 700 homeless, no deaths BY JUAN McCARTNEY Associated Press
NASSAU — A fire has destroyed a shantytown in the Bahamas, leaving nearly 700 people homeless, most of them Haitian migrants, authorities said. Dozens of aid workers struggled to register the victims and the government assured that it would not arrest illegal immigrants affected by Wednesday’s blaze. No deaths or serious injuries were reported. It is unclear what caused the fire, although superintendent Jeffrey Deleveaux, who oversees the island’s fire department, said he is not ruling out arson. Lines for food vouchers and emergency assistance kept growing at the Department of Social Services as crews erected large tents and portable toilets at a nearby church. But nearly 200 people
preferred to remain on the outskirts of the charred heap of homes on Fire Trail road, looking for any possessions they could find. The victims lived on a roughly one-acre parcel of land in southwest New Providence, near the island’s capital, said emergency management director Stephen Russell. The majority of them are illegal immigrants, according to Immigration Director Jack Thompson. Only two months ago, about 200 people also became homeless after a smaller shantytown less than a quarter mile away burned to the ground the day after Christmas. Most of the victims moved into the shantytown that was destroyed on Wednesday. “These people will now likely move into another shantytown and increase the population there,” Rus-
sell said. “That situation will become unsafe, and we’ll have another fire, and this will repeat itself over and over again.” The government has considered shutting down at least 35 other shantytowns filled with Haitian migrants on the main island of New Providence. Several government agencies are consulting about the problem, Thompson said. Meanwhile, Haitian migrants continue to arrive. On Tuesday, authorities apprehended 257 migrants aboard two overloaded sloops near the southern Exuma chain of islands. The government expects to deport them by the weekend. The Bahamas had temporarily halted deportations of Haitian immigrants following the earthquake that killed more than 300,000 people last year, but resumed them in recent months.
Brazilian made 200,000 crank calls SAO PAULO — (AP) — Brazilian police say they have arrested a man suspected of making more than 200,000 crank calls to an emergency-response number over the past two years. Sergipe state Public Safety spokesman Lucas Rosario
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says Jose Uilson Santos was arrested Wednesday night in the city of Aracaju. Rosario says that police were unable to locate Santos sooner because he made most of the calls from stolen cellphones registered to other people.
Police say Santos was caught when he used a public telephone to report a nonexistent fire. He was kept talking long enough for police to trace him. Santos faces charges of jeopardizing emergency services, punishable by up to six years in jail.
CARACAS — (AP) — A Venezuelan union organizer was freed from jail just three days after he was sentenced to more than seven years in prison in a case that sparked protests by human-rights and labor groups. Ruben Gonzalez told state television he had been granted parole Thursday and would be required to appear before authorities every 15 days. He said he was pleased with his conditional release but was not totally satisfied because he is certain he committed no crime. “The only thing I did was represent workers in their just cause,” Gonzalez told a
news conference in eastern Venezuela. The activist was sentenced Monday for leading a strike that temporarily paralyzed the state-run iron mining company. The sentence drew protests from human rights groups, and some Venezuelan union leaders had pledged to wage street protests to press for his release. State radio reported that Gonzalez was released in response to a ruling by a Supreme Court magistrate. Details of the decision were not immediately released, and government officials did not comment.
Gonzalez thanked student protesters who had rallied for his freedom in a hunger strike last month, as well as human-rights activists and members of both opposition and pro-government circles. He said he is pleased to be returning home to his family and to his work as a union organizer. Gonzalez was sentenced Monday on charges including unlawful assembly, incitement to commit crimes and violation of a government security zone during a 2009 strike at CVG Ferrominera Orinoco, better known as Ferrominera.
U.S. federal agents assail dangerous gun-tracing effort the violence, we were going “I will be damned if this to have little to no success in case is going to suffer due U.S. Sen. Charles Grass- stemming the violence down to petty arguing, rumors or ley, R-Iowa, ranking member there,” he said. other adolescent behavior,” of the Senate Judiciary Comhe added. “This is the pinmittee, initiated an inquiry FOLLOWING SUIT nacle of domestic U.S. law to determine whether guns It was an attempt to ap- enforcement techniques . . . traveled to Mexico through ply the tactics of a narcot- Maybe the Maricopa County inadvertence or deliberate ics investigation, in which Jail is hiring detention ofpolicy on the part of U.S. law small-scale drug buyers are ficers and you can get paid enforcement. allowed to operate under $30,000 [instead of $100,000] “We still don’t have the surveillance in the hope of to serve lunch to inmates documents we’ve asked for. catching their more power- all day.” Maybe we will get the docu- ful cartel counterparts. But even Voth became ments. But right now it’s But several veteran agents worried about the number stonewalling,” Grassley said were outraged at the shift, of guns moving to Mexico Thursday. saying that there is a big — 359 last March alone, ac“Too many government difference between track- cording to an e-mail he sent agencies always want the big ing drugs and tracking guns. to the U.S. attorney’s office case,” he said. “They keep They saw the change as a in Phoenix. these gun-running sales violation of a sacred ATF The risks of Operation moving along, even when policy: Make the big case or Fast and Furious became they have people within the don’t make the big case, but apparent on Dec. 14, when agency that say something don’t let the guns go. Terry was killed in a shoobad’s going to happen. They “We’re not talking about tout with bandits near Rio had plenty of warnings — bags of dope. We’re not let- Rico, Ariz. and the prophets turned out ting the guy walk away with a To the horror of federal to be right.” stolen flat-screen TV. We’re authorities, two guns whose Much of what is now talking about guns. Our job serial numbers matched known about the case has is to keep guns off the street guns purchased by Avila only surfaced in the last and out of criminals’ hands the previous January were few months following the and prevent them from be- found at the scene. Avila December shooting death ing used in violent situa- was promptly arrested. in Arizona of Customs and tions,” said Jay Dobyns, an Two months after the Border Protection Agent ATF agent in Phoenix who shooting, Sen. Grassley sent Brian Terry. was not part of the Fast and a query to the Justice DeBut the investigation was Furious team but who has partment, asking for more under way more than a year watched it unfold. detail on Terry’s death. earlier, when Mexican cusIn response, the departDodson, the ATF agent toms agents in the small bor- who did work on the opera- ment denied that any guns der town of Naco stopped a tion, was transferred last fall had been allowed to enpassenger car traveling from to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism ter Mexico as part of an the U.S. that was carrying a Task Force. He said a super- investigation. surprising cargo: 41 AK-47s, visor justified the strategy a .50-caliber rifle, 40 semi- by saying, “If you’re going to ATF’S DEFENSE automatic gun magazines, make an omelet, you’ve got “The allegation — that a telescopic rifle sight and to scramble some eggs.” ATF ‘sanctioned’ or otherthree knives. “I took it to mean that wise knowingly allowed the whatever crimes these guns sale of assault weapons to a STRATEGY were going to be involved in, straw purchaser who then At least three guns found those were the eggs, those transported them into Mexithat day were traced through were acceptable,” Dodson co — is false,” assistant attortheir serial numbers to a said. ney general Ronald Welch gun shop in Glendale, Ariz., One agent, who spoke on wrote. “ATF makes every which then led to a Phoenix condition of anonymity, add- effort to interdict weapons man, Jaime Avila, who had ed: “We voiced our concerns that have been purchased purchased four weapons quite vocally to the point of illegally and prevent their there. yelling, screaming. We were transportation to Mexico.” Over the course of the overridden.” The department said that next year, federal agents The dissent prompted Project Gunrunner, the umwatched Avila and several a harsh e-mail last March brella operation across the associates buy more heavy- from the ATF’s group super- Southwest border of which duty weapons, which in- visor in charge of the day-to- Operation Fast and Furivestigators were convinced day operations, David Voth, ous was a part, has resulted were intended for Mexican warning agents to stay on in the seizure of more than drug cartels. 10,000 firearms and 1.1 milboard. Despite their suspicions, “Whether you care or not, lion rounds of ammunition the ATF allowed Avila to people of rank and authority destined for Mexico since continue. at HQ are paying close at- 2006. It was part of a new strat- tention to this case, and they But Grassley produced egy embarked upon after the also believe we — are doing documents provided by agency had found it increas- what they envisioned the ATF agents in Phoenix and ingly difficult to build cases Southwest Border Groups elsewhere that showed that against “straw buyers,” who doing,” he wrote. weapons bought by straw purchased weapons for the purchasers who were uncartels. der surveillance were findThe buyers were working their way to Mexico, ing for increasingly complex in addition to the two guns trafficking organizations found at the scene of Terry’s in which guns were passed shooting. among several legal owners Avila and 33 others were in many locations in the U.S. indicted in January on chargbefore being transferred to es of acting as straw purMexico. chasers of weapons, along As a result, the ATF dewith related drug and money cided to go after not just the laundering charges. As a rebuyers, but the organizasult of detailed spadework, tions, Thomasson said. ATF and Justice Department “That was the shift in officials say, those cases strategy. We recognized now include strong evidence we were facing a far more against suspected recipients sophisticated trafficking orof the contraband weapons. MCT ganization. We recognized No one, however, has the organization was a lot VICTIM: U.S. Border been charged with shootdeeper in bodies, and we Patrol Agent Brian Terry ing Terry. ATF officials said recognized that unless we was shot and killed in there was no evidence showwent after the head of the Arizona just north of the ing the two Fast and Furious organization, the person or- Mexican border guns found at the scene were dering the guns, ordering in December. used to kill the agent. • ARMS, FROM 1A
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