How it will be our future?
THE FUTURE OF OUR NATION
A former Marxist guerrilla who was tortured and imprisoned during our long dictatorship was elected in October 30th as the first female president of Brazil.
With nearly all ballots counted, Dilma Rousseff had 56 percent of the vote compared to just under 44 percent for her centrist rival, Jose Serra, the electoral court said.
Beginning Jan. 1, she will lead a nation on the rise, a country that will host the 2014 World Cup and that is expected to be the globe's fifth-largest economy by the time it hosts the 2016 Summer Olympics. It has also recently discovered huge oil reserves off its coast.
"I voted for Dilma because she is a fighter," said Estevam Sanches, a 43-year-old pizza parlor owner in Sao Paulo. "What we need is a fighter in the presidency to continue, as she says she will, with Lula's efforts to eradicate poverty and strengthen the economy."
However, infrastructure that is straining under Brazil's economic advancements poses a challenge. The roads, ports, airports are not able to keep up with the economy, so there are huge delays for exports and imports because they just don't have the capacity to deal with the quantities.
Education also is a problem. Rousseff has promised to take some of the money from oil reserves found off the coast and invest it in education, including paying teachers more and raising its standards.
"I am here stating my first post-election commitment: to honor Brazilian women so that this fact -- unprecedented until now -- becomes something normal and can be repeated and expanded in companies, public institutions, and organizations that are representative of our entire society," she said.
So, let's wait for the changes.
Posted by Carolina Arriel
THE FUTURE OF OUR NATION
Brazil recently went through a process of elections to elect state and federal deputies, the senators, and of course the president. And the winner of the presidential elections was Rousseff
About Dilma:
Dilma PT candidate, was born on December 14, 1947 in Belo Horizonte, is an economist and has held various positions in the Brazilian government, gained fame for his work in mines and energy, was chosen by former president to be the candidate, (after a potential confusion caused by the application of erenice) and with a good lead, finally won.
Government proposals for:
Economy:
* Ending the international debt
* Keep the tripod: Inflation, Exchange Rate Floating and the Fiscal Surplus
Social Programs:
* Universalization of the "Bolsa Familia"
* Increase in social causes
Health:
* Creation of 500 new "UPA" (emergency care)
* Creation of specialized visits to polyclinics
* Expand the network of ambulances "SAMU"
* Free distribution of medicines for hypertension and diabetes
Education:
* Construction of 6,000 new schools and kindergartens
* Creation of "Promedio"
Public Safety:
* Expand the network of "UPP"
* Creation of a border surveillance plan
Taxes:
* Override state laws on the "ICMS" by national
Transportation:
* Construction of a bullet train between Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Campinas
* Construction of 8,000 km of roads
Basic Sanitation:
* Bring basic sanitation to all Until 2014
* Water supply at all until 2014
World:
* Maintenance of alliances mainly with: Iran and Venezuela
* Relations with Latin American, African and Arab countries
Source: "VEJA” edition 2185
Posted by Nathalia Candal
The Future of our Nation
Posted by Isabel Fusaro
We live in a very big country, with lots of different people and ways of seeing the facts. We also live in a country where we have freedom and where we can write whatever we want. Democracy assures this to us.
And there isn’t a better and more appropriate subject to talk about today, October 30th, one day before the elections, than the future of our nation. Although Brazil has already developed a lot, we still face many problems. We can see poor and miserable people everywhere, without access to good hospitals or opportunity to study or work. Our educational system is degraded and the public schools don’t have qualified teachers or modern classes. Public transport is deficient and infrastructure needs to be improved. At the country side, our forests and biodiversity are suffering because of indiscriminate deforestation. The biggest problem we can solve in October 31st is the government that doesn’t really seem interested in solving these questions.
What do we want for the future? Well, I think that the government should invest more in transport, habitation and education. Teachers should be trained and more technical schools should be created, increasing job opportunity. I know that politicians and candidates are already talking about that, but all the plans are still in the paper and no matter who wins, Serra or Dilma will have to tackle theses problems.
The main ideas proposed by Dilma follow Lula’s plans: to continue with “Bolsa Família”, eliminate poverty before 2014, create one technical school in each city with more than 50000 inhabitants and to change the legislation about abortion.
Serra proposes to spend more money with the health system, to increase the minimum salary to R$600.00, to increase by 10% the salary of the pensioners, to encourage the use of alternative energy sources and to invest R$5billion per year in sanitation.
If the candidates follow their plans, any of them would be good for the future of Brazil. Should we trust them?
