Dan Stubbs
FORGET ---- HELL
- Banned
- #1
For some reason the people of South America are bailing out of the Nation and Miami is one of their port of call. At lease they are bringing their money with them.
BRAZIL’S best and brightest are fleeing the country in search of a safer environment.
Thousands of the country’s elite — from lawyers and doctors to TV and film stars — have been moving over to Portugal, Miami and Orlando in recent years, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Among them is soap opera star and father-of-three Thiago Lacerda, who is considering migrating to Europe.
“I’m totally freaked out by what’s been happening, especially here in Rio,” Lacerda, 40, told the newspaper. “In several years, they’re going to want to go out, to start dating, without worrying about getting shot.”
He noted that leaving is a last resort — “the idea of cutting myself off from my country is unthinkable” — but as violence ramps up across the country, crossing borders is becoming a trend.
Street violence is endemic in Brazil.Source:AAP
Brazil’s government is struggling to keep track of how many of its citizens have fled.
But with the October presidential elections fast approaching, 41 per cent more Brazilians have registered to vote abroad than in the last election in 2014.
Most of the expats move to the US, with more than a third of the three million Brazilians estimated to be living abroad, according to Brazil’s foreign ministry.
But Portugal, the colonial motherland, is fast catching up.
People protest in front of toys representing young victims of violent crimes in Rio de Janeiro.Source:AP
Violence is one of the main concerns driving the trend out of Brazil.
The country is one of the world’s most murderous, with a New York Times feature last year saying “murder has become a normal part of life” in Rio de Janeiro, the former capital.
And that’s not even considering the fact that Brazil is one of the most murderous countries in the world.
“People kill because they can get away with it. They kill to gain territorial control, to traffic drugs, to settle political disputes,” the article says.
It notes that punishment is rare in South America, and that there’s a link between witnessing murder in real life and becoming a murderer or murder victim. Drug trafficking, of course, plays a crucial role.
But violence and murder is also part of life here — or at least moreso than in countries like Australia.
“Homicide is not just a consequence of something else: In our society it is a normalised practice for resolving conflicts. A 15-year-old told us he had killed his girlfriend because he had gotten angry at her.”
Brazil is the fourth-largest firearms manufacturer on the planet.Source:AFP
One out of 10 homicide victims around the world each year is a Brazilian. At the same time, the country is the fourth-largest firearms manufacturer on the planet.
At the same time, it’s amid a deep recession, with consumer confidence is at a record low. Unemployment sits at over 12 per cent.
But it’s gun violence, robberies and homicide that remain the main concern. Joseph Williams, a US businessman who has lived in Brazil for eight years, told the Wall Street Journal he witnessed two men robbing the passengers in the car next to him just earlier this week.
“I threw my phone and my bag on the floor and slid down on the seat,” Mr Williams said.
“I tell everyone who comes to Brazil that if someone comes at you with a gun, you give them what you have.”
BRAZIL’S best and brightest are fleeing the country in search of a safer environment.
Thousands of the country’s elite — from lawyers and doctors to TV and film stars — have been moving over to Portugal, Miami and Orlando in recent years, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Among them is soap opera star and father-of-three Thiago Lacerda, who is considering migrating to Europe.
“I’m totally freaked out by what’s been happening, especially here in Rio,” Lacerda, 40, told the newspaper. “In several years, they’re going to want to go out, to start dating, without worrying about getting shot.”
He noted that leaving is a last resort — “the idea of cutting myself off from my country is unthinkable” — but as violence ramps up across the country, crossing borders is becoming a trend.
Street violence is endemic in Brazil.Source:AAP
Brazil’s government is struggling to keep track of how many of its citizens have fled.
But with the October presidential elections fast approaching, 41 per cent more Brazilians have registered to vote abroad than in the last election in 2014.
Most of the expats move to the US, with more than a third of the three million Brazilians estimated to be living abroad, according to Brazil’s foreign ministry.
But Portugal, the colonial motherland, is fast catching up.
People protest in front of toys representing young victims of violent crimes in Rio de Janeiro.Source:AP
Violence is one of the main concerns driving the trend out of Brazil.
The country is one of the world’s most murderous, with a New York Times feature last year saying “murder has become a normal part of life” in Rio de Janeiro, the former capital.
And that’s not even considering the fact that Brazil is one of the most murderous countries in the world.
“People kill because they can get away with it. They kill to gain territorial control, to traffic drugs, to settle political disputes,” the article says.
It notes that punishment is rare in South America, and that there’s a link between witnessing murder in real life and becoming a murderer or murder victim. Drug trafficking, of course, plays a crucial role.
But violence and murder is also part of life here — or at least moreso than in countries like Australia.
“Homicide is not just a consequence of something else: In our society it is a normalised practice for resolving conflicts. A 15-year-old told us he had killed his girlfriend because he had gotten angry at her.”
Brazil is the fourth-largest firearms manufacturer on the planet.Source:AFP
One out of 10 homicide victims around the world each year is a Brazilian. At the same time, the country is the fourth-largest firearms manufacturer on the planet.
At the same time, it’s amid a deep recession, with consumer confidence is at a record low. Unemployment sits at over 12 per cent.
But it’s gun violence, robberies and homicide that remain the main concern. Joseph Williams, a US businessman who has lived in Brazil for eight years, told the Wall Street Journal he witnessed two men robbing the passengers in the car next to him just earlier this week.
“I threw my phone and my bag on the floor and slid down on the seat,” Mr Williams said.
“I tell everyone who comes to Brazil that if someone comes at you with a gun, you give them what you have.”
