The relaxation of restrictions in 2019 on weapons previously limited to security forces, such as 9 mm semi-automatic pistols, during Jair Bolsonaro’s first year in office, led to some of these weapons being diverted into the hands of criminals.

This finding is contained in the study Arsenal do Crime (Arsenal of Crime), released this week by the Sou da Paz Institute, a non-profit organization that advocates for the disarmament of society.

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The survey shows that seizures of 9 mm pistols more than doubled from 2018 to 2023. In 2018, there were 2,995 seizures, a number that jumped to 6,568 in 2023, representing an increase of 119 percent.

The data refer to four Brazilian states in the southeast: Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo.

In 2018, the 9 mm caliber was the fifth most seized in the country. It represented 7.4 percent of the total industrial weapons. By 2023, it was already the second most common, with 18.8 percent of seizures, second only to the 38 mm revolver. During this period, a total of 255,000 weapons were seized.

Collectors, sport shooters, and hunters

The Sou da Paz study links the increase in seizures to the 2019 decree issued during the Jair Bolsonaro administration, which made it easier for collectors, sport shooters, and hunters (CACs) to obtain weapons.

Among that government’s determinations, 9 mm pistols were no longer considered for the exclusive use of security forces. In addition, sport shooters could obtain up to 30 weapons. Since the election campaign, the relaxation of gun use - framed as an attribute of the freedom of defense - had been one of the banners of then-candidate Jair Bolsonaro.

Researchers at Sou da Paz believe that this relaxation has led to a transformation in the illegal arms market in southeastern Brazil.

“The shift from revolvers to pistols represents a dramatic increase in the offensive capacity of criminals,” the study notes.

The document explains that while revolvers are limited to five or six shots and require a slow reloading procedure, pistols allow almost instantaneous reloading and use magazines with 12 or more rounds, enabling rapid and continuous firing.

The document also points out that the 9 mm caliber expels the projectile with 40 percent more energy and greater range.

Bruno Langeani, project coordinator at the Sou da Paz Institute, says that easing access to firearms “has allowed a large influx of this more powerful weapon into the legal market.”

“This has led to a very high number of such weapons in private homes, which allows for what we call good-faith diversion - when someone who bought a weapon for sport shooting or self-defense has it stolen or robbed,” he adds.

In addition, he states that the change in regulation was “very poorly done and with little oversight.”

“It opened the door for bad-faith diversion - a faction recruiting someone with no criminal record to buy these weapons and then divert them to crime,” explains Langeani.

The institute’ survey also presents information on the seizure of larger weapons. From 2018 to 2023, the recovery of rifles, machine guns, and submachine guns grew by 55.8 percent in the southeastern states, from 1,115 to 1,738.

In the specific case of rifles, Rio de Janeiro recorded 3,076 seizures - more than double the number in the other three states combined (1,411).

Stricter rules

In 2023, a month after the change of government, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva launched a re-registration process for weapons held by the public.

“It is very important, and it requires a segment of the Federal Police to look into these purchases and verify whether the weapons are no longer in their owners’ possession,” argues the coordinator of the Sou da Paz Institute.

In July 2023, a decree restored the exclusive use of 9 mm pistols to security forces.

Another measure taken by the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration was to transfer responsibility for overseeing the registration of CACs from the Army to the Federal Police. The measure was signed in 2023, and the transfer of jurisdiction took effect in the second half of the year.

As one way to reduce the number of weapons in the hands of criminals, Bruno Langeani argues that more states should have police stations specialized in combating arms trafficking, known as Desarmes, which are currently present in only six of Brazil’s 27 states.

In a statement published Friday (Dec. 12), the US government removed the name of Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes from the list of persons under the Magnitsky Act.

The name of his wife, lawyer Viviane Barci de Moraes, and the Lex Institute, linked to the justice’s family, were also scrapped.

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The decision was made by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury.

The Magnitsky Act sanctions were imposed on Justice Alexandre de Moraes by the Donald Trump administration in late July. In September, his wife’s name was also added to the list.

The act

The Magnitsky Act is a tool in US law used to unilaterally punish alleged human rights violators abroad. Among other things, the measure blocks the assets and companies of those targeted by the sanctions in the US.

Among the penalties are the freezing of bank accounts, assets, and holdings within US jurisdiction, as well as a ban on entry into the country.

In applying the sanction to Moraes, the US Department of the Treasury accused Justice Alexandre de Moraes of violating freedom of expression and authorizing “arbitrary arrests,” citing the trial of the attempted coup by Brazilian former President Bolsonaro as well as court decisions against US social media companies.

According to Treasury Secretary Scot Besset, Moraes is responsible for an oppressive campaign of censorship, arbitrary detentions that violate human rights, and politicized prosecutions, “including against former President Jair Bolsonaro.”

The city of São Paulo and its metropolitan area still have more than 800,000 consumers without electricity, two days after strong winds caused damage in several locations.

The phenomenon was caused by the arrival of an extratropical cyclone associated with a cold front and knocked down more than 330 trees, many of which fell onto the cable network and cut off the power supply.

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At the height of the problem, the metropolitan region of São Paulo had more than 2.2 million customers without electric service. By the end of Thursday (Dec. 11), there were still 1.3 million consumers without electricity.

According to the energy distributor Enel, 802,474 customers remain without the service. In the city of São Paulo, the number is 585,000 consumers, equivalent to 10 percent of the total.

No forecast available

Enel reported that it has restored power suply to about 1.2 million customers out of a total of 2 million affected. The company did not provide a forecast for when the more than 800,000 remaining consumers will have their electric service back. Enel notes that some of the cases are complex and require the replacement of poles and transformers, which takes more time to complete.

The Brazilian government announced on Wednesday (Dec. 10) that 70.8 percent of the BRL 1.3 trillion allocated to the New Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) for 2023 to 2026 has already been spent. BRL 944.8 billion has been invested through August of this year in various projects and equipment throughout the country.

At a ceremony at the Planalto presidential palace, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that many people thought it was “humanly impossible” to complete this volume of investment. He urged mayors and governors to move forward with the projects and said that it is the role of the state to mobilize resources for initiatives that reach the periphery and the poorest.

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“Now, this last part is passing the investment ball to mayors and governors, and we hope that our bureaucracy, which will make the investment, will not take too long,” he said, noting that the selection of the projects that received funds was made together with federal entities.

With an estimated BRL 1.7 trillion in public and private investments, the New PAC was launched in August 2023 by President Lula. Of the total amount, BRL 1.3 trillion is expected to be invested by 2026, with the remainder to be disbursed after that date.

An operation launched by the Federal Police on Wednesday (Dec. 10) is investigating a criminal organization responsible for luring and trafficking women in Brazil for sexual exploitation in Europe.

Four people were arrested during the operation and eight search-and-seizure warrants were executed in cities in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. In addition, two arrests were made in the Spanish city of Álava with the help of Interpol.

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According to the police, the criminals lured women in Brazil, arranged for their transportation abroad, and subjected them to threats and degrading conditions of sexual exploitation in Spain.

The probe was conducted in cooperation with Spain’s National Police through Ameripol’s Specialized Center for Combating Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling.

Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro’s defense team has asked Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to allow him to leave prison to undergo surgery as recommended by his doctors. The request was submitted Tuesday (Dec. 9).

Bolsonaro is being held in a room at the Federal Police headquarters in Brasília, where he is serving a sentence of 27 years and three months for his conviction in the criminal case involving a coup plot.

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His lawyers claim his health has deteriorated and are requesting that he be taken immediately to the DF Star Hospital in Brasília. His hospitalization should last five to seven days, they say.

“As stated by the doctor treating the petitioner, the former president needs surgery both to treat his hiccups – which are a side effect of previous surgeries – and because his unilateral inguinal hernia has worsened and also requires surgical intervention,” the petition reads.

They also asked Justice Moraes again to place Bolsonaro under house arrest. According to the defense, the prison environment is incompatible with the former president’s health condition.

There is no deadline for Justice Alexandre de Moraes to decide on the matter.

The president of the Brazilian House of Representatives, Hugo Motta, notified Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro of the administrative proceedings against him that could result in the loss of his mandate because of his absences from House sessions.

In March of this year, Eduardo Bolsonaro requested a 120-day leave of absence from his mandate and moved to the United States with his family, claiming political persecution. Since July 20, when his leave ended, the congressman has not attended sessions.

According to the official document issued by Motta on Tuesday (Dec. 9), the decree of loss of mandate may occur because he “failed to attend, in the current legislative session, one-third of the deliberative sessions of the House of Representatives.” This rule is set out in paragraph 3 of article 55 of the Brazilian Constitution.

The notification states that the congressman may respond in writing within five business days.

Defense

In an Instagram post, the congressman criticized the process that could remove him from office. He stated that the process may disrespect the more than 700,000 votes he received by “removing an innocent parliamentarian.” He said that he is not in Brazil only because he cannot return.

Defendant

Eduardo Bolsonaro, who may lose his mandate, is a defendant in the Brazilian Supreme Court for the crime of coercion. In September, the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro was indicted by the Attorney General’s Office in an investigation into the congressman’s actions with US authorities to pressure the trial that convicted his father for attempting a coup d’état.

The decline in inflation and the economic slowdown led the Brazilian Central Bank to leave interest rates unchanged. Unanimously, the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) kept the Selic rate, the economy’s benchmark interest rate, at 15 percent per year.

In a statement, Copom gave no indication of when it might begin to cut interest rates. As in its last meeting, it reiterated that the current scenario is marked by significant uncertainty, which requires caution in monetary policy, and that the bank’s strategy is to maintain the current Selic rate for an extended period.

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“The committee believes that the present strategy of maintaining the current interest rate for a prolonged period is appropriate to ensure that inflation converges with the target. The committee emphasizes that it will remain vigilant, that future monetary policy steps may be adjusted, and that, as usual, it will not hesitate to resume the adjustment cycle if it deems it appropriate,” the statement said.

This is the fourth consecutive meeting in which Copom has kept the basic interest rate unchanged. The rate is at its highest level since July 2006, when it stood at 15.25 percent per year. The Selic rate reached 15 percent per year at the June meeting and has remained at that level since.

Inflation

The Selic rate is the Central Bank’s main tool for curbing Brazil’s official inflation, as gauged by consumer price index IPCA. In November, it stood at 0.18 percent, the lowest level for the month since 2018. With this result, the index has accumulated a 4.46 percent increase over 12 months, returning to within the ceiling of the continuous inflation target.

Under the new continuous target system, in effect since January, the inflation target to be pursued by the Central Bank, as defined by the National Monetary Council, is 3 percent, with a tolerance interval of 1.5 percentage points above or below. In other words, the lower limit is 1.5 percent and the upper limit is 4.5 percent.

In this model, the target is calculated monthly based on the accumulated inflation over the previous 12 months.

The basic interest rate is applied in government bond trading through the Special Settlement and Custody System (Selic) and serves as a benchmark for other interest rates in the economy.

Brazil’s Ministry of Planning and Budget confirmed Wednesday (Dec. 10) that the country’s minimum wage will be adjusted from the current BRL 1,518 (USD 276.70) to BRL 1,621 (USD 295.53), an increase of BRL 103 (USD 18.78) – or 6.79 percent.

The amount was confirmed after the release of the National Consumer Price Index (INPC), used to calculate the annual minimum wage adjustment. The indicator registered 0.03 percent in October and has increased 4.18 percent in 12 months.  

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The minimum wage adjustment will be applied in January 2026, affecting the wages workers receive in February.

Brazil’s official inflation closed out November at 0.18 percent, bringing the country’s price index IPCA to 4.46 percent over 12 months.

As a result, the IPCA returns to the government’s target range of up to 4.5 percent for the 12-month period. In the 12-month span ending in October, the rate was 4.68 percent. The index had been outside the tolerance range for 13 months. 

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The data were released Wednesday (Dec. 10) by the statistics bureau IBGE.

The November figure is the lowest for the month since 2018, when the variation stood at -0.21 percent.

In October, the IPCA had been 0.09 percent. The main impact on the acceleration from October to November was the price of airline tickets, which rose 11.9 percent, representing 0.07 percentage points of the total inflation for the month.

Target

The government’s inflation target is three percent over 12 months, with a tolerance of 1.5 percentage points above or below – a maximum of 4.5 percent.

Since the beginning of 2025, the target assessment period has been based on the previous 12 months, rather than just the end of the year (December). The target is considered unmet if the tolerance range is exceeded for six consecutive months.

According to research manager Fernando Gonçalves, if December inflation stays at up to 0.56 percent, the country will end the year with the IPCA at the upper limit of the government’s target. The December result will be announced on January 9.

The IPCA calculates the cost of living for families with incomes between one and 40 minimum wages. In total, prices are collected for 377 products and services. As it stands today, the minimum wage is BRL 1,518 (USD 277.18). Prices are collected in ten metropolitan areas across Brazil.

Interest rates

On Wednesday night, the Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) is expected to announce the Brazilian benchmark interest rate, the Selic, currently at 15 percent per year — the highest level since July 2006 (15.25%).

The upward trend began in September last year, due to the Central Bank’s concern about rising inflation.

The Selic is the government’s main instrument for combating inflation. High interest rates make credit more expensive and discourage investment and consumption, thus acting as a brake on the economy, reducing demand for products and services and cooling inflation as a result.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a law increasing control over individuals under investigation and convicted of crimes against sexual dignity. The new piece of legislation also reinforces efforts in prevention, accountability, and victim support.

To ensure stricter punishment for these crimes – which mainly affect vulnerable individuals such as children, adolescents, and people with disabilities – the new law increases penalties for sexual crimes involving these groups. The maximum penalty can reach 40 years of imprisonment.

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The law also incorporates into the Brazilian Penal Code the crime of non-compliance with emergency protective measures, punishable by imprisonment of two to five years. The move aims to extend this protection, previously only included in the Maria da Penha Law, which created mechanisms to curb domestic and family violence against women.

Furthermore, the new legislation makes it mandatory to collect biological material from individuals convicted of or under investigation on charges of crimes against sexual dignity, for the purpose of genetic profiling.

Enforcement

The judge can enforce measures right away, including suspending or restricting gun ownership; removing the abuser from the home where they live with the victim; banning the abuser from approaching or contacting the victim, family members, and witnesses; and restricting or suspending visits with under-age dependents.

In addition, the judge may determine the use of an electronic ankle tag and a security device that notifies the victim of the aggressor’s approach.

Custody

How people convicted of sex crimes can change the way they serve a sentence is now based on stricter rules. Only those who pass a criminal exam showing no signs of a repeat offense can serve their sentence under a better regime or leave prison.

The new law also makes electronic monitoring mandatory for those convicted of crimes against sexual dignity and crimes against women when they leave the penal facility.

Children and adolescents

With regard to Brazil’s Statute of the Child and Adolescent – a code known in the country as ECA – the new legislation extends the possibility of medical, psychological, and psychiatric care to the families of victims of sexual crimes.

Educational campaigns are expanded and targeted at new audiences, including schools, health care centers, sports organizations, non-profits, and other public spaces.

The same measures are now included in the Statute of Persons with Disabilities to ensure a more comprehensive support network for victims of crimes against sexual dignity and their families.

Brazil opened 4.6 million new small businesses from January to November 2025, a number that already exceeds the result for 2024, when 4.1 million companies were created. The data show a 19 percent increase over the same period last year, consolidating the best performance since they began to be compiled.

Small businesses accounted for 97 percent of the companies opened in the country in 2025. Among them, 77 percent are individual microentrepreneurs (MEI), 19 percent are microenterprises, and 4 percent are small businesses.

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The head of the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae), Décio Lima, says that the growth reflects entrepreneurs’ confidence in the economic scenario. According to him, the country is experiencing “full employment and inflation under control,” factors that encourage the opening of new businesses.

“Sixty percent of Brazilians dream of becoming entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is a gateway to inclusion, job creation, and income,” he said.

In November, the country registered the opening of 350,000 new small businesses, 28,000 more than in the same month in 2024.

Services lead new registrations

The service sector accounted for 64 percent of new businesses opened through November. In this segment, the opening of MEIs grew 24.5 percent compared to the same period in 2024. Next came commerce, with 21 percent of the total, and industry, with 7 percent.

São Paulo (29%), Minas Gerais (11%), and Rio de Janeiro (8%) were the states with the highest number of small business openings in 2025.

Natural resource production chains in the Amazon - such as cupuaçu and açaí fruits and pirarucu fish - will receive investments of BRL 96.6 million through the Forests and Communities: Living Amazon program, announced on Tuesday (Dec. 9) in Brasília.

The initiative by the National Supply Company (Conab) will be carried out with resources from the Amazon Fund and with support from the Ministries of the Environment and Climate Change and Agrarian Development and Family Farming.

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The program will be implemented over two years with the aim of expanding the supply of forest products to the consumer market, diversifying the regional menu through the National School Feeding Program (PNAE), and increasing the supply of foods originating from socio-biodiversity and family farming to the Food Acquisition Program (PAA).

“It is a legacy that we in the Brazilian government need to leave to the forest peoples. Socio-biodiversity products need to be promoted and deserve the visibility that other products important to Brazil’s economy have,” said Conab President João Edegar Pretto.

The initiative will cover 32 projects from cooperatives and associations in the Legal Amazon region, bringing together foresters, aquaculturists, extractivists, artisanal fishers, indigenous peoples, and quilombola communities.

Each proposal may receive investments of up to BRL 2.5 million for the acquisition of equipment and infrastructure aimed at boosting the commercialization of forest products in consumer markets.

The funds will be transferred to the program by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), which manages the Amazon Fund. According to BNDES’ socio-environmental director, Tereza Campello, the investment was made possible by a major effort to reduce deforestation and restructure the fund’s resources, allowing for investments that will total BRL 2.2 billion in 2025.

“This Conab initiative represents almost BRL 100 million for a strategic agenda that will reach our communities and also enable a platform where we will have all the socio-biodiversity data available in the Amazon in a professional and organized manner,” concluded Tereza Campello.

The Brazilian film The Secret Agent will compete for the 2026 Golden Globes in the categories of Best Film – Drama and Best Non-English Language Film, and its star, actor Wagner Moura, has been nominated in the Best Actor category. The nominations were revealed Monday (Dec. 8).

The film directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho was highly praised by both Brazilian and international critics and was extremely well received at festivals over the past few months. Wagner Moura’s performance is also noteworthy, with a number of experts stating that both the film and the actor should be among the nominees for the 2026 Oscars.

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In January this year, Fernanda Torres won the 2025 Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Film for her performance in I’m Still Here.

On Monday (Dec. 8), Brazil’s national drug authority Anvisa published the registration of the dengue vaccine developed by the Butantan Institute in the country’s federal gazette.

The Ministry of Health intends to begin administering doses in 2026, free of charge, through the SUS, the country’s national heal care network.

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In a statement, Anvisa reported that the publication makes official the conclusion of the regulatory process and enables the production and sale of the vaccine, which will be offered exclusively through the public health system.

“The registration is a milestone in the fight against dengue in Brazil. The vaccine has undergone all the technical and regulatory stages required by health legislation, ensuring its safety, quality, and efficacy,” the text reads.

The statement also mentions that the vaccine is tetravalent and combats the four serotypes of dengue, in addition to being administered in a single dose. “This is the first dengue vaccine to be produced by a Brazilian laboratory,” the watchdog added.

The note stresses that, despite the registration, the Butantan Institute must continue additional studies on the vaccine and actively monitor its use by the general population.

The dose approved by Anvisa is indicated for people aged 12 to 59 – a profile that, according to the note, may be expanded in the future, depending on new studies.

In November, the institute reported that 1 million doses of the vaccine were ready for distribution. It estimates that more than 30 million doses will be available by mid-2026.

Partnership

The inoculation, named Butantan-DV, was developed by the Butantan Institute through a partnership coordinated by the Ministry of Health with the Chinese company WuXi Vaccines.

The new dose uses live attenuated virus technology, already used in other vaccines in use in Brazil and worldwide – such as the MMR vaccine, the yellow fever vaccine, the polio vaccine, and some flu vaccines.

Butantan-DV is reported as showing an overall efficacy of 74.7 percent against symptomatic dengue in people aged 12 to 59. This means that in 74 percent of cases, the disease was prevented by the vaccine. The dose also demonstrated 89 percent protection against severe forms of the disease.

Agricultural engineer Luciano Andrade Moreira was chosen by the editors of Nature magazine as one of ten people worldwide who shaped science in 2025. His name appears on the “Nature’s 10” list.

In partnership with other scientists, Moreira has been studying for more than a decade the use of the natural bacterium Wolbachia - common in many insects - in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to block the transmission of viruses such as dengue, Zika, and chikungunya.

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The technique developed from this research is called the “Wolbachia Method.” As demonstrated in a 2009 article, mosquitoes carrying the bacterium are less likely to contract these viruses.

According to Nature magazine, “scientists do not yet understand the mechanism, but the bacteria may compete with the virus for resources or stimulate the production of antiviral proteins.”

The use of this method could be decisive in disease control. Mosquitoes infected with the bacteria, called wolbites, when released in urban areas and mating with other Aedes aegypti, pass the bacteria on to new generations of mosquitoes.

Mosquito factory

This is what a biofactory of Wolbachia mosquitoes based in Curitiba, in the state of Paraná, and run by Luciano Andrade Moreira, does. It was created through a partnership between Fiocruz, the Paraná Institute of Molecular Biology (IBMP), and the World Mosquito Program (WMP), a nonprofit organization operating in 14 countries.

Currently, the Wolbachia Method is part of the Ministry of Health’s national strategy to combat arboviruses and is being implemented in cities in the states of Santa Catarina, Goiás, and the Federal District.

The ministry selects the cities based on epidemiological indicators, specifically the occurrence of high arbovirus case rates in recent years.

Nature magazine is a British publication that has been in circulation since 1869 and is considered the most cited scientific journal in the world. The “Nature’s 10” list is not an award or an academic ranking, but it highlights researchers and initiatives that have had an international impact.

In 2023, Environment and Climate Change Minister Marina Silva was included in the list for her work in combating deforestation in the Legal Amazon.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced on Monday (Dec. 8) that he intends to convene a meeting with representatives of the branches of government and social sectors to promote what he called an “educational task force” to combat violence against women. Amid a wave of femicide cases that have shocked the country, thousands of people in several cities took to the streets this weekend to denounce violence and demand freedom, respect, and safety for Brazilian women.

“It is important to involve the National Congress - the Senate and the House of Representatives - the Supreme Court, the Superior Court of Justice, the state courts of justice, trade unionists, evangelicals; we need everyone to join forces in an educational task force,” said Lula in a speech during the 14th National Social Assistance Conference, which is taking place in Brasília.

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The president did not specify a date but said he would try to hold the meeting by the end of the year.

“We must be outraged by violence toward women,” said the president, who again mentioned recent cases, such as the episode in São Paulo involving Douglas Alves da Silva, 26, who ran over and dragged Tainara Souza Santos, 31. The crime occurred on November 29. She had her legs amputated after being dragged under the vehicle for about 1 kilometer and remains hospitalized.

Lula also cited the case of a 39-year-old man arrested in flagrante delicto in Recife, also in late November, accused of setting a fire that killed his pregnant wife and the couple’s four children. The president once again called for male involvement in the fight.

“The plain and simple truth is that violence only has one side. It is not women who have to change their behavior, it is men,” he said.

Lula emphasized that he will make the fight against violence toward women his political struggle from now on. “Here in Brazil, we are going to have to create a movement. It is primarily an educational problem; we are going to have to learn in school and educate our children,” he added.

For the past week, Lula has been addressing the issue of gender violence at the official events he attends.

Violence

According to the National Map of Gender Violence, approximately 3.7 million Brazilian women have experienced one or more episodes of domestic violence in the last 12 months.

In 2024, 1,459 women were victims of femicide. On average, about four women were murdered every day in 2024 because of their gender, whether in contexts of domestic or family violence or due to contempt and discrimination related to their female status.

This year, Brazil has already recorded more than 1,180 femicides and nearly 3,000 daily calls to Ligue 180, Brazil’s national hotline for reporting violence against women, according to the Ministry of Women.

Of the 68,000 hectares logged in Amazonas, 42,000 lacked authorization from environmental agencies, according to a survey released on Friday (Nov. 5) by the Imazon research institute. This means that 62 percent of the state’s timber-harvested area is illegal.

Conducted annually by Rede Simex - composed of three environmental organizations: ICV, Imaflora, and Imazon - the survey mapped logging in Amazonas using satellite images and cross-referenced them with permits issued by environmental agencies, covering the period from August 2023 to July 2024.

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Compared to the previous survey (August 2022–July 2023), when 38,000 hectares were logged without authorization, there was a 9 percent increase in the area of illegal logging.

Camila Damasceno, a researcher with Imazon’s Amazon Monitoring Program, says the increase is extremely worrying, as illegal logging ends up financing other environmental crimes, such as burning and deforestation.

“In addition, it harms the legal timber market, which removes trees through sustainable forest management and generates jobs and taxes for Amazonas,” she added.

In terms of authorized logging, Amazonas went from 11,300 hectares from August 2022 to July 2023 to 26,100 hectares from August 2023 to July 2024, a 131 percent increase.

Boca do Acre and Lábrea

Just two municipalities in the south of the state - Boca do Acre and Lábrea - account for 75 percent of all illegal logging in Amazonas. Leading the ranking, Boca do Acre recorded 20,500 hectares of irregular logging, while Lábrea had 10,900 hectares of illegal timber removal.

“These municipalities are located in the agricultural expansion region known as Amacro, on the border between Amazonas, Acre, and Rondônia states. Therefore, we warn that timber extraction in these territories may indicate future deforestation for land grabbing or for grain and cattle production, which reinforces the need to increase enforcement in these municipalities and prevent illegal products from entering the market,” Damasceno warned.

Protected lands

Illegal logging, the researcher said, encroaches on protected areas of the state, such as indigenous lands and conservation units, which raises concerns not only about environmental degradation but also about the survival of the communities that inhabit these areas.

“The entry of invaders to remove timber from these territories threatens traditional peoples and communities, who depend on the standing forest to sustain their way of life,” Damasceno explained.

The survey found that 13 percent of illegal timber extraction (5,600 hectares) occurred in protected areas, with 9 percent on indigenous lands (3,900 hectares) and 4 percent in conservation units (1,600 hectares). There was a 19 percent drop in illegal logging in protected areas compared to the previous study, when 6,900 hectares were mapped, of which 6,400 were on indigenous lands.

Despite the reduction, illegal logging still affected an area larger than 5,000 soccer fields within protected areas. Imazon notes that, in addition to the carbon emissions resulting from degradation, illegal logging also leads to biodiversity loss and social conflicts.

Rural properties listed in public databases such as the Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), the Land Management System (Sigef), and the Terra Legal Program accounted for 32,500 hectares of the area with illegal logging, representing 77 percent of the total. According to Imazon’s assessment, this result shows that public agencies already have the data needed to monitor and punish illegal activity in these areas.

Another category that drew the researchers’ attention regarding illegal logging in Amazonas is that of undesignated public forests (FPNDs), with 3,300 hectares (8%). FPNDs are publicly owned forest areas (federal, state, or municipal) whose use has not yet been officially defined, whether as conservation units or indigenous lands.

“Therefore, allocating these lands to traditional peoples and communities or to conservation is an urgent action to protect the public and environmental heritage of the people of Amazonas and of Brazil,” concluded the institute.

“Corrective rape, slaps, and stabbings – they want to keep us silent, but not even death can silence us. Women alive!” With these words, social worker Elisandra “Lis” Martins ended her speech at the battle of rhymes in downtown Brasília, at the Levante Mulheres Vivas (“Women Alive Uprising”), held in several state capitals across Brazil on Sunday (Dec. 7).

Under heavy rain, thousands of people joined the protest in the Federal District to denounce violence against women, femicide, and the government’s failure to protect and prevent gender-based violence.

The protest was called by dozens of women’s organizations after a series of high-profile cases of femicide shocked Brazil in recent days. In Brasília, activists gave speeches and cultural performances took place at the TV Tower in the city center.

Thirty-year-old rapper Elisandra “Lis” Martins is a member of the Batalha das Gurias (“Gals’ Battle”) collective, of the Frente Nacional de Mulheres no Hip-Hop (“National Front of Women in Hip-Hop”), and attended the event to denounce gender violence in the hope of provoking a reaction from the government. 

“It’s violence based on gender, violence based on race / We keep trying to live, but we’re out of space / In the job market we’re left in the underworld / And to live we’re given the underworld / First rejection, then depression / We try to breathe – decompression” she rhymed. Lis hails from Itapoã, a district in Brasília some 10 km from Brazil’s government headquarters.

The rally was also joined by federal officials – including six female ministers and federal representatives, First Lady Janja Lula da Silva, and various popular leaders.

On Sunday, women’s protests were also held in other capitals – such as Rio de Janeiro, where hundreds gathered at Copacabana Beach, and São Paulo, where the crowd convened on Paulista Avenue.

State violence

In the federal capital, protesters repeatedly condemned the state and the inability of institutions to protect women victims of violence and to prevent these crimes.

Vanessa Hacon, who holds a PhD in Social Sciences, is an activist with the Mães na Luta (“Mothers in Struggle”) collective, which offers counseling to women victims of violence. She claims that the justice system is negligent in its treatment of women and often blames the victims themselves.

“Women leave home to escape domestic violence and end up in the justice system, where procedural violence is preposterous, with judges doing close to nothing,” Dr. Hacon said.

“There’s a sexist ideology in the courts that invalidates complaints through vulgar gender stereotypes – ‘This woman is resentful,’ ‘She can’t get over her former partner,’ ‘She’s vindictive.’ Women’s complaints need to be taken seriously, rather than dismissed on vague grounds,” she went on to argue.

Patriarchy

Chanting slogans such as “Feminism is revolution” and “Women alive,” the protesters highlighted that the patriarchal way in which society has been structured over the centuries contributes to an “epidemic” of femicides in Brazil.

“Patriarchy is when society is based on the logic that men – the male gender – have power, and that the power is centralized in them, that it starts with them,” said Leonor Costa, an activist with Movimento Negro Unificado (“Unified Black Movement”).

She told Agência Brasil that the “absurd” cases of femicide in recent days have sparked outrage among women nationwide.

“I hope these demonstrations can raise awareness in society, showing the danger that women face in their daily lives and, more than that, raise awareness in the government. We must have public policies put in place to curb this level of violence,” she declared.

In her view, education is key to changing this culture. “We need education policies that can raise awareness so that society can understand that this is a national problem – not merely a problem I face as a woman,” she added.

The role of men and the public budget
 

Most of the protesters were women, but a large number of men also took part in the demonstration, and the leaders in attendance stressed their role in the fight against gender-based violence, as writer, filmmaker, and retired teacher Renata Parreira explained.

“We need to call on men to discuss and reflect on their toxic masculinity. We need to bring them on board as allies in this fight so we can change the way society is structured,” she said.

In the opinion of Parreira, who is a member of Levante Feminista contra o Feminicídio, Lesbocídio, e Transfeminicídio (“Feminist Uprising Against the Killing of Women, Lesbians, and Trans Women”), the public budget needs to be increased if gender-based violence is to be combated.

“Without a public budget, without qualified staff, without economic and social research indicators, there is no way to develop effective public policies for the prevention of violence against women. We need to transform reality through education because culture is not fixed, it is dynamic and can be changed,” she added.

An economic issue

The economic situation faced by women was another factor mentioned as contributing to gender-based violence.

Entrepreneur Aline Karina Dias, 36, believes that financial independence is the key to emancipating a large number of women from cycles of violence and exclusion.

“We see entrepreneurship and financial independence as tools for women’s emancipation and survival. Many women who are killed suffer this kind of violence because of social issues, such as lack of housing and employment,” she said.

Aline Karina runs Sebas Turística, a community-based Afro-tourism project that promotes tourism in São Sebastião, another district in Brasília, about 17 km from the country’s chief government buildings.

Behind the demonstration 
 

The countrywide mobilization was called after a wave of recent femicides shook Brazil.

In late November, Tainara Souza Santos had her legs mutilated after being run over and dragged for about a kilometer while still trapped under the vehicle. The driver, Douglas Alves da Silva, was arrested and charged with the crime.

That same week, two employees of a federal center for technological education in Rio de Janeiro were shot dead by an employee of the institution, who then killed himself.

On Friday (5), the charred body of Army Corporal Maria de Lourdes Freire Matos, 25, was found in Brasília. The crime is being investigated as femicide after 21-year-old soldier Kelvin Barros da Silva confessed to the murder.

According to Brazil’s National Map of Gender Violence, approximately 3.7 million Brazilian women experienced one or more episodes of domestic violence in the last 12 months.

In 2024, 1,459 women were victims of femicide in Brazil. On average, around four women were murdered every day in 2024 because of their gender. In 2025, Brazil has recorded over 1,180 femicides.