The week's news from Brazil:

Blockade - in rural Roraima state, farmers set up a blockade on all the main roads to the capital, Boa Vista. The blockade was maintained for four days. At issue is the recent ratification of a new reserve for indigenous peoples called Raposa Serra do Sol, in the far northwest of the state on the Venezuela border. The ratification greatly enlarges the reserve and makes its lands contiguous rather than the pockets of sovereignty the indigenous peoples enjoyed before. Farmers already established in the region, aligned with other natives opposed to the reserve, brought the capital to a standstill for several days before finally lifting the blockade. They have promised to continue their struggle, demanding consideration for their rights within the reserve territories.

Reshuffle - in the news gap before the congress re-convened there was a lot of speculation about a reshuffle in Lula's cabinet. Lula acted quickly to note that it was all speculation and to gag his ministers from speaking on the subject. Lula also announced that all ministries in charge of industrial sectors would have to start setting targets for the jobs to be created in their areas in 2004.

Parmalat - the financial scandal at the Italian dairy-products giant has a large impact in Brazil. Parmalat Brazil has debts of R$1.8 billion and has been scrambling to maintain operations and payments to their suppliers. 90% of their debt is owed to large Brazilian banks. It's unclear yet what will be the impact on the Brazilian operations.

Fingerprints - the "war of fingerprints" is settling into something of a minor, but still irritating, skirmish. Brazil has managed to get the queues down to a more reasonable 15-30 minutes by adding more teams, updating the technology and reducing the number of prints required. A major complaint was raised by cruise-ship companies, who normally only call in at Rio for day-visits to avoid paying the overnight dock charges. A state judge has ordered the suspension of the practice in Rio, arguing that the US has reasons for imposing the restriction that do not apply to Brazil. As Randy notes, the actual suspension is still being debated. For Rio, it's most important that the skirmish not impact tourism revenues. Lula proposed at the Americas summit in Monterrey that the US and Brazil do away with the visa requirement altogether, suggesting that "if we want an integration of the Americas, we need to have the freedom to come and go." Separately, over 1000 Brazilian illegal immigrants in the US are being repatriated to Brazil on special charter flights.

Finance - the weak dollar has given a real boost to Brazil's financial situation. The exchange rate slipped below R$2.80 to the dollar for the first time since July 2002, and is rumoured to be headed as low as R$2.50. Taking advantage of this, Brazil's Central Bank has been purchasing dollars ($100m yesterday) to boost its currency reserves to honour its commitments to the IMF. Yesterday the Treasury succeeding in placing US$1.5b in 30-year obligations at the lowest spread premium to the US treasuries in a decade [risco-país] (+3.76%); in 2000 the spread was 6.92%. This refinancing has to help take some of the pressure off of Brazil's debt obligations.

Futebol - Brazil's under-23s drew 1-1 with Uruguay on Sunday in Chile, giving Chile an early advantage in Grupo A in the Olympic qualifiers, as Chile is down 1 point but with one extra match in hand. The tournament will continue through the 25th, with only two teams from South America qualifying for the Athens Olympics.

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