Economist.com Cities Guide: Sao Paulo Briefing - January 2006

News this month

President Serra?

2006 is an election year in Brazil—the presidency, governorships and two-thirds of Congress are all up for grabs in October—and pundits are feverishly speculating about potential candidates. Editorial pages have been particularly concerned with who will be chosen by the main opposition party, Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB), to take on President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or “Lula”, of the Worker’s Party (PT). Will it be José Serra, São Paulo’s mayor, or Geraldo Alckmin, the state governor? A December poll had Mr Serra beating Lula in the first round, 36% to 29% (Brazil’s elections proceed in two stages if necessary) and coasting to victory in the second round. The poll predicted that Mr Alckmin would lose the first round and almost tie the president in the second. Though Mr Serra has become the frontrunner, he has yet to declare his candidacy, and much could happen before the PSDB makes its choice in March. If Messrs Serra and Alckmin undo each other in a tussle for the nomination, the PSDB may turn to Aécio Neves, governor of Minas Gerais.

The PSDB has fewer options for the São Paulo gubernatorial race. According to one local commentator, the party hopefuls are merely a “bunch of unknowns”. The PT will likely chose between Marta Suplicy, the previous mayor of São Paulo, and Aloizio Mercadante, the PT leader in the Senate.

A holiday bombing

Christmas cheer gave way to panic on December 23rd, when a homemade bomb exploded on São Paulo’s busiest shopping street, wounding 15 people, two of them gravely. The bomb, made from a fire extinguisher, exploded in a rubbish bin late in the afternoon, when about 100,000 people were Christmas shopping in the area. The 25 de Março Street is packed with discount shops and stalls that sell a range of discount goods, from kitchen utensils to software to jewellery, much of it counterfeit.

José Serra, the city’s mayor, called the bombing a “terrorist act”. Officials speculated that one of the area's gangs of black marketeers may have staged the attack to retaliate for a crackdown a week earlier, when police confiscated more than 7,000 boxes of electronic goods. The attackers' identity and motives remain unclear, but the incident’s effect was plain: on Christmas Eve, usually the biggest shopping day of the year, the number of shoppers in the area had fallen by 50%.

Daslu goes to court

Daslu, São Paulo’s ritziest department store, is dealing with decidedly unglamorous publicity. On December 8th, federal prosecutors accused Daslu’s executives and five of its suppliers of conspiring to evade taxes on imported goods. Police had stormed the building in July, seizing documents and arresting the store’s owner, Eliana Tranchesi, and her brother. If convicted, the pair could spend up to 21 years in jail. But bad press doesn’t seem to have hurt the Daslu’s business: according to Ms Tranchesi, who denies the charges, sales in October were up 25% compared with October 2004.

Meanwhile, Daslu is threatening to sue Davida, a prostitutes’-rights organisation based in Rio de Janeiro. In December Davida launched a line of clothing called Daspu (puta means whore), designed, made and modelled by ladies of the night. Daslu believes the similarly named brand will sully its posh image. Prostitution—unlike tax evasion—is legal in Brazil.

Open house

When Brazil’s central bank took over the debt-ridden Banco Santos in 2004, São Paulo seemed to have lost not only a high-profile financial institution, but a major philanthropist. Edemar Cid Ferreira, a Santos executive charged with money laundering, had sponsored several art exhibitions. However, while Mr Ferreira can no longer stage shows around the city, his demise is not all bad for São Paulo. On December 6th, a judge ruled that Mr Ferreira had 40 days to vacate his mansion, which the city would then turn into a museum within 60 days. In the meantime, the city’s museums will make space for Mr Ferreira’s art collection, which includes more than 9,000 works valued at about 65m reais ($29.5m).

The mansion itself is home to two art galleries and a mural by Sol Lewitt, an American minimalist. The judge claimed that the 143m reais house is itself a work of art, and thus, under Brazilian law, cannot be touched by creditors. Mr Ferreira is appealing the decision, as might his debt collectors.

Wedding bells are ringing

In December São Paulo hosted two high-profile weddings. Billed as the wedding of the year, Athina Onassis Roussel, the 20-year-old Greek heiress to Aristotle Onassis’ fortune, married Alvaro Affonso de Miranda, the 32-year-old Brazilian show-jumping champion known as Doda, in São Paulo on December 3rd. Paparazzi swarmed to the plush Fundação Maria Luísa e Oscar Americano cultural centre, where the wedding took place, but no photographers were allowed inside. Pictures taken from a helicopter hovering above the building's glass roof, though blurry, were plastered across tabloids around the world.

More interesting for Paulistanos, however, was the December 23rd wedding of Ricardo Izecson Santos Leite, the 23-year-old footballer better known as Kaká, a former member of São Paulo FC and still a key player on Brazil’s national team. Despite Kaká’s marriage to 18-year-old Caroline Celico, Brazil’s team will have a record number of bachelors (five) in this year’s World Cup, compared with just one on the World Cup teams of 1994 and 1998.

Catch if you can

January 2006

Celebrating Mozart in 2006

Throughout the year

This year São Paulo, like many other cities, has a full calendar of performances to honour the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth. The composer’s works can be heard at concerts throughout the city, and two of his operas will be staged at the Teatro Municipal: in February, the Orquestra Sinfônica Municipal will produce “The Marriage of Figaro” (February 11th, 13th, 15th and 17th) and, at the end of March, the Orquestra Experimental de Repertório will perform “The Magic Flute” (March 30th, 31st and April 1st).

The city’s busy concert schedule will include appearances by world-renowned performers. Two of Brazil's most acclaimed musicians—Nelson Freire, a pianist, and Antonio Meneses, a cellist—will play with the Orquestra Sinfônia do Estado de São Paulo; Mr Freire in June and Mr Meneses in October. But the highlight of the year may be the performance of Dame Felicity Lott, an English soprano, sponsored by the Mozarteum Brasileiro at the Sala São Paulo in October (October 23rd and 25th).

Tickets for most events are available through www.ticketmaster.com.br. For more information, visit the websites of Orquestra Sinfônia do Estado de São Paulo, Mozarteum Brasileiro and Sociedade de Cultura Artistica.

More from the Sao Paulo cultural calendar