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

News this month

Joining the race

On March 14th the Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB), the main opposition party, chose São Paulo’s outgoing governor, Geraldo Alckmin, over the city’s mayor, José Serra, to contest October’s presidential elections. The big decision took over two months and risked splitting the PSDB, a spectacle that delighted the ruling Workers' Party (PT). Mr Serra gave up only when it became clear that Mr Alckmin would not step aside; a primary race would certainly damage the party. “My sense of political responsibility won out over personal aspirations,” said Mr Serra, who also lost the 2002 presidential elections.

Despite a reputation for blandness—his nickname is “Chuchu”, a tasteless vegetable—Mr Alckmin resolutely refused to back down. Since his nomination, he has jumped six points in the opinion polls, but still trails the incumbent, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, by 43% to 23%. Lula will announce by June whether he intends to stand for re-election. For Mr Serra, his consolation prize may be Mr Alckmin’s old job. If he agrees to be the PSDB candidate for governor, as seems likely, he could face a rematch against the PT’s Marta Suplicy, whom he ousted to become mayor in 2002. Polls suggest he would beat Mrs Suplicy or any other potential PT candidate.

A minister resigns

Antonio Palocci, the Brazilian finance minister, resigned on March 27th over corruption allegations. He supposedly lied to a congressional committee and was then linked to violations of Brazilian banking law. Mr Palocci denied to the committee that he had visited a mansion on the outskirts of Brasilia used by the “Republic of Ribeirão”, a group of influential Paulistas, to distribute cash and enjoy the services of female “receptionists”. But two credible witnesses, the property's driver and caretaker, claimed that he was a frequent visitor. This denouncement raised suspicion, though, so the caretaker’s bank account, held by a bank controlled by the finance ministry, was examined for evidence of bribery. News of a 25,000-reais ($11,635) deposit was leaked to the press, though it turned out to be unconnected.

Publicising the caretaker's personal funds ended up further soiling Mr Palocci's hands, as it is illegal to scrutinise the bank account of a private citizen. The head of the bank (a political appointee) admitted to taking the bank statement to Mr Palocci's office, and so precipitated his resignation. Without political immunity, Mr Palocci now faces police investigations for this and other corruption allegations stemming from his stint as mayor in Ribeirão Preto. His replacement as finance minister will be Guido Mantega, the president of the government development bank.

Smoking kills

Overcrowding and poor resources have provoked a series of prison riots in the region. In one outbreak, nine inmates of Jundiaí prison, 60km from São Paulo, died after inhaling smoke from burning mattresses. They had been complaining about overfilled rooms—the jail has 484 prisoners but was built for just 120. A week before, military police shock troops were deployed inside another overcrowded jail, 120km from the capital, in an operation that left 15 prisoners injured.

Together with the most recent riot on March 28th, this makes for 32 riots in the prison system this year, five more than in all of 2005. The Secretaria da Administração Penitenciária claims the rebellions were co-ordinated by the Primeiro Comando da Capital, a drug ring that organised a similar statewide protest against inhumane prison conditions in 2001. Governor Alckmin has taken a hard line, promising to isolate the riot leaders in maximum-security facilities.

Varsity blues

One of São Paulo’s most prestigious private universities, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP), fired 30% of its staff in March after an early-retirement programme failed to wipe out a 4m reais ($1.9m) monthly deficit. The move, pushed by the university's bankers—Banco Bradesco SA and ABN-AMRO Brazil, which are owed 82m reais—provoked a strike by both students and staff that ended on March 24th. PUC-SP has about 21,200 students, and about 5% of courses are now without teachers.

The university is seeking help from the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social, the government development bank, but school officials said no one will be rehired until a financial package is finalised. Departments left untouched by the restructuring, such as the celebrated law school, kept their heads down, with students and professors turning up for class as usual.

Still waters run deeper

The Rio Tietê is no Thames or Seine. São Paulo’s sluggish, smelly waterway circumnavigates the city, rather than crosses it, and is prone to breaching its banks—the last major flood took place in 2005. Four years ago Governor Alckmin promised to do something about the problem. On March 19th, six months behind schedule but just before he leaves office to run for president, he made good on his word and inaugurated the river’s 1.1-billion-reais ($506m) face-lift. It is now 2.5 metres deeper, 26 metres wider with 9m cubic-metres less rubbish and sediment. Experts say the Tietê now has a 1% chance of flooding during heavy downpours, compared with a 50% chance before the work. Phase two of the plan includes securing financing for maintenance, continuing a $1.1-billion clean-up of the polluted water, and developing a park and floating cultural centre along the banks. Funds will probably come from public-private partnerships.

Catch if you can

April 2006

Estação da Luz da Nossa Lingua

From March 20th 2006

When the Estacão da Luz was completed in 1901, the train station's European design, ironwork and sheer size made it an instant landmark. These days the station serves a handful of suburban rail lines, but beginning in March it will also be home to a $36m exhibition celebrating Brazil’s national language, Portuguese. Multimedia presentations will help transform the building into the so-called Estação da Luz da Nossa Lingua, or Station of Light of Our Language. A 120-metre screen, stretched across the length of the station, will show 12 short documentaries depicting various aspects of Brazilian culture. The station will also house a series of temporary exhibitions, the first of which honours the 50th anniversary of a classic novel, “Grande Sertão: Veredas”, by João Guimarães Rosa, a writer from Minas Gerais, north of São Paulo.

Estacão da Luz, Praça da Luz, 1, Centro. Visit the exhibit's website for further information.

More from the Sao Paulo cultural calendar