6 ms·
A little bit more context: Rio de Janeiro is by far the most corrupt Brazilian state. Its hard to explain how bad it is if you are not Brazilian, but imagine t
by mlcruz 2y ago
A little bit more context:
Rio de Janeiro is by far the most corrupt Brazilian state. Its hard to explain how bad it is if you are not Brazilian, but imagine that every single former state governor and many of the mayors have been sent to prison for corruption after their term ended.
So what usually happens is that someone from the public sector opens up a public bidding for some service to be done by the private sector, and usually who wins is someone who has ties with the local government.
Most of the time whoever wins the bid (usually some shell company) is going to barely offer the service, and share most of the profits with their associates in the local gov.
This is one of such cases: The private lab doing the tests is owned by the cousin of the former state secretary of health Dr.Luizinho. Its very likely that they just did not do the tests at all (yes, that how bad it is)
Just another normal day in Rio de Janeiro.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 2y ago> but imagine that every single former state governor and many of the mayors have been sent to prison for corruption after their term ended Sounds similar to Illinois
- unobatbayar 2y agoSimilarly to the Mongolian government, except that only major cases are targeted, and instead of the actual culprits, people who were just doing their jobs under them end up in prison. Case closed.
- wslh 2y agoInteresting perspective on the impact of corruption across different countries. It's striking how two countries with similar levels of corruption can have vastly different outcomes in specific areas. Take Argentina as an example: while it's highly corrupt, organ transplants are remarkably well-organized under a single entity, INCUCAI [1]. You can even see crystal clear stats there. [1] https://www.argentina.gob.ar/salud/incucai https://www.argentina.gob.ar/salud/incucai
- DanielHB 2y agoCorruption is not a single axis, for example college entrance exams and voting in brazil are very trustworthy in my opinion. Institutions are corrupt, not a whole country. Sure there is some level of infection between institutions but there is still a lot of a single one can do.
- forinti 2y agoOne thing you don't see in Brazil is traffic police or bureaucrats asking for petty bribes, something which is quite common in neighbouring countries. Corruption is a problem for sure, but I think incompetence and lack of initiative are far worse issues in the Brazilian executive.
- tarruda 2y ago> voting in brazil are very trustworthy How can a closed system that cannot be audited be considered trustworthy? After the voting happens, there's no physical proof of the vote. Highly recommend reading this: https://dfaranha.github.io/project/evoting/ https://dfaranha.github.io/project/evoting/
- matheusmoreira 2y agoBecause the supreme court judge has decreed that the voting machines are UNQUESTIONABLE. That's all there is to it. Not even our elected representatives get to doubt these things: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36543423 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36543423 Fun fact: brazilians commonly express feelings of superiority towards civilized developed world nations because of these voting machines. They think americans, germans and everyone else in the world are living in the literal stone age due to their "archaic" voting processes just because it takes time to count the votes.
- vitorgrs 2y agoBrazil is way more decentralized in that way, especially health care, so health care quality will greatly change depending on your city even. That said, organ transplants in Brazil are managed by the Federal Government (lists, etc), but the clinics and hospitals will usually be state or city made... Brazil is pretty good at organ transplants, surprisingly.
- anonCoffee 2y ago[flagged]
- namaria 2y agoI usually direct people to watch the movies Elite Squad 1 and 2. They're entertaining and pretty much explain why Rio is so violent and so corrupt and how both things feed off each other.
- xrd 2y agoIncredible movie. And, the backstory is incredible as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Squad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Squad
- matheusmoreira 2y agoI'd like to note that Brazil is not at all unique in being corrupt or even in the methods used. For example, watch HBO's The Wire and you'll find the police and politicians playing the exact same numbers game. It seems to be inherent to democracy, a side effect of reelection. The films do a wondeful job depicting the poverty of Brazil, and the way it attracts people to organized crime. It attracts so many of them, they form a nation unto themselves. Complete with their own army, territory, laws, tribunals... It gets to the point it's a silent secession.
- namaria 2y agoNot uniquely corrupt but uniquely violent (before the Ukraine invasion one in eight violent homicides happened in Brazil... not South America, Brazil). Besides, I don't know great movies that explain the corruption and violence on each metropolis, just this one (and The Wire for Baltimore, which is by the way great television). I'd recommend also watching the Vice piece on how Brazilian gangs are fueling violence in Paraguay. It's quite jarring to see the slang of street criminals of Rio and SP spoken across the border in what is a war like situation.
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoHow free do people feel to speak up against corruption? Like could they go public on Twitter/X and call out the issues they see? Or would they face legal retribution or physical violence?
- dudus 2y agoFreedom of expression is guaranteed in Brazil. In general people feel free to speak and that hasn't changed. What has become a crime is the spread of misinformation in the form of fake news. For the most part these are still legislated fairly IMHO. But the precedent feels a bit dangerous
- matheusmoreira 2y agoThere are zero laws against "fake news" currently in effect in Brazil. One was proposed and Google even campaigned against it but it has yet to pass.
- luizcdc 2y agoIt really depends. Locally, factions like criminal associations and retired cops mafias (militias), who always have city councelors and mayors in their pockets, may retaliate if someone with an audience is being too annoying (see Marielle Franco's case). Nationally, not all politicians enjoy any protection from the supreme court against critiscism, only the best connected ones and the supreme court itself. Recently, a former YouTuber who lost all his social accounts and had to self-exile to the US for some disrespectful comments against the supreme court was sentenced to 1.5 years in jail for calling the newest supreme court judge a "fatty". Except for the supreme court itself, the average Brazilian can voice their concerns and speak up against corruption with very low chances of repercussions if they don't display wholly anti-democratic discourse, like wishing the military to execute a coup.
- rbanffy 2y ago> a former YouTuber Remember he also committed the crime, live, on YouTube, of advocating for the creation of a Nazi party.
- marcosdumay 2y ago> Its hard to explain how bad it is if you are not Brazilian It's hard to explain to most Brazilians too. People go there expecting the worst. I don't think I've met anyone that wasn't still surprised.
- Synaesthesia 2y agoHuh, as a South African, now I'm quite intrigued to visit it.
- xrd 2y agoTangentially related, but when i lived in Rio I would always tell people I thought it was the most beautiful city in the world. Then, a visiting exec asked me: "Well, have you been to Cape Town?"
- marcosdumay 2y agoAs a tourist you won't get yourself in situations like people throwing threats at you because you obeyed traffic laws.
- elzbardico 2y agoRio de Janeiro is corrupt, but it is far from the most corrupt in relative terms. Contrary to popular perception is not even one of the most violent.