“Brazil is not a serious country”, once said General Charles De Gaulle, then president of France. When we look at the recent facts of our policy, it seems to us that this statement never truly reached bother the Brazilian authorities and, of course, the Brazilian people, for their simplicity and ignorance, did not deserve this affront.
But we - the populace - hardly ever take notice of the political issues that circulate behind the scenes or are debated in diplomatic circles. But let's look at some recent episodes.
The gigantic Itaipu hydroelectric plant is the result of a consortium between Brazil and Paraguay, built on the border between the two countries. By agreement the energy produced is divided between the two nations; and Brazil buys from Paraguay the part of energy that that country does not consume. But Brazil pays only a third of the market price for the acquisition and the Paraguayan government is resentful, considering itself harmed by the agreement.
In the case of Bolivian gas, the process is similar: Brazil pays only a quarter of the international price per cubic meter of the product. All that Bolivian President Evo Moralez wants is for our country to pay a fairer price, which is understandable, after all Bolivia and Paraguay are poor countries, with few possibilities economic development, but are exploited by the nation that is the largest economy in South America and one of the largest in the world (despite the misery in which most of our population lives). And this shameful exploitation is carried out in the name of the Brazilian people - in my name, in yours, in the name of all of us. Paraguayan authorities never miss an opportunity to remind Brazil of an old debt we incurred with that country. Let us remember then.
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The Paraguayan people still feel bleeding from the wound caused by the genocide that was the war waged by Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina (1865 to 1870) against the dictator Francisco Solano Lopes, who ruled that country and had pretensions imperialists. At the beginning of the war the Paraguayan population was estimated at one million and five hundred thousand inhabitants, and in the end it was reduced to less than half. Paraguayan historians recognize the greatness of our illustrious Duque de Caxias, but hate Count D'EU, husband of Princess Isabel, who commanded the entry of Brazilian troops into Asunción, the Paraguayan capital. The dictator Solano Lopes, knowing himself defeated, had abandoned the front of the struggle and gone to the interior; and the capital was at the time defended only by children and boys who were massacred by the invading forces, under the command of Count D'EU.
Brazilian Education does not transmit these historical facts to our children. Citizenship is still in its infancy...
By João Cândido da Silva Neto
Columnist Brazil School
[email protected]
Sociology - Brazil School
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
PERCILIA, Eliene. "Brazil, what a shame"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/sociologia/brasil-que-vergonha.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
