Escritorio politico

Olivio Nobrega is a Brazilian politican. His smiling face, uplifted eyebrow above wire rimed glasses and his silvery receding hair can be seen waving on a banner above a sign that also reads ADVOGADOS TEL: 4771-1259.

Olivio has served this district in Taboão de Serra for as long as Patricia can remember switching parties many times on the federal level. He currently serves in the Vereador a tier of government that would be similar to our city or Metropolitian Council.

But there is much more to this story.

Nobrega owned one, two and three of the shoulder to shoulder houses along the street where Mauro and Odelva reside. In one of these houses Olivio lived and raised his family. Another remains the offices for his adult lawyer advocate children Eduardo, Karina, Ferruanda, and his daughter-in-law Luciana Calandra. The other flats he rented out as homes and businesses to augment his elected offical salary.

Quite like Brooklyn New York, politicians in Bazil are oft regarded with contempt and are considered piviledged as well as corrupt. Certainly, a politician holding public office will earn more than a workingman's wage and probably appear to be barons by anyone living in a favela. But most start out as idealists wanting to change society and right the wrongs they have witnessed.

I am fairly certain politicians are not paid enough to get wealthy. Graft, on the other hand, such as in the time of Tammany Hall, or The Shame of the Cities might be more commonly assumed and wide-spread in the political culture of Brazil.

But one momentus event ten years ago caused Olivio to move his family off on this side street in Pinheiras Park.

While living in these modest quarters of mixed income residents, Senhor Olivio's teenage son was kidnapped in highly public hostage-taking act of violence. There is no question Olivio was targeted because of his public profile and his family observed by a gang of criminals who carefully research their victims and hatch schemes to collect ransom to earn a living.

In his book Cidade de Deus (City of God), Paulo Lins who grew up in a Rio favela describes the pull of the gun for desparately hopeless youth and basically how they execute holdups, taxi robberies as well as carjacking as a means to raise money for Canaval celebrations, buy dinner for a sought after girlfriend, or a single nights joyride. Mundane reasons for such grandoise action. Lins' book, when originally published lead to a public outcry and eventually the incredble Oscar nominated film by the same name directed by Fernando Meirelles.

If you can view the photographs of Tuca Viera now on exhibition in December at MASP, particularly Paraisopolis or Menino e Pistola by Andre Cypriano, you will gain a powerful visual bookmark for the wild turbulance that lies just barely underneath the surface of modern Brazil.

What strikes me is how the violence and stratified division has evolved to the point of being commonplace. Patricia's dear friend Luciano told me last night, "Sometimes I fear we are headed for a civil war here in Brazil. The violence has become a part of us. It's accepted." He went onto say after a awhile you don't feel moved by the shock of violence anymore.

Dramatically, Olivio's son was held for many days while captors negiotated terms with Olivio for his release. Kidnappings are common to Brazil and are often successfully undertaken by bandits who have perfected the techniques of apprehending targets, collecting their ransom and then quickly disappearing into the secret inner protected world of the favelas. Obviously, these carefully planned kidnapping are not as random as armed robbery or carjacking.

When Patricia was a teenager and worked at her first job at a bank in Taboão, the manager's family was kidnnapped and manager was instructed to empty money from the bank vault and deliver it to a isolated area without telling the police or anyone else, otherwise the family would be killed one by one.

After the son returned home, Olivio understandably moved his family out of this neighborhood. Frankly, I am surprised he still has his political office here and so many of his family members who felt tramatized and their safety violated by the kidnapping have retruned as advogadosto practice law in the very place they were violated.

It is one of those complex ironies of Brazil.



Olivio Nobrega's web site