Will Brazilian politics and related violence ever change? I think not.

Excellent article!  Corruption in Brazil is in the roots of the culture.  When you ask for a receipt, a common response is "for how much".  Until a strong and "protected" Gandhi - like leader arrives to wake Brazilians up to the benefits of not being corrupt, it will prevail in politics as well.  This is the major barrier to Brazil entering the First World.

Douglas,

I hear ya brother! I know exactly what you are saying, having also lived in Belo Horizonte for almost 4 of my 10 years in Brazil. It seemed even worse there in Minas Gerais than it is here in São Paulo. The only place that I have lived where it was worse still was Bahia and I know that Pará and Mato Grosso make things in Bahia look like a stroll in the park.

In economic terms, I am glad to say that Brazil is well on its way to becoming a First World country, however in terms of its internal politics we lag way behind many African nations that are torn by strife and civil wars, sad to say.

I doubt that we will ever see a Brazilian Gandhi, they aren't made from the same mold here and until the government takes education seriously enough to allocate decent funding to it, they will never produce a close facsimile to Gandhi here either.

It´s just like a Mettalica song: "SAD BUT TRUE"

Yet more prime examples of corruption and Brazil's government tolerating it at all levels. Federal Deputy Jaqueline Roriz was absolved of any wrongdoing and kept her congressional seat in a SECRET vote by her cronies(i.e. partners in c r _ _ _). As if the secret vote in itself wasn't bad enough, Congress went so far as to order all cameras and journalists out of the chamber in order to carry out their dirty work out of the public view. Roriz, caught in the act taking bribes and kickbacks never was in any real danger of losing her seat.... we all know who's guarding the hen house in Brasilia. Just one more reason that I thank God every day that I have no obligation to vote in this country.

The sad part is that I truly believe that the outcome would not have been any different had there been an open "show of hands" vote that was televised nationwide. Politicians in this country demonstrate such overt contempt for their constituants that they would have voted......."Sou contra cassação, e dai?" anyway.

In Campinas, the mayor was thrown out of office for corruption and the vice-mayor took over the helm. The same vice-mayor who is also being investigated by the Federal Police for corruption. Inital news was that he too was prevented from assuming office, however that decision was struck down and guess who is running the show in Campinas now? Gives a whole new meaning to the old saw "better the devil you know..."

Regarding the assassination of Judge Patricia Acioli in Rio de Janeiro, the Conselho Nacional de Justiça (CNJ) has demanded an investigation to determine negligence on the part of the presidents of the Tribunal de Justiça do Rio de Janeiro (TJ-RJ). Judge Acioli's continued written requests for protection were ignored. Head honcho at TJ-RJ, Manoel Alberto, stated publicly that security was removed at the judges own request. When the family's lawyer produced a ream of official memos that Acioli sent to the presidency expressing her grave concern and requesting protection Sr. Alberto is suddenly silent. Investigation or not, guess who will come out of this one "lily white"?

Latest addition to the list of victims... Jorge Peres, 48 years old, businessman and mayoral candidate in São Bernardo do Campo who was assassinated last night in that city. Peres was gunned down in a restaurant, you guessed it - nobody has been arrested and police have no clues (as ususal). You can bet your bottom dollar Peres either would have been an honest mayor or he knew too much about some corruption going on in the city.

You've got to be joking folks! Did you see who showed up at Paulo Maluf's 80th birthday bash???

The guest list looked like the social column. Vice-President Michel Temer, Governor Geraldo Alckmin, Ex-Governor José Maria Marim, Senator Aécio Neves, Mayor Gilberto Kassab among the hundereds of other politicians invited to the "shindig" which featured a French dinner and the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra.

Yes folks, this is the same Paulo Maluf who syphoned off billions of US dollars of public funds and deposited them in off-shore bank accounts. Although he was arrested for a short period in 2004 and held in custody of the Federal Police in São Paulo he will never be held accountable. The rest of his political cronies obviously have no moral issues about being seen publicly associating with someone we all know as one of the biggest crooks in the state. Why should they? None of them are any better.

In any other country the politicians would be conspicuous by their absence.

Yes, it is sad that a country so beautiful and with so much to offer has this corruption of which you speak.  But, as with other countries I have visited, at least the corruption is out in the open.  Here in the USA corruption is part of the law.  In other words, corruption in the USA is legal if you know the law.
Plain and simple - corruption is everywhere, every country, every state, everyone who has money - corrupt on one way or another. Guarantee that.

Sad to say that things still haven't changed much since this topic was posted.

The most recent incidents have been the assassination of Federal Police Agent, Wilton Tapajós Macedo, shot twice as he visited the grave of his parents in a Brasilia cemetery. Macedo was one of the officers in Operation Monte Carlo which investigated gambling kingpin Carlinhos Cachoeira.

Oh yes, then too there's the case where the judge in this case recused himself because of death threats, the wife of Cachoeira has also been charged with trying to bribe the new judge in the case.

According to the most recent figures that I could find... so far in the run up to the 2012 elections (mayor / council members) in all of Brazil there have been 14 candidates assassinated. Shocking but it happens every election.

Did I hear somebody say Wild West???