Natalia Viana in Brazil: March 2009 Archives

The Independent on Sunday recently published a vox pop with people from all over the world who have been affected by the world crisis. They were asked to say what they expect from G20 leaders gathered in London this week. I......more

Yesterday the owner of the biggest luxury department store in Latin America was arrested in São Paulo and sentenced to 94 years in prison for fraudulent importing, organized crime and tax evasion. Her prison was somewhat spectacular: pictures of blond and......more

Now a little bit about the Programme that brought me here. The newsletter Panoscope, which I am helping to edit at the conference, is produced by the Panos Global AIDS Pogramme with funding from the Stop TB Partnership. The initiative......more

The world has been too slow in fighting tuberculosis – this seems to be the main conclusion of the 3rd Stop TB Partners’ Forum in Rio de Janeiro. I am attending the conference as subeditor of the official newsletter, and......more

Even though I live in one of the most violent cities in Latin America, I had never been robbed - until today.  But there is a first time for anything. And unfortunately being robbed is part of the day-by-day in......more

Finally the Vatican took a sensible stance on the case of the 9-year-old girl who had an abortion done in Recife, Brazil, in the beginning of March. It's not an official statement - but then again, I suppose it's the......more

Last week the president of Bolivia Evo Morales chewed coca leaves at the UN drug summit in Vienna. “This is chewing”, he said defiantly. “It doesn’t hurt anyone. Ingesting it  does not make me a drug addict. If it were......more

I must apologize to Frontline Club website readers due to my extended absence. During the past week, I've suffered from LRE (lesion for repetitive effort) due to my frenenic typewriting. In the meantime, an entire medical crew was excommunicated by......more

Today the president of Brazil Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, spoke for the first time about a recent event that has created huge polemic in the national media. On 21st February, four security guards were killed during a conflict with......more