Brazilians are very affectionate people. Often end a conversation with a friend or acquaintance they feel friendly toward by saying Um beijo! (a kiss) or Um abraço! (a hug). In general, women use Um beijo! to male and female friends, and men use Um beijo! to women and Um abraço! to male friends. These expressions are also common ways to end an e-mail.
March 9
- 1500: The fleet of Pedro Alvares Cabral leaves Lisbon for Asia, only to arrive in what is now Brazil over a month later, becoming one of the earliest Europeans to set foot in the area.
- 1817: Dominican founding father Francisco del Rosario Sánchez is born in the city of Santo Domingo.
- 1847: The 20-day-long Siege of Veracruz begins in southern Mexico during the Mexican-American War. It would be the first large-scale amphibious assault conducted by United States military troops.
- 1916: During the Mexican Revolution, Pancho Villa leads a raid of the US border town of Columbus, New Mexico.
- 1936: Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo and Haitian president Stenio Vincent sign an agreement that defines the present-day border between the two countries.
- 1940: Renowned Puerto Rican actor Raúl Julia is born in San Juan.
- 1990: Puerto Rican physician Dr. Antonia Novello becomes Surgeon General of the United States, becoming the first Latina to occupy that position.
Major Oliveira Azevedo of the Rio de Janeiro military police was one of ten women to be recognized by the U.S. government on International Woman’s Day. (Screenshot: U.S. State Department)By JUAN GASTELUM
Channel: International AffairsWashington, D.C. — Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya Lima and Brazilian police officer Oliveira Azevedo were among the ten recipients of this year’s Women of Courage Award, presented by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama on Thursday.
Brazil - An Inconvenient History
“At first glance Brazil appears to be an alluring playground of exciting carnivals, sultry samba, divine football and a vibrantly diverse people.
But behind this dazzling facade lies a disturbing story of history’s largest-ever slave population.
Astonishingly Brazil, a Portuguese colony, received ten-times more African slaves than the numbers transported to North America.
This programme looks at those estimated 4 million people with whose blood, sweat and tears Brazil was built.
Without them none of Brazil’s present-day success and appeal would exist. Using contemporary testimonies, this film takes a hard look at Brazil s dark history through the eyes of those slaves.
They lived in squalid conditions on remote plantations or in teeming cities harboring fatal diseases. Most Africans survived only seven years in this ‘New World’.
Some, however, did survive to create a new culture a fusion of African and European. This new ethnicity permeates and explains the modern Brazilian way of life.
This outstanding film, winner of the Houston Film Festival Gold Award, is directed by Phil Grabsky. His film throws light on Brazil s inconvenient history.”
