Traditionally made of condensed milk, cocoa powder, butter and chocolate sprinkles, brigadeiro is much more than the sum of its ingredients: it is a national sentiment.

Brazilians eat brigadeiro when the family gets together, when it’s time to celebrate, when best friends need to be cheered up, when lovers decide to surprise each other. No important event or festivity can be celebrated if brigadeiro is missing on the table.

My mother knew this well. She became a chocolatier to satisfy the sweet cravings of our small town and its 80,000 souls in the countryside of São Paulo.

When I was a child, I used to look at her making brigadeiro every day, and little did I know that I would be the one spreading the brigadeiro sentiment to the other side of the world.

After moving to San Francisco and marrying my American husband, I wanted to carry on the family tradition and show the pride for my country.

I was surprised to know that most Americans associated negative things to Brazil, like corruption scandals and terrible economy. I was determined to bring something positive to the picture, so I started this sweet business.

At first, it was challenging to make my new customers understand what a brigadeiro was.

A truffle? A fudge? A rounded cookie dough?

A brigadeiro is obvious to Brazilians, but so difficult to explain to foreigners. However, I soon realized that brigadeiro didn’t need a definition.

Once Americans put them in their mouths, they got enchanted. The special texture, the freshness of the ingredients, the delicate sweetness, it was nothing like they had ever tasted before.

They now realize that brigadeiro is a completely different food group. And their story is a special one too.

Brigadeiros are the curious result of a political campaign started in 1945. Shortly after the end of World War II, Brazil had to elect a new president, and one of the candidates was Eduardo Gomes, whose military rank was Brigadier (brigadeiro).

His most devoted voters decided to try to promote his campaign by organizing parties to raise funds and to give even more visibility to their candidate.

Instead of selling the usual electoral merchandising, they decided to make a candy to be sold in these meetings. It was created what was then known as “the candy of the Brigadeiro.”

And was sold during the campaign, trying to achieve votes through the palate of the electorate. Eduardo Gomes didn’t become the President of Brazil, but brigadeiros were such a success that they became a national dessert.

These sweet, creamy balls now represent Brazil all around the world. On one side, it’s a pleasure to see my American customers embrace and enjoy this Brazilian tradition.

On the other side, it’s even a bigger pleasure to give Brazilian expatriates in the US a reason to feel at home. Brigadeiro is a sentimental food, indeed.

Renata Stoica is founder of tinyB Chocolate – https://www.tinybchocolate.com/

These charges are the result of an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency and the DMV Office of Investigations. Silva is facing federal criminal charges and most of his workforce could be deported to Brazil.

Glenio Silva, 38, of Fremont, California, is accused of having staffed two restaurants in northern California – Monterey Pizza, in San Francisco and Pizza House, in Hayward – with unauthorized workers from Brazil, paying them in cash to conceal their illegal employment and avoid paying payroll taxes.

"Last week's enforcement action is part of ICE's continued effort to investigate employers who facilitate the hiring of undocumented workers," said Charles DeMore, special agent in charge of the ICE office of investigations in San Francisco.

"ICE will use every tool at its disposal to target businesses that exploit an illegal workforce to turn a profit."

In addition to the charges against Silva, four of the Brazilian national workers illegally employed by the restaurants are being charged with federal identity theft. The workers allegedly assumed the names of U.S. citizens and used that information to obtain identification documents from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

George Valverde, Director of the California State Department of Motor Vehicles said, "The security of our customers' identities and personal information is of paramount importance to the DMV. By working with our law enforcement partners, the Department helps apprehend and fully prosecute any persons who threaten that security."

Two of those workers using the names were arrested during the operation. The remaining two workers charged with identity theft are still being sought.

The Brazilian restaurateur was arrested late Friday, June 15, 2007 at one of the two restaurants he operates, Monterey Pizza in San Francisco. Criminal search and arrest warrants were also executed at a second establishment Silva runs in Hayward called the Pizza House.

Silva made his initial appearance in federal court in San Francisco on Monday, June 18, 2007 and was released on a US$ 75,000 unsecured bond. He and his wife were ordered to surrender their passports. Mr. Silva's next scheduled appearance is at 9:30 am, on July 11, 2007, for a Preliminary Hearing before Chief Magistrate Judge James Larson.

The maximum statutory penalty for harboring illegal aliens, in violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1324(a)(1)(A)(iii) is five years and a fine of US$ 250,000. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence.

Denise Marie Barton is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Wilson Wong. The prosecution is the result of a four month investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency and officers from the DMV Office of Investigations.

"What they did is not right," Silva told reporters earlier this week. "This is going to change many people's lives." He described how armed agents invaded one of this restaurants at 6:30 pm, last Friday.

Silva, who has been living in the US for about 18 years, used to be a pizza deliveryman himself. He opened Monterey Pizza, a decade ago. The Hayward pizza parlor started in 2004. The father of two small children, he says he doesn't know what's coming next.

More than 17,500 Brazilians have been deported from the US since 2003, according to ICE data. Most of them seem to have arrived on business or vacation visas overstaying them.

A meeting was arranged for February 17 to discuss the project for the transposition of the São Francisco river involving the participation of Brazil’s Ministry for National Integration, which proposed the project, the Truká and Tumbalalá peoples, and the city hall of the municipality of Cabrobó, which lies 630 km from Recife.

This event, which was to have taken place in Cabrobó, never happened. In the morning, the Pernambuco Military Police, through Ciosac (the Caatinga Area Independent Operations and Survival Company), was on the bridge that lies between the Truká land and the city of Cabrobó, which are separated by the São Francisco river.

According to the indigenous leaders and the Cabrobó city hall, the police searched and demanded to see the documents of the indigenous people who tried to reach the city. The police only went away after a state deputy intervened.

The Grande Rio TV station, the local affiliate of the Globo TV network, broadcast a report saying that the meeting had been cancelled on safety grounds.

The Truká chief, Aurivan dos Santos, said that “other indigenous people who were at the place where the meeting was to have been held told us that there had also been many police there.”

According to the Truká chief, “they want to give the impression that it is the people that are being intransigent. But we want the debate to go ahead.” 

The roughly 250 indigenous people who were going to the meeting decided not to go to the city. As a gesture of solidarity the Cabrobó city hall decided to cancel the meeting. 

The indigenous people question the fact that they were not formally consulted by the federal government about the project. Their fear, with respect to these large projects, concerns the impact of the dams to be built in the river, especially the Sobradinho, Xingo and Itaparica dams.

“They have made more than 20 species of fish disappear from the river, along with birds and medicinal plants. In my grandfather’s time, when there were no dams, we practically lived off fish, sugar cane, cassava and potatoes.

“As we no longer have this, we have had to adapt to agriculture. If this transposition comes about, we will once again have to adapt. Our concern is for our children who should not suffer the impact that we have suffered,” said the Truká chief.

The Tumbalalá, consisting of about 3000 indigenous people, who live on the left hand bank of the River São Francisco, in the state of Bahia, were not mentioned in the environmental impact report (EIA-RIMA) presented by the Ministry for National Integration (MI).

Representatives of the Tumbalalá were at the public hearings held in Salvador, state of Bahia, and in Salgueiro, state of Pernambuco. The leader Maria José Tumbalalá tells us that, before the dams, the agriculture of her people was based on the seasonal changes in the river, which fertilized the lands around its banks during the floods.

“The floods fertilized the land. When the water receded, we planted cassava, manioc and sugar cane; we produced honey and sweet potatoes. Ever since the Sobradinho dam has held back the water, there have been no more floods, there has been only erosion,” said Maria José.

“Our economy was based around this agriculture. Nowadays, almost nothing is being planted because the people cannot afford to pay for the energy to run an electric pump or a motor,” she added.

The indigenous people also question the MI’s discourse, which says that actions to revitalize the river are already underway. “We want them to show us where this revitalization has taken place, because we haven’t seen any improvement work in Cabrobó,” said Maria José.

According to the press office of the Ministry of Cities, which is responsible for approving improvement projects and for controlling the funds which have been announced as being intended for the revitalization of the River São Francisco, there has been no money set aside for improvement work in the municipality of Cabrobó.

There is a programmed investment of around US$ 50,000 for the city of Salgueiro, which is in the same region, for a sanitary drainage system for only one road. This has existed since 2003.

The indigenous people claim that holding the water back can cause one of the branches of the river, which they call Pequeno (Small) river and banks the Assunção Island, to dry up.

The license to carry out a project of this type needs to be approved by the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama).

This institution has arranged eight hearings in different cities in the Northeast and the State of Minas Gerais. Four of these were held, whereas the other four did not take place because of protests from groups who were unhappy with the way in which the process has been managed by the federal authorities.

According to the MI press office, Brazilian legislation lays down that at least one public hearing must take place before the analysis of the preliminary environmental license. Now, it is up to Ibama to decide if further hearings are to be arranged or if those that have taken place are sufficient for the environmental institution to come to a decision.

Peoples of Roraima

Leaders of the Ingaricó, Macuxi, Patamona, Taurepang, Sapará, Wapichana, Wai Wai and Yanomami peoples met between February 12 and 15 to evaluate and decide on the direction to be taken by the indigenous movement in Roraima, during the 34th Gathering of the Indigenous People of that state.

186 indigenous communities, the Association of the Indigenous Peoples of Roraima, the Organization of the Indigenous Women of Roraima, the Organization of the Indigenous Teachers of Roraima, TWM (Society for the Community Development and Environmental Quality of the Taurepang, Wapichana and Macuxi) and the St. Marcos Project were represented.

The gathering discussed how to ensure respect for the indigenous territories in Roraima and in the final declaration from the meeting (read the full document on the Cimi website), the leaders restated their worries about the advance of the land-grabbers and the declarations by the authorities concerning the negotiations to deal with the Raposa/Serra do Sol boundaries.

“These declarations cause fear and concern, because the indigenous lands are, by definition, unavailable and non-transferable and they cannot, therefore, be the object of political negotiations, leaving the indigenous people vulnerable to pressure from those who have an interest in the appropriation and exploitation of the natural resources that exist there. Rights are to be acknowledged!” they said.

The document also covers the action of the rice farmers who “continue to expand into the interior of the Raposa/Serra do Sol indigenous territory, destroying the soil and polluting the rivers with chemical fertilizers and pesticides.”

At the beginning of 2004, a Working Group was set up with representatives of federal institutions and indigenous organizations to bring those who infringe the environmental legislation to court and take measures to counter pollution, but the group was disbanded without any measures ever being taken.

“The dismantling of this working group and consequent paralysis of the environmental inspection institutions are the fruit of an illegitimate agreement between the federal government and political sectors in Roraima that are linked to these rice farmers.”

The document also exposes that the trash from the towns of Uiramutã, Pacaraima, Taiano and Cantá is dumped in or around indigenous lands.

Health Care and Education were other subjects dealt with, and the final document gives recommendations and demands for all the issues.

Cimi – Indianist Missionary Council
www.cimi.org.br