Open letter to foreigners

Greetings, people from other countries, were sorry to interrupt your

party, but due to the circumstances we think it is necessary that you
understand the real context of the World Cup you came to watch. We only
want to bring you information that neither the government nor your
travel agency has told you about.
The World Cup brought to our country by FIFA had a cost, until the
moment this letter was written, of 25.6 billion reais, approximately 11.5
billion dollars. Of this amount, more than 83% came from public funds,
money from the taxes paid by the people. The Brazilian minimum wage is
725 reais (325 dollars) and the match tickets cost almost a thousand
dollars, therefore the Brazilian worker pays for an event he cant even
attend. According to a recent research, 75,8% of the Brazilian population
were against the investment for the World Cup.
Our country still has 3.7 million children and teenagers out of school and
an illiteracy index of almost 10% according to UNESCO. As if the education
deficiency wasnt enough, the government established school vacation
throughout the World Cup. We live in a country where more than 242
thousand families dont have electricity and our public health service is far
from acceptable. Meanwhile, the soccer idol Ronaldinho Fenmeno
pronounced in public that: With hospitals you cant make a World Cup.
Today we live in an extremely complicated economical scenario, we have
one of the worlds highest tax rates, and even so, almost 50% of our GDP
is destined to the payment of an absurd external debt, while the people
starves, i.e. almost half of what we produce is going directly into the
pockets of a few bankers and we also lose a lot because of the corruption
and bad administration.
The excessive spending in the World Cup is only the tip of the iceberg.
Because of the Cup, several civil rights were violated, a fact that is not
uncommon in a country where we have a highly militarized police force
which was the target of criticism by international institutions such as
Amnesty International and the UN that, moreover, made a
recommendation for the termination of the Brazilian military police force.
Communities close to the stadiums will have truculent and ostensive
patrolling, including the Armys presence, not to assure the safety of the
people, but to assure the safety of you, tourists, as is already the case in
the Complexo da Mar, which has been occupied by the army, navy and
police, totaling 2500 people. The right to housing was also stepped on by
the government and FIFA, because thousands of families were evicted
from their own homes, including native families from Aldeia Maracan
that, in spite of the resistance, were violently dislodged.
Unsurprisingly, in the democratic system we live in, we still notice the
military interventions. For example, the army invaded the construction
site of a hydroelectric power station located at the heart of the Amazon
rainforest (Belo Monte) to stop the native people, which were affected by
the dam construction, from protesting. Beyond that, in order to finish the
stadiums in time for the World Cup, dozens of workers died at the
construction sites.
Moreover, the countrys child prostitution is still a reality that reaches 500
thousand minors according to the Frum Nacional de Preveno e
Erradicao do Trabalho Infantil (National Forum for Prevention and
Eradication of Child Labor). This scenario will be potentially aggravated
because of the World Cup.
Many of us are indignant and going to the streets protesting, but the
government, supported by the media, trying to suppress everything
commented here, has criminalized the protests and violently repressed it
with its military apparatus. Many reports of violation of human rights have
been made by NGOs and international institutions.
The State and its administrators do not meet and will never meet the
populations demands. If we need health care, education, housing and
employment we will have to acquire them through our union and fight.
Receive this letter as a support request; share this information with the
most people possible; help us to show to the world a reality that the
government, FIFA and the World Cups sponsors are trying at all costs to
hide.