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Brazilian President Pledges $25 Billion for Transport Infrastructure, Calls For Political Reform

Brazilian President Pledges $25 Billion for Transport Infrastructure, Calls For Political Reform
folder_openLatin America access_time10 years ago
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Local Editor

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff offered Monday to assign $25 billion for public transport improvements and to hold a referendum on political reform after talks to suppress unrest over the poor condition of Brazil’s transport infrastructure.

The government is to allocate “50 billion reais ($25 billion) in new investments for urban mobility projects” and “to improve public transport in our country,” Rousseff announced, proposing to hold a referendum on broad "political reform" to deal with the unrest.

Brazilian President Pledges $25 Billion for Transport Infrastructure, Calls For Political Reform

Rousseff met on Monday with the leaders of a free-transit activist group Free Fare Movement that launched the first demonstrations more than a week ago and called for new protests on Tuesday.

The government has been struggling against both rising inflation, both of which make increasing spending on public services difficult. It also is spending billions of dollars preparing for not just the Confederations Cup soccer tournament now under way but next year’s World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

Some 800,000 people took to the streets in major cities in Brazil and others stormed the foreign ministry after government concessions failed to put out demonstrations on Thursday.

Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters who tried to break through a police barrier in the northeastern city of Salvador.

The protests erupted more than two weeks ago over transport fare hikes from 3 to 3.20 reais ($1.38 to $1.47).

Demands have now broadened to include high taxes, inflation, corruption, and poor public services.

Source: News Agencies, edited by website team

 

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