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.