Latest news with #BrazilianAirForce
Arab News
08-03-2025
- General
- Arab News
Brazil's first woman general offers advice to Pakistani women
ISLAMABAD: Lieutenant General Carla Lyrio Martins, the first woman to rise to the rank of general officer in the Brazilian Air Force, has some wisdom to share with Pakistani women with ambitions of being part of military missions. The 59-year-old commandant of the Superior School of Defense in Brasília, the capital of Brazil, visited Pakistan last month to deliver a lecture at the National Defense University (NDU) in Islamabad, where she met Pakistani women from all walks of life. 'In the workshop [at NDU], we are talking about how Pakistan is evolving, is becoming a modern country, more opened and my impressions are the best,' Martins told Arab News in an interview. 'I see many women in this workshop with great ideas, with great, important positions in the market, and I'm impressed. And I think I see just the best for this people, of this country.' The Brazilian officer, who has earned prestigious military honors in recognition of her outstanding contributions to national defense, said women may not be in equal numbers in armed forces around the world but their role was essential to the success of military operations. 'We are present, and we are necessary for the mission to be accomplished,' she said. 'The presence of women makes the force more resilient, more modern.' Martins began her service in March 1990 at the Aeronautics Specialized Instruction Center and was promoted to her current rank in November 2023. Reflecting on her journey, Martins said she faced many challenges, but the Brazilian military had evolved into an equal-opportunity organization. 'Women in Brazil are very welcomed as we learn to walk together, side by side, with equal opportunities. If you want it, if you have the will, if you study, if you have the mindset to accept new challenges, it is perfect,' she said, adding that she hoped to see more women in leadership roles in militaries around the world. The Brazilian general said leadership was not defined by gender but by capability and vision. 'I think it's a matter of posture, capability of being able to interact, to communicate the directions,' she said. I think we [women] have all the possibilities and the women in leadership positions is increasing in number,' Martins said, adding that women in leadership positions could help define the direction of any institution including the military. A mother of two, Martins said she wanted women to know that balancing a successful career and family life was possible. And while she emphasized dedication, hard work and education as pivotal to success, she said family life was also vital and men needed to share responsibilities at home. 'Educate yourself, be brave and do try [to follow your dreams] because we can get wherever we want to be,' the general said, offering experience-based advice to young women wanting to join the military service. Speaking about her perception of Pakistan, Martins said the visit had challenged her view of the country, which had been shaped by its portrayal in the international media. 'The perception we have in other countries of Pakistan is not what I saw here,' Martins said. 'I see a modern city, people open to dialogue with tolerance. The perception outside is of a very closed country, but it's not what I am seeing here.' Asked about her cultural experience, she said Islamabad was beautiful, praising the city's hospitality and food: 'I enjoyed everything I tried.'
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Yahoo
Two dead after plane crashes in fireball on busy Sao Paulo road in Brazil
A bus burst into flames and two people were killed when a small plane crashed on a busy road in Sao Paulo. Six people were injured by the debris after the eight-seater plane crashed on Marques de Sao Vicente Avenue in Brazil's largest city. Witnesses recalled seeing the plane exploding in a fireball as it hit the back of the bus, just yards from a queue of cars at a crossroads. 'I just saw everything flying and the fireball. It exploded immediately. Everyone was paralysed. The plane was ripping up palm trees and signs,' Genival Dantas Arraes said, according to Globo television. Dramatic footage showed the blaze on the bus and a large plume of black smoke rising over Sao Paulo as emergency crews rushed to the scene. Sao Paulo governor Tarcisio de Freitas said the two people killed were pilot Gustavo Medeiros and the plane's owner, Marcio Carpena. A passing motorcyclist was among the injured after he was hit by debris from the plane. A woman who was inside the bus was taken to hospital for her injuries, fire chiefs said. The condition of the two wounded people was unknown. The four other injured people had only minor injuries, the fire department said. The King Air F90 plane, which has a capacity for eight people, left Campo de Marte, a private airport, at around 7.15am, heading for the city of Porto Alegre. The control tower lost contact with the plane minutes later. One witness reported seeing it hit a tree before petrol began gushing out of it. 'It hit the tree, hit the sign and started dumping kerosene,' engineer João Lucas da Silva Amaral said. 'When it hit the ground, it exploded and we ran.' Personal trainer Adriano Rolim told Globo: 'The pilot tried to land on Marques de São Vicente, and fortunately many cars swerved, but the plane hit the back of the bus and ended up exploding. The impact was huge, very scary.' The Brazilian Air Force said it would investigate the accident as quickly as possible. Brazil has had a number of deadly aircraft crashes in recent years, including one last August in Vinhedo, near Sao Paulo, that was particularly shocking. That passenger plane fell in a flat spin before crashing into the back yard of a home in a gated community, killing all those on board. Guilherme Derrite, Sao Paulo's secretary of public security, wrote on social media: 'Our teams are working on the crash of a twin-engine plane on Marquês de São Vicente Avenue, in São Paulo. 'The fire department controlled the flames. Teams from the military police, civil police and scientific-technical police are also supporting the incident.'
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Brazil receives second plane of deported migrants after row with US
Brazil on Friday received a second plane of migrants deported from the United States, after a row between the countries last month over the treatment of a first group of people, who arrived cuffed and shackled. A Brazilian government source told AFP that 111 passengers were on the civilian aircraft which left from Louisiana and arrived in northeastern Fortaleza -- confirmed by an AFP photographer on the scene. "The information we have is that they are all Brazilian," the source said. Shortly after taking office last month, US President Donald Trump ordered a battery of measures against undocumented immigrants, including mass raids and deportations, and the deployment of troops on the border with Mexico. As observers attempt to separate fact from White House rhetoric, however, the Brazilian government source said that the flights that have arrived so far were a result of a 2017 deal with Washington which has resulted in multiple deportations over the years. According to federal police statistics, 94 flights carrying over 7,500 deportees arrived in Brazil from the United States between 2020 and 2024. However, the first flight under Trump saw 88 Brazilians arriving in handcuffs and with shackles on their feet, complaining they had not been given water or allowed to use the bathroom. In response, Brazil summoned the top US envoy to explain what the government called the "flagrant disregard" for the migrants' rights. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva decided that when the latest flight enters Brazil it "has to land in the closest location so that Brazilians are not left handcuffed on the plane," the governor of Ceara state, Elmano de Freitas, told a press conference Thursday. The passengers would then be transported from Fortaleza to southeastern Belo Horizonte by a Brazilian Air Force aircraft. Brazil this week formed a working group with US representatives to "guarantee the humane reception" of deportees, authorities said. ffb/fb/nro
New York Times
28-01-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Inside a Chaotic U.S. Deportation Flight to Brazil
Temperatures were rising inside the plane. Eighty-eight Brazilian deportees, most of them handcuffed and shackled, were getting restless on Friday under the watch of U.S. immigration agents. The passenger jet, dealing with repeated technical problems, was stuck on the tarmac in a sweltering city in the Amazon rainforest. Then the air conditioning broke — again. There were demands to stay seated, shoving, shouting, children crying, passengers fainting and agents blocking exits, according to interviews with six of the deportees aboard the flight. Finally, passengers pulled the levers to release two emergency exits, and shackled men poured out onto the plane's wing, shouting for help. Brazil's federal police quickly arrived and, after a brief standoff, told the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to release the deportees, though they had not yet reached their scheduled destination. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ordered a Brazilian Air Force aircraft to pick up the deportees and take them the rest of the way. His government's ministers then publicly slammed the Trump administration's handling of the deportees as 'unacceptable' and 'degrading.' It was those complaints about the Brazilian flight that President Gustavo Petro of Colombia was replying to on social media when he announced Sunday that his government had turned away two deportation flights from the United States. That set off dueling threats of tariffs between the United States and Colombia that ultimately ended in Mr. Petro backing down. The diplomatic dust-up over the deportation flights to Brazil and Colombia marked a turbulent first weekend for President Trump's hard-line policy to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. The pushback from two leftist Latin American governments revealed the simmering discontent across the region over President Trump's vilification of its migrants as hardened criminals threatening the fabric of the United States. On Monday, Mr. Trump said of deportees that 'every one of them is either a murderer, a drug lord, a kingpin of some kind, a head of the mob, or a gang member.' The head of Colombia's migration authority said that in reality, none of the deportees who arrived on two flights to Bogotá on Tuesday had criminal records. Both the Colombian and Brazilian governments posted online thinly veiled messages to Mr. Trump, showing their citizens returning home and noting that they deserve respect. 'They are free and dignified, and they are in their homeland where they are loved,' Mr. Petro wrote on Tuesday. The Pew Research Center estimated there were 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States in 2022, including 4 million Mexicans, 2.1 million Central Americans, 230,00 Brazilians and 190,000 Colombians. Mr. Petro had initially turned away the deportation flights because they were operated by the U.S. military, a recent change under the Trump administration. It was Colombian military aircraft that flew the Colombian deportees home on Tuesday. Mexico is not yet known to have received any deportation flights on military planes. The Brazilians were flown on a commercial charter. The Brazilian government summoned the top American diplomat on Monday to discuss the conditions of that flight. The government has repeatedly asked the U.S. government to shackle deportees only if they pose a threat, including in a 2022 call between Brazil's foreign minister and then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to a summary of Brazilian efforts detailed in a 2022 government document. U.S. officials have largely ignored those requests, according to Brazilian officials and academics who track the issue. The U.S. government has deported about 7,700 Brazilians on roughly 95 flights since 2020, according to Brazilian officials. On many of those flights, ICE agents have chained Brazilian deportees at the hands and feet, officials said. Yet Friday's deportation flight to Brazil — the first of Mr. Trump's new term — was also the first to draw such public backlash from the Brazilian government. The difference on Friday, officials and passengers said, was the condition of the plane and the rough handling of the deportees by ICE agents. ICE did not respond to a request for comment. For many of the Brazilian deportees, the journey began weeks ago, with long bus rides across the United States — from California, Georgia, Arizona and Texas — to a federal immigration center in Alexandria, Louisiana. The men spent those rides handcuffed, sometimes for days. In the early morning hours on Friday, ICE agents filled the passenger jet with the deportees, putting dozens of shackled men in the rear and women and children, who were not handcuffed, in the front, the deportees said. The flight, operated by a charter airline, GlobalX Air, had problems from the start. The passengers said that on first attempt, the plane struggled to take off. After a mechanic worked on a turbine, it departed, but passengers were uneasy. 'They started to question: If something happens, how are you going to take the shackles off 80 people?' said Luiz Campos, 35, one of the Brazilian deportees, who was on the flight after spending six weeks in Texas detention centers. ''Please, take off these chains,'' he recalled people asking. 'They said, 'No. It's protocol. It's always like this.'' Tensions increased hours later during a refueling stop in Panama. Again the plane struggled to take off, and this time, three passengers described seeing smoke come from an engine on the wing. The incident also caused the air conditioning to stop working, they said, and the plane quickly became a sauna in the tropical heat. Eventually the air conditioning was restored and the plane took off again. Hours later, it landed in Manaus, the largest city in the Brazilian Amazon. The flight was scheduled to finish in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, a city 1,600 miles to the south. Brazil's federal police said the plane landed because of a technical issue. GlobalX Air and ICE did not respond to requests for comment. In Manaus, the plane then struggled to take off for a third time, again with apparent engine issues, passengers said. And then, again, the air stopped flowing inside the cabin. 'Desperation began to take hold. To be honest, I didn't think I'd make it home alive,' said Luiz Antônio Rodrigues Santos, 21, one of the deportees. He said his asthma began to kick in and he struggled to breath, so ICE agents brought him to the front of the plane and poured water on his head. 'The kids started crying, the parents were screaming, desperate,' he said. 'That's when we decided to do something.' Mr. Santos and other deportees said that in the muggy cabin, the shackled men began pushing their way up the aisles, physically pressing up against ICE agents standing in the way. Agents and passengers shouted and pushed one another, and several deportees said they were struck. Then some passengers opened the emergency exits. Within minutes, at least seven handcuffed men stepped out onto a wing. 'Call the police!' one shouted, according to a video of the moment. Brazil's federal police eventually entered the cabin and ordered ICE agents to let the Brazilians go. With people at the airport looking on and taking video, the deportees said, the ICE agents sought to remove the shackles before letting them off the plane. 'But no one would allow that. The passengers themselves said, 'No, now you're not taking off the handcuffs,'' Mr. Campos said. 'Because if they removed the handcuffs, I think the story would be different.' News broadcasts showed the shackled men shuffling across the tarmac. Brazilian officials then removed the chains and the passengers spent the night at the Manaus airport. On Saturday, a Brazilian military plane took them to Belo Horizonte. There they were greeted by Brazil's minister of human rights, Macaé Evaristo. 'I'm here at the request of President Lula,' she told the passengers on the plane, according to a video posted by the Brazilian government. 'Our position is that countries can have their immigration policies, but they can never violate anyone's rights.'
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
US envoy summoned by Brazil over deportations as talks aim to hash out terms
BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil's foreign ministry said it summoned a senior U.S. diplomat on Monday to discuss the deportation of Brazilian migrants, part of a push to seek mutually acceptable terms for the controversial repatriations. The summons comes a day after a major flare up over migrant repatriations from the U.S. to Colombia. Gabriel Escobar, currently the highest-ranking U.S. envoy in Brasilia, met officials from Brazil's foreign ministry on Monday, as the United States ramps up deportations under President Donald Trump, including on military flights transporting shackled migrants. On Saturday, Brazil's government said it would seek explanations from U.S. authorities over what it called "degrading treatment" of Brazilians on a deportation flight last Friday. Brazilian deportees arrived in Brazil in handcuffs. They described to local media mistreatment during the flight, including physical abuse and refusals to allow bathroom breaks. The U.S. Department of State did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to Brazil's federal police, the flight was the second this year from the United States carrying undocumented migrants returned to Brazil and the first since Trump's took office last week. A Brazilian diplomatic source told Reuters that the South American country's government called for the diplomatic meeting to address issues related to the flight, adding that it intends to pursue talks with the Trump's Administration to avoid further problems. Friday's flight carried 88 Brazilians as well as 16 U.S. security agents, and was originally scheduled to arrive in the city of Belo Horizonte in southeastern Minas Gerais state. But it made an unscheduled stop in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state, due to technical problems, where Brazilian officials ordered the removal of the handcuffs, according to the government. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also designated a Brazilian Air Force plane to complete the migrants' journey. On Sunday, Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro pulled back from the brink of a trade war after the White House said the South American nation agreed to accept military aircraft transporting deported migrants. The Brazilian diplomatic source added that the Brazilian government does not intend to reject the arrivals of the U.S. deportation flights.
