BRAZIL: Brazilian troops on standby ahead of oil auction as protesters threaten to disrupt the controversial sale

Record ID: 344353

  • Title: BRAZIL: Brazilian troops on standby ahead of oil auction as protesters threaten to disrupt the controversial sale
  • Date: 21st October 2013
  • Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (OCTOBER 21, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MILITARY PERSONNEL DRESSED IN RIOT GEAR PATROLLING OUTSIDE OF WINDSOR BARRA HOTEL VARIOUS OF ROADBLOCK, FORMED BY ARMED MILITARY PERSONNEL DRESSED IN RIOT GEAR, SET UP BEHIND STEEL GATE MAN ON MOTORCYCLE STOPPED AT ROADBLOCK VARIOUS OF PEOPLE, DIVERTED TO WALK DOWN ONTO THE BEACH AND AROUND BARRICADE PEOPLE WA
  • Embargoed: 5th November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2CGROY2LE22I76TRQQ4HVRGE6
  • Story Text: Brazilian troops guarded a Rio de Janeiro hotel on Monday (October 21) ahead of a controversial oil field auction.
    The auction, scheduled to begin at 1600gmt or Monday, has sparked a strike of oil workers and thousands are expected to protest against the auction of exploration rights to the Libra offshore oil area.
    President Dilma Rousseff ordered more than 1,100 men, including police officers, firemen and army staff, to cordon off the venue for the sale, the Hotel Windsor, in the Rio de Janeiro district of Barra da Tijuca.
    The strike by Petrobras workers, which began on Thursday (October 17), has disrupted oil production, and unions have said that 90 percent of Petrobras workers have joined the strike..
    The major security operation to guard the sale has angered local residents who were forced to take a detour on the beach near the hotel as they went about their business on Monday.

    "I don't know how Petrobras didn't close the whole beach! It's absurd. A mockery! We pay taxes. You come with your children, you have to go to the other side and then there is nowhere to cross. It's absurd," said one man.
    Another resident, Paulo Leandra Da Silva Gomes, expressed anger over the use of troops.

    "Degrading. This is a country that respects nobody. They put these clowns in charge (of Petrobras) and they make this mess. I was thinking that things will get better, but no, it's getting worse. They stay in there creating this mess while we the people who have to work are humiliated."
    Brazilian union leaders have also criticized the decision to mobilize the military.
    Libra, billed by the government as the largest offshore oil are ever sold, is the latest in a series of "subsalt" finds beginning in 2007 that struck oil southeast of Rio de Janeiro, trapped deep below the seabed by a layer of salt.
    According to ANP estimates, Libra holds 8 billion to 12 billion barrels of recoverable oil, enough to supply all current world oil needs for three to five months.
    Rousseff has pledged to channel all of Brazil's petroleum revenues into needed social services and public works.
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