RADIO ELDORADO, 700 kilocycles, 4 January 1958.

5 January 1958 - the newst radio station in Sao Paulo, Radio Eldorado, starts its operation on a Saturday being blessed by Don Carlos Carmelo de Vasconcelos Melo, Catholic Church's highest authority and Carvalho Pinto the conservative governor of Sao Paulo. Popular Brazilian President Juscelino Kubitschek was anathema for the conservative newspaper owner Julio de Mesquita Filho. 

5 January 1958 - daily 'O Estado de Sao Paulo' report about Radio Eldorado inauguration the previous day. 

1st May 1958 - Radio Eldorado ad on 'O Estado de S.Paulo'.

There was a time in 1959, that conservative daily 'O Estado de S. Paulo' saw Fidel Castro's revolution in Cuba with benign eyes. Radio Eldorado even broadcast programmes about Cuban Revolutionary Songs in 1959. 

That all ended when the USA cut diplomatic relations with Cuba in early 1961... and after Castro declared himself Marxist-Leninist on 2nd December 1961, OESP and Radio Eldorado would rather see the Devil himself than Fidel & Communism. 

9 August 1959 - For those who know a little about politics this article published at daily 'O Estado de S.Paulo' is an aberration. Radio Eldorado, owned by the very conservative group Estadão, presented a programme showcasing some of the Cuban Revolution most popular songs. 

As soon as Fidel Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist follower, 'OESP' would rather see the Devil himself than anything related to Cuba and Communism. So it is actually fun to read this article and imagine that one day hyper-conservative Radio Eldorado played songs like 'Canción de Libertad' (canção do soldado cubano), 'Marcha de los barbudos', 'Marcha 26 de Julio' or 'Mambo de la Reforma Agraria'... the simple words Reforma Agrária (Land Reform) was anathema for those conservative bulwark.

read about when Fidel Castro declared himself Marxist-Leninist on 2nd December 1961:
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/castro-declares-himself-a-marxist-leninist

Following a year of severely-strained relations between the USA and Cuba, Fidel Castro openly declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist. The announcement sealed the bitter Cold War animosity between the two nations.

Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, after leading a successful revolution against the dictatorial regime of Fulgencio Batista. Almost from the start, the US worried that Castro was too leftist in his politics. He implemented Agraria Reform, expropriated foreign oil company holdings, and eventually seized all foreign-owned property in Cuba. He also established close diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, and the Russians were soon providing economic and military aid.

By January 1961, the USA had severed diplomatic relations with Cuba. In April, the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion took place, wherein hundreds of rebles, armed and trained by the US, attempted a landing in Cuba with the intent of overthrowing the Castro government. The attack ended in a dismal military defeat for the rebles and an embarrassing diplomatic setback for the USA.

In December 1961, Castro made clear what most US officials already believed. In a televised address on 2 December 1961, Castro declares, 'I am a Marxist-Leninist and shall be one until the end of my life.'

He went on to state that, 'Marxism or scientific socialism has become the revolutionary movement of the working class.' He also noted that communism would be the dominant force in Cuban politics: 'There cannot be 3 or 4 movements.'

Some questioned Castro's dedication to the communist cause, believing that his announcement was simply a stunt to get more Soviet assistance. Castro, however, never deviated from his declared principles, and went on to become one of the world's longest-ruling heads-of-state.

In late July 2006, an unwell Fidel Castro temporarily ceded -power to his younger brother Raul. Fidel Castro officially stepped down in February 2008. Castro died on 25 November 2016, at 90.

 23rd July 1961 -

just before the great fire... 1st May 2018.

the Police tall building seen from Galeria do Rock...

The short block between Rua do Boticário and Avenida Rio Branco in 1973... 

1st May 2018.

The old Lutheran Church after the fire...

São Paulo: deadly fire in squatted tower block sheds light on dire housing crisis

Thousands of people are living in precarious abandoned buildings due to the city’s unaffordable rents

Sam Cowie in São Paulo, for The Guardian

3rd May 2018, Thursday

It took Adriana dos Santos and her six children 20 minutes to scramble to safety, feeling their way down seven dark flights of stairs as the flames spread around them.

An hour later, the 24-story building where they’d been living in downtown São Paulo collapsed, as firefighters attempted to rescue a man who’d reportedly re-entered the building to save a woman and her children.

Like many others who had been squatted in the block, Dos Santos escaped with nothing but her life. Others were even less lucky. “People are buried under the rubble,” she said.

Firefighters attempt to extinguish the flames that destroyed the high-rise.

Forty-nine people remain missing after the blaze, although a spokesman for the city’s military brigade said they may not have been in the building when the fire tore through the block early on Tuesday.

First lieutenant Guilherme Derrite said that 317 people were registered as living in the building, although local media reported that the figure could be as high as 428.

At least four people were known to have been trapped in the building when it collapsed. “It would a miracle if anyone that was inside survived,” Derrite said.

The fire has shone a spotlight on desperate housing situation in São Paulo, which has a housing deficit of 1.300,000 homes, according to latest figures from Brazil’s João Pinheiro Foundation.

Thousands are forced to squat in precarious abandoned buildings that lack any kind of safety prevision or on vacant lots on the city’s outskirts.

In Brazil, squatting is legal providing the property is abandoned and performs no social function, and São Paulo is home to several highly organized housing rights movements, many of whom have succeeded in turning occupied buildings or vacant lots into public housing units for low-income earners.

But the fire is expected to complicate matters for squatting groups no matter how professional, organized or well intentioned. Activists already warn that housing movements will likely face a backlash while the core issue – a lack of affordable housing in Latin America’s biggest city – will go unaddressed.

Dos Santos Silva and dozens of other survivors are now camped out by a church less than 100m from the heap of grey smoldering rubble of the collapsed building.

Before the fire, she eked out a living hawking chewing gum and sweets in central São Paulo. On a good day, she could make R$50 (£10.38).

The building, a former Federal Police Head Quarters, was abandoned more than 10 years ago and Adriana said that she moved in as a squatter two years ago after she became homeless.

Small two bedroom apartments on São Paulo’s outskirts often go for R$ 500 – 700 (£103 – £145) in areas sometimes two hours from the centre, while minimum wage in Brazil is R$ 950 a month. Unemployment is highest in years at around 12%.

“What has happened here is an accident and a tragedy but by no means an isolated case,” said Sâmia Bonfim, a city councilwoman with the leftwing Socialism and Liberty (PSOL) Party.

Ricardo Luciano, 41, who declared himself as the leader of the movement that occupied the building said that survivors of the fire would remain camped by the church in impromptu protest camp.

“If we go to the shelters, we will be forgotten about, we are here demanding our right to housing,” he said.

1 9 5 3 / 1 9 5 4

original photo taken by Alice Brill in 1953.

Unidentified boy in 1953, with the Othon Palace Hotel under construction in the back. 

a young lady buys a lottery ticket from a old lady in an unidentified avenue in São Paulo.

Clicio Pereira wrote at Facebook: Monumento idealizado por Oscar Niemeyer para comemoração do IV Centenário da cidade de São Paulo, em 1954. Infelizmente, durou pouco tempo... era ousado demais para a época e mesmo construído em concreto armado para as solenidades de 25 de janeiro, desabou pouco antes da inauguração do Parque do Ibirapuera, onde se situava, na entrada.

Nelson Primi wrote at Facebook: Poucas pessoas entenderam o significado dessa bela escultura: era apenas um número 4 do Centenário, estilizado apontando para o infinito. Grande mestre Niemeyer!

 

Beatniks Praça Carlos Gomes-style - June 1967

By mid 1967, a full 6 months before the Brazilian Military Dictatorship shut the doors close on any kind of democracy with the introduction of draconian AI-5 (Institutional Act 5, that closed both houses of Congress houses and suspended people's constitutional rights) weekly illustrated-magazine 'O Cruzeiro' published an article about a group of high school students who took preparatory courses for university-entrance examinations around Praça Carlos Gomes in downtown Sao Paulo. They were hip, fashion-conscious with an attitude.

Os 'Niks' (short for 'beatniks') só falam em filosofia, amor e arte' (Niks only talk about philosophy, love & art).

Article written by Hilton Viana for illustrated weekly magazine 'O Cruzeiro', 3rd June 1967. 

Praça Carlos Gomes Niks only talk about love & art. 

Praça Carlos Gomes, named after Antonio Carlos Gomes (1836-1896, a Brazilian composer who wrote operas) is a fairly small park located in the heart of old Sao Paulo. There was nothing really exceptional about it until the emergence of such an extravagant young crowd who lounged around its gardens & benches while waiting to attend classes at Curso Santa Ignez, a private school that prepared young hopefuls for the very competitive university-entrance-examinations.

Erything started circa 1963, when a few philophy students (7 boys & 3 girls) adopted Praça Carlos Gomes as a rallying place where they could whileaway the hours and talk about their favourite subject: filosophy. They were former boy-scouts and probably Jack Kerouac fans so they called themselves CGniks. By 1967, the original 10 students were joined by 25 new members, mostly from Santa Ignez school just around the corner.

Praça Carlos Gomes with Cine Joia in the background.

Cine Joia showed Toho Films flicks...

Praça Carlos Gomes as it was in 1937.