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Archived Articles
Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
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Rio de Janeiro, the City of God
 "It's paradise for the tourists and hell for its residents". First I met these words when I collected information about New York City, recently I met them again, this time they were said about Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city in Brazil and its former capital as well as the former capital of the Portuguese Empire in the beginning of 19th century. Today it's still undisputable cultural and tourist capital of Brazil with its vibrant population of some 7 million, 2-3 million of which, perhaps even more, live in constant and disgusting poverty. Many say that NYC is the most untypical American city, a jungle of skyscrapers dominating largely 1-storied nation. In this regard Rio is perhaps the most typical Brazilian city, a true reflection of its people mentality, its hopes and tragedies. Rio de Janeiro, which name means "January River", was discovered 500 years ago by Portuguese explorers. Briefly held by French colonialists, it became later the center of the Portuguese American territories, the main trading port in Latin America and the center of the mainland gold rush. Today for the foreigners the first free association of Rio is the image of its beach Copacabana, with the surrounding hills and the annual Carnival coming close second and third. Making short vacation trips to Rio doesn't allow the foreigners to discover much more than 2-3 nearby beaches and a dozen of restaurants for different budgets. Few try to understand the life of the local population and to recognize that unfortunately it isn't a permanent fiesta as it appears on the tourists' brochures. For millions around the globe Rio is an example of inter-racist harmony, in fact this city represents the modern version of racist segregation, if the words "modern" and "racism" can coexist. Illegal armed white gangs still patrol the streets, killing black children. The children killed this way each year are counted by hundreds, but most of them don't really exist for the authorities because their families were never properly registered. The racist pogroms are part of the Brazilian system and any foreign tourist should be aware that the money s/he put inside the country in fact only helps perpetuate this system. Recently a movie "City of God" ("Cidade de Deus") for the first time tried to uncover the misery of those who don't appear on the tourists' brochures. IT seems that the Brazilian society finally begin to realize that the first step of resolving the problems is to acknowledge their existence.
Rio de Janeiro profile:
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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Brazil.
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