In the neighboring city of Jaguarari, Brazilian oil giant Petrobras is sponsoring the famous São João festival. São João is a celebration specific to northeastern Brazil. In the old times, it was a harvest festival. Traditionally, it involves eating certain seasonal foods (oranges and peanuts, in addition to odd parts of the goat) while listening to forró music. Now, it involves wearing a straw hat and listening to music that is nominally forró, but in actuality is mostly (incredibly loud) pop songs about women's underwear, with an accordionist accompaniment. Anyway, the question I wanted to ask was: why is Petrobras sponsoring the party?
The answer is probably politics. Jaguarari is run by the Worker's Party, which also rules at the federal level. Although Petrobras is publicly traded, the Brazilian government is the largest shareholder and the company is accordingly subject to political whims. This means that the company can be used to manipulate politics. In the case of Jaguarari, it seems like it would be tempting to use Petrobras to sponsor parties that will make Worker's Party politicians look good and help them hold onto power. 133 cities in the state of Bahian are benefitting from Petrobras largess this year.
Petrobras is known to engage in politics. According to a recent Reuters article, Petrobras's stock has declined of late supposedly as a result of suspicion of political interference. Politicians rely on big companies of this type to create jobs. The social benefits they create are important for politicians to make sure it looks like they are running the economy well. In certain situations, the long-term health of the compnay and the needs of politicians may collide. When they do, Brazilian politicians almost surely win out.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário