Mac Margolis

Rio de Janeiro

Freelance Journalist at The Washington Post

Adoptive Carioca via N. England. Author, editor, opinionator on Brazil & beyond. @WashingtonPost @LATimes. Ex @bopinion @estadao @Newsweek @TheEconomist

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Articles

“Ainda Estou Aqui”: a angustiante história real por trás do filme que conquistou o coração do mundo

1 month ago | flipboard.com | Mac Margolis
News with Nuance: Feb. 28, 2025

1 month ago | angeladenker.substack.com | Metadata Shows |Mac Margolis |Angela Denker |Jared Sexton

Hi Readers,Well, I almost broke my computer preparing this post. I currently have likely more than a hundred tabs open, which is like a terrifying look inside my brain right now. I’ve gotten the spinning circle of death a few times on my computer screen, during which I occupied myself by maniacally writing down quotes from George Orwell, if for no other reason than posterity.
The harrowing history behind 'I'm Still Here'—the film that's captured the world's heart

1 month ago | nationalgeographic.com | Mac Margolis

On a hot January morning in 1971, plainclothes security agents knocked on the door of the beachfront home of former Brazilian lawmaker Rubens Paiva. Hustled into his car, Paiva was sped away under armed escort and never seen again, leaving his wife and five children to pick up the pieces. This is the broad plotline of I’m Still Here, the Oscar-nominated film set during Brazilian military rule.
Lost cities of the Amazon: how science is revealing ancient garden towns hidden in the rainforest

2 months ago | theguardian.com | Mac Margolis

For decades, archaeologists have believed that human occupation of the Amazon basin was far older, vaster and more urbanised than the textbooks suggested. But hard evidence was scant, artefacts were scattered, and there were too few people on the ground to fully assess the magnitude of what lay cached in the dense forest. Then they found a shortcut – lidar.
From the Ashes: How a Mayor Beat the Loggers to Turn the Amazon Green Again

Jan 7, 2025 | rsn.org | Mac Margolis

Once known for landgrabs, shootouts and slash-and-burn farming, Paragominas has halted deforestation to become a model of sustainable growth in a region charred by wildfiresIt’s 9am and the sun is already high above a parched Amazon. Not even stray dogs are out on the asphalt in Paragominas today, but Adnan Demachki knows just the retreat.
From the ashes: how a mayor beat the loggers to turn the Amazon green again

Jan 6, 2025 | theguardian.com | Mac Margolis

It’s 9am and the sun is already high above a parched Amazon. Not even stray dogs are out on the asphalt in Paragominas today, but Adnan Demachki knows just the retreat. Turning right off state highway PA-125, the former mayor and native of this restless frontier town of 105,000 people in northern Brazil pulls up to the municipal park a five-minute drive from the town centre.
La selva amazónica también es urbana

Oct 15, 2024 | elfinanciero.com.mx | Mac Margolis

Olvidemos por un momento la típica postal de la selva tropical, con sus árboles gigantescos, lianas colgantes y guacamayas de colores entre el follaje. La flora y la fauna de este extraordinario bioma tropical es solo una parte de la historia de la Amazonia.
Gang Violence Is Moving to the Amazon’s Fast-Growing Cities

Sep 30, 2024 | news.bloomberglaw.com | Mac Margolis

This is the second article in a series on the challenges and opportunities of the urban Amazon. Read the first one here. Framed by an elegant riverside promenade and a modest skyline with streets enviably free of gridlock, Macapá is that rare major Brazilian city with a lingering small-town vibe. But lately residents of the so-called urban “jewel of the Amazon” have come to know a less-charming side to this fast-growing regional capital.
Macapá, a ‘Jewel of the Amazon,’ Becomes a Homicide Hotspot in Brazil

Sep 30, 2024 | bloomberg.com | Mac Margolis

This is the second article in a series on the challenges and opportunities of the urban Amazon. Read the first one here. Framed by an elegant riverside promenade and a modest skyline with streets enviably free of gridlock, Macapá is that rare major Brazilian city with a lingering small-town vibe.
Opinion: Want to reform the Supreme Court? These strongmen can show a thing or two

Aug 13, 2024 | boisestatepublicradio.org | Mac Margolis |Steve Inskeep

Mac Margolis is a longtime reporter, columnist and scriptwriter covering Latin America, and author of The Last New World: the Conquest of the Amazon Frontier. When the political opposition, independent election observers and scores of global leaders cried foul over Venezuela’s July 28 elections, plunging the country into turmoil, self-proclaimed victor President Nicolás Maduro knew just what to do.