When the president gets tied down
MINAS GERAIS: Franco the noisy populist
Turning banks into tax collectors
In the centre of Porto Alegre several groups, each with their distinctive uniforms, stride around, exchanging salutes. The road sweepers are equally brisk as they thump about the streets in large groups, highly visible in orange and blue, each one brandishing a giant plastic bin on wheels. The front-line border state of Rio Grande do Sul, abutting Argentina and Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul has a military feel.
Porto Alegre has its fair share of churches, museums and parks, located at the confluence of five rivers known as the Rio Guaíba. It's also an industrial centre with smokestacks and dilapidated tenement blocks creeping right into the historic centre. The red roofs, red earth and sweet smell of vehicles running on alcohol tell you this is Brazil, no matter how different Porto Alegre's history and despite the independent nature of its people. They call themselves gaúcho, the Portuguese for cowboy.
Time and again, gaúcho independence is cited to explain the things that happen in Rio Grande do Sul.