BEGINS IN BRAZIL
At the end of December a decree was signed by Gen. Humberto Gastelo Branco, the president put into office by a coup d'état last — April 1, reversing a historic policy followed by every government in Brazil up to now. The decree opens up Brazil's fabulously rich iron ore reserves to private capital,
Brazil has about one-third of the world's known iron ore reserves, But after the ruthless exploitation of Brazil's gold, diamond and rubber resources, public sentiment grew so strong against giving away any more of the country's resources that. no government dared to concede to the imperialist pressure to open up the highquality iron ore bodies, Thus Brazil exports only eight million tons tons a year, about two per cent of the world market.
The decree favors the Hanna Mining Company of the United States, which operates through the St. John del Rey Mining Company (a British concern), and the Antunes Mining group, a Brazilian company in which the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, of the United States, holds an interest. .
General Castel said his decree aimed at increasing Brazil's share of trade, as well as her foreign exchange income. He did not mention in whose pockets the profits would eventually land,
The decree was so flagrant that even Carlos Lacerda, one of the main architects of last April's counterrevolutionary coup d'état, felt forced to denounce it as a violation of the constitution. He said that it should have at least been debated and decided by congress,
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