Brasília, September 8, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The Cry of the Excluded, which, in the Federal District, took place in the satellite city of Samambaia, was also a demonstration in favor of the preservation of national culture. The program included presentations of capoeira (an Afro-Brazilian form of leg-wrestling, which is both a martial art and a dance), maracatu (a street dance procession typical of Carnaval in some Northern and Northeastern cities), and percussion instruments, by the National Movement of Street Boys and Girls.

Besides this, the national campaign against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), conducted simultaneously in 2,500 Brazilian cities, mobilized 50 people in the Esplanade of the Ministries, to gather signatures for a petition that will be delivered to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the presidents of the National Congress, Senator José Sarney, and the Supreme Court, Minister Maurício Corrêa, on September 16.

The petition makes three demands: an immediate public audit of Brazil's foreign debt, as stipulated in the Federal Constitution, with the participation of social entities; the immediate cancellation of the agreement granting the United States use of the Alcântara base; and the convocation of an official plebiscite, this year, on the FTAA, in order to guarantee the Brazilian people the right to decide their own destiny. (DAS)