Rio, January 6, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The Rio de Janeiro Municipal Government will appeal to the Judiciary tomorrow (7) to request the suspension of the requirement that American citizens who arrive in the city through the Galeão/Antônio Carlos Jobim International Airport and the port of Rio be submitted to photographic identification and fingerprinting. The measure has been in force since last Friday (2).

The municipality will request compensation for damages caused by the measure, which is based on the principle of reciprocity.

Yesterday (5), at a diplomatic get-together with the president of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, Mayor César Maia regretted the judicial decision that established the measure. Maia argued that, in the United States, the practice is justified by the tragedy the country experienced through terrorist acts, which have nothing to do with Brazil's reality. (DAS)