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6. Other Destinations: Europe, England, and the Republic of Ireland
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103 6 Other Des ti na tions Eu rope, En gland, and the Re pub lic of Ire land The mod er nity Bra zil ians were bring ing to Por tu gal was not viewed as equiv a lent to cul ti vated Eu ro pean taste. It was a hy brid, third world kind of mod er nity. . . . It was also vol a tile and un pre dict able, for Bra zil was seen as a young coun try lack ing strong cul tural and moral tra di tions to counter act the cul tural ex cesses of mod ern iza tion. An gela Tor re san (2007, 114) Just how many Bra zil ians are there in var i ous Eu ro pean na tions, in En gland, and in the Re pub lic of Ire land? As in the United States num bers are il lu sive be cause many Bra zil ians are in their host coun tries il le gally. Still, es ti mates exist, such as the one pub lished by Itam ar aty, Brazil’s Min is try of Foreign Af fairs, in 2011 (table 5). Table 5 Brazilians in Europe, England, and the Republic of Ireland Country Number Portugal 136,000 England 180,000 Spain 159,000 Germany 91,000 Italy 85,000 France 80,000 Switzerland 57,000 Republic of Ireland 18,000 Source: Ministério das Relações Exteriores 2011. Other Destinations: Europe, England, and the Republic of Ireland 104 Bra zil ians in Eu rope Al though the num ber of Bra zil ians in Eu rope is rel a tively mod est when meas ured against the num ber in the United States, ev i dence sug gests that sev eral cat a lysts re-oriented many Bra zil ian im mi grants and their fa cil i ta tors—pri mar ily travel and re mit tance agen cies—away from the United States and to ward Eu rope and En gland. Fore most among them was the greater dif fi culty se cur ing tour ist visas for travel to the United States fol low ing the Sep tem ber 2001 at tacks in New York and Wash ing ton, DC, along with the in creased con trols at U.S. bor ders. The high cost, un cer tainty, and out right dan ger of il le gal entry via Mex ico cer tainly put a damper on the al lure of the United States. The strength of the euro vis-à-vis the U.S. dol lar also played a role in that the value of re mit tances sent back to Bra zil was en hanced when sent in the Eu ro pean Union’s cur rency.1 And, as noted in chap ter 4, the pos sibil ity that Bra zil ians could ac quire Por tu guese, Span ish, or Ital ian pass ports be cause of their an ces tral roots in those coun tries and their re sult ing abil ity to im mi grate le gally made these des ti na tions at trac tive to many would-be im mi grants (Salek 2002). Des ti na tion: Por tu gal Per haps no where did this re-direction away from the United States and to ward Eu rope have a greater im pact than in Por tu gal. It is not sur pris ing that Por tu gal, Brazil’s “mother coun try,” is home to what is likely the larg est num ber of Bra zil ians on the Eu ro pean con ti nent. After all, Bra zil ians speak the lan guage, al beit with a dis tinct ac cent and some what dif fer ent vo cab u lary from those of the Por tu guese them selves. Since 2007, Bra zil ians have been the larg est im mi grant group in Por tu gal, ac count ing for 25 per cent of all im mi grants in that coun try (Dos San tos et al. 2010; Moura 2010). A good num ber of Bra zil ians headed for Por tu gal after being pre vented from travel ing to the United States. Re call that res i dents of Minas Ge rais are rou tinely de nied U.S. tour ist visas, which ex plains why an es ti mated 30 per cent of Bra zil ians in Por tu gal are...