Assistant Secretary of State Goli Ameri with International Visitors Monica Lustosa and Eduardo Machado

On May 31, 2008, in Recife, Brazil, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Goli Ameri and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Academic Programs Tom Farrell met with four International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) alumni from Recife, who today are leaders in judicial reform, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) enforcement, and community involvement to combat violence.

Private attorney Monica Lustosa (2007 IVLP), a pioneer in her field, is president of the newly founded Recife International Visitors Club. Following her IVLP experience in the United States, she founded the Northeast Brazil Intellectual Property Rights Association and inspired her colleagues to produce a report on Brazil's patent system with recommendations to change current legislation and procedures. The American Bar Association invited her to write a chapter for a book on IPR issues.

Leading journalist Eduardo Machado (2007 IVLP) is a special investigative reporter of the leading newspaper in the Northeast of Brazil. The recipient of many journalism prizes, he recently received the Vladimir Herzog Journalism Award (Herzog, a journalist who was killed during the dictatorship regime in Brazil) and the Tim Lopes Human Rights Award (Lopes, a journalist who was killed by drug lords in Rio de Janeiro while covering a story two years ago). Vigilant about public security issues, Machado tirelessly raises community awareness and advocates for citizen involvement. Last year, he and three colleagues launched www.pebodycount.com.br, a website featuring a death-toll counter updated daily with details of murders across Pernambuco state, along with insightful articles on crime trends. The blog has become an important to tool for the society and has provoked significant changes in the state public security system. Machado was recently featured in the Miami Herald.

Charles Hamilton, Deputy Assistant Secretary Tom Farrell, and Colonel Humberto Vianna

Colonel Humberto Vianna (2008 IVLP) is the State Prison Director with a long career in the military police. He also has been a university professor and analyst of the Brazilian police system. After an outbreak of prison riots in 2007, Colonel Vianna approached the U.S. Consulate in Recife. He was interested in the U.S. prison model and was keen to see how it worked. Having just completed his International Visitor Leadership Program, Vianna is eager to implement measures that he observed at several prisons in the United States, to improve the management of his overcrowded prisons.

Charles Hamilton (2007 IVLP), is a committed state attorney at Pernambuco State Public Defenders Office and was Deputy State General Attorney between 2003 and 2007. He currently leads a department that fights corruption. Since his IVLP experience in the United States, Hamilton has cooperated with the U.S. Consulate in Recife in planning an Organized Crime Seminar in December 2007 and he will assist in organizing a follow-up seminar in September 2008.