BRAZIL: Gloomy Time

It was winter last week in Rio. Soggy clouds hid the towering landmarks of Corcovado and Sugar Loaf and spilled chill rain* on the shivering city. The grey Atlantic thundered against the white beaches and heaved flotsam on to seaside drives.

In squat Catete Palace, the mood of sad-eyed President Eurico Gaspar Dutra matched the weather. His popularity is at its lowest ebb. He wants to take his ailing wife, the devout and charitable "Dona Santinha," to the U.S. for treatment, but he dares not leave the country. Brazil is caught in shifting political currents that Rio's conservative Correio da...