Sun, Feb 08, 2004
Another American Arrested For Gesture In Brazil
For the second time in three weeks, an American has been
arrested in Brazil for flying the fickle finger of... well, you
know... in the face of officials who were photographing and
fingerprinting him.
New Jersey resident Douglas Skolnick, 55, didn't get to see the
sights with the rest of his tour group in Foz de Iguacu last week.
Instead, he was languishing in a Brazilian jail after being
arrested for "showing disrespect" to authorities. Skolnick was
jailed, then released, but ordered not to leave his hotel. He can't
leave Brazil until he pays a $17,200 fine.
It was the second time
a Yanqi had been arrested in Brazil after that country began
fingerprinting and photographing US citizens in retaliation for
America's new policy of doing the same to visitors from most other
countries. Some countries -- mostly European -- are exempt from the
policy and Brazilian authorities are apparently miffed that they
weren't on the list.
The first time involved an American Airlines flight crew member,
Dale Robin Hersh, who was arrested for making a remarkably similar
gesture while being processed by Brazilian customs on January 14th.
Hersh was sent home and American paid a $12,750 fine.
Officials at the American embassy in Brasilia didn't have any
comment on the Skolnick incident. His wife continued on the tour
with their charter group to a region of Brazil famed for its
panoramic waterfalls.
"They'll go and see the falls and the beauties of this region,"
federal police spokesman Marcos Koren said of Skolnick, "but he
won't know any of the beauty, just the inside of a cell."
Skolnick "said he knew what happened with the pilot but said he
had no intention of insulting the Brazilian authorities or the
Brazilian people, but we don't think that's true," Koren told
reporters.
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