Brazil's enormous northeast bulge has more people25 millionthan Argentina, more land597,353 sq. mi.than all of Central America. If the Northeast was a separate nation, it would rank second in population, third in area, in South America. Last week a governor of one of the nine states that make up the NortheastAluizio Alves of Rio Grande do Nortedescribed another feature of the region. "It is," said he, "the biggest blight on the Western Hemisphere, with dangers enough to be six Cubas."
Nature branded a curse on the Northeast. Except in a narrow coastal belt, rain is so scant that 87%...