Brazilian President son's photoblog causes polemic

Friends of the son of the Brazilian President, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, have published photos of themselves partying on vacation in Brasilia. The news caused arguments and protests amongst many Brazilians, with allegations that the government were paying the expenses.

The group of teenagers is shown cavorting at the official residences of Granja do Torto and Palácio do Alvorada, both in Brasilia; near a Brazilian Air Force airplane; travelling by motor boat in Paranoá lake; and with Brazilian soccer player Pelé.

At first, the photos appeared in the photoblogs www.fotolog.net/tata_lulu, www.fotolog.net/feijao_fodao and www.fotolog.net/gringo_mi. But since the publication of the news by the local newspapers Folha de São Paulo and Estado de São Paulo, the photoblogs were deleted or the photos removed. Some of the photos however, still are available at some user and newspaper sites on the Internet.

Since the incident, several people have created Orkut communities which comment, joke, and protest about what has happened. One of these communities, named "Férias na Alvorada - EU QUERO!" (Vacations at Alvorada - I WANT IT!"), had 450 members as of January 7th.

The Brazilian government declined to comment on the pictures.