Mark;

Today, Brett Wiggs told me that there will be a significant number of cuts on our Brazil staff (including Legal) within the next couple of weeks.  He asked me to think about a new structure to assist a small commercial team.  I asked about John Novak and he said "he will probably end up being repatriated and you will become General Counsel".  I was obviously a bit puzzled about his comments/questions and, since he was travelling to the Eletrobolt site today, I asked for some time before giving him any answers.  I wanted to know from you if this is something I should discuss with Brett Wiggs only, or you/Brett, or you/Brett/Novak, or ????

If the Brazil office remains open/alive focusing (primarily) on power marketing activities, I am sure that Karla Azevedo and I could handle all the business guys.  However, I anticipate that, within the next couple of months, there will be plenty of corporate work to be done in the near future such as Central Bank and Board of Trade matters (we would have to decide whether we keep Patricia Dutra in-house OR whether to outsource all corporate & institutional workload to outside counsel  -  I'd rather keep Patricia Dutra until everything is worked out well) as well as a lot of legal work to do on the Eletrobolt financing (where Luiz Watanabe and his trainee Aline Merone are focused).

I'd very much appreciate it if you could find a few minutes to provide me with your thoughts on the matter.  I know we are all going through heavy turbulence these days ...  sorry to bother you with this matter.

Tks & Rgds,

Sami