Brazil will join the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic, Minusca, the United Nations has announced. This is an important decision since Brasilia looks to maintain a high profile in UN peace operations and show its increased interest in Africa.
Brazilian police raided the offices and homes of two members of Congress on Wednesday in the country’s latest corruption probe as the government makes a last-ditch effort to vote on an overhaul of the national pension system.
The Organization of American States (OAS) and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Brazil signed the Procedural Agreement for the first deployment of an Electoral Observation Mission to Brazil.
Mexican national oil company Pemex blamed the cancellation of a potentially lucrative deepwater Gulf of Mexico project on weak investor appetite due to competition from recent auctions in Brazil and low oil prices. Mexico’s oil regulator canceled a tender to pick an equity partner for Pemex’s Nobilis-Maximino project, as company interest was not as robust as expected.
Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski acknowledged that he worked as a financial adviser for an irrigation project owned by the Brazilian builder Odebrecht, contradicting his previous denials of having any links to the company. Odebrecht is at the center of Latin America’s biggest graft scandal and has admitted to paying about US$ 30 million in bribes to secure contracts in Peru over a decade.
The centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party, PSDB, elected four-time Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin as its leader on Saturday, making him its most likely presidential nominee in next year’s elections. Alckmin threw the party’s weight behind a social security overhaul that is currently before Congress and would cut generous pensions for public-sector employees.
A professional clown in Brazil who ran for congress and won by a huge margin says he will not stand again in 2018. Francisco Everardo Oliveira Silva, better known as Tiririca, is coming to the end of his second term in the Chamber of Deputies.
Brazil's monthly inflation eased more-than-expected in November after accelerating in the previous month, mainly due to the continued fall in food prices, preliminary data from IBGE showed on Friday. The consumer price index rose 0.28% month-on-month following 0.42% in October.
Auto sales in Brazil are likely to beat prior forecasts and accelerate next year, national automakers association Anfavea said on Wednesday, underscoring the gathering strength of a recovery in Latin America’s largest economy.
Brazil’s economic recovery gained traction in the third quarter, supported by steady family consumption and a rebound in investment. GDP expanded 0.1% from the second quarter and 1.4% from the previous year, the national statistics agency said.