Brazil’s Attorney General’s office announced on Tuesday that it has tripled its 2018 budget for the investigation into a sprawling corruption scandal that has engulfed political and business leaders across Latin America.
Hundreds of landless farmers in Brazil have invaded and occupied a soybean plantation owned by a company belonging to Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi. The takeover by some 500 people was organized by the Landless Rural Workers' Movement, which encourages the seizure of farmland it deems unproductive as a tactic to pressure the government.
Brazil's government increased a spending freeze and raised taxes to cover a budget gap this year, reinforcing its commitment to fiscal discipline but dealing a potential blow to fragile economic growth. In a statement by the Finance and Planning Ministries, the government said it will freeze an additional 5.9 billion Reais (US$1.9 billion) in federal spending this year
Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva’s conviction on corruption charges is not a political statement, but an enforcement of the law demonstrative of Brazil’s commitment to combat corruption at the highest levels of society, Brazilian Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot said at the Atlantic Council this week.
The Brazilian central bank has frozen four bank accounts belonging to ex-President Lula da Silva due to his recent conviction on corruption charges, the federal judge who heard his case said on Wednesday.
China's HNA Group linked to the air and travel industry will add Latin America to its investment portfolio through the purchase of a controlling stake in Rio de Janeiro's largest airport, Aeroporto Internacional Antônio Carlos Jobim – Galeão (GIG Airport).
Land-grabbing follows a long well-established pattern in the Brazilian Amazon, closely linked to lobbies and political interests, and again as in previous circumstances, this time embattled president Michel Temer signed legislation, previously approved by Congress, which regularizes such illegal claims.
Brazil needs to make progress on inspections before any timeline can be set to end a U.S. ban on imports of fresh Brazilian beef, the U.S. agriculture secretary said on Monday. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and his Brazilian counterpart Blairo Maggi met in Washington, D.C., on Monday to discuss the ban that went into effect on June 22.
Mercosur Federation of Rural Associations consider inconvenient that the region should cease to vaccinate cattle against foot and mouth disease.
The former Brazilian president Lula da Silva responded defiantly to his conviction on corruption charges by formally launching his candidacy for next year’s presidential election.