Public support for Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has slipped to a record low, with her disapproval ratings rising to 65%, according to pollsters Datafolha and published on Sunday. Support for the embattled leader caught by a sliding economy and embroiled in a major graft scandal involving state-owned corporation Petrobras, slumped to 10%.
Economic activity in Brazil fell sharply in April from March, worse than already negative market estimates and showing still more evidence the once-booming economy is heading toward a recession.
Venezuela's ruling Socialist Party legislators reacted to a trip by Brazilian senators to visit jailed opponents of President Nicolas Maduro by describing it as abusive and meddling. The Brazilian delegation's visit on Thursday was cut short after their minibus was stoned by Maduro supporters and roads were blocked, forcing them to return to the airport and fly back the same day.
Brazilian police arrested on Friday Marcelo Odebrecht, the head of Latin America's largest engineering and construction company Odebrecht SA, ensnaring the most high-profile executive to date in the corruption investigation at state-run oil firm Petrobras.
Brazilian senators seeking on Thursday to visit jailed opposition leaders in Venezuela said their minibus was stoned and blocked, forcing them to return to the airport. The group of opposition senators had planned to drive from the coastal airport of Maiquetía to the capital Caracas and then on to a military jail where hard-line opposition leader Leopoldo López has been for more than a year.
The America Copa (Cup) currently being played in Chile, and the region's national teams main football competition, has not been without incidents. The one that has attracted most headlines, so far, was the host's leading squad player, Arturo Vidal who went on public television to apologize for drunk driving after crashing his Ferrari.
Plummeting auto sales in Brazil amid the country's worst economic situation in a decade have battered the industry that makes up one-fourth of the country's industrial gross domestic product and has led to widespread layoffs and mandatory leaves.
Brazil's Petrobras halted production on Sunday from its P-40 platform in the offshore Marlim Sul field after a gas leak on the vessel, an oil workers' union and the country's petroleum regulator said on Monday.
Brazil's housing market is now declining, amidst subdued economic growth and some civil unrest. In Sao Paulo, house prices dropped 1.2% during the year to Q1 2015, after annual price increases of 0.83% in Q4 2014, 3.29% in Q3 2014, 5.37% in Q2 2014 and 6.71% in Q1 2014
Brazil's embattled president Dilma Rousseff with the help of her political mentor. Lula da Silva managed on Thursday night to plea support from the ruling Workers Party, WP, delegates for drastic spending cuts designed to restore confidence in Latin America's largest but battered economy.