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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, October 25th 2025 - 21:44 UTC

Brazil

  • Thursday, June 25th 2015 - 07:33 UTC

    Brazilian central bank inflation estimates anticipate increase in interest rates

    The Central Bank's Monetary Policy Committee will meet in late July to adjust the benchmark interest rate, currently at 13.75%

    The Brazilian Central Bank on Wednesday raised its inflation estimate for 2015 to 9%, or almost double the midpoint in the official range and well above the 6.5% top end target, and said the economy may contract by 1.1% this year, marking the worst performance since 1990.

  • Wednesday, June 24th 2015 - 08:38 UTC

    Petrobras scandal ramifications getting closer to Lula da Silva

    The former president is linked to lobbying for the Odebrecht Group to obtain public works projects in Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela and Ghana.

    One of Brazil's leading weekly magazines, Epoca, has revealed that former president Lula da Silva could be investigated over corruption allegations following on the imprisonment of the Odebrecht Group CEO, (Marcelo Odebrecht) which is one of the country's largest private corporations and employers, and for which Lula did much lobbying and sponsoring for public works projects in Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela and Ghana.

  • Wednesday, June 24th 2015 - 08:29 UTC

    Workers Party is old and out of touch, “an internal revolution is needed”, blasts Lula da Silva

    “We have to define whether we want to save our skins and our jobs or if we want to save our project,” Lula da Silva said in Sao Paulo

    Former President Lula da Silva again blasted Brazil's governing Workers Party, an organization he founded, as old and out of touch. “We have to define whether we want to save our skins and our jobs or if we want to save our project,” Lula da Silva said in Sao Paulo during a seminar on democracy, which he attended along with former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez.

  • Monday, June 22nd 2015 - 07:26 UTC

    Rousseff support plummets to 10%, while disapproval marks a record 65%

    “It's a new record in Datafolha polls since we started conducting them in January 2011,” when Dilma took office, reported Folha de Sao Paulo

    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%.

  • Saturday, June 20th 2015 - 09:06 UTC

    Brazil' economic activity further contracts in April as confidence dwindles

    A shrinking economy and inflation running at an 11-year high have raised popular discontent with President Dilma Rousseff

    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.

  • Saturday, June 20th 2015 - 08:38 UTC

    Venezuelan lawmakers blast Brazilian senators' trip as 'abusive and meddling'

    These political groups are intent “not only to come and threaten but also to torpedo good relations between Venezuela and Brazil” said Tania Diaz

    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.

  • Saturday, June 20th 2015 - 08:23 UTC

    Brazil's top two construction tycoons arrested in connection to Petrobras case

    Odebrecht and Andrade Gutierrez are accused of leading a “cartel” that overcharged Petrobras for work and passed on the excess funds to politicians

    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.

  • Friday, June 19th 2015 - 23:36 UTC

    Venezuelan pickets stone and threaten visiting Brazilian senators

    Former presidential candidate Aecio Neves described the situation as an aggression saying the vehicle came “under siege” from “protesters”.

    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.

  • Thursday, June 18th 2015 - 06:02 UTC

    Falklands' makes its debut among Argentine fans in the America Cup

    The Argentine fans share with their English counterparts a history of violence and excesses

    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.

  • Tuesday, June 16th 2015 - 06:03 UTC

    Brazil's auto industry faces plummeting sales and widespread layoffs

    At least 6,000 workers in auto factories have been laid off since January, officials say, and another 20,000 put on furlough

    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.