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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, September 12th 2026 - 03:09 UTC

Brazil

  • Thursday, April 23rd 2026 - 00:15 UTC

    Brazil's iGaming Market Turns 15 Months Old With Big Questions Still Open

    Photo: Unsplash

    SiGMA South America closed in Sao Paulo on April 10th drawing more than 18,000 delegates and over 400 exhibitors for three days of debate about the future of online gaming across Latin America. The centrepiece discussion was unavoidable: one year on from the launch of Brazil's regulated iGaming market on January 1, 2025, what has actually been achieved and what remains unresolved?

  • Tuesday, April 21st 2026 - 18:17 UTC

    Paraguay attracts record foreigners with low taxes and new investor residency program

    Paraguay consolidated over recent decades a simplified tax structure known as “10-10-10”: 10% VAT, 10% personal income tax and 10% corporate income tax.

    Foreign residency applications in Paraguay surged 85% in the first quarter of 2026, reaching 18,071 compared to 9,760 in the same period of 2025, the National Migration Directorate reported. Temporary residency requests jumped 105% to 14,995, while permanent residency applications rose 25% to 3,076.

  • Friday, April 17th 2026 - 21:49 UTC

    Lula and Sanchez seal progressive alliance in Barcelona and call for front against global far right

    Sánchez responded that Spain and Brazil share “the same vision of the world, anchored in the defense of democracy, international cooperation, respect for international law and human rights, and peace”

    Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Friday cemented a political alliance in Barcelona between the European and Latin American left against the advance of the far right on both continents. At the first bilateral Spain-Brazil summit, held at the Pedralbes Palace with military honors and the participation of roughly ten ministers from each side, both leaders displayed total alignment and signed a series of cooperation agreements.

  • Thursday, April 16th 2026 - 23:08 UTC

    “We are oppressed in Brazil”: thousands of conservative Brazilians seek new life in Paraguay

    Paraguay broke a record in 2025 by granting 40,600 residency permits to foreigners. More than half — 23,500 — went to Brazilians, far outpacing the 4,300 Argentines in second place

    Hundreds of Brazilians camped overnight on beach chairs, plastic benches and tarps outside an immigration center in Ciudad del Este, on the border with Brazil, to secure a spot in a Paraguayan government drive to fast-track residency applications. Some organized an improvised barbecue on a barrel while they waited. Others had traveled more than 1,500 kilometers by bus. All shared a common thread: the desire to leave Brazil for reasons they describe as political, economic and ideological, according to a report by BBC News Brasil.

  • Tuesday, April 14th 2026 - 01:34 UTC

    Brazil coffee exports fall 21% in Q1 despite record crop forecast

    March figures continued the downward trend: shipments declined 8% year-on-year to three million bags and revenues dropped 15.1%, to US$1.125 billion

    Brazil, the world's largest coffee producer and exporter, shipped 8.4 million 60-kilogram bags between January and March 2026, a volume 21.2% below the same period in 2025, the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafé) reported on Monday. Export revenues also fell 13.6%, to US$3.371 billion.

  • Friday, April 10th 2026 - 15:26 UTC

    Brazil's inflation rises to 4.14% in March driven by higher fuel and food costs

    The main driver of the acceleration was higher fuel costs, directly linked to international oil market volatility caused by the war between the United States, Israel and Iran

    Annual inflation in Brazil accelerated to 4.14% in March, pushed higher by rising fuel and food prices, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) reported on Friday. The figure reverses the slowdown recorded in February, when the index had eased to 3.81%.

  • Thursday, April 9th 2026 - 07:13 UTC

    FAO food commodities prices up in March; concern with energy and fertilizer costs

    FAO Chief Economist Torero said “if the conflict stretches beyond 40 days farmers will have to choose: farm the same with fewer inputs, plant less, or switch to less intensive fertilizer crops”.

    World food commodity prices rose in March for the second month in a row, due largely to higher energy prices linked to the conflict escalation in the Near East, according to the latest benchmark measure released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

  • Thursday, April 9th 2026 - 01:08 UTC

    Brazilian judge suspends 12% crude oil export tax for five international oil companies

    Judge Humberto de Vasconcelos Sampaio ruled that the sudden imposition of the 12% rate amounts in practice to the creation of a new tax burden with a “merely revenue-raising” purpose

    A federal judge in Rio de Janeiro issued a preliminary injunction suspending the 12% crude oil export tax for five international companies operating in Brazil: Shell, TotalEnergies, Equinor, Repsol Sinopec and Petrogal. The ruling represents an initial court victory for the oil companies in their dispute with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's government over a levy they consider unconstitutional.

  • Tuesday, April 7th 2026 - 20:59 UTC

    São Paulo stock exchange reverses losses and closes higher on US-Iran negotiation signals

    The Ibovespa, the Brazilian market's benchmark index, finished at 188,258 points, stringing together a sixth consecutive session of gains, though the last three with near-zero variations

    The São Paulo stock exchange reversed its losses in the final minutes of trading and closed Tuesday with a slight gain of 0.05%, lifted by President Donald Trump's statement that he is in “heated negotiations” with Iran just hours before his ultimatum for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz expired.

  • Friday, April 3rd 2026 - 23:55 UTC

    Father of Argentine lawyer detained for racism in Brazil repeats same gestures at bar

    In a second recording from the same night, he is heard claiming that he personally paid the $18,000 bail imposed by the Brazilian court so his daughter could return to Argentina

    Mariano Páez, father of lawyer and influencer Agostina Páez, was filmed imitating monkey gestures at a bar in Santiago del Estero — the same racist gesticulations that led to his daughter's indictment for racial slur in Brazil, where she spent over two months detained in Rio de Janeiro. The incident took place just hours after the young woman's return to her home province.