The Brazilian Senate elected a pro-government lawmaker as their chief, potentially boosting President Jair Bolsonaro’s reform agenda but also leaving the administration’s strength in the upper house in question. Bolsonaro congratulated Davi Alcolumbre, saying his challenge is to act on Brazilian voters’ desire for change.
The decision to promote Juan Guaidó as a rival president to Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela was clearly made in Washington, not in Caracas. The speed with which U.S. allies in the Americas and western Europe recognised Guaidó’s claim on Jan. 23 to be the legitimate president of Venezuela would not have been possible without a lot of prior coordination — and a lot of pressure by the Trump administration.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was in semi-intensive care in hospital on Monday following abdominal surgery and was set to stay in the hospital at least another week, his office said. Concerns of potential infection meant the medical team wanted more time to monitor the far-right leader, 63, after the operation a week ago to remove a colostomy bag, the office said.
Automaker General Motors Co is in talks to invest 9 billion reais (US$ 2.5 billion) in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo over the next three years in return for tax incentives, newspaper Valor Economico has reported.
Brazil's industrial output increased 1.1% in 2018, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) announced. According to IBGE, though the annual figures were positive, the industrial sector grew at a slower pace than it registered in 2017, when production increased 2.5%.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was ill in hospital with a feeding tube on Sunday following surgery days ago to remove a colostomy bag fitted after he suffered a knife attack late last year.
Most Latin American stocks rose on Friday after U.S. economic data pointed to the possibility that the Federal Reserve could keep interest rates unchanged. Shares extended their rally after U.S. employment and manufacturing data underscored a strong economy with little wage inflation.
Petrobras has put the finishing touches on the first wave of development at the massive offshore Brazil Lula Field, pumping first oil from the latest floating production unit to be installed at the country's largest oil and natural gas producer, the company announced on Friday.
Brazil’s lower house of Congress reelected on Friday by a vast majority Rodrigo Maia, from the Democratas party, for a new two-year term as president of the chamber. Maia had the support of Brazil’s newly elected President Jair Bolsonaro and has pledged to work with the new administration to pass key reforms seen as crucial for the country to balance its budget, such as the pension reform.
The real business of governing Brazil starts this Friday for president Jair Messias Bolsonaro with the opening of the new congress through which his ambitious reform program must pass. The former army captain is currently absent from Brasilia will have to follow events from his hospital bed in São Paulo, where he is recovering from a third major operation following his stabbing at a campaign rally last year that almost cost him his life.