Brazil has opened criminal proceedings against former leaders Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff for allegedly receiving bribes with money diverted from state-owned oil giant Petrobras. The Workers Party (PT) of the two ex-presidents has strongly denied the charges, calling them a “scandalous maneuver” with partisan motives.
Folha de Sao Paulo a leading Brazilian daily has revealed the secret negotiations between the administration of ex-president Dilma Rousseff and the Cuban government to contract Cuban doctors to work in Brazil.
Former Argentine President Cristina Fernández Kirchner (CFK) Monday criticized the administration of her successor Mauricio Macri in a speech that lasted over an hour at the anti-G20 summit in Buenos Aires, saying - among other things - that by taking a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the current president merely manages what is dictated to him.
Two money transfers from British NGO Global Justice Now to the Buenos Aires branch of the Association for a Fee for Speculative International Financial Transactions to Help Citizens (ATTAC) worth 32,000 sterling pounds combined, have drawn the attention of Argentine anti money laundering authorities who have launched an ex officio investigation.
Brazil’s top appeals court has ordered the release of one of meat processor JBS’ controlling shareholders, Joesley Batista, and Ricardo Saud, a lawyer for J&F Investimentos, which controls JBS. Both were arrested on Friday in an investigation into illegal campaign contributions and alleged bribery of government officials.
Joaquim Levy, managing director and World Bank chief financial officer, has been tapped to be the next president of Brazil’s national economic and social development bank BNDES, news advanced to a column in daily O Estado de S. Paulo published on Sunday.
Several Latin American presidents and political activists are scheduled to hold the First Forum of Critical Thinking next week in Buenos Aires, just a few days before the G20 summit which this year in being hosted by Argentina and will convene the world's leaders.
Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro has promised to continue his country's participation in the Mercosur trading bloc but says he will move it away from “ideology”.“The Mercosur has value but it was disfigured by the PT (Brazil's Workers' Party)”, Bolsonaro said at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. “I won’t abandon the Mercosur but it won’t continue to be guided by ideology”, he added.
A judge released fresh testimony this week alleging corrupt practices involving members of Brazil’s leftist Workers Party (PT), whose candidate Fernando Haddad faces far-right lawmaker Jair Bolsonaro in Sunday's presidential election.
Evangelical voters are expected to play a decisive role in Brazil’s Oct. 7 presidential election as new rules ban corporations from making direct contributions in the wake of a graft scandal. With their numbers and clout growing, and the “evangelical bloc” in Congress accounting for 15% of federal lawmakers, evangelical supporters have become the focus of leading candidates.