Most Latin American stock markets and currencies rose on Thursday, with assets in Brazil gaining on hopes of smooth progress on pension reform. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro met fellow politicians in a bid to build support to pass his government's proposal to reform the country's bloated pension system, seen by investors as crucial to trim Brazil's wide fiscal deficit.
With its high murder rate and huge armed forces, Brazil has long been in the cross-hairs of foreign weapons makers. Now they have a powerful champion: pro-gun President Jair Bolsonaro. The right-wing former army captain, who relaxed gun ownership laws soon after taking power in January, has raised hopes among foreign firms that his next move will be easing investment restrictions on Brazil's 200 billion reais (US$55 billion) defense sector.
Hundreds of protesters chanting “dictatorship never again” took to the streets of Brazil's capital on Sunday for the 55th anniversary of the coup that established more than two decades of military rule.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro visited the Western Wall alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, becoming the first head of state to do so with an Israeli premier. The visit came after Bolsonaro, sworn in as Brazil's president on January 1, arrived for a three-day trip to Israel on Sunday.
Brazilian state-run oil firm Petrobras is considering bidding in a new tender to explore for oil and gas offshore Israel, a leading Israeli financial news website reported on Sunday. Calcalist reported that a final decision could be announced during a four-day visit to Israel by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro that began on Sunday.
Brazil's Foreign Ministry formally announced on Sunday it will open a business office in Jerusalem, backtracking on President Jair Bolsonaro's promise to move his country's embassy to Jerusalem.
Brazil's armed forces on Sunday paid tribute to a 1964 coup leading to a two-decade dictatorship, after far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who argues that military intervention saved the country from communism, reversed an 8-year-ban on celebrations.
A judge has barred a planned celebration marking the anniversary of the 1964 Brazilian coup which overthrew the democratic government of the elected leader Joao Goulart. President Jair Bolsonaro had planned to celebrate the anniversary of the start of the military dictatorship on Sunday.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his economy minister tried to rescue their contentious pension reform bill on Wednesday, as deepening political chaos surrounding the government’s signature proposal slammed Brazilian markets.
Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche said this week it will stop producing medicines at its Rio de Janeiro unit in Brazil, a new blow to a country whose economy appears to be in its most sluggish decade in 120 years. Roche said the move will take place within the next five years because that factory is not financially sustainable.