
Brazil’s opposition said it will file complaints with the country’s electoral courts against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, arguing that a Rio Carnival tribute staged by samba school Acadêmicos de Niterói amounted to illegal early campaigning funded, at least in part, with public money.

The tribute paid on Sunday by samba school Acadêmicos de Niterói to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — a parade that traced his life story and political rise — has revived debate over the long-standing relationship between Rio’s carnival and political power. Lula is not the first Brazilian president to be featured on the Sambadrome, but he is the first to receive such an honor while alive and in office, according to an EFE account.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva remains the front-runner across all first-round matchups for Brazil’s 4 October presidential election, according to a new survey by Instituto Ideia published by digital outlet Canal Meio.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will undergo cataract surgery on his left eye on Friday, the presidential palace said after preoperative tests were conducted on Thursday in Brasília. The 80-year-old leader returned overnight from Panama, where he attended the International Economic Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean, and spent Thursday at the official Granja do Torto residence.

Seven sitting heads of government and one president-elect from Latin America and the Caribbean shared the stage in Panama on Wednesday to call for deeper regional integration, an increasingly rare show of cross-ideological alignment in a polarized region. The message was delivered at the International Economic Forum Latin America and the Caribbean, backed by CAF and designed as a high-level convening point for governments, business leaders and multilaterals.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Chile’s president-elect José Antonio Kast held their first bilateral meeting in Panama on Tuesday, shortly after arriving for the International Economic Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean — an event promoted by organizers and regional media as a “Latin Davos.”

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva held a phone call on Monday with U.S. President Donald Trump, in a nearly hour-long conversation that blended global governance issues with the bilateral agenda. Brazilian media, citing Planalto Palace sources, reported that Lula argued Trump’s proposed “Peace Board” should be restricted exclusively to the future governance of the Gaza Strip and should also contemplate the creation of a Palestinian state—an approach those sources said Trump does not share.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Friday that global politics is entering a critical phase in which “multilateralism is being thrown out by unilateralism,” and argued that US President Donald Trump is effectively proposing “to create a new UN in which he alone is the owner,” referring to Washington’s plan to set up a Peace Council tied to the administration of Gaza.

Petrobras, through its logistics subsidiary Transpetro, signed contracts worth R$2.8 billion (around US$570 million) on Tuesday for the construction of five gas carriers, 18 pushboats and 18 barges at shipyards in Rio Grande do Sul, Amazonas and Santa Catarina, as part of a government-backed effort to revive Brazil’s shipbuilding industry and reduce reliance on chartered vessels.

Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi expressed disapproval over the absence of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during the signing of the landmark free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Mercosur bloc, held in Asunción on January 17.