Explaining Brazil: Recent Episodes
The Brazilian Report
The Brazilian Report is an independent media outlet uniquely positioned to offer an insider’s view on current affairs in Brazil.
The US now takes less than 10% of Brazil's exports — the smallest share in decades — and Washington's tariff wall is accelerating a realignment that was already underway.
Gustavo Ribeiro speaks with trade consultant Welber Barral, a former Brazilian foreign trade secretary (2007-11), about what the Section 301 tariffs are doing to exporters on the ground, why more than 30 rounds of talks produced nothing, and why Brasília will not sign the deal Washington handed Argentina. They also discuss Brazil's reciprocity law, the lobbying campaign to suspend US patents, and whether an election year makes retaliation more likely or less likely.
Senator Flávio Bolsonaro used his turn at Debating Brazil — an event series in which Brazilian presidential candidates present their vision of the country to foreign ambassadors — to revive discredited claims about electronic voting fraud and to promise close alignment with Washington.Gustavo Ribeiro and James Green examine what the Brazilian press overlooked: a foreign policy doctrine that never rises beyond an outline, an unprompted misstep on Taiwan and an open appeal for American support.Also this week: the Brazil Office Alliance brings 16 social movements to the US Congress to press the case for nonintervention, the forced-labor rationale for new tariffs collapses under scrutiny, and new polling from Poder Data finds a sharp shift in Brazilian sentiment toward China.
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On this episode of Explaining Brazil, Gustavo Ribeiro, editor-in-chief of The Brazilian Report, talks with James Green, a historian at Brown University, about the fracturing landscape of Brazil's 2026 presidential race.
Much of the conversation turns on Flávio Bolsonaro, whose campaign has been undone largely by its own missteps. Once the front-runner, the senator is now locked in a public feud with his stepmother, Michelle Bolsonaro, that has cost him support among conservative and evangelical women. Ribeiro and Green examine how that rupture — compounded by his appeals for Washington to intervene against looming trade tariffs — has drained his political capital.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, meanwhile, is extending his lead by staying out of the fray. But the episode looks past the horse race to slower shifts underneath it.
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated the Comando Vermelho (Red Command, or CV) and the Primeiro Comando da Capital (First Command of the Capital, or PCC) as foreign terrorist organizations. The Brazilian Report's editor-in-chief, Gustavo Ribeiro, and the Brazil Office Alliance's president of the board, James Green, discuss the implications for Brazil.
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Editor-in-chief Gustavo Ribeiro sat down with historian James N. Green to unpack Lula's recent meeting with Donald Trump. While the visit yielded no concrete trade breakthroughs, it has been cast as a diplomatic victory, bolstering Lula's domestic standing against far-right rivals. The discussion also addresses political issues at home: the rejection of a Supreme Court nominee and the steady drift of legislative power toward a more conservative Congress.
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What role will the United States play in Brazil's high-stakes 2026 elections? Join editor-in-chief Gustavo Ribeiro and historian James N. Green of the Brazil Office Alliance as they unpack the escalating tensions and potential for US interference in Brazil's upcoming presidential race
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Amid deepening polarization and the judiciary’s growing role in the country’s political life, Brazil’s Supreme Court has become accustomed to being rated poorly by a significant share of the population.
In recent years, most of that opposition has come from the far right, which saw the court as a barrier to its onslaught on democracy — including the attempted coup following the 2022 election.
The problem now is that the dissatisfaction has become widespread — and is being driven precisely by a justice who was central to preserving democracy during the coup attempt saga: Alexandre de Moraes.
According to polling institute Quaest, 66% of Brazilians said that, come October’s elections, they would consider voting for Senate candidates who promise to seek the impeachment of Supreme Court justices.
That survey was conducted amid the ongoing Banco Master scandal, which has raised corruption suspicions involving a wide range of Brazilian authorities across all branches of government, particularly members of the judiciary and right-wing politicians.
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Humanity has entered what scientists are calling an “era of water bankruptcy.” According to the United Nations University, many critical water systems around the world are so overused — through depletion, overallocation, land and soil degradation, deforestation, and pollution, all compounded by climate change — that they can no longer be restored.
At the same time, global warming and the spread of artificial intelligence promise to dramatically increase demand for water and clean energy across a wide range of countries.
In this complex scenario, Brazil is in a privileged position, being home to more than 12 percent of the world’s fresh water, and an electricity matrix that is more than 55 percent hydropower-based. But does an abundance of river basins truly translate into water security?
As it stands, Brazil is in a relatively comfortable position to ensure water supply for homes, industries, and crops, as well as the functioning of its hydropower plants.
Water availability is also a crucial asset for the country on the international stage. When agribusiness exports dozens of millions of tons of soy each year, it is also indirectly exporting the water used in that process. Half of the water consumed in Brazil goes to irrigation.
When federal and local governments court foreign investment to host data centers, they are offering the water used in power generation and in the cooling systems those facilities require. Last week, the lower house even approved a bill granting tax incentives to the sector. The text will still be voted on in the Senate.
But experts warn of risks of chronic water shortages in several parts of Brazil over the coming decades, considering projections of economic and demographic growth, as well as the effects of climate change.
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Advances in oil exploration and the construction of railways and highways in recent years have shown that, when large infrastructure projects clash with matters of Amazon preservation, the Brazilian government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva tends to favor the former.
Some call this progress; others see it as ultimately self-defeating in the face of the ongoing climate emergency. But this week, the usual script of Brazilian developmentalism trumping environmentalism was turned on its head, and on the Amazonian Tapajós River in Pará state, environmentalist forces prevailed.
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190,000 points. After a string of record highs that have been piling up since mid-January, the Ibovespa — the benchmark index of São Paulo’s stock exchange, the B3 — surpassed this historic threshold during Wednesday, February 11, closing the day just shy of it.
Financial trading volume totaled BRL 38.6 billion, or about USD 7.7 billion. With this result, and only six weeks into the year, Ibovespa has already posted gains of over 18% in 2026.
To give a sense of the scale, stock exchange data on foreign investor flows show a net inflow of BRL 26.3 billion in January alone — exceeding the surplus recorded for the entire year of 2025.
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Brasília is back to work — and the new legislative year has opened with all the familiar rituals: lofty speeches about stability, institutional balance, and dialogue, plus promises of an ambitious agenda ahead.
But this is no ordinary year.
Brazil is heading into a high-stakes election in October. Voters will choose a president, renew the entire House, elect two-thirds of the Senate, pick 27 governors, and decide the fate of hundreds of state legislators. From now on, everything in Brasília will be filtered through the election calendar — what Congress dares to vote on, what the government is willing to push forward, and even how and when Supreme Court justices make their moves.
And looming over all of it is a growing source of anxiety.
Hovering above the capital is the Banco Master case — an investigation lawmakers privately describe as unpredictable, corrosive, and potentially explosive. We touched on it last week, but its shadow is only getting longer.
Since Operation Car Wash erupted in 2014, Congress has not entered an election year under such a serious risk of being overwhelmed by corruption allegations — the kind that can torpedo campaigns, reshape alliances, and, in some cases, lead to criminal consequences.
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As the saying goes, the calm comes before the storm. In Brazil’s Supreme Court, the current crisis came after a period of glory and renown.
In September 2025, the Supreme Court made history and became a global reference. Breaking with Brazil’s long tradition of impunity for military interference in politics, the court analyzed a wealth of evidence and convicted former President Jair Bolsonaro and top-ranking military officers for attempting a coup after losing the 2022 election.
That same month, Edson Fachin took office as the Supreme Court Chief Justice and quickly expressed his desire to create a code of conduct for members of the top court. Apparent conflicts of interest involving justices are common — and preventing them is also a way to strengthen the rule of law.
In December, however, the court was pulled into the swirling scandal involving Banco Master — a mid-sized lender that was liquidated amid suspicions of fraud involving billions of reais. The bank’s owner, Daniel Vorcaro, has ties to state governors, lawmakers, high-ranking executive personnel and justices, putting many people under suspicion across the political spectrum.
Late last year, the press revealed that the wife of Justice Alexandre de Moraes had signed a three-year contract with Banco Master worth BRL 129 million (USD 25 million) to work as a lawyer for the bank. The contract's value raised eyebrows.
Soon after, it became public that Justice Dias Toffoli, the rapporteur of the Master case, had recently traveled on a private jet to a football match with the lawyer of one of the bank’s former executives. That alone would already be inappropriate. But from there, the problems only piled up.
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Amid a global context of eroding multilateralism and rising US trade wars, Mercosur and the European Union are trying to create a shared market for more than 700 million people.
The proposed free trade zone for goods and services encompasses 27 European countries, plus Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay on the other side of the Atlantic, with Bolivia in the process of joining as well. Combined, the economies involved in the deal make up for approximately 20% of global GDP.
The deal was finally signed on January 17, after more than 26 years of back-and-forth negotiations.
But yet again, European farming countries are doing whatever they can to stall its implementation. On January 21, European lawmakers backed a resolution to seek an opinion from the EU’s Court of Justice on whether the free-trade deal complies with existing EU treaties.
That could stall the deal by up to two years — although the agreement’s backers, such as Germany, are trying to go ahead and implement it on a provisional basis until the court says its piece.
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Lula did not recognize Maduro’s 2024 election win, but his first two terms in office in the 2000s saw him make South American integration a top priority of Brazil’s foreign policy, and maintain close ties with the Hugo Chavez government of the time.
Venezuela held the world’s largest oil reserves. It was a country with limited development in other sectors, highly dependent on imports, and eager to challenge a US-led world order. Brazil, meanwhile, had industrial goods, construction companies looking to expand abroad, and ambitions to lead the political rise of the Global South. The partnership had the potential to be highly fruitful.
Since then, however, much has changed in both countries, and ambitious regional integration projects have stalled. Now the United States is once again pulling Venezuela back into its sphere of influence, and away from China and Russia — and Brazil appears to have little room to maneuver.
To understand Brazil-Venezuela relations in the 21st century — including the economic and political choices made by each country — our guests are:
Diplomat Rômulo Neves, telling us what he witnessed firsthand in Brazil-Venezuela diplomatic relations while serving at the Brazilian Embassy in Caracas in 2007, during Chávez’s government. He is currently Minister-Counselor at the Brazilian Embassy in Rwanda, and author of the book “Political Culture and Elements for Analyzing Venezuelan Politics,” published in Portuguese by Funag.
Our Latin America Editor, Ignacio Portes, discusses what has changed in those bilateral relations during Maduro's government.
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In Latin America, 2026 quite literally got off to an explosive start.
Just before sunrise on January 2, the city of Caracas was violently awoken by the sound of bombs, as US forces launched a sudden, high-intensity strike on the Venezuelan capital. Within hours, President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were in American custody — flown out of the country and headed to New York to face criminal charges.
The Venezuelan government has provided no official death count from the strikes, but they are believed to be in the dozens — at least 40, per some accounts.
Even by Washington’s standards, this was extraordinary. But it aligns neatly with Washington’s new worldview.
In its latest National Security Strategy, the US no longer frames Latin America as a partner. Instead, the US describes it as a buffer — a region expected to stop migrants, narcotics and Chinese influence before they reach US shores.
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In any democratic republic, it’s normal for the executive, legislative, and judicial branches to clash. That’s a sign of mutual oversight. It’s also normal for politicians to make concessions to their adversaries. That’s a sign of democracy.
But the sequence of recent events in Brazilian politics has turned into a sweeping narrative about what happens when these dynamics of checks and balances slide into sheer revanchism and bargaining over the rule of law.
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In a country with 27 state governments, more than 5,000 city halls, and around 12 million people working in the public sector, calls to reform — or improve — Brazil’s civil service never really seem to go away.
We talked to Brazil's special secretary for state transformation — and asked him to compare the reform proposals coming from the lower house with the Lula administration's approach.
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Carlos Nobre, head of the Planetary Science Pavilion at COP30 in the Amazon, talks to us about the conference’s results, the climate emergency we are living through, and what Brazil can still do.
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Five years ago, Brazil launched a public digital payment infrastructure — and its impact on the financial market and society has been immense.
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Over the past decade, Brazilian lawmakers have steadily built up procedures to expand their powers over the purse. That has included increasing the overall volume of congressional grants; making a large share of them mandatory spending; limiting the Executive’s discretion over when to release those funds, and creating ways to erase transparency and traceability from the process. A perfect recipe for corruption, which has now trickled down to state and municipal levels.
But the Supreme Court has just ordered the three branches of government to run a nationwide awareness campaign — from December through March — to explain how congressional grants are executed. The idea: show the public where they can access information about these amendments, teach people how to track where the money goes, and encourage them to report irregularities or wrongdoing. Will that finally be enough?
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Each passing year, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP) gains more urgency. More and more biomes around the world are approaching what scientists call tipping points — the Amazon chief among them. Hosting the 30th edition of COP in Belém, one of the Amazon’s biggest cities, therefore represents one of the most significant responsibilities Brazil’s diplomacy has taken on in recent times.
This week, we are joined by experts with distinct and diverse backgrounds to discuss the climate challenges facing Brazil and the world ahead of COP30. They are:
- Adriana Ramos: Executive Secretary of the Socio-Environmental Institute, a civil society organization that monitors indigenous lands and other environmentally protected areas across Brazil, working both with governments and on the ground. She represented the Brazilian Forum of NGOs on the Amazon Fund Steering Committee from 2008 to 2013 and served on the Executive Board of the Brazilian Association of NGOs.
- Carlos Nobre: One of the world’s leading climatologists, he is a researcher at the University of São Paulo, co-chair of the Scientific Panel for the Amazon, and a member of academies such as the World Academy of Sciences. He co-authored the research that earned the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 and was also responsible for creating some of Brazil’s main government climate centers, as well as the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in the Amazon.
- Natalie Unterstell: President of the Talanoa Institute, a Brazilian climate policy think tank, and member of the COP30 Adaptation Council and the accreditation panel of the Green Climate Fund. She holds a master’s degree from Harvard Kennedy School and has served as a negotiator for Brazil in global climate talks, helping lead Brazil’s climate policy development.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on The Brazilian Report.
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Justice Luís Roberto Barroso is retiring. We unpack how factors such as trust, political ties, and electoral considerations may guide President Lula’s next choice for the court.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on The Brazilian Report.
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Justice Luís Roberto Barroso is retiring. We unpack how factors such as trust, political ties, and electoral considerations may guide President Lula’s next choice for the court.
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President Lula’s popularity has risen. We examine how this might impact the political landscape ahead of the next presidential election.
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President Lula’s popularity has risen. We examine how this might impact the political landscape ahead of the next presidential election.
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Brazil’s Congress is discussing a proposal for income tax reform. Backed by the Lula administration, the bill seeks to make the country’s system more progressive. But just how unequal are taxes in Brazil?
This week, we host economist Davi Bhering, who co-authored a Paris School of Economics study on Brazil’s tax income system. In our newly released episode of the Explaining Brazil podcast, he unpacks:
- Why Brazil’s income inequality may be higher than previously estimated.
- How the Brazilian system’s regressivity compares to other countries.
Why his findings may indicate that global inequality is higher than anticipated.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on The Brazilian Report.
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Crowds on Sunday fanned out across Brazil’s 27 state capitals to denounce two measures moving through Congress: a constitutional amendment proposal that would essentially shield lawmakers from prosecution, and a bill that could forgive or soften penalties for those convicted of a coup attempt masterminded by former President Jair Bolsonaro and his acolytes.
The demonstrations, initially organized in a spontaneous, online fashion and later embraced by left-of-center parties, were notable not only for their scale but also for how they reframed Brazil’s political symbolism and fault lines.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on The Brazilian Report.
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A massive police operation exposed how deep Brazil's largest criminal organization has penetrated the legitimate economy.
Rafael Alcadipani, a professor at the FGV’s School of Public Administration and a member of the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, unpacks:
- How the PCC evolved into a mafia-like organization, with multiple economic activities.
- The impacts of this expansion on democracy.
- Brazil’s federal and state-level capacity to combat organized crime.
- How the United States might play a role — and the risks.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on The Brazilian Report.
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The Brazilian Supreme Court has reached a majority to convict former President Jair Bolsonaro of leading a conspiracy to overturn his 2022 electoral defeat.
The trial is about to bring an end to a political career long marked by authoritarian views and practices. To review Bolsonaro's political path, the Explaining Brazil podcast invited journalist Juliana Dal Piva. She is the author of the book “O Negócio do Jair” (“The Business of Jair”), published in 2022 by Editora Zahar, and the host of the podcast series “A Vida Secreta de Jair” (“The Secret Life of Jair”), released in 2021 by the website UOL.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts or on The Brazilian Report.
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The final stage of Jair Bolsonaro’s coup trial kicked off on September 2 in Brasília. After months of evidence-gathering, arguments and testimonies, the justices are expected to deliver their ruling by September 12, in what is arguably the most consequential trial in Brazil’s recent history.
At the center of the case are the riots that occurred on January 8, 2023. They looked eerily like January 6 in the United States — but worse: crowds stormed not only Congress, but also the presidential palace and the Supreme Court itself. But prosecutors say those riots were just the visible edge of something larger — a vast conspiracy to push the military into breaking democracy.
So what happens now? How will the justices rule, and what will it mean for Brazil’s fragile democracy — and its powerful military? Our guest today is Davi Tangerino. He’s a criminal lawyer and a professor at State University of Rio de Janeiro. Tangerino also served on Brazil’s National Council for Criminal and Penitentiary Policy, and helped lead the Brazilian Institute of Criminal Sciences.
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At a time when US President Donald Trump is pressuring Brazil on both trade and military fronts, the country’s digital vulnerabilities have come into focus. The notion of sovereignty now extends beyond borders to the infrastructure, systems and data that underpin the digital world.
How prepared is Brazil to secure its digital sovereignty?
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A political drama has unfolded inside Congress. It started with a show of force: after former President Jair Bolsonaro was placed on house arrest, lawmakers loyal to him occupied both chambers, bringing the legislature to a halt. But beneath the theatrics, something more profound is unraveling — a leadership crisis. Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts or on The Brazilian Report.
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In this edition of #InsiderTalks, we’ve invited experts on law, democracy and electoral trends to analyze the trial of Bolsonaro and his allies for an alleged coup plot. Subscribe to Explaining Brazil Plus on Apple Podcasts for the full episode or go to The Brazilian Report and subscribe to get all of our content.
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Professor Felipe Campante of Johns Hopkins sees little room for success in negotiations between Brazil and the US, as only the former is following the rule of law. Subscribe to Explaining Brazil Plus on Apple Podcasts for the full episode or go to The Brazilian Report and subscribe to get all of our content.
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In this episode of Explaining Brazil Plus, we analyzed Donald Trump’s threat of a 50% tariff on Brazil and its possible impacts on the country's economy and politics. Subscribe to Explaining Brazil Plus on Apple Podcasts for the full episode or go to The Brazilian Report and subscribe to get all of our content.
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A major social security scandal causes a government headache. Brazil’s beef sector needs major changes to hit emissions goals. And Lula is off to Rome for the pope’s funeral, but who’s going with him?
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In this Explaining Brazil Plus episode, Lise Tupiassu of the Federal University of Pará gives us her on-the-ground perspective on what should be in the spotlight regarding COP30 in the Amazon
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Rio’s mayor looks to El Salvador for inspiration on public security. Brazil’s agro jobs are less and less done on farms. And Bolsonaro goes under the knife again in a 12-hour surgery.
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Trump and the US become less popular in Brazil. Embraer wades into the aerial arms race. And the pro-gun caucus wants to take firearms away from Lula’s security team
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US President Donald Trump promises a significant tariff announcement on April 2. We gathered a team of experts to discuss how the looming threats of tariffs from the Trump administration may affect Brazil and reshape relations between the United States and Brazil — not just in the short-term future but also in the long run. Panelists:
- Tony Harrington, former US ambassador to Brazil. Founding Principal of Albright Stonebridge. He was previously Chair of the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board and currently serves as Chair of the Wilson Center Brazil Institute.
- Kellie Meiman Hock, senior counselor at McLarty Associates and a board member of the Inter-American Dialogue. A former US Foreign Service Officer, she served in Porto Alegre, São Paulo and Recife in Brazil, as well as at the Office of the US Trade Representative in the Executive Office of the President as Director for Brazil and the Southern Cone.
- Welber Barral, founding partner of BMJ, is an expert in international trade and investment with over 30 years of experience. He served as Brazil’s Secretary of Foreign Trade between 2007 and 2011 and has acted as an arbitrator in Mercosur and WTO disputes. He currently advises Fiesp and presides over IBCI, the Brazilian Institute of Foreign Trade.
This episode is exclusive for premium subscribers and subscribers of Explaining Brazil Plus on Apple Podcasts.
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The Supreme Court decides that Jair Bolsonaro will face trial over coup-plotting allegations. Brazilian producers are exporting eggs to the bird flu-hit US. And Brazil wants to chart its own course in purchasing defense tech. This episode refers to the newsletters:
- 🧨 Charges accepted (Mar. 27)
- 🐣 Hatching a new market (Mar. 26)
- ⚖️ Facing the music (Mar. 25)
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Lula announces major income tax exemptions. The Central Bank hikes interest rates once more. And one of Bolsonaro’s sons flees to the US. This episode refers to the newsletters:
- 🎰 Lula goes all in (Mar. 19)
- 📈 Different in form, not content (Mar. 20)
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Inflation data shows little in the way of good news for Brazil. The country’s planned digital currency moves through testing phases. And Trump’s metal tariffs kick in — how is Brazil going to respond? This episode refers to the newsletters:
- 😢 Brazilian wallets weep (Mar. 12)
- 🔐 Drex files: Privacy vs oversight (Mar. 12)
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We’re launching Explaining Brazil Plus — a premium service bringing you exclusive content every month. As a subscriber, you’ll get access to special episodes and expert interviews, offering deeper insights into Brazil’s biggest stories. Subscriptions are just USD 1.99 a month on Apple Podcasts. But here’s the best part: If you’re already a subscriber to The Brazilian Report, you get it for free!
- This week: Reporter Isabela Cruz sits down with Rubens Barbosa, Brazil’s former ambassador to the United Kingdom (1994-1999) and the United States (1999-2006), now a business consultant.
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Brazil bags its Carnival Oscar glory with “I’m Still Here.” Consumers get rattled as “fake coffee” makes its way onto supermarket shelves. And a court precedent could spell trouble for Big Four auditors in Brazil.
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Carnival is here, and it’s big business. Lula pulls the trigger and sacks his health minister. And STEM degrees are becoming less and less common in Brazil.
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Bolsonaro faces criminal charges for coup plotting. Trump’s media group is suing a Brazilian Supreme Court justice. And Brazil’s organized crime groups are expanding far beyond the drug trade.
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How Trump’s steel tariffs are expected to affect Brazil. A year after historic floods, Rio Grande do Sul now suffers from drought. And how Brazil’s evangelical shift is changing national politics.
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As Trump's trade threats reshape global commerce, Brazil grapples with a mounting yellow fever outbreak ahead of Carnival. Meanwhile, controversial Amazon oil drilling plans gain momentum under new Senate leadership, testing the country's environmental commitments.
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Our podcast is back! For our first episode of 2025, we bring you a crucial topic for Brazil’s political landscape: the upcoming elections for the leadership positions in Congress and how they will affect Brazil’s political landscape, the tensions between the Lula administration and the far right, as well as how the new congressional outlook will affect landmark projects such as the tax reform.
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The EU had approved a law demanding that products exported to the bloc would have to prove they are deforestation-free. After much adaptation and preparation, the implementation of that law has been delayed for an extra year, which will benefit Brazilian commodity exporters.
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The Brazilian real is plummeting, borrowing costs are climbing, and market confidence has been in free fall.
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Many thought the tax reform regulations would clear Congress before the October elections. With just a few weeks left in the 2024 calendar, many wonder if it will pass at all this year.
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With the G20 Summit and Brazil’s presidency of the group now at an end, we look back at the results of the major international gathering in Rio de Janeiro, and Lula’s date with Xi
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In our book club, journalist Marcos Colón talks about the existential crisis that criminals, multinational companies and also the State have historically imposed to the Amazon
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As the U.S. selects its next leader, the choice will reverberate through Latin America, influencing political and economic landscapes across the region.
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Jair Bolsonaro is working to reshape Brazil’s Liberal Party into a political vehicle firmly under his influence — much like Donald Trump has redefined the Republican Party in the U.S. as his MAGA party.
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A particularly harsh wildfire season in Brazil's Pantanal has caused major impacts on the population of jaguars, the biome's most emblematic species. We speak to a big cat expert to find out more
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Seemingly from nowhere, the online sports betting market has swept across Brazil like a tsunami, and the pernicious effects of gambling addiction are already having clear signs on society.
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Brazilians in almost 5,600 municipalities went to the polls to pick new mayors and city council members. The dispute was settled on Sunday in all but 52 cities. This week, we will discuss what conclusions can be drawn from the results, the key races still in play, and the effects of these local races on national politics.
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For Lula's third term as president, international prominence and influence was set out as a priority — but a Pew survey shows that things are moving in the opposite direction
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X has been banned in Brazil for more than three weeks now, with billionaire CEO Elon Musk refusing to comply with Supreme Court demands. He seems to now have backed down, but what of the future of the platform in Brazil?
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Smoke-filled skies, wildfires, lack of rain, and scorching heat that have lingered for weeks offer a glimpse of what’s in store for Brazilian cities as climate change takes hold in the coming years.
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Pablo Marçal, a candidate for mayor of São Paulo who has become a hot name within Bolsonarism — despite not being endorsed by Bolsonaro. Marçal defends many of the values espoused by Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters. More importantly, he deploys a social media strategy that seems to be a version of the Bolsonaro campaign on steroids.
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In our book club, economist Alysson Portella discusses the figures that unravel the structures of racial inequality in the country and points out ways to overcome it.
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Brazil's Central Bank has enjoyed political autonomy since 2021, and Congress is analyzing a bill to make it financially independent, too. But this freedom has not come without controversy
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After months of feuding between tech mogul Elon Musk and Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the billionaire announced the closure of X's Brazil operations
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Over the past five decades, Brazil and China have forged a complex and dynamic partnership, evolving from cautious diplomatic ties to becoming key economic and political allies on the global stage.
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A look at Brazil's big medal wins, prospects for the final days of the Games, and how Brazilian athletes are funded.
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Nicolás Maduro claimed victory in Venezuela's presidential election on Sunday, but the opposition and a long list of observers find the announced results difficult to believe
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In our book club, professor Carlos Pereira argues that certain institutional features ensured that Bolsonaro's authoritarian initiatives never became a credible threat
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Despite strategic moves to distribute cabinet positions to center and center-right parties, this has not guaranteed Lula a stable coalition. Some in the president's camp are calling for a reset in negotiations with Congress — but is that possible?
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Debates about gun rights and regulations are becoming more and more common in 21st century Brazil, and we explore the forces behind the most prominent arguments.
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The Brazilian real turns 30 next week. But the currency is reaching the landmark amid an incredible rout, caused by fiscal concerns.
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Since returning to the Brazilian presidency, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has shown something of a preference for foreign policy, potentially to the detriment of domestic politics. He's traveled the world, appearing at almost every international summit that will have him, with the articulated goal of "repositioning" Brazil on the world stage. LINK: TO BE READ, ep. 02.
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Why disgruntled civil servants are a risk to Brazil's environmental goals
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A family left Brazil for Afghanistan in the 2000s, aiming to convert Muslims to Christianity. @Adriana Carranca talks to @Isabela Cruz about this story and the political dynamics surrounding it, as she explained in her work "Soul By Soul." Watch the full interview on Patreon for free!
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A bill pending in the Senate proposes transferring control of coastal land to state governments, municipal authorities, or private interests, raising fear about the future of Brazil's beaches.
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Shein, AliExpress, and Shopee have become ubiquitous in Brazil, causing much controversy along the way. Now, a bid from domestic retailers to bump up taxes on these platforms seems to have taken hold.
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Swapping out the head of state-controlled oil firm Petrobras, it seems that the Lula government is going full steam on intervention to push through its developmentalist goals
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While rainfall continues to ravage Brazil's southernmost state, authorities warn about the plague of disinformation — which they say is hindering rescue operations
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A new series featuring authors talking about Brazil. The Brazilian Report's To Be Read will be a space for conversations about books that translate the country's history and contemporary political life. In its first meeting, "The Brazilian Report's To Be Read" book club will talk to Adriane Sanctis about the slave trade in the Atlantic, based on her work "Seeking Capture, Resisting Seizure."
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Brazil's southernmost state is underwater after days of severe heavy rains, with the human and material tolls mounting by the hour. We examine the extent of the crisis in Rio Grande do Sul
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The relationship between farmers and the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration is by no means a warm one. The government is trying to change that with shedloads of credit
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In the last episode of our special series about the Brazilian military dictatorship, we tell the story of how the country dealt with its authoritarian past and recently returned to the brink of a coup d'état.
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Credited with turning JBS into the world's largest meat-packing company, billionaire brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista are now seeking a return to the firm's board of directors after years of legal troubles. An international advocacy group seeks to stop that.
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House Speaker Arthur Lira and the Lula government's Congress liaison Alexandre Padilha are engaged in a very public disagreement. But what does that mean for the administration going forward? And for Lira's 2025 succession plans?Read show notes.
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In the third episode of our special series about the Brazilian military dictatorship, we fly over South America, dominated by authoritarian rule in the 1960s and 1970s. We tell the story of how Brazil supported coups in the region and how it operated internationally to persecute exiles. While you're at it, we have prepared a special playlist with songs that defined the resistance against the dictatorships in Brazil and the other countries mentioned in this episode. Read show notes.
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Musk has stated that Brazil is on the verge of becoming an Orwellian dystopia in which one man — Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes — decides what can be said online.Read show notes.
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In the second episode of the special series about the Brazilian military dictatorship, from within to abroad, we are starting our dive into the international connections of the regime, beginning with the U.S. We tell the story of how it participated in the coup, as well as how bilateral relations were conducted from then on. Read show notes.
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Negotiations with the U.S. and the opposition had led to hopes that Venezuela would hold clean elections in 2024. But the Maduro administration stopping adversaries from competing has put that optimism to rest. Read show notes.
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In 1964, in the midst of Cold War tensions, Brazil's President João Goulart was overthrown under pressure from both civil society and the Armed Forces, leading to 21 years of authoritarian rule in Brazil. In this episode, we'll explore the Brazilian military dictatorship in its social, economic, and institutional aspects. Read show notes.
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A new report maps and details the activities and ideologies of more than 20 far-right extremist groups operating in Brazil.Read show notes
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President Lula's approval ratings have fallen sharply in recent months. We asked a senior Brazil analyst whether it is already time for him to hit the panic button. Show notes.
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Radical far-right politicians were chosen to be the heads of some of the most important standing committees in Brazil's House, showing some frailties in the Lula government's position in Congress. Read show notes.
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The Cerrado has a strategic significance beyond Brazil: no other biome has such a key role to play in furthering food security while continuing to protect such rich biodiversity. Read show notes.
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Jair Bolsonaro got thousands of supporters on the streets of São Paulo. But the rally, although big in size, was no game-changer for him. Euan Marshall, Isabela Cruz, and Cedê Silva explain why. Read show notes.
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Brazil's president created a diplomatic uproar for his latest comments on the Israel-Hamas conflict, but why would Lula take such a strong anti-Israel stance? Read show notes.
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More farmers in Mato Grosso are filing for bankruptcy; climate conditions are set to reduce crop yields this year … But is the Brazilian agro sector really facing a crisis? Read show notes.
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The 2024 congressional year has plenty of pitfalls in store for President Lula and his administration. We explain what to look out for over the coming 12 months. Read show notes.
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Charged with carrying out the 2018 murder of city councilor Marielle Franco, ex-cop Ronnie Lessa has taken a plea deal. And press reports say the gunman has given up the name of the man in charge of ordering the assassination. Read show notes.
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Facial recognition tools, using AI-powered algorithms, have been used extensively in Brazilian law enforcement. But there is heated debate on whether these algorithms carry racist bias and propagate existing inequalities. Read show notes.
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The January 8 riots were proof of how polarized Brazilian society was. One year later, it might be even more polarized — so two experts believe. Read show notes.
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In the last podcast of 2023, we analyze the tax reform approved by Congress. Read show notes.
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Brazil pledged to launch a global alliance against hunger during the year it will hold the G20 presidency. Read show notes.
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In Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro seems hell-bent on annexing a large (and oil-rich) part of Guyana. Brazil has mobilized armored vehicles to its northern border. Read show notes.
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Lula's choice of Justice Minister Flávio Dino to sit on the Supreme Court has attracted criticism from both sides of the aisle. Read show notes.
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With Argentina now undergoing the transition toward a Milei government, many questions remain about what to expect from the controversial rookie administration. Read show notes.
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The Federal Police have arrested three men suspected of links to Hezbollah. They would be recruiting Brazilians to carry out extremist acts in the country. Read show notes.
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São Paulo faced a massive power outage in recent days. The shortcomings of a private electricity provider rekindled debates about the privatization of public services. Read show notes.
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The Senate finally has a draft tax reform, but it includes several changes to the version approved by the House in July and creates even more exceptions to benefit specific sectors. Show notes.
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If Javier Milei were to win the presidential race in Argentina, his government is bound to be anything but business as usual for Brazil. Marina Pera, the Southern Cone political risk analyst at Control Risks, explains why. Show notes.
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Congress decided to investigate the January 8 riots in Brasília. The investigation promised to identify those who ransacked government buildings, as well as the people who incited and financed these actions — but it is ending in a damp squib. Show notes.
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The latest intensification of violence between Israel and Palestine poses a threat to Brazil's diplomats, as the country is temporarily heading the UN Security Council. We look at Brazil's Middle East track record. Show notes.
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After the primary win of Javier Milei, Argentina's final presidential elections are coming into view — and the madcap libertarian economist is still the clear favorite. We look at what to expect from the vote over the border in Argentina. Show notes.
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In the largest Amazon state, officials expect all but one municipality to declare a full state of emergency in the coming weeks. With rivers drying up, the region risks ending up isolated. Show notes.
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While Jair Bolsonaro's UN speeches were aimed at a domestic audience, Lula brought his foreign policy agenda to the stage. Show notes.
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On September 11, Chile remembered the 50-year anniversary of the military coup that ushered in nearly three decades of authoritarian rule under Gen. Pinochet. We look at the role of Brazilian agents in helping unseat the socialist President Salvador Allende.
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Bolsonaro's supporters are calling for their own #stayathome campaign for this year's September 7 Independence Day celebrations. @euanmarshall and @amandafaudi explain how the holiday took on new significance in recent years, and the motives behind the Bolsonarista boycott.
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Brazil's Supreme Court and Congress are separately debating a legal argument that could render indigenous land claims completely unfeasible. Editor @euanmarshall speaks to Adriana Ramos (@naosoumaismess) from NGO @socioambiental to find out what's at stake.
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This week's BRICS summit in Johannesburg could see the bloc expand for the first time since South Africa's membership in 2010. How might that affect Brazil's role? How powerful might the BRICS become? @euanmarshall and @cedesilva break down the latest.
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The government and Petrobras want to drill near the Amazon estuary. But an unprecedented discovery shows the area is still largely unstudied
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Separatist tensions in Brazil more often than not come from fringe and ridiculed groups, but comments by a prominent right-wing politician have brought this discussion back to the fore, albeit in sensational terms.
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Almost eight years ago, Brazil suffered its biggest environmental disaster in history, when the Fundão dam in Mariana burst and spilled an untold torrent of toxic sludge into the Rio Doce. Now, a gigantic class-action suit in England seeks proper reparations.
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We speak with Ivy Casagrande, head of performance at Brazil's national women's football team, in an exclusive interview straight from Australia, where she discusses Brazil's World Cup chances, Marta's last dance, and the history of the women's game in Brazil.
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Petrochemical giant Braskem announced that it has reached a settlement with the city of Maceió to pay compensation for the destruction of entire neighborhoods, caused by abusive salt mining by the company.
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Meta's new social media Threads is already one of Brazil's most downloaded apps. But privacy experts in Brazil are concerned that the new network is less than compliant with the country's data protection laws.
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Corruption has become less of a top-of-mind issue in Brazil, but a study from AS/COA and Control Risks suggests the country's anti-corruption tools are stronger with Jair Bolsonaro out of office.
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The Superior Electoral Court banned Jair Bolsonaro from electoral politics for eight years. But other cases could extend that period.
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Less than a week after issuing a hawkish statement on its latest policy decision, the Central Bank changed its tone, and made markets anticipate imminent interest rate cuts.
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The EU and Mercosur reached an agreement on a trade deal back in 2019. But since then, nothing much has happened — and the window of opportunity may be closing.
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YouTube’s recommendation algorithm might have been a key weapon for the far-right to firehose public discourse with disinformation.
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Ten years after Brazil's June 2013 protests, we look back and analyze what they meant, where they came from, and what legacy they have left us.
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For foreign observers, Lula's environment promises were among the most important facets of his campaign. And less than six months in, there are fears that much of these pledges may have been empty words.
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Wars, pandemics, and global inequalities show that countries need to work together in order to thrive. We explore how to achieve effective multilateralism, and where Brazil fits into the global equation.
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Since mid-2016, Petrobras had pegged fuel prices in refineries to international fluctuations. That policy is gone four and a half months into the Lula administration.
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As the world debates social media regulation, Brazil's Congress and Supreme Court are tackling the issue as we speak. We discuss why the world should be paying notice.
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This week, The Brazilian Report has been on the ground at Web Summit Rio, one of the world's biggest tech events, being held outside of Europe for the first time. Over four days of panels, lectures, and events, Web Summit Rio has its full capacity, attracting more than 21,000 attendees from 91 countries.
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Congressional inquiries make up for their limited powers with their very public nature, being more suited to political point-scoring than real accountability.
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Brazilian allies saw Lula as a man who would recover Brazil's international clout. Three months, several statements, and a visit to China later, they may no longer be so sure.
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The Brazilian Report and the Wilson Center's Brazil Institute hosted an event to discuss Lula's first 100 days in office. What can we make of the start of the new government? Read our special report on the government's first achievements and challenges.
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This week, Brazil's top electoral court reaches the final stage of a trial against former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is accused of abusing his political power to sow disinformation in the voting system. If convicted, he will lose his political rights.
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The heads of the House and Senate are locked in a cold war over how Congress should appraise provisional decrees submitted by the federal government. Show notes.
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Markets are patiently waiting to hear the Lula government's proposal for a new fiscal anchor to replace Brazil's lame-duck spending cap. We discuss what the plan may look like and how it would be received. Show notes.
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We still don't know who ordered the 2018 assassination of Rio de Janeiro Councilwoman Marielle Franco. Now, it seems the federal government wants to solve the case once and for all. Show notes.
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Andrade Gutierrez, a major Brazilian construction conglomerate operating in 11 countries, has suffered a massive security breach. And we have all the details. Read the full report by Amanda Audi here.
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Following the January 8 Brasília riots, the Lula administration on Wednesday created a working group to present strategies and policy solutions to fight extremist acts and hate speech online.
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The meeting between Lula and Joe Biden laid bare the points on which the two leaders share common goals, such as the environment and the fight against the far-right … and also those on which they disagree.
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Our team revealed that the man who broke into the Telegram accounts of federal prosecutors working in Operation Car Wash also tried to hack his way into obtaining personal data from Alexandre de Moraes, head of Brazil's electoral court.
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Brazil's House and Senate choose their new leaders today. But don't expect the levels of drama of the election in the U.S. House of Representatives, where 15 rounds of voting were necessary for Kevin McCarthy to win the speakership. Access show notes at: https://brazilian.report/podcast/
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The Brazilian government has called the humanitarian catastrophe in the northern Yanomami indigenous land a "genocide."
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The Chinese economy has posted one of its worst economic performances in 50 years. Meanwhile, its population has shrunk for the first time since the Great Leap Forward. For Brazil, which depends on sales to China, that doesn't bode well in the long term.
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So much for a "honeymoon period." One week into his term, Lula, Brazil's new president, has to deal with a massive national security threat and a full-blown attack on democracy and its symbols.
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During his inaugural speech, Lula painted a scorched-earth picture of the government he takes over from, repeatedly using words such as destruction, disorganization, dilapidation, and ruin to describe the legacy he inherits.
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Pelé — the greatest player in the history of football — was admitted to hospital last week. We remember how he became the "King" of the world's most popular sport.
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A recent study by Brazilian researchers shows that the social ladder offers little mobility in Brazil.
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Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro have continuously staged anti-democratic protests. The World Cup will be the ultimate test of these demonstrations' endurance.
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Foreign observers were following the Brazilian presidential election due to climate worries. Jair Bolsonaro lost — what climate legacy will he leave behind?
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Almost 48 hours after losing the presidential election, Jair Bolsonaro broke his silence. But he stopped short of explicitly conceding to Lula.
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Almost 48 hours after losing the presidential election, Jair Bolsonaro broke his silence. But he stopped short of explicitly conceding to Lula.
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With only days to go until the runoff election, President Bolsonaro has gone to great lengths to suggest electoral authorities are pushing the needle in favor of his opponent, Lula.
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It's been exactly five years since The Brazilian Report went on air! Editor Euan Marshall sits down with editor-in-chief Gustavo Ribeiro and CEO Laura Quirin to hear the full story.
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Brazilian candidates have been in a race for endorsements from regional political leaders. Still, social media misinformation campaigns could turn Baphomet, a deity in various occult traditions, into 2022's biggest kingmaker.
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Jair Bolsonaro outperformed his polling numbers, proving he put the far-right in the Brazilian political mainstream. Brazil's presidential runoff may be the tightest ever
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We've reached the home stretch of the Brazilian 2022 election. On Sunday, October 2, Brazilians will hit the polls. Here's what you should keep an eye out for.
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President Bolsonaro has hinted that he could try to stage a coup if he loses the upcoming election. If he really pulls that trigger, then what?
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Former Environment Minister Marina Silva, who until recently was highly critical of Lula and his Workers' Party, has just endorsed the former president. For her, democrats' main goal should be unseating Jair Bolsonaro.
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Just a month shy of the elections, pro-Bolsonaro protesters will hit the streets on Independence Day to show their support for the current president. But could this September 7 impact the results at the ballot box? In a special live taking place in Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo, our very own Gustavo Ribeiro and Euan Marshall will discuss the demos and their significance with Beatriz Rey, SNF Agora fellow and columnist at The Brazilian Report. Special live appearances by Cedê Silva, in Brasília, and Constance Malleret, from Rio de Janeiro.
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SPECIAL SERIES: In this fourth and final episode, we shed light on the multiple "Independence Days" across Brazil, each with its own significance.
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SPECIAL SERIES: In the third episode of our series, we look at Brazil's wars of independence, showing that constituting this new country was not as bloodless as many believe.
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SPECIAL SERIES: In this second episode, we look at the real story of what happened on September 7 — not the one taught in school textbooks.
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SPECIAL SERIES: In this special mini-series, we walk you through the eccentricities and myths of this period, its legacies in the country 200 years later, and how Brazil became Brazil.
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The much-anticipated confrontation between Lula and Jair Bolsonaro ended up being underwhelming. But besides that, have we really learned anything from Sunday's debate?
The Enthusiasm Project
Deep dives exploring the world of what it means to be an independent creator.
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The election four years ago led many to believe that TV and radio ads had become a thing of the past. But have they? This week we will talk about TV and radio ads, then and now.
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Weekly interviews, strategy, and advice for building your online business the smart way.
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Brazil registered 0.68-percent deflation in July, suggesting that prices are easing. But a look beneath the headline numbers makes for some sobering findings.
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As President Jair Bolsonaro's anti-democratic antics grow in volume, banks and tycoons become vocal in their defense of democracy. A coup, after all, is bad for business.
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Brazil has over 1,300 confirmed cases of monkeypox. With the exception of Peru’s 275 confirmed cases, no other Latin American countries have hit the 100-case mark, making Brazil the region's monkeypox hotspot.
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The main candidacies in Brazil's presidential election in October have been made official by their parties. We discuss what that changes in the race.
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Arguably Brazil's biggest pop star of the moment, singer Anitta has endorsed former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — and is even giving him campaign advice.
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The murder of a Workers' Party official spells a bad omen for Brazil's upcoming general election.
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The Brazilian president wants to sidestep election laws to jack up spending ahead of the election. Columnist Beatriz Rey warns of the risks of giving him such powers.
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The opposition failed to remove Bolsonaro from office with last year's Covid hearings. They want a new congressional investigation to hurt him at the ballot box.
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While the price of gas isn't exactly the best metric to understand the economy at large, the ubiquity of fuel and its direct impact on people's monthly budgets make it an easy shorthand for the broader economic scenario — especially when prices are going up.
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It has been 11 days since journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira were reported missing. The police are yet to find the two.
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A deflated Summit of the Americas won't bring many noteworthy resolutions, though it will be interesting to see what transpires from a bilateral meeting between Presidents Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Joe Biden of the U.S.
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Brazil thought the economic growth of the 2000s had rid the country of hunger. But this ghost of the past has returned to haunt the country.
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The final spot in the presidential runoff in Colombia remains up for grabs. The dispute between populist Rodolfo Hernández and establishment conservative Fico Gutiérrez will be decided by a razor-thin margin.
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April economic data from China came worse than expected. Given the sheer importance of the Asian giant to Brazil, that is something for President Jair Bolsonaro, who seeks re-election in October, to worry about.
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Former President Lula officially began the race for an unprecedented third presidential term. The challenges he will face are far greater this time around.
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A group of researchers from the U.S.-based Washington Brazil Office believes the threat of democratic rupture in Brazil is very real, and they want Joe Biden to react.
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When the holder of the highest office in the land openly challenges judicial decisions, it spells a bad omen for the endurance of democratic institutions.
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After over two years and more than 660,000 deaths in Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro is claiming "victory" over Covid-19 — but the government deserves no credit after its hapless pandemic response.
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After years of economic debacle, President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela has adopted more pragmatic economic policies. And the results are showing.
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Unpopular politicians, no unifying candidate, and erratic moves have scuppered the chances of Brazil's democratic right in the 2022 election.
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With inflation weighing down his chances of winning a second term, President Jair Bolsonaro has nixed the CEO of Petrobras. Again.
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It was more than a ban of the messaging app, courts wanted to draw a red line in the sand, which Telegram should not cross. But how Brazil will handle the app going forward remains murky — both legally and politically.
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The ghost of inflation continues to haunt President Jair Bolsonaro, who is running out of ways to hold prices down.
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President Bolsonaro declared Brazil would be "neutral" in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, mentioning a crucial facet of the war for Brazilian interests: fertilizers.
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Officers in the state of Minas Gerais have called a strike. How this crisis unfolds will send a message to other law enforcement agencies around the country.
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Leading all the polls, Brazilian center-left icon Lula is seeking a blockbuster alliance with a bonafide conservative. But the move is far from a guaranteed success.
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Messaging app Telegram has been a thorn in the side of Brazil's electoral courts. But authorities are struggling to come up with ways to curb misinformation.
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A Russian invasion of Ukraine or prolonged tensions between Moscow and the West could disrupt agricultural production and push inflation even further up.
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Washington has tried to get Brazil to condemn "Russia aggression" in Ukraine. But Bolsonaro has his reasons to keep a safe distance from the current geopolitical crisis.
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President Jair Bolsonaro's demeanor has made Brazil's South American neighbors hit the pause button on multilateral initiatives. That could have terrible consequences for the region.
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Federal civil servants threaten to go on strike next week, which could cause a government shutdown just months from the presidential election.
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As 2021 draws to a close, our newsroom is about to launch a new report laying out the main trends for Brazil’s economy, politics, and the environment in the year to come.
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After much comings and goings, Bolsonaro has found a new party, in an arrangement that will help shape Brazil's political landscape for 2022 and beyond.
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This time last year, Brazilian citizens were unsure if they would ever get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Now, the country has immunized 80 percent of its adult population.
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Javier Milei is a vaccine skeptic, climate change denier, libertarian economist … and now, one of the biggest political stars in Argentinian politics.
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Brazil showed up in the west of Scotland ready to listen and compromise with the international community. But were its commitments enough?
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Seen as Chile's answer to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, José Antonio Kast has been consistently rising in polls since early in September. Could he win on November 21?
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The writing is on the wall: the government is about to obliterate the federal spending cap. One economist believes it is now time for damage limitation, at best.
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Members of the Covid hearings committee disagree on whether to indict President Jair Bolsonaro for genocide against indigenous groups and murder. This episode used the music "Infados" by Kevin MacLeod
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A deal between Brazil and Argentina breathes new life into the Mercosur trade alliance. At least until the next crisis, that is. This episode used the music "Infados" by Kevin MacLeod and "Lurking" by Silent Partner, from the YouTube Audio Library.
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Brazil's consumer price index is set to hit the 10-percent mark this week. And historical data shows that high inflation and a poor economic outlook are bad omens for incumbent presidents.
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Two major Brazilian HMOs are accused of treating Covid patients as guinea pigs, administering chloroquine and other drugs without their knowledge — and allegedly at the behest of the Bolsonaro government. This episode sampled the song Infados by Kevin MacLeod, from the YouTube Audio Library.
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Last week's midterm primaries in Argentina delivered what was arguably the worst electoral defeat Peronism has ever suffered. But the problem goes beyond short-term woes.
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The government has delivered very little and has been a source of instability for the Brazilian economy. So what keeps market agents from turning on Bolsonaro?
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Bolsonaro is threatening to disregard Supreme Court rulings from now on. So how should the political system react to a president who doesn't want to play by the rules? (This episode was recorded live on Tuesday, Sep 7.)
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In six days, pro-Bolsonaro supporters will stage demonstrations in multiple cities. The unfolding of Brazil's political crisis depends on how big the turnout will be.
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Many fear September 7 could be Brazil's own version of the January 6 U.S. Capitol riots. Given the scenario in Brazil, a similar movement could have much bloodier consequences.
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While President Jair Bolsonaro seems to have very little interest in foreign affairs, serving in peacekeeping missions is a badge of honor for the Brazilian military — which holds enormous influence with Bolsonaro.
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Brazilian data protection watchdog ANPD, the National Data Protection Authority, is now able to punish companies who mishandle customer data. But many questions around regulators still linger.
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With sparse transport infrastructure and precarious health services, getting medical supplies to Brazil's Amazon population is a huge challenge — something laid bare by Brazil's coronavirus vaccination push.
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Struggling in the polls, President Jair Bolsonaro has threatened to ignore next year's election results. But is the risk of democratic rupture real? Or is the far-right simply crying coup?
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President Bolsonaro has recently been discharged from the hospital. While he was in, however, conflicting reports about his health made the Brazilian public suspicious.
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Jair Bolsonaro is using a Supreme Court nomination to rally his base. We explain the effects of his appointment on Brazilian justice and politics.
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Governor Eduardo Leite of Rio Grande do Sul came out as gay. But don't expect him to be a Brazilian Harvey Milk. Instead, he might be closer to Pete Buttigieg.
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In an ironic twist, the Jair Bolsonaro administration is facing its most severe crisis — not over the vaccines it did not pursue, but over the ones it did.
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Detractors of President Jair Bolsonaro are now taking to the streets to pressure him, but doing so means creating massive gatherings that are health hazards in themselves.
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In Brazil, the remote work solution was never easy, as the country has an extremely informal economy. This week, we discuss the future of work in Brazil.
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Under pressure from President Bolsonaro, the Army refused to punish active general Eduardo Pazuello for taking part in a political demonstration, causing uproar and stoking fears of military interference in the 2022 election.
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President Jair Bolsonaro is battling multiple domestic crises — but one dispute across the Atlantic could cost him the support of a valuable ally.
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As vaccine rollouts stumble in multiple Brazilian regions, health officials confirm the country's first cases of the Indian variant.
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Jair Bolsonaro has seen his popularity dip in recent months, now polling behind Lula. But he has an even more immediate concern: the president needs to find a party.
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The Covid hearings have exposed a laundry list of malfeasance by the Bolsonaro administration during the pandemic. Will that be enough to bring him down, though?
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When Latin American countries received their first vaccines, they didn't get them from Western powers — but from China and Russia instead. But these deals often came with strings attached. Guests: Flávio da Fonseca (Brazilian Virology Society) and David Fidler (Council on Foreign Relations).
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A new exposé shows how one of Brazil's biggest business success stories may have covered a child sexual abuse ring, in a case with eerie parallels to that of notorious American pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
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The next few weeks are packed with the definition of the 2021 budget, the start of the Covid hearings, and Biden's climate summit.
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Elections in Ecuador and Peru were filled with surprises. Latin America correspondent Lucas Berti breaks down what they mean for the region. // Music in this podcast: Infados by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0 license),Fall of the Solar King by Twin Musicom (CC BY 4.0 license).
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With coronavirus deaths on the rise, a massive vaccination campaign seems to be Brazil's only way out of the pandemic crisis. President Jair Bolsonaro and São Paulo Governor João Doria are in a race toward the first coronavirus vaccine fully produced in Brazil.
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro carried out a massive cabinet reshuffle on Monday, raising fears that his administration could take an undemocratic turn.
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Lula has regained his political rights and is set to face off against Bolsonaro next year. What can we expect from this clash of titans?
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The Supreme Court ruled that Sérgio Moro — the former judge who led Op. Car Wash — was biased in his trial of former President Lula. The judicial achievements of the anti-corruption task force are being undone, but what legacy does it leave behind?
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President Jair Bolsonaro has changed Health Ministers for the third time since the start of the pandemic. Army General Eduardo Pazuello is out, cardiologist and ally Marcelo Queiroga is in.
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Brazil has become something of an open-air laboratory, showing how new variants can develop when left to spread unchecked. Most, if not all states are inching closer to a health collapse, but far-right President Jair Bolsonaro continues to speak out against lockdowns and vaccines.
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**Mining giants have been let off scot-free from the consequences of environmental disasters. Brazilians are going after them on their own turf.
Guest: Pedro Martins, partner at law firm PGMBM**
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Markets backed Bolsonaro in 2018 hoping for a libertarian president. Facing a sluggish economy and rising inflation, the president decided to intervene in the economy.
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In Latin America, only three countries qualified as “full democracies.” As many as those qualified as “authoritarian regimes.”
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Our podcast is back! This week, how the Brazilian government is using the country's upcoming 5G auction as a bargaining chip to receive more coronavirus vaccines.
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Brazil's "Big Center" were the big winners of this year's municipal elections, despite being regularly demonized by the population. We explain who they are and how they work.
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Just as Brazilians were starting to get used to their so-called new normal, a second wave appears to be on the horizon.
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After weeks of gloating about its fast and efficient vote count system, Brazil's election authorities were hacked during Sunday's vote, raising cybersecurity fears.
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The U.S. election process took days to confirm a winner. Were it to have taken place in Brazil, the entire vote count would have been wrapped up within a couple of hours.
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Brazil's Central Bank has launched PIX, its new instant payment system. We analyze what changes this brings to the country's financial landscape.
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In a huge majority, Chile voted to scrap its 1980 constitution, the last remaining legacy of the Pinochet dictatorship era.
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Jair Bolsonaro and São Paulo Governor João Doria are using the race for a vaccine as a sparring match before the 2022 election.
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Almost two years since his election, President Jair Bolsonaro has cozied up to the establishment politicians he campaigned against — and his core supporters are incensed.
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Municipal elections have a significant impact on national politics. And what happens in November 2020 will ripple over until 2022.
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Some Latin American countries have been called out for not enacting social distancing rules during the pandemic. Others, for using them to repress specific populations.
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Jair Bolsonaro addressed the United Nations General Assembly for the second time on Tuesday — we analyze how he fared.
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A new Chief Justice takes the reins of Brazil's Supreme Court in a moment when it faces a crisis of legitimacy and attacks from President Jair Bolsonaro.
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Every single living former governor of Rio has been jailed at some point, and the incumbent governor looks set to face the same destiny.
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Brazil's second-quarter GDP results have been released and it's official: the country is back in recession. We analyze how Brazil can recover.
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Latin America had its first confirmed Covid-19 case on February 26. Six months later, the region is the world's coronavirus epicenter. How have things gotten so out of control?
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Álvaro Uribe is arguably the most powerful politician in Colombia, but he has been placed under house arrest for a fraud scandal. What does this mean for the country?
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Brazil has rushed its national football championship into a hasty return, and already there are Covid-19 cases popping up all over the league.
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Ironically, Brazil's mismanagement of the coronavirus crisis may lead to the country cutting the line in the race for a vaccine. This episode was supported by AMEC, the Brazilian Association of Investors in Capital Markets.
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Everyone predicted that the pandemic would plummet Jair Bolsonaro's approval rates. It hasn't. And now the president sees his re-election prospects grow more realistic.
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Few elections worldwide influence Brazil as much as the U.S. presidential race. Joe Biden seems poised to beat Donald Trump, but what would a change in the White House mean for Latin America's biggest country?
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Deforestation is on the rise during the Covid-19 pandemic, and now international investors have threatened to remove their money from Brazil, forcing the government to act.
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After months of reckless behavior, President Jair Bolsonaro has been infected with the coronavirus. And is trying to make lemonade out of it.
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The pandemic is set to cost millions of jobs in Brazil, which can cause a number of troubling knock-on effects in society.
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In this final episode of our series, we look back at the legend of that final, and then try and frame the legacy of the 1970 World Cup, both in Brazil and abroad.
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Pelé is the greatest footballer of all time, and the 1970 World Cup in Mexico is seen as his crowning achievement. But just months before the tournament, people in Brazil thought he was finished.
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Fifty years ago, the greatest national football team of all time won the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. We tell the full story in this three-part series.
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The coronavirus has made regular meet-and-greet campaigns impossible. And that will favor political fake news rings.
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As anti-racist protests break out around the world, we pick apart at the deep racial divides in Brazilian society and take a look at our own heritage.
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Brazil saw anti-Bolsonaro protests this weekend. Does it mean that opposition to the far-right leader has finally come out of hibernation?
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The world has abandoned chloroquine as a possible cure against the coronavirus. But Brazil's Bolsonaro is doubling down on his bet.
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If Covid-19 is a war, then heads of state must choose the fighting lanes that will cause the least casualties. Which is best? Enacting a lockdown, or reopening the economy? These economists believe they know the answer.
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Jair Bolsonaro fought tooth and nail to keep his Covid-19 tests a secret. Johns Hopkins professor Filipe Campante explains what was at stake in this case.
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Links to paramilitary mafias, poor economic results, controversial cabinet firings … and a botched pandemic response. None of this has dented Jair Bolsonaro's core group of supporters. Until now.
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Sergio Moro's resignation has left the Bolsonaro government in a delicate situation: it has lost its anti-corruption poster boy, and Moro's revelations could lead to a presidential indictment.
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While not a perfect nickname, Bolsonaro has often been referred to as the “Trump of the Tropics”, a comparison that he's always welcomed and fueled himself. And Covid-19 has made the two far-right leaders even more alike.
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Despite Brazil releasing updated figures on Covid-19 cases and deaths every day, inconsistencies in the data have left policymakers in the dark over the real spread of the virus.
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Amid the worst pandemic in a lifetime, President Jair Bolsonaro has gone after his own Health minister, stopping just shy of sacking him.
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Brazil's employment rates will be decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
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While the world goes into self-isolation and governments pass stimulus packages to save their economies from collapse, the Brazilian president resists such moves, and wants "business as usual."
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Brazil has recorded its first Covid-19 death, and cases are growing exponentially. Authorities warn it will get much worse before it gets any better.
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The coronavirus outbreak is cooling off the global economy—but the Brazilian government resists the use of stimulus packages.
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By asking supporters to take to the streets and ask for the shutdown of Congress and "the end of the Supreme Court," Jair Bolsonaro may finally have gone too far.
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The implementation of 5G in Brazil still has many obstacles in its way, not least pressure from the country's two leading trading partners.
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New revelations show the CIA sold encryption tools which allowed them to spy on South American dictatorships during some of the most brutal and deadly periods of the continent's recent history.
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Heavy rains and other extreme weather events have become the norm in Brazil, with much of the blame lying with climate change and poor urban planning.
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The start of the legislative year kicks off the political calendar in 2020. And President Bolsonaro has plenty on his plate: pressing reforms, a Supreme Court vacancy, and much intrigue.
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The risks of a coronavirus outbreak in Brazil are less substantial for the country's public health, and more for its struggling economy.
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The PCC has just staged a Hollywood-esque prison escape in the Brazil-Paraguay border. We explain how a union of prisoners founded by eight men has become Brazil's (and South America's) biggest drugs gang.
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Brazil is inaugurating a new research base in Antarctica. The country's top researcher in the field explains to us why the South Pole is as important for Brazil's climate as the Amazon rainforest.
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Taking stock of the first 12 months of the Jair Bolsonaro government, we speak to two experts to break down what has gone right, and what has gone wrong. Guests: Carlos Goes (Ph.D. researcher at UCSD, formerly at IMF) and Claudio Couto (Fundação Getulio Vargas).
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Slavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888, but there are still thousands of modern slaves working around the country. Guests: Camilla Costa (BBC), and Augusto de Arruda Botelho (Human Rights Watch).
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Recent crises in Latin America show how the Armed Forces remain key power brokers in the democratic game. But using the Army as a legitimizing force brings back old demons from Latin America's not-so-distant past—when most of the region was ruled by military dictatorships. And this puts civilian leaders in an immensely fragile position.
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President Jair Bolsonaro has broken away and launched the only overtly far-right party in Brazilian politics. This week we look at the rise of extremism and polarization in Brazil's political arena.
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The Brazilian Republic is 130 years old. The democratic dream remains not entirely fulfilled, but Brazil has made many strides. So we ask: what is the state of our union?
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Love him or hate him, there's one thing you can't take away from Brazilian former President Lula: his story epitomizes Brazil more than any other politician. Guest: André Pagliarini, a lecturer at Dartmouth College.
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Brazil is known for its mammoth bureaucratic system. But blockchain could help business in Latin America's top economy.
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From Chile to Catalunya, Lebanon to Hong Kong … it seems like we're seeing protests erupt everywhere. But one region seems to have been hit harder than others by this massive wave of disgruntlement: Latin America. It seems that Latin America's veins are as wide open as they've ever been.
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Back in 2008, Brazil formulated its National Defense Strategy, selecting the construction of a nuclear submarine as one of its priorities. To find out more about this mission, we spoke to Anne Bianchi, who oversees the construction of Brazil's first nuclear submarine.
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In just a couple of weeks, Brazil will hold the largest oil auction in its history. This week, we look back at how the country rose to become a key player in offshore drilling
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The Brazilian construction group admitted to paying USD 29 million in bribes over a decade in Peru. And it has caused the downfall of four former presidents—and potentially a fifth.
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With references to God, socialism, and gender issues—not to mention skirting the blame for Amazon deforestation—Jair Bolsonaro's speech at the United Nations General Assembly made people all over the world cringe.
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The world's largest retailer has just improved its position in Brazil. What will be the impact on local players?
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Rio de Janeiro Mayor Marcelo Crivella is staged a homophobic crusade against an Avenger comic. It is part of a calculated move to get him re-elected.
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Brazil celebrates its independence day on September 7. This week, we explain how former French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was influential to this process.
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Ranchers in Northern Brazil used WhatsApp to coordinate massive—and simultaneous—Amazon fires. The worst part? The government knew beforehand.
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Brazil has hit the headlines worldwide thanks to Jair Bolsonaro's inflammatory statements and lack of environmental policy, but there are deeper origins to Brazil's image problem abroad.
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A Harvard professor believes that international powers could start pressuring (and even threatening) Brazil due to its environmental shortfalls. Guest: Stephen M. Walt, professor of international affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
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After six months of constant power struggles with the government, what can we expect from Congress in the second half of 2019?
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Since the turn of the year of 2016 to 2017, over 200 inmates were killed within government-run prisons. In other countries, this would spark outrage, protests, and public disgust. Not in Brazil, a country where more and more people believe that the only good criminals are dead criminals.
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Brazils new data protection law will only come into force next year, but businesses should already start adapting to the new rules. The burden is expected to fall harder on small companies... and penalties can be quite hefty.
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On October 27, Argentinians are heading to the polls to choose who will lead their nation for the next four years. And, based on what we have seen so far, the race to the Casa Rosada will be extremely hard-fought and polarized.
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Political scientist Maurício Santoro takes The Brazilian Report to discover Little Africa, the center of black resistance in Rio authorities tried to bury.
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Economist Monica de Bolle (Johns Hopkins University) talks to The Brazilian Report, breaking down the blockbuster deal between Europe and South America's biggest economies.
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Brazil has elected an open and proud homophobe as president. As São Paulo hosted its first Pride Parade under his government, we take a look at what it means to be gay in Bolsonaro's Brazil.
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A look into the billion-dollar gospel market. With sociologist Paul Freston and journalist Amin Guedara.
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Operation Car Wash's weapon of choice has been used against its members. Thousands of messages exchanged between prosecutors and Sergio Moro—who is now Jair Bolsonaro's Minister of Justice—cast doubt on the legality of several convictions.
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After five months of squabbles with Congress, President Jair Bolsonaro wanted to show his political strength. A massive crowd would corner lawmakers into bending to his will. A flop, however, could spell the ruin of his administration.
Before Mr. Bolsonaro, Brazil wasn't exactly a perfect example of how to protect the rainforest. Now, it is on its way to becoming one of the world's biggest cautionary tales.
Today is World Environment Day, but does Brazil have anything to celebrate?
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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's recent call to arms is a strategic bet on polarization. The pro-Bolsonaro protests gave him breathing room—but for how long?
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The Brazilian government has suggested reducing the number of questions in the 2020 Census as a way of cutting public spending. Will this compromise the results?
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Brazil has 138 federally-owned companies—and the government wants to privatize every single one of them. But only 17% of Brazilians support the idea. Guests: Sandro Cabral, head of the Master's Degree in Public Policies at São Paulo's Insper Business School; and former Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles.
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Deemed the country's "national sport," Brazilian football remains amateur on the business side of it—which interferes with on-the-pitch action. Guest: Fernando Monteiro, managing director and partner in L.E.K. Consulting’s São Paulo office. He produced a study on Brazilian club's financial woes.
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It is no wonder Brazilians call their tax authority the "Lion," due to its ferocious pursuit of tax dodgers. Guests: Fundação Getulio Vargas professors Linneu de Albuquerque Mello and Antonio Carlos Porto Gonçalves.
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Jair Bolsonaro has been ambivalent towards China, the Asian juggernaut that is—by far—Brazil's top trading partner. But that could change soon. Guests: Charles Tang (head of the Brazil-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry), and Mauricio Santoro (Head of the Department of International Relations at the State University of Rio de Janeiro).
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The Church's efforts to protect the Amazon and indigenous people led Brazil's intelligence agency to spy on Catholic priests. Guests: journalists Rubens Valente, Mauricio Savarese, Paula Schmitt (and voice-over of Alex Hochuli).
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After a year in jail, how does Lula still fit into the Brazilian political landscape? What does the future hold for him, or his Workers' Party—and for the Brazilian left?
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For decades, political elites and the military have tried to sweep Brazil's recent authoritarian past under the rug. It was a time in which kidnappings, torture, and rape became state policy. Now, Brazil's ultra-right wing is trying to rewrite history.
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After five years, Operation Car Wash's gravitational center has shifted from Curitiba to Rio, where investigators have opened up a sordid bottomless pit of corruption in that state. How will the anti-corruption probe look like moving forward?
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For the first time, we were able to witness the bromance between Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump on full display. Has the Brazilian president come out strong from his visit to Washington?
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Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman Marielle Franco was assassinated in March 2018. Investigations stalled and were filled with missteps by the police. One year later, though, a breakthrough appears to have happened.
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Carnival is such a focal point of the Brazilian calendar that often locals say nothing gets done in the new year until Ash Wednesday. But, in actual fact, a huge amount of work goes into producing Carnival, and that's what we are going to take a look at this week.
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The Jair Bolsonaro administration has submitted a reform proposal of its own. And it is the most ambitious we've seen — or the harshest, depending on how you see it. Will his administration be able to succeed where so many others failed?
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In politics, we usually say a new head of state enjoys a sort of grace period of 100 days. Popular support is still fresh from the campaign, the opposition still doesn't have much ammo against the new administration, and there hasn't been enough time for internal disputes to create unsolvable problems for the government. But, boy, the start of the Jair Bolsonaro administration has been anything but smooth.
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In 2018, law enforcement agents in Rio de Janeiro admitted to killing over 1,400 people — mostly in drug-related incidents. That's more than the number for the entire USA. That cannot be considered a success by any standard.
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On February 4, Justice Minister Sergio Moro presented his first bill after taking office. His anticrime plan, as the set of proposals was called, includes several measures against organized crime. And, for the first time, it singles out urban militias as one of the targets of the state. It may seem ludicrous, but urban armed militias were once well-regarded in Rio de Janeiro. Many politicians defended these militias. And yes, including President Jair Bolsonaro.
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On January 25, an iron tailings dam near the town of Brumadinho, in the Southeastern state of Minas Gerais, spilled the equivalent of at least 12 hundred Olympic-sized pools of mud onto the surrounding region. - How did this happen? - Who is to blame? - What will be the lasting environmental consequences? - And, most importantly, how can we prevent this from happening again?
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If you live in or have even been to São Paulo, it is likely that you’ve walked over a waterway without even noticing it. There are between 300 and 500 of them in Brazil’s biggest city, running through pipes extending from 1,500km to 4,000km. And the fate of the city’s main rivers doesn’t have a happy ending. They’ve become ugly and polluted – not at all fit for a São Paulo postcard.
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Imagine you are a Brazilian soybean producer located in the state of Mato Grosso, deep in midwestern Brazil, neighboring Bolivia. And you have clients waiting for your products in China. So, how do you get your soybeans to your Chinese customers? What would you say if I told you that the drive between your silos and Santos will be more expensive than the ship taking your grains all the way to the other end of the world to China? It sounds ridiculous, but it is true.
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When he left office, Michel Temer's administration was evaluated as good or great by only 7 percent of Brazilians. 62 percent thought his government was either bad or terrible. While these are far from positive figures, they actually represent an improvement. At one point, only 3 percent approved Temer, while 73 percent didn't care for him. Was he as bad as most Brazilians seem to think? And what is the legacy he leaves behind? That's what try to answer this week.
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Reporter Raphael Ferreira was at the Ministries Esplanade and covered Jair Bolsonaro's inauguration up close for The Brazilian Report. Find out what it was like at the ceremony.
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At the end of November, Brazil's Ministry of Health signed an agreement with leaders of the food and drink industry to reduce the amount of sugar in their products by 144 thousand tonnes by 2022. But is it enough?
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To discuss the successes and shortcomings of the Brazilian version of the consumerism fest that is Black Friday, we spoke to Nilton Kleina, editor at Tecmundo, one of Brazil's main tech news websites. This week's podcast is supported by Voom, an Airbus company. Voom is an on-demand helicopter booking platform that allows its passengers to fly between nine different helipads in the city of São Paulo from Monday to Saturday for less than BRL 500.
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One arena where racism is still apparent today is football, Brazil's national sport and so often a reflection of society as a whole. Despite the majority of players being non-white, they are often treated in stereotypes. While the white players of European origin are strong-willed leaders, black players are seen as tricky, inventive, but ultimately unintelligent and untrustworthy.
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Political turmoil seems to be the rule rather the exception in Brazil. In 2010 Lula became the only democratically elected president who was handed power by another democratically elected president, and who then passed the torch to a third consecutive democratically elected president - without any coups, deaths, impeachments, or resignations getting in the way.
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To discuss the environmental challenges facing Brazil's soon-to-be president, we spoke with Gustavo Faleiros, coordinator of the organization Info Amazônia, a network of organizations and journalists which deliver updates from the nine countries of the Amazon rainforest.
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President-elect Jair Bolsonaro's future administration has started to take shape. What will be the main issues that the president-elect will have to tackle?
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Jair Bolsonaro will, on January 1st, become Brazil's 38th president. What does his victory mean? And how will his presidency be like? That's what Gustavo Ribeiro, Euan Marshall, and Alana Rizzo (Albright Stonebridge Group) debate.Support the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/brazilianreport)
the conservative wave that swept across the country marks a major rupture. Or, instead, a critical transition - a concept developed by professors Carlos Pereira, of Fundação Getulio Vargas, Bernardo Mueller, of the University of Brasília, Marcus Mello, of the University of Pernambuco, and Lee Alston, of Indiana University in their book Brazil in Transition: Beliefs, Leadership, and Institutional Change.
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It is common to point out the problems with Brazil's failed public security system. We've talked to an institution that is proposing possible solutions for the violence crisis.
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We analyze the reasons for the conservative tsunami that swept Brazil's 2018 election. Three main factors come into play.
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In the last episode of our special podcast about Brazil's Constitution, we will talk about how the Constitution has endured the test of time.
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In the third episode of our special podcast about Brazil's Constitution, we will talk about its biggest lasting legacies: human rights for all - and a unified healthcare system.
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In the second episode of our special podcast about Brazil's Constitution, we will talk about the institutional framework created in 1988.
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Brazil's Constitution is 30 years old today. We have prepared a podcast mini-series to discuss how this document came to be, its impact on the Brazilian people, and its legacy to our present - and future.
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The race heads to the final days before Brazilians cast their ballots. What are the moves each candidate must make to raise their stock?
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In the 1990s, the center-right seemed to be Brazil's dominating political force - embodied by the Social Democracy Party (PSDB). Now, many of the party's leaders are either tarnished by corruption or have fallen into irrelevance.
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As Brazilians head to the polls in two and a half weeks, we've got to ask: What's the state of Brazilian democracy?
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After Jair Bolsonaro's stabbing and the substitution of Lula as the Workers' Party official candidate, Brazil's presidential race has turned another corner. We explain what should happen next. - Part 1: The attack on Jair Bolsonaro - Part 2: Fernando Haddad, the new Lula?
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On Sunday (September 3), the National Museum’s decay took a dramatic turn, with the building becoming consumed – and almost entirely destroyed – by flames. We have talked to the museum's deputy director, Luiz Fernando Dias Duarte, who joined us from Rio de Janeiro.
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While 70 percent of the population has access to the Internet, 63 percent still get their news from television, will social media remain this much of a factor as we approach election day? The Brazilian Report talks to Fernando Vega, the Latin American Social Solutions Manager at comScore, a company specialized in gathering and analyzing data about audiences on several media platforms, especially the internet.
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Now, eight years after the end of his second term, Lula is in prison, serving a 12-year sentence for passive corruption and money laundering. His Workers' Party suffered major defeats in the 2016 municipal elections, losing in many key municipalities, including their crown jewel - São Paulo. Barring the legal equivalent of a miracle, Lula will not be on the presidential ballot. So, where will the Brazilian left go in 2018 - and beyond?
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Brazilians will elect a new president, 27 new governors, 513 congressmen, and over 1,000 state lawmakers. But how exactly do Brazilian elections work?
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We have reached out to presidential campaigns and requested interviews with all candidates. Our first sit down was with Guilherme Boulos, of the Socialism and Liberty Party (Psol). As we were not in our regular studios on Rua Augusta, in São Paulo, audio quality was not optimal at certain points and we apologize for any sound issues. Here are the main takes: https://brazilian.report/power/2018/08/15/interview-guilherme-boulos/
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In two months, Brazilians will choose a new president. This past weekend, though, it was our candidates' turn to choose their running mates. We explain why that matters. Of Brazil’s 37 presidents, eight of them took the job after being elected vice president – for various reasons: death, resignation or impeachment.
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As Brazil prepares to analyze the issue of abortion rights, we talk to the Center of Reproductive Rights about the possible impacts of legalizing abortions in Brazil.
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This week, the leaders of the five countries meet in the 10th BRICS Summit, in Johannesburg. This summit is taking place at a pivotal time, with Brazil struggling to recover from its worst recession on record, Russia facing accusations of meddling in the American 2016 election, and China waging a trade war with the U.S. We're joined by Oliver Stuenkel, a professor at Fundação Getulio Vargas, Brazil's leading think tank, and author of The BRICS and the Future of Global Order.
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Two years after the World Health Organization declared the Americas free of measles, the disease could be about to make a comeback. To discuss the issue, Explaining Brazil hosts Dr. Rosana Richtmann, an infectious disease specialist at the Emilio Ribas Institute, in São Paulo.
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Sunday was a day that killed any argument that Brazil's institutions are working properly. Appellate judge Rogério Favreto tried to release former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from prison at all costs, while the judges who convicted Lula worked tooth and nail to keep him behind bars, despite being on vacation.
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We shed light on initiatives that fight for the social inclusion of gays, lesbians, and trans individuals. Explaining Brazil hosts Paolo Capistrano, an English teacher who founded English to Trans-form, which helps trans people to improve their skills for the workplace, trying to curb the segregation so often imposed by society.
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Between 1999 and 2015, opioid consumption in Brazil has jumped by 465 percent, according to a study recently published by the American Journal of Public Health. Tthat should be cause for concern, say experts.
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The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicked off on June 14. One week later, Brazil still doesn't seem to be in the mood for football. Unlike other editions of the event, you don't see many Brazilian flags waved out from windows, nor many people dressed up in yellow and green. Why is that? That's what we debate with Brazilian historian - and football fanatic - Matias Pinto.
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In 2012, Brazil established nuclear power as a priority. Since then, however, Brazil's economy took a nosedive, power company executives were convicted for corruption, and projects on nuclear energy have stalled. So, what's the state of Brazilian nuclear as of now? That's what we will talk about this week with the president of Eletronuclear - Brazil's state-owned nuclear power company.
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During the Environmental Week, The Brazilian Report discusses Brazil's energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources.
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Over the past week, roads have been blocked and truckers, who are responsible for 60 percent of cargo transportation in Brazil, have not worked. Fuel and food supplies are lacking in most urban centers. São Paulo has declared a state of emergency. Over 270 flights were cancelled because there was simply no fuel left for airplanes. How did it get so bad, and what will happen now?
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Created in 1991, Mercosur is formed by Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Venezuela has been suspended, and Bolivia will soon join. What do these economies have in common? As it turns out, not much – and that is one of the reasons why the free trade agreement remains highly dysfunctional.
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In 2013, anthropologist Lilia Schwarcz published a book about race relations. She conducted a poll that revealed 97 percent of those surveyed said they were not racist – but 98 percent said they know someone who is racist. How can a country be racist ‘without’ having racists?
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Brazilians might be creative, but can they innovate? Latin America’s top economy has not ranked well in the latest innovation rankings. However, there are initiatives in Brazil certainly worth noting.
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Venezuela has been haunted by multiple interconnected crises. The country’s inflation is expected to close this year at 679.73 percent. Meanwhile, President Nicolás Maduro has only focused his efforts on keeping himself in power. What does the future hold for Brazil's northern neighbor? We host Rosario Hernandez, a political analyst from Venezuela and a member of the website Young Diplomats, a partner institution of The Brazilian Report.
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Skewed facts are probably a well-established part of the agenda in any election campaign. But there’s no denying that social media has accelerated misinformation’s speed and extended its reach. Brazil has 122 million Facebook users, making it the social media giant’s third largest market.
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On Saturday, April 7th, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva began serving a 12-year-one-month prison sentence. In a span of 8 years, Lula went from the most popular leader in Brazilian history, a man who distributed revenue like no other president and was approved by 80% of Brazilians, to the first former president ever to be put behind bars. What does it mean for Brazil’s already tumultuous political landscape?
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A lot has happened in Brazil since The Economist used an image of a rocket-powered Christ the Redeemer statue poised to shoot skywards. Brazil’s international reputation has suffered over the last few years, with both national and international coverage often zeroing in on corruption, crime and political instability.
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This is the fifth episode of Explaining Brazil, a weekly podcast created by The Brazilian Report. This week, we’re talking about Flávio Rocha, Forbes’ 39th wealthiest man in Brazil and now the Brazilian Republican Party’s presidential candidate. With the backing of the Free Brazil Movement (MBL), he’s doing his best to put forward the image of Brazil’s ‘reasonable’ right-wing. But what does he stand for, and how far will he get?
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This week, we’re discussing the murder of Marielle Franco, Rio de Janeiro’s extraordinary city councilwoman. Black, queer, and hailing from the Maré favela in the North Zone, Marielle had been a vocal human rights advocate and was one of the city’s most treasured politicians.
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Despite the federal government’s expectations of a 3 percent GDP growth for 2018, the OECD says that isolationist policies and trade barriers – plus market demands for a pension reform that seems increasingly unlikely – may continue to obstruct Brazil’s economic growth.
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By declaring a federal intervention in Rio de Janeiro, President Michel Temer hopes to improve his electoral chances. But polling at 1%, his reelection dream might be just that... a dream.
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Brazilian President Michel Temer announced on February 16 that national Armed Forces would intervene in Rio de Janeiro's security system. The intervention plan has several political implications - and multiple question marks hang over the motives behind the measure. Journalists Gustavo Ribeiro, Diego Iraheta, and Ciara Long comment on what happens to Rio and Brazil moving forward. Read more on https://brazilian.report/2018/02/16/rio-de-janeiro-intervention-security/
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