Category Archives: Brazil

Brazil activists decry green rollbacks as senate passes ‘devastation bill’

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Legislation would dismantle regulations in farming, mining and energy, increasing risk of widespread destruction

Environmental activists in Brazil have decried a dramatic rollback of environmental safeguards after the senate approved a bill that would dismantle licensing processes and increase the risk of widespread destruction.

The upper house passed the so-called “devastation bill” with 54 votes to 13 late on Wednesday, paving the way for projects ranging from mining and infrastructure to energy and farming to receive regulatory approval with little to no environmental oversight.

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Brazil’s president seeks ‘indestructible’ links with China amid Trump trade war

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Remark comes as Brazil, Colombia and Chile’s leaders fly to Beijing amid international uncertainty generated by Trump

The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has heralded his desire to build “indestructible” relations with China, as the leaders of three of Latin America’s biggest economies flew to Beijing against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s trade war and the profound international uncertainty his presidency has generated.

Lula touched down in China’s capital on Sunday for a four-day state visit, accompanied by 11 ministers, top politicians and a delegation of more than 150 business leaders.

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Scorpions ‘taking over’ Brazilian cities with reported stings rising 250%

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Fast and unplanned growth of cities providing ideal conditions for the creatures to thrive, say researchers

Scorpions are “taking over” Brazilian cities, researchers have warned in a paper that said rapid urbanisation and climate breakdown were driving an increase in the number of people being stung.

More than 1.1m stings were reported between 2014 and 2023, according to data from the Brazilian notifiable diseases information system. There was a 250% increase in reports of stings from 2014 to 2023, according to research published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health.

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Brazil rejects US request to designate two gangs as terrorist organizations

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Security minister says US delegation wanted classification for PCC and Comando Vermelho to aid immigration policy

The Brazilian government has rejected a request by the US state department to designate two major criminal gangs as terrorist organizations, according to Mario Sarrubo, Brazil’s national secretary of public security.

Sarrubo said the request was made on Tuesday during a meeting between US and Brazilian officials in Brasília.

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Two arrested over bomb plot targeting Lady Gaga concert in Rio attended by millions

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Two people have been arrested in connection to an alleged planned attack on Brazil’s LGBTQ community at the singer’s Sunday concert, police say

Two people have been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to detonate explosives at a free Lady Gaga concert in Rio de Janeiro, in what authorities believe was an attempt to target Brazil’s LGBTQ community.

The Rio event on Saturday was the biggest show of the pop star’s career. It attracted an estimated 2.1 million fans to Copacabana beach and had crowds screaming and dancing along.

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Outrage in Brazil over reports of new red national football jersey

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CBF reportedly considering red jersey ahead of World Cup but rightwingers consider the colour anti-patriotic

“Our flag will never be red!” rightwing Brazilians took to chanting during the heyday of the left-bashing former president Jair Bolsonaro.

But their football shirts soon might be, amid incendiary reports that the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) is considering introducing a crimson jersey for the national team ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

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Brazil’s former president arrested and ordered to begin prison sentence

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Fernando Collor, who led the country from 1990 to 1992, was sentenced in 2023 after being convicted for corruption

Brazil’s former president, Fernando Collor, has been arrested early and ordered to begin serving a prison sentence stemming from his 2023 conviction for corruption.

Collor was convicted of receiving 20m reais ($3.5m) to facilitate contracts between BR Distribuidora, a fuel distributor formerly controlled by the state-owned oil company Petrobras, and construction firm UTC Engenharia for the construction of fuel distribution bases. In return, he offered political support for the appointment of executives at BR Distribuidora when it was still state-owned.

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Green groups decry plan to list world’s biggest meatpacking company on NYSE

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Critics fear decision to list Brazil-based firm JBS, long linked to Amazon’s deforestation, will add to the climate crisis

Environmental groups are outraged that the world’s biggest meatpacking company, JBS, which has long been linked to Amazon’s deforestation, has received approval from US authorities to list on the New York Stock Exchange.

The decision, announced on Tuesday by the Securities Exchange Commission, follows reports that JBS subsidiary Pilgrim’s was the biggest donor to the inauguration committee of Donald Trump. Since taking power, Trump has reduced the independence of the SEC and other agencies, demanding their work be “controlled” by the president.

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‘Morally repugnant’: Brazilian workers sue coffee supplier to Starbucks over ‘slavery-like conditions’

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Brazil has been the world’s leading coffee producer due to the forced labour of enslaved Africans and Afro-Brazilians

“John” was just days from turning 16 when he was allegedly recruited to work on a Brazilian coffee farm that supplies the global coffeehouse chain Starbucks.

Soon after his birthday, he embarked on a 16-hour bus journey to the farm in the state of Minas Gerais – only to discover that none of what he had been promised would be fulfilled.

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Brazilian judges accept coup plot charges against more Bolsonaro allies

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Panel unanimously accepts charges against six more key allies of ex-president over alleged plan to keep him in office

A panel of Brazil’s supreme court justices has unanimously accepted criminal charges against six more key allies of former president Jair Bolsonaro over an alleged coup plot to keep him in office after his 2022 election defeat.

Last month, the panel unanimously accepted charges against Bolsonaro and seven close allies over the alleged coup plot following his loss to current president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and ordered the former rightwing leader to stand trial.

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Brazil judge claimed English ancestry and used false name: Edward Albert Lancelot Dodd Canterbury Caterham Wickfield

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Elaborate deception was only recently discovered when judge visited government office to renew his ID card

Police in the Brazilian state of São Paulo have uncovered that a judge spent 23 years working under a false identity – and a distinctly British one.

Born José Eduardo Franco dos Reis – a name fairly typical in a country once colonised by Portugal – he entered law school and served for over two decades as a judge using the false name Edward Albert Lancelot Dodd Canterbury Caterham Wickfield.

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Is coup trial ruling the beginning of the end for Bolsonaro and his supporters?

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While many in Brazil delight at the ex president’s predicted downfall, others fear who may follow in his far-right footsteps

There were cries of joy in progressive​ parts of Rio on Wednesday as Brazil’s supreme court ruled that the former president Jair Bolsonaro should stand trial for an alleged coup plot.

“No amnesty! No amnesty!” one elated lefty roared from his balcony into the sunny autumn afternoon.

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Bolsonaro must stand trial over alleged coup attempt, Brazil’s top court rules

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Supreme court judges decide former president should face criminal prosecution alongside seven close allies

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro will stand trial for allegedly orchestrating a violent plot to seize power through a military coup, after the country’s supreme court decided he should face criminal prosecution.

The ruling leaves the far-right populist, who governed Brazil from 2019 until the end of 2022, facing political oblivion and a possible jail sentence of more than 40 years.

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Jubilant Brazilians hail I’m Still Here’s Oscar as landmark in fight for justice

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Walter Salles’s dictatorship-era movie turns focus on dark time in country’s history and more recent coup attempt

Ahead of the Oscars ceremony, Brazil’s Fernanda Torres – star of Walter Salles’s dictatorship-era movie I’m Still Here – had warned her compatriots not to get into a “World Cup fever” over the Academy Awards.

Her plea went in vain on Sunday night, however, as crowds across the country – already gathered to celebrate carnival – erupted in joy over Brazil’s first-ever Oscar win, for best international feature.

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I’m Still Here wins Oscar for best international film, becoming first Brazilian film to do so

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Brazil’s official entry beats beleaguered French favourite Emilia Pérez to the podium

I’m Still Here has won the Oscar for best international film at the Academy Awards, which are currently taking place in Los Angeles. It is the first Brazilian film to win the award – and was also the first to be nominated.

Directed by Walter Salles and starring Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here is a political drama based on the true story of Eunice Paiva, whose husband Rubens was “disappeared” and murdered in 1970s Brazil. The film had to overcome a lineup including Danish true-crime story The Girl With the Needle, Iran-set legal drama The Seed of the Sacred Fig and trans gangster musical Emilia Pérez, which had been the hot favourite for the award.

Anora takes home best picture Oscar

Adrien Brody and Mikey Madison win best acting prizes

Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaña win supporting awards

Anora’s Sean Baker wins for directing, editing and screenplay

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The São Paulo connection: a Brazilian gang is spreading its cocaine business into Australia

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The PCC – First Capital Command – formed in a Sāo Paulo prison but is now spreading its tentacles around the world

In September 2020, the Australian Border Force intercepted 552kg of cocaine concealed in 2,000 boxes of frozen banana pulp that had arrived at the port of Sydney on a ship from Brazil.

Two years later, a diver was found floating dead next to 52kg of cocaine near the port of Newcastle, in New South Wales, Australia. Police later discovered that he was a Brazilian national who had been attempting to retrieve drugs from a cargo ship’s hull.

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Brazilians hail strength of democracy as Bolsonaro is called to account

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‘In Brazil coup-mongers go to jail. In the US they get back into the White House,’ says one leading politician

Brazilian democrats have celebrated the strength of their country’s judiciary and institutions after the former president Jair Bolsonaro was left facing political oblivion and jail time for allegedly plotting a coup, in stark contrast to the US’s failure to bring Donald Trump to justice for his anti-democratic acts.

“In Brazil coup-mongers go to jail. In the US they get back into the White House,” said Marcelo Freixo, a leading leftwing politician on Wednesday after the attorney general formally accused Bolsonaro of engineering a sprawling conspiracy to cling to power following his defeat in the 2022 election.

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Bolsonaro indictment leaves Brazil’s tropical Trump staring at prospect of jail

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The ex-president faces charges of a murderous conspiracy while his US counterpart has surged back to power

At the height of Jair Bolsonaro’s haywire presidency, Brazilian activists projected their deepest desire on to the Tower of London, where Guy Fawkes once languished after plotting to blow up parliament and assassinate the king.

“Jail Bolsonaro,” their wordplay read.

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British journalist missing in Brazil for 11 days

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Foreign correspondents’ association urges authorities to step up search for Charlotte Alice Peet, 32

A British journalist has been missing in Brazil for 11 days, a foreign correspondents’ association in the country said on Tuesday, urging authorities to step up their search efforts.

Charlotte Alice Peet, 32, last communicated with a friend on 8 February, according to a statement from the Rio de Janeiro-based Association of Foreign Press Correspondents (ACIE).

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Jair Bolsonaro charged over alleged far-right coup plot to seize power in Brazil

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Former president has denied breaking the law, while attorney general alleges plot included a plan to poison Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro has been charged with allegedly masterminding and leading a far-right conspiracy to cling to power through a military coup.

The South American country’s attorney general, Paulo Gonet, levelled the charges against the radical rightwing populist and several key allies on Tuesday night. He accused Bolsonaro and six key associates of leading a criminal organization with an “authoritarian power project”. The alleged plot, he wrote, included a plan to poison Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and shoot dead Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a foe of the former president.

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