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The U.S. attack on Venezuela and the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro have intensified electoral rhetoric in Brazil, which will hold presidential elections this year. Leaders on the country’s right are using the episode to criticize President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has adopted a cautious tone when addressing the issue. Allies of former president Jair Bolsonaro, including Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, his son, as well as some governors, have linked the case to communism and see room to exploit it during the campaign. Part of the right says it expects backing from Donald Trump in Brazil’s election. The left...

The Embassy of Venezuela in Mexico has been shown, by very different sectors in that country and in Mexico, to be an instrument of the ideological propaganda and political expansion of the personal interests of Hugo Chávez. Observations of interventionism include giving electoral support to the PRD [Democratic Revolutionary Party of Mexico], even "espionage," as well as a presumed importation of high caliber weapons and contacts with the FARC, ETA and Al Qaeda. Mexico City | Tuesday, 15 November 2005 | Vladimir Villegas is a person of Euro-African heritage showing a good sense of humor and charisma. Tall, robust, sporting...

One by one, they are singing, the men who used to do dirty deeds for the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro. Nobody knows what’s going to happen, whether the United States will attack, and whether Maduro will fall. But these Venezuelans sniff change in the air. As more countries exit Venezuela’s orbit, more allegations are likely to emerge. Two of the men are in prison here in the U.S.: Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal, the former spy mastermind, and Cliver Alcala Cordones, a former general, both of whom have written letters to President Donald Trump airing...

In reviewing the events which took place this weekend in Honduras, we feel the need to add somewhat of a clarification to the post previous to this one, in which we mentioned that U.S. President Barack Obama seemed willing only to offer rhetoric in the defense of an ousted national leader (Honduran President Mel Zelaya). In making that observation, we appear to have made an error in judgment which we feel compelled to correct. It seems — as our friends at Power Line (the estimable Scott Johnson) have observed — that the military coup that took place occurred at the...

The deadliest police operation in Brazil’s history killed at least 132 people, public defenders said on Wednesday, as Rio de Janeiro residents lined a street with dozens of corpses found overnight, a week ahead of global climate events in the city. State police said the raids targeting a major drug gang the day before had been planned exhaustively for more than two months, designed to drive suspects into a forested hillside where a special operations unit was waiting in ambush. “The elevated lethality of the operation was expected but not desired,” Victor Santos, head of security for Rio state, told...

Terradot, a carbon removal company, is using “enhanced rock weathering” to sequester carbon by spreading crushed volcanic rock over farmland.STATE OF SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Across vast stretches of farmland in southern Brazil, researchers at a carbon removal company are attempting to accelerate a natural process that normally unfolds over thousands or millions of years. The company, Terradot, is spreading tons of volcanic rock crushed into a fine dust over land where soybeans, sugar cane and other crops are grown. As rain percolates through the soil, chemical reactions pull carbon from the air and convert it into bicarbonate ions that...

A lot of "lawfare" coming out of Brazil these days. It reminds me of an earlier time when Frank Sinatra sang about that huge country in South America and their obsession with coffee: "The politician's daughter Was accused of drinkin' water And was fined a great big fifty dollar bill They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil." Yes, it was more of fun to sing about coffee or maybe do that famous bossa nova that you see in the carnival.Things are looking a little familiar down in Brazil. Opposition politicians going after the former president, who is planning...

Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has defended the trial which saw his predecessor in office, Jair Bolsonaro, sentenced to more than 27 years in prison for plotting a coup. In an opinion piece published in the New York Times, Lula dismissed the description by US President Donald Trump of the trial as a "witch hunt", saying that it was a "historic decision which safeguard's our institutions and the democratic rule of law". The Brazilian leader said he had written the essay to establish an open and frank dialogue with US President Donald Trump, who has imposed 50% tariffs...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spoke with Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Saturday for about 40 minutes, the Brazilian presidential palace said, adding that Putin shared information about his discussions with the United States and "recent peace efforts between Russia and Ukraine." -snip- Lula has been in a public spat with Trump since the U.S. imposed a 50% tariff on the imports of Brazilian goods, which Trump linked to an alleged "witch hunt" against his ally and Brazil's former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. U.S. imports of some Brazilian products, such as orange juice and aircraft, received a lower...

Summary Bolsonaro under house arrest for breaking restraining orders Trump called Bolsonaro's Supreme Court trial a "witch hunt" U.S. sanctioned Brazil Supreme Court judge issuing orders BRASILIA, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Brazil's Supreme Court put former President Jair Bolsonaro under house arrest on Monday ahead of his trial for an alleged coup plot, underscoring the court's resolve despite escalating tariffs and sanctions from U.S. President Donald Trump.Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the target of U.S. Treasury sanctions last week, issued the arrest order against Bolsonaro. His decision cited a failure to comply with restraining orders he had imposed on...

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says he won’t be cowed by Trump ahead of 50% tariffs set to hit Brazil Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has said he does not fear getting on the wrong side of Donald Trump, as South America’s largest economy braces for the introduction of 50% tariffs.Trump announced plans to slap Brazil with tariffs on 1 August earlier this month, partly in retaliation for a supposed political “witch-hunt” against his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro. The former Brazilian president faces decades in jail for allegedly plotting a military coup to stop Lula from taking office...

Police in Brazil swooped on the home and political headquarters of Jair Bolsonaro early Friday, searching the properties, ordering the former president to wear an electronic ankle tag, barring him from speaking to foreign officials or approaching embassies and prohibiting him from using social media. The restrictions, ordered by Brazil’s Supreme Court, were motivated by concerns that Bolsonaro would flee the country, amid his trial over an alleged plot to overturn the results of the 2022 presidential election to remain in power. Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing. Federal police also accused Bolsonaro and his son, Eduardo, of conspiring with the US...

Brazil threatened to hit back against Donald Trump’s plan to introduce 50% tariffs on its exports with its own 50% tariff on US goods, setting the stage for a precipitous trade war. “If he charges us 50%, we’ll charge him 50%,” Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian president, told local news outlet Record, a day after Trump threatened to impose steep duties on Brazilian goods and accused the country of conducting a “witch-hunt” against its former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing a trial over his attempt to overturn his 2022 election defeat. Brazil could appeal to the World...

Since March, the son of the former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been roaming the halls of the White House. Eduardo Bolsonaro, 41, is a sitting Brazilian congressman, but his latest job has been to convince U.S. officials that a dangerous Brazilian Supreme Court justice wants to throw him and his father into prison, simply for fighting against what they claim was a stolen election. And in multiple visits to Washington over the past several months, he has found a sympathetic audience. “This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent — Something I know much...

Chinese President Xi Jinping declined to travel to Rio for the latest BRICS Summit on the reported pretext of scheduling conflicts and having already met with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Ignacia Lula da Silva twice this year.The South China Morning Post speculated that the real reason was that Xi didn’t want to be “perceived as a supporting actor” there given the state dinner that Lula will hold for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, who’ll be the first Indian premier to visit Brazil in nearly six decades.Despite the border de-escalation deal that Xi and Modi agreed to during the last...

Russia has invited Palestinian groups to Moscow, which could bring together Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, and other terrorist groups. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said over the weekend that Russia invited Palestinian factions to meet in Moscow at some point in late February, the latest Russian move to increase its influence in a post-October 7 world. Moscow hosted a Hamas delegation already in October, as Hamas sought to do outreach to Moscow. -snip- According to Russian state media TASS, Moscow invited up to 14 Palestinian groups to attend, including those belonging to the Palestine Liberation Organization, as well as...

A Brazilian comedian said a judge took issue with his Wikipedia page when she handed down an eight-year prison sentence. Comedian Leo Lins, whose full name is Leonardo de Lima Borges Lins, was about three years removed from his comedy special when Judge Barbara de Lima Iseppi ruled the comedian made "discriminatory" remarks while on stage. The comments the judge made during her ruling have been perceived as "power-hungry" by other comedians, who expressed shock at their compatriot's conviction. Lins' 2022 special "Disturbing," or "Perturbador" in Portuguese, was ordered to be taken down from the internet by the Brazilian government...

Whenever we think the tyranny by Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has reached an unsurpassable level, he goes about surprising us with an even more outrageous actions in his quest to convict and imprison Bolsonaro. Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was served a subpoena yesterday (23) about the criminal prosecution in the Supreme Court in which he is a defendant for the totally imaginary charge of ‘attempted coup d’état’. The document was delivered by a court officer and signed by him around 1 pm, inside the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed of the DF Star hospital, in Brasília,...

It’s a lovely Sunday morning in later-Summer Rio de Janeiro, as the oppressive heat is finally giving way to more civilized temperatures. In the world-famous Copacabana Beach, a never-ending stream of Brazilian patriots is congregating to peacefully protest the fact that there are still scores of political prisoners – many still incarcerated without trial – as a result of the riots of January 8th, 2023. Dani News informa: COMEÇOU!! Hoje Copacabana é o Brasil pela liberdade dos presos políticos e pelo Presidente Bolsonaro!! #AnistiaJa #ForaLula pic.twitter.com/9eUCIVaZRx — Daniela (@daniela_mcas) March 16, 2025 Imagens de drone mostram a Praia de Copacabana...

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attempted to purchase weapons from Brazil for the Ukrainian military to continue the conflict with Russia, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stated, APA reports citing TASS. He added that the Brazilian government will not sell arms to countries that seek to kill Russian citizens. "I remember that [German] Prime Minister Olaf Scholz visited us on January 30, 2023, and tried to buy Brazilian weapons to hand over to Ukraine," Lula da Silva said during a press conference with Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, broadcast on the Brazilian government's YouTube channel. "I will not sell...