Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Brazil tames inflation

Great news for the largest country in Latin America,
Brazil’s minister says inflation to end 2017 below 3 percent.

Americas Quarterly has a rundown of Pres. Michel Temer’s reform agenda on energy, infrastructure, environment and mining, foreign trade, and project financing. Most aim to reduce the role of government in the economy. Some aim to privatize government-owned companies. Regarding pensions,

Brazil’s severe crisis has been blamed on its ballooning public debt, and pension is the one item where the government believes it can make substantial savings.
. . .
The government wants to create a minimum retirement age of 65 for men and 62 for women and make the system more equal in its treatment of public and private sector workers. Unions have held strikes and protests claiming the government is simply making workers pay for the country’s mismanaged finances.

Coming up:
Brazil Lets In Big Oil Firms After Keeping Them Out for a Decade. The country looks to expand its crude potential and revive its economy with an auction this week

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Venezuela: Topic of discussion at the Palace

Pres. Trump talked about Venezuela during a dinner he hosted last night at the Palace Hotel,
Trump calls for democracy to be restored in Venezuela ‘very, very soon’ but avoids talk of a ‘military option’

– President Donald Trump met with a group of Latin American leaders Monday
– He said the Venezuelan government was ‘collapsing’ and the people were ‘starving’
– He said the U.S. was prepared to take ‘further action’ if the Maduro administration persisted in imposing ‘authoritarian rule’
– He called the situation ‘completely unacceptable’
– Trump said in August there was a ‘possible military option’ for Venezuela

Brazil’s President Michel Temer was among the guests, along with the presidents of Colombia (Juan Manuel Santos), Panama (Juan Carlos Varela) and Peru (Pedro Kuczynski), and Argentina’s vice president Michetti.

In case you wonder, the Palace Hotel is owned by the Sultan of Brunei.

Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.

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Brazil: Temer acquitted

Brazil’s top electoral court on Friday acquitted President Michel Temer of charges of illegal campaign financing.

the court’s judges voted 4-3 to clear Mr. Temer and former President Dilma Rousseff of charges they used proceeds from the country’s vast Car Wash corruption scandal to fund their 2014 election campaign.

Interestingly,

The majority of the court’s judges said this week that their understanding of electoral law meant that they should only consider evidence available around the time when the case was first filed more than two years ago, before much of the Car Wash evidence was collected.

The trial lasted four days and was televised for a total of 25 hours.

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Brazil: The heaters in the heaters

From Miami to Rio, via air,

Brazil seizes 60 assault rifles hidden in pool heaters

Police in Brazil have seized 60 assault rifles that had been smuggled from the US city of Miami in a shipment of swimming pool heaters.

The weapons, which included 45 AK-47 guns, were found at the cargo terminal at Rio de Janeiro’s Galeao International Airport.

Four people have been arrested, police said.
. . .
It is believed the guns could have been sold in Brazil for up to $1.5m (£1.1m) in total. Detectives are investigating an exporter in Miami, Globo newspaper reported without identifying them.

In other headlines:
J&F Investimentos, the holding company behind meatpacking giant JBS SA, agreed to pay roughly $3.2 billion in fines

The penalty outpaces the one levied against construction conglomerate Odebrecht last year as part of the same investigation.

The Associated Press reports J&F plans to pay the fine over a span of 25 years.

Yet this penalty is just one part of the plea deal; another component played out in a very public way earlier this month, when J&F co-owner Joesley Batista turned over a secret recording to prosecutors. That recording — which appears to show Temer condoning the payment of hush money to an imprisoned politician — leaked to media earlier this month, prompting protests in the streets and questions of whether Temer’s tenure could survive the scandal.

Temer insists he will remain in office.

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Brazil: Temer asks for his investigation to continue

After asking that it be suspended, Brazil’s President Michel Temer has asked the Supreme Court to proceed with an investigation against him for obstruction of justice and corruption.

His lawyers say that a secret recording that appears to incriminate him has been edited 70 times.
. . .
President Temer was secretly recorded by Joesley Batista, president of Brazilian giant meat-packing firm JBS, during a late-night, unscheduled meeting.
The wealthy businessman made the recording as part of a plea bargain with the prosecutor’s office.
On the tape, Mr Temer seems to signal his approval for illegal payments to the former speaker of the lower house of Congress, Eduardo Cunha, who was jailed for corruption last year.
. . .
Many expected the president to resign once the contents of the tape were made public.

The WSJ lists Five Ways Brazil’s President Could Be Forced Out

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Brazil: Not good news on Temer

A few headlines:

Brazil President to Ask Court to Suspend Corruption Probe Linked to Him

Brazilian President Michel Temer said he would ask the Supreme Court to suspend its investigation into allegations he was involved in a giant corruption scheme, vowing to remain in power.

Brazil’s President Michel Temer says he will ask the Supreme Court to suspend an investigation against him, because vital evidence has been “manipulated”.

There’s 100% chance that Brazil’s President Michel Temer will leave before end of mandate: Analyst

Brazilians Are Calling for President Temer to Resign
Protesters call for Temer resignation as uncertainty grips Brazil
Pressure Mounts on Brazil’s Temer as Pillars of Support Erode
Finance Minister Henrique Mereilles tipped as Temer’s successor
President’s attempt to dig in risks leaving Brazil with lame duck
Pardon my French, but plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.



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Venezuela: Trump Talks about Venezuela in Calls with Brazilian, Chilean Leaders

News the MSM ignores: The LAHT reports, Trump Talks about Venezuela in Calls with Brazilian, Chilean Leaders (emphasis added)

Trump, who is spending the weekend at Mar-a-Lago, his exclusive Florida country club and resort, spoke with Temer on Saturday and with Bachelet on Sunday afternoon before returning to Washington.

According to a White House statement, Trump and Temer held a lengthy and fruitful chat in which the US leader emphasized the importance of the bilateral relationship with Brazil, a key partner in the Western Hemisphere.

The pair also discussed fostering respect for democratic and humanitarian rights in Venezuela, the White House said, and Temer said on his Twitter account that Trump invited him to visit Washington in the near future.

Trump then spoke with Bachelet Sunday afternoon and expressed his “concern” with the situation in Venezuela, and the two leaders agreed on the importance of advancing democratic principles throughout the Western Hemisphere, the White House said in a statement.

The mogul discussed the US-Chile bilateral relationship with Bachelet and issues linked to the close mutual cooperation on trade and security questions, the White House added.

Temer tweeted (my translation),
“Today I had a telephone call from @realDonaldTrump. He ffollows our work and congratulated us on our results.”

“We strengthened our direct channels of communication with @realDonaldTrump. He would like us to visit him in Washington.”

The Obama administration took a different approach to Venezuela.

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