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The billionaire has shared videos of the Argentine president attacking “social justice” with his 182 million followers. One doctored image, which implied that watching a speech by Mr. Milei was better than having sex, is among Mr. Musk’s most viewed posts ever. Mr. Musk has helped turn the pugnacious libertarian into one of the new faces of the modern right. But offline, he has used the relationship to press for benefits to his other businesses, the electric carmaker Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX. “Elon Musk called me,” Mr. Milei said in a television interview weeks after taking office.

Persons: Javier Milei, Elon Musk, Musk, Milei, Musk’s, Tesla, “ Elon Musk, ” Mr Organizations: South, ”, Argentine, SpaceX Locations: Argentina

☆ The New Players in Brazilian Politics? Elon Musk and Republicans.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Jack Nicas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Just a few months ago, the political movement behind Brazil’s far-right former president, Jair Bolsonaro, was sputtering. Mr. Bolsonaro had been voted out of office, ruled ineligible to run in the next election and was in the cross hairs of deepening criminal investigations. But now Mr. Bolsonaro and his followers have had a sudden surge of energy and momentum — with the help of Elon Musk and the Republican Party. Over the past month, Mr. Musk and House Republicans have harshly criticized Alexandre de Moraes, a Brazilian Supreme Court justice who is leading investigations into Mr. Bolsonaro, over the judge’s moves to block more than 100 social media accounts in Brazil. Many of them belong to prominent right-wing pundits, podcasters and federal lawmakers who, in some cases, have questioned Mr. Bolsonaro’s election loss.

Persons: Jair Bolsonaro, Bolsonaro, Elon Musk, Alexandre de Moraes Organizations: Elon, Republican Party, House Republicans, Brazilian Locations: Brazil

☆ The Japanese Sensei Bringing Baseball to Brazil
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Jack Nicas | Dado Galdieri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Yukihiro Shimura always arrives first. He quietly puts on his baseball uniform. And, finally, when he finishes, he bows to Rio de Janeiro’s only baseball field. Then his misfit team — including a geologist, graphic designer, English teacher, film student, voice actor and motorcycle delivery man — starts to form. Most are in their 20s and 30s, and some are still learning the basics of throwing, catching and swinging a bat.

Persons: Yukihiro Shimura, Shimura, ”, “ Organizations: “ Locations: Rio

☆ Bolsonaro Faces New Legal Jeopardy After Stay at Hungarian Embassy
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Jack Nicas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered former President Jair Bolsonaro to explain why he spent two nights at the Hungarian Embassy, and the Brazilian federal police began investigating whether the February stay violated earlier court orders, police and court officials have said. The moves from the Supreme Court and federal police add to mounting legal jeopardy for Brazil’s former leader and followed a New York Times investigation published on Monday that showed Mr. Bolsonaro hid at the Hungarian Embassy in Brasília days after the authorities confiscated his passport because he was under criminal investigation. The Times report, based on three days of footage from the embassy’s security cameras, showed that the former president had appeared to be seeking political asylum from Hungary, whose prime minister is a fellow hard-right leader, Viktor Orban.

Persons: Jair Bolsonaro, Bolsonaro, Viktor Orban Organizations: Hungarian Embassy, Supreme, New York Times, Times Locations: Brazil’s, Hungarian, Hungary

On Feb. 8, Brazil’s federal police confiscated former President Jair Bolsonaro’s passport and arrested a pair of his former aides on accusations that they had plotted a coup after Mr. Bolsonaro lost the 2022 presidential election. Four days later, Mr. Bolsonaro was at the entrance to the Hungarian Embassy in Brazil, waiting to be let in, according to the embassy’s security-camera footage, which was obtained by The New York Times. The former president appeared to stay at the embassy for the next two days, the footage showed, accompanied by two security guards and waited on by the Hungarian ambassador and staff members. Mr. Bolsonaro, a target of various criminal investigations, cannot be arrested at a foreign embassy that welcomes him, because they are legally off-limits to domestic authorities. The stay at the embassy suggests that the former president was seeking to leverage his friendship with a fellow far-right leader, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, into an attempt to evade the Brazilian justice system as he faces criminal investigations at home.

Persons: Jair, Bolsonaro, Viktor Orban of Hungary Organizations: Hungarian Embassy, The New York Times Locations: Hungarian, Brazil

☆ Police Say They’ve Cracked Rio de Janeiro’s Most Notorious Murder Mystery
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( Jack Nicas | Flávia Milhorance | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Who killed Marielle Franco?” That has been the question haunting Rio de Janeiro for the past six years, ever since a gunman assassinated the Black, gay, feminist councilwoman who had fought the city’s entrenched corruption and powerful gangs. But now her family and the thousands of supporters who have taken to the streets in Ms. Franco’s name appear to have an answer. Brazilian police officers on Sunday morning arrested Chiquinho and Domingos Brazão — two brothers who once served on Rio’s City Council, as did Ms. Franco — on accusations that they ordered her 2018 murder to silence her battles against corruption, according to a police official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the operation had not been officially announced. The police also arrested Rivaldo Barbosa, the former Rio police chief who initially oversaw the investigation into Ms. Franco’s killing, on accusations that he intentionally obstructed it, the official said.

Persons: “, Marielle Franco, councilwoman, Chiquinho, Domingos Brazão —, Franco —, Rivaldo Barbosa, Franco’s Organizations: Sunday, Rio’s City Council, Rio Locations: de Janeiro, Ms, Rio’s

☆ Brazil Police Recommend Criminal Charges Against Bolsonaro
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( Jack Nicas | More About Jack Nicas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Brazil’s federal police recommended that former President Jair Bolsonaro be criminally charged in connection with a scheme to falsify his Covid-19 vaccine card, in part to travel to the United States during the pandemic. If federal prosecutors decide to pursue the charges, it would be the first time the former president has faced criminal charges. This is a developing story.

Persons: Jair Bolsonaro Locations: United States

☆ From Blinken to Trump: Javier Milei’s Strange Trip
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Jack Nicas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Javier Milei of Argentina hosted U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken in Buenos Aires on Friday morning to discuss the various ways Mr. Milei is reshaping Argentina foreign policy in line with the United States. A few hours later, both men were set to board separate planes for Washington. Mr. Blinken was going back to the White House and President Biden. Mr. Milei was headed to the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, where he would take the stage ahead of former President Donald J. Trump and give a speech that would almost certainly rail against the dangers of the left. In addition to being Argentina’s largest foreign investor and its third-largest trade partner, the United States has the most control of any country over the International Monetary Fund, to which Argentina owes $40 billion.

Persons: Javier Milei, Antony J, Blinken, Biden, Milei, Donald J Organizations: U.S, White, Conservative Political, Conference, Trump, Argentine, International Monetary Fund Locations: Argentina, Buenos Aires, United States, Washington

Ecuador’s military was sent in to seize control of the country’s prisons last month after two major gang leaders escaped and criminal groups quickly set off a nationwide revolt that paralyzed the country. In Brazil last week, two inmates with connections to a major gang became the first to escape from one of the nation’s five maximum-security federal prisons, officials said. Officials in Colombia have declared an emergency in its prisons after two guards were killed and several more targeted in what the government said was retaliation for its crackdown on major criminal groups. Inside prisons across Latin America, criminal groups exercise unchallenged authority over prisoners, extracting money from them to buy protection or basic necessities, like food.

Locations: Brazil, Colombia, Latin America

☆ Carnival Starts Only When 12-Foot John Travolta Arrives
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Jack Nicas | Dado Galdieri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

It was near the start of one of Brazil’s most famous Carnival celebrations, in the northern seaside city of Olinda, and the town plaza was jammed with thousands of revelers. They were all awaiting their idol. Just before 9 p.m., the doors to a dance hall swung open, a brass band pushed into the crowd and the star everyone had been waiting for stepped out: a 12-foot puppet of John Travolta. Confetti sprayed, the band began playing a catchy tune and the crowd sang along: “John Travolta is really cool. And in Olinda, the best carnival.” (It rhymes in Portuguese.)

Persons: John Travolta, “ John Travolta Locations: Olinda

☆ Lost Images Reveal the History of Rio’s Carnival
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-10 | by ( Jack Nicas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

Lost Images Reveal the History of Rio’s CarnivalRafael Cosme was at a Rio de Janeiro antique fair six years ago when he found a pile of film negatives on the ground. It is Rio’s annual collective exhalation — a four-day eruption of art and music, costumes and joy — that began again on Saturday. “I realized there are endless stories I could tell about this city,” Mr. Cosme said about his discovery of Rio’s lost photos. Around that time, Rio’s rich elites began parading around the city during Carnival in open cars, according to Maria Clementina Pereira Cunha, a historian who has written books about Rio’s Carnival. Today the parade remains the centerpiece of Rio’s Carnival, held in a dedicated stadium built in 1984.

Persons: Rafael Cosme, ”, —, Mr, Cosme, “, Rio’s, ” Dado Galdieri, Maria Clementina Pereira Cunha, suburbanites, Ms, Pereira Cunha, “ bate bola, Felipe Ferreira, “ blocos Organizations: Rio’s, Rio, The New York Times, State University of Rio Locations: Rio, Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Europe, Rio’s, ”, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian, Black

☆ Brazil Police Accuse Bolsonaro and Allies of Attempted Coup
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Jack Nicas | More About Jack Nicas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Former President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil oversaw a broad conspiracy to hold on to power regardless of the results of the 2022 election, including personally editing a proposed order to arrest a Supreme Court justice and call new elections after he lost, according to new accusations by Brazilian federal police unveiled on Thursday. Mr. Bolsonaro and dozens of top aides, ministers and military leaders coordinated to undermine the Brazilian public’s faith in the election and set the stage for a potential coup, the federal police said. Their efforts included spreading information about voter fraud, drafting legal arguments for new elections, recruiting military personnel to support a coup, surveilling judges and encouraging and guiding protesters who eventually raided government buildings, police said. The explosive allegations were made in a 134-page court order that authorized a sweeping federal police operation on Thursday that targeted Mr. Bolsonaro and more than 45 of his political allies. The operation involved 33 search warrants and the arrests of four people, including two Army officers and two of Mr. Bolsonaro’s former top aides.

Persons: Jair Bolsonaro, Bolsonaro, Bolsonaro’s Organizations: Army Locations: Brazil

Sebastián Piñera, a former president of Chile who helped strengthen the nation’s young democracy after becoming its first conservative leader since a military dictatorship, died in a helicopter crash in Chile on Tuesday, the government said. Three people survived and swam to shore, Ms. Toha said, but Mr. Piñera died and the Chilean Navy had recovered his body. It is unclear who was piloting the aircraft, but Mr. Piñera was known to fly his own helicopter. Mr. Piñera was a billionaire businessman and investor who served two terms as Chile’s president, from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022. A conservative, Mr. Piñera ushered in pro-business policies that helped boost growth and make the nation of 19 million, in his words, “a true oasis” in Latin America.

Persons: Sebastián, Carolina Tohá, Toha, Piñera Organizations: Chilean Navy Locations: Chile, Ranco, Ríos, Latin America

It has been six weeks since President Javier Milei took office in Argentina, and since then, gas prices have doubled, inflation has soared and the value of the national currency has plummeted. Such turmoil, he had warned, should be expected. Yet on Wednesday, many Argentines plan to take to the streets to show they have already had enough. Argentina’s largest labor unions plan a nationwide strike — including workers in transportation, construction, health care, food services, energy and banking — to protest Mr. Milei’s planned overhauls, arguing they would weaken protections for workers and the poor. Pablo Moyano, a union leader, told reporters that Mr. Milei “is crapping on Congress and crapping on workers.” Mr. Milei has shot back that the protest shows “there are two Argentinas” — one stuck in the past and another that “puts us on the path to be a developed country.”

Persons: Javier Milei, Milei’s, Pablo Moyano, Milei, Mr, “, ” Locations: Argentina

Marcelo Capobianco was inspecting the calf carcass he had just hung from a hook in his small butcher shop outside Buenos Aires on Tuesday when he admitted that the premium-grade beef would hardly earn him anything. That’s because since his preferred candidate, Javier Milei, won Argentina’s presidency two days earlier, the cost of the meat had jumped by five percent, while the street value of the Argentine peso had fallen by 12 percent, hurting his customers’ purchasing power. Mr. Capobianco said that he had already raised prices so many times in recent months, he was reluctant to again pass the costs on to customers. “It’s already proving difficult to sell at these prices,” he said. Across his shop were signs of the spiraling economic crisis and 140 percent inflation that has convulsed Argentina and catapulted Mr. Milei, a self-described “anarcho-capitalist” libertarian who wants to replace the peso with the U.S. dollar, to Argentina’s highest office.

Persons: Marcelo Capobianco, Javier Milei, Capobianco, “ It’s, ”, Milei Organizations: Argentine, U.S . Locations: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Javier Milei was first introduced to the Argentine public as a combative television personality with an unruly hairdo and a tendency to insult his critics. So when he entered Argentina’s presidential race last year, he was viewed by many as a sideshow. On Sunday, he was elected Argentina’s next president, and is now tasked with guiding one of Latin America’s largest economies out of one of its worst economic crises. Many Argentines awoke on Monday anxious, others hopeful, but just about everyone was uncertain about what lay ahead. Perhaps the only certainty about the country’s political and economic future was that, in three weeks, a far-right political outsider with little governing experience was set to take the reins of a government that he has vowed to upend.

Persons: Javier Milei, Argentina’s Organizations: Argentine

☆ Argentina Elects Javier Milei in Victory for Far Right
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Jack Nicas | More About Jack Nicas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Argentines on Sunday chose Javier Milei, a far-right libertarian who has drawn comparisons to Donald J. Trump, as their next president, a lurch to the right for a nation struggling under an economic crisis and a sign of the enduring strength of the global far right. Mr. Milei, 53, an economist and former television personality, has burst onto the traditionally closed Argentine political scene with a brash style, an embrace of conspiracy theories and a series of extreme proposals that he says are needed to upend a broken economy and government. Sergio Massa, 51, Argentina’s center-left economy minister, conceded defeat even before official results were released because the campaigns’ early numbers showed he had been defeated. As president, Mr. Milei has pledged to slash spending and taxes, close Argentina’s central bank and replace the nation’s currency with the U.S. dollar. He has also proposed banning abortion, loosening regulations on guns and only considering countries who want to “fight against socialism” as Argentina’s allies, often naming the United States and Israel as examples.

Persons: Javier Milei, Donald J, Trump, Milei, Sergio Massa, ” Organizations: Sunday, Argentine, U.S . Locations: United States, Israel

☆ What to Know as Argentina Votes in a Pivotal Election
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Jack Nicas | More About Jack Nicas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For months, Argentina has been consumed by a single question. Mr. Milei, an economist and former television pundit, is facing off against Sergio Massa, Argentina’s center-left economy minister, in a runoff election. Mr. Massa led the election’s first round last month, with 37 percent to Mr. Milei’s 30 percent. The backdrop to the contest has been Argentina’s worst economic crisis in decades, with annual inflation surpassing 140 percent, behind only Lebanon and Venezuela globally. But the economic debate has been overshadowed by the rise of Mr. Milei, his eccentric personality and his radical ideas to remake the country.

Persons: Will Javier Milei —, Donald J, Trump, Milei, Sergio Massa, Mr, Massa Organizations: Argentine Locations: Argentina, Argentina’s, Lebanon, Venezuela

Donald J. Trump’s claims of election fraud already helped inspire one South American leader, former president Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, to sow doubt about the security of his nation’s elections, leading to a riot in Brazil’s capital this year. Now, 1,500 miles to the south, there is a new Latin American politician warning of voter fraud with scant evidence, undermining many of his supporters’ faith in their nation’s election this Sunday. Javier Milei, a far-right libertarian economist and television personality, is competing to become Argentina’s next president in a runoff election. On the campaign trail, he has embraced comparisons to Mr. Trump and Mr. Bolsonaro, and, like them, has repeatedly warned that if he loses, it may be because the election was stolen. Mr. Milei has claimed, without evidence, that stolen and damaged ballots cost him more than a million votes in a primary election in August, or as much as 5 percent of the total.

Persons: Donald J, Trump’s, Jair Bolsonaro, Javier Milei, Argentina’s, Trump, Bolsonaro, Milei Locations: Brazil

There was one of Argentina’s presidential candidates, Sergio Massa, dressed in a shirt with what appeared to be military medals, pointing to a blue sky. “The image exudes authority and determination.”Javier Milei, the other candidate in Sunday’s runoff election, has struck back by sharing what appear to be A.I. images depicting Mr. Massa as a Chinese communist leader and himself as a cuddly cartoon lion. Argentina’s election has quickly become a testing ground for A.I. in campaigns, with the two candidates and their supporters employing the technology to doctor existing images and videos and create others from scratch.

Persons: Sergio Massa, —, “, Gustav Klutsis, masssa, ”, ” Javier Milei, Massa Locations: Buenos Aires

☆ Taylor Swift Takes Her Eras Tour Global, Shaking Argentina
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Jack Nicas | More About Jack Nicas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

On May 31, Florencia Romeo slept in a tent outside Argentina’s largest stadium with her girlfriend and her sister. They had heard rumors that Taylor Swift might be coming to Buenos Aires, and they wanted to be first in line. The rumors were right: Ms. Swift was coming, but it would take a while. Her concert was more than five months away.

Persons: Florencia Romeo, Taylor Swift, Swift Locations: Buenos Aires, North America

☆ ‘Es como la Messi mujer’: la gira de Taylor Swift llega a Argentina
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Jack Nicas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Es la que mejor relación tiene con los fans y la que logra toda esta fan manía”, comentó Lucas Forte, de 24 años y miembro de otra carpa que había dormido afuera del estadio durante cinco noches desde septiembre. “Me enteré de que ustedes acamparon para tener un buen lugar”, le dijo el jueves a la multitud. Los organizadores se aseguraron de que las que acamparon fueran las primeras en la fila. “Llegamos allá y me rompí la rodilla” contó Atenas Astuni, de 23 años, integrante de la primera de las carpas, con la voz ronca la mañana del viernes tras el concierto. “Pero estaba hablando con mis amigas de que si me tendría que romper la rodilla de vuelta para que pase exactamente lo mismo que pasó ayer, lo hago de vuelta.

Milei is in a weaker position than expected. Mr. Milei had entered Sunday as the clear favorite, with some in his campaign predicting that he could win the election outright in the first round. Mr. Milei has attracted a lot of attention for his promises to radically overhaul the Argentine government and economy with a plan to eliminate the nation’s central bank and replace its currency with the U.S. dollar. But analysts said that his brash political style, which had drawn comparisons to Mr. Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former right-wing president, likely turned away many centrist voters. “The supporters who made memes of him with Bolsonaro and Trump didn’t do him any favors,” said Brian Winter, a Latin American analyst and former journalist in Argentina.

Persons: Milei, Massa, Trump, Jair, Brazil’s, “, ”, Brian Winter Organizations: Argentine, U.S ., Bolsonaro, Trump Locations: Argentina

☆ Far-Right Candidate Heads to Runoff in Argentina Election
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-22 | by ( Jack Nicas | More About Jack Nicas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“For Milei, this should be a shock,” said Ignacio Labaqui, an Argentine political analyst. Mr. Milei received nearly the same percentage of the vote as in the primary election, he said, while Mr. Massa’s support grew after a campaign focused on the dangers of a Milei presidency. “Massa has a very strong chance to become Argentina’s next president,” Mr. Labaqui added. Those plans have gained traction with millions of Argentines as the nation grapples with its worst economic crisis in decades. Mr. Milei has also attracted attention in Argentina and abroad for his bellicose political style that has drawn comparisons — which he has embraced — to Donald J. Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former president.

Persons: ”, Ignacio Labaqui, Milei, “ Massa, Argentina’s, ” Mr, Labaqui, —, Donald J, Trump, Jair, Tucker Carlson Organizations: Argentine, U.S ., Fox News Locations: Argentine, Argentina

☆ Javier Milei, a ‘Mini-Trump,’ Could Be Argentina’s Next President
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Jack Nicas | More About Jack Nicas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

He made his name disparaging people on television. Donald J. Trump, and his rise to the American presidency in 2016, shares some striking similarities with the man behind the moment unfolding in Argentina, the nation’s new political sensation, Javier Milei. Mr. Milei, a libertarian economist and television pundit, was once seen as a sideshow in Argentina’s presidential race, not taken seriously by the news media or his opponents. Mr. Milei, 52, has already upended the politics of this nation of 46 million. His pledges to eliminate Argentina’s central bank and ditch its currency for the U.S. dollar have dominated the national conversation, while also helping to fuel a further collapse in the value of the Argentine peso.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Javier Milei, Milei, — Organizations: U.S ., Argentine Locations: Argentina

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