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☆ Brazil's Lula cuts losses after setbacks on environment and Indigenous front
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Maria Carolina Marcello | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

On Wednesday, the minority Lula government faces another key vote in the chamber that will reduce the powers of the ministries of the environment and of Indigenous affairs. Lula called an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the dilemma, and called the speaker of the lower house, Arthur Lira, whom he plans to meet as well, to ensure the measure passes. INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL SETBACKThe law passed on Tuesday would set a cut-off date for recognizing Indigenous land claims, establishing that they had to be occupied before Brazil's current Constitution was enacted in 1988. Brazil's 1 million Indigenous peoples are guaranteed by the Constitution the right to live on ancestral lands. After the bill passed, the minister of Indigenous peoples, Sonia Guajajara, said that the deputies who backed it would be "responsible for approving a bill that explicitly attacks the lives of Indigenous peoples in Brazil."

Persons: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Lula, Arthur Lira, Jair Bolsonaro, Bolsonaro, Sonia Guajajara, Lisandra Paraguassu, Ricardo Brito, Maria Carolina Marcello, Anthony Boadle, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Lawmakers, Liberal Party, Thomson Locations: BRASILIA, Congress, Sao Paulo, Brazil's, Brazil, Brasilia

☆ Brazil's top court sentences ex-President Collor to prison for corruption
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Then-Senator Fernando Collor de Mello, also a former Brazilian president, during a vote session on the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff in Brasilia, Brazil, May 11, 2016. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/File PhotoBRASILIA, May 31 (Reuters) - Brazil's supreme court voted on Wednesday to sentence former President Fernando Collor de Mello to 8 years and 10 months in prison on corruption and money laundering charges. The Brazilian prosecutor's office accused Collor, 73, of having received around 30 million reais ($6 million) in bribes from a subsidiary of state-run oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA). The top court convicted the former senator in mid-May, but justices had still to decide on his sentence, which he can appeal. A rakish, dynastic heir with a penchant for expensive sports cars, Collor was one of Brazil's original free-marketeers whoopposed Brazil's entrenched protectionism and sought to privatize state-run firms in his curtailed presidency.

Persons: Fernando Collor de Mello, Dilma Rousseff, Ueslei Marcelino, Collor, Brazil's, Ricardo Brito, Carolina Pulice, Anthony Boadle, Grant McCool Organizations: REUTERS, Brazilian, Petrobras, PETR4, Thomson Locations: Brazilian, Brasilia, Brazil, BRASILIA, Alagoas

The approval, by 283 votes to 155, comes after Indigenous groups blocked a highway and burned tires to protest the measures earlier on Tuesday. Outside Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, demonstrators blocked a major motorway with flaming tires and used bows and arrows to confront police, who dispersed them with tear gas. Indigenous groups from across the country planned a week of protests outside Congress in the capital Brasilia. Lula legally recognized six Indigenous territories last month. Reporting by Anthony Boadle in Brasilia and Leonardo Benassatto in Sao Paulo; Editing by Brad Haynes, Cynthia Osterman and Lincoln FeastOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Bill, Marco, Amanda Perobelli, Jair Bolsonaro, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro, Lula, Anthony Boadle, Leonardo Benassatto, Brad Haynes, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: SAO PAULO, REUTERS, Supreme, Sao Paulo, Thomson Locations: BRASILIA, SAO, Sao Paulo, Brazil's, Brasilia, Guarani, Brazil, Sao, Lincoln

[1/2] Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meets with Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (not pictured) before a summit with presidents of South America to discuss the re-launching of the regional cooperation bloc UNASUR, in Brasilia, Brazil, May 29, 2023. "We won't decide anything at tomorrow's meeting, it is just about discussing possibilities," Lula told a news conference on Monday with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, on his first visit to Brazil in eight years. Lula said the leaders did not have to recreate a new Unasur but could come up with a different sort of organization. Maduro is hoping the South American countries will unite in calling on the United States to lift its sanctions against Venezuela, which he and Lula assailed at their news conference. "The aim of this initiative is to unite all the countries of the region once again," she told reporters on Friday.

☆ Venezuela's Maduro meets Lula on first visit to Brazil since 2015
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Brazil's former hard-right President Jair Bolsonaro had banned Maduro from entering Brazil when he took office in 2019, a measure that Lula lifted when he returned to power this year. Lula and Maduro met at the presidential palace and were scheduled to sign agreements in the early afternoon. Among the issues on their agenda was a large debt Venezuela has run up with Brazil's National Development Bank, Brazilian officials said. Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad was due to meet with Maduro and Lula, they added, and the president of state-run oil company Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates. The organization floundered when several South American countries elected right-wing governments, creating diplomatic fissures on the continent.

☆ Brazil's Lula says meeting fell through because Ukraine's Zelenskiy was late
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a press conference at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, western Japan, Sunday, May 21, 2023. Louise Delmotte/Pool via REUTERSHIROSHIMA, Japan, May 22 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday a meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Japan fell through because Zelenskiy was late. "I had an interview, a bilateral one with Ukraine here in this room at 3:15 p.m. We waited and received the information that he was late," Lula said. Zelenskiy "did not show up ... Clearly he had appointments and he couldn't come," Lula said. Zelenskiy had earlier played down the fact he did not meet with Lula.

☆ Brazil environment agency rejects Petrobras' request to drill at Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRASILIA, May 17 (Reuters) - The Brazilian environmental protection agency Ibama said on Wednesday it had rejected a request from state-run oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA) to drill a well at the mouth of the Amazon river. The much-awaited decision follows a technical recommendation by the agency's experts to reject the proposal. A technical report from Ibama had previously advised against the request, citing discrepancies in environmental studies, inadequate measures for communicating with indigenous communities, and insufficiencies in Petrobras' plan to safeguard the region's wildlife. Petrobras had several opportunities to solve controversial points of its project, but it was still presenting "worrying inconsistencies" for the operation in a new exploratory frontier of "high socio-environmental vulnerability," Ibama said in a statement. Petrobras did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

☆ Analysis: Jet-setting Lula risks losing focus on Brazil issues, allies say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Lisandra Paraguassu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

BRASILIA, May 17 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's focus on foreign policy and a relentless schedule of trips abroad risks distracting him from tackling thorny domestic issues, two senior allies of the leftist president told Reuters. But so far, less than six months into his third term, he has made twice as many foreign trips as he did at the start of his first presidency in 2003. By comparison, fellow leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of Mexico, who skipped the coronation, has made five foreign trips since taking office in 2018. "You have to focus on decisive issues," the aide said, citing a need for higher economic growth and job creation. Marco Feliciano, a pro-Bolsonaro lawmaker in the lower house, said "international trips are part of the presidential agenda, but not at the beginning of the government ...

☆ Dutch PM to discuss defence of Ukraine with Brazil's Lula
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

"We need to help Ukraine fight this fight," Rutte told reporters on Monday, the first day of his visit to Brazil. Rutte said he will explain to Lula why the question of backing Ukraine is "existential" for the Netherlands, for Europe and beyond because the Russian invasion has put Western values at stake. "If Putin would be successful in Ukraine, and I don'tthink he will be, it won't end there. Lula, who has tried to encourage countries who are not involved in the conflict to form a group to push for peace talks, has said supplying arms to Ukraine was encouraging the war. The Dutch government is considering with its European partners donating F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

Companies would also have to pay content providers and copyrights on material posted on their sites. The Brazilian proposal is shaping up to be one of the world's strongest legislations on social media, comparable to the European Union's Digital Services Act enacted last year. They also say it will endanger free posting services for users while allowing censorship as practiced in authoritarian societies. Brazil's Justice Minister Flavio Dino has asked the consumer protection authority to investigate whether the companies engaged in "abusive practices" in campaigning against the bill. The bill was fast tracked in the lower house after a series of fatal attacks in schools which social media allegedly encouraged, and new articles added to the bill have not been debated in Congressional committees before going to the vote.

☆ Bolsonaro steals show at Brazil's biggest farm fair
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Lais Morais | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro attends the Agrishow fair, in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Carla CarnielRIBERAO PRETO, Brazil, May 1 (Reuters) - Former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro stole the show on Monday at Brazil's largest agribusiness fair where he was acclaimed by supporters from the country's strong farm sector. Bolsonaro criticized the decision by Lula to recognize new Indigenous reservations, a constant complaint by farmers in Brazil's expanding agricultural frontier. The deep-pocketed and powerful farm sector were major supporters of Bolsonaro's 2018 election. Bolsonaro faces legal risks that could ban him from running in the 2026 election.

☆ Brazil police shoot dead 4 illegal gold miners on Yanomami reservation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] A helicopter of the Brazilian Environmental Agency (IBAMA) is seen near Uraricoera river during an operation at illegal mining in the Yanomami indigenous land, Roraima state, Brazil, February 11, 2023. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli/File PhotoBRASILIA, May 1 (Reuters) - Brazilian police and environmental protection agents were ambushed by illegal gold miners on the Yanomami Indigenous reservation in the Amazon on Monday and four miners were shot dead in the exchange of gunfire, a government statement said. The Environment Ministry said their team was attacked when they moved in to dismantle a wildcat mining camp run by an organized crime gang. Brazilian authorities are keen to show that they mean business in their efforts to remove the remainder of the wildcat miners on the reservation following the fatal shooting of a Yanomami man. Gold miners killed one man and seriously injured two others in an attack on Saturday in the Yanomami territory, where authorities have been evicting illegal miners who invaded Brazil's largest indigenous reservation, the size of Portugal.

☆ Brazil's Lula resumes creation of Indigenous reservations halted by Bolsonaro
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/File PhotoBRASILIA, April 27 (Reuters) - Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced the formal recognition of six Indigenous reservations on Friday, fulfilling a campaign promise to reverse the policy of his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. Lula made the announcement as part of the annual meeting in Brasilia of representatives of Brazil's one million Indigenous people. The Free Land Camp is a five-day event featuring music, dance and food in tents erected on the grass esplanade of the capital. Indigenous leaders called on the president to speed up the recognition of some 300 Indigenous territories that have been mapped out but have waited for years to be formally recognized. With no state protection, Indigenous communities are in danger of invasions by illegal loggers and wildcat gold miners that surged under Bolsonaro.

[1/3] Supporters of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro demonstrate against President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as security forces operate, outside Brazil’s National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Adriano MachadoBRASILIA, April 26 (Reuters) - Brazil's Congress on Wednesday prepared to open an inquiry into the Jan. 8 storming of key government buildings in the capital by violent demonstrators who denied the electoral victory of the recently inaugurated President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The right-wing opposition has pushed for an inquiry as a way to blame his new government for security failures in Brasilia that day. Once the congressional inquiry is formally opened, there will be a fierce battle over the committee's composition. Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Ricardo Brito Editing by Brad Haynes and Aurora EllisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The remarks brought a strong retort from Washington, where a White House spokesman accused Lula of "parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda." Lula is a pragmatic politician," one of the diplomats told Reuters, requesting anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. Lula has suggested Ukraine needs to make concessions to end the war and Russia could return recently invaded territory but keep Crimea. The European Union has also rejected Lula's suggestion that both Ukraine and Russia are to blame for the war. Earlier this year, Lula turned down a reported German request to supply artillery ammunition to Ukraine.

Speaking at a lunch with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, Lula said a group of neutral nations must come together to help broker peace between Russia and Ukraine. A White House spokesman accused Lula of "parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda without looking at the facts." Lula has pitched himself as a peace broker to end the war, which began when Russia invaded the neighboring country in February 2022. The European Union has also rejected Lula's suggestion that both Ukraine and Russia are to blame for the war. Among Western nations so far, only French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed Lula's peace initiative.

☆ Lula courts Chinese tech for Brazil, brushes off "prejudices"
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, April 14 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Friday defended his country's pursuit of Chinese communication and semiconductor technology, brushing off security concerns from Western nations led by the United States. [1/2] Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gestures near First Lady Rosangela "Janja" da Silva during a visit to Huawei's Research and Development Centre in Shanghai, China, April 13, 2023. Brazil, however, is interested in attracting Chinese investment in these areas, despite recent U.S. pressure discouraging the use of 5G mobile equipment from Huawei. Among their accords, China and Brazil agreed to "explore mechanisms to promote bilateral cooperation in scientific and technological research and industrial innovation." That would involve joint research and development activities between public, private and academic institutions, and the exchange of scientists and scientific papers.

[1/2] Security forces operate as supporters of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro demonstrate against President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in Planalto Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Ueslei MarcelinoBRASILIA, April 14 (Reuters) - A judge on Brazil's Supreme Court has ordered former President Jair Bolsonaro to testify before federal police within 10 days about his role in the Jan. 8 storming of government buildings by his supporters. Bolsonaro has denied any responsibility for the riots - which recalled the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump. His critics say he instigated the riots by inflaming his supporters with attacks on Lula and by repeatedly criticizing Brazil's voting system, which he claimed was open to fraud, though he never provided proof. Bolsonaro returned to Brazil in March but faces legal investigations into his attacks on the voting system and alleged role in encouraging supporters to storm Brasilia on Jan. 8.

☆ Brazil paves way for semiconductor cooperation with China
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gestures near First Lady Rosangela "Janja" da Silva during a visit to Huawei's Research and Development Centre in Shanghai, China, April 13, 2023. Ricardo Stuckert/Handout via REUTERSBEIJING, April 14 (Reuters) - China and Brazil agreed on Friday to set up a working group to pursue cooperation on semiconductors as the South American nation strengthens ties with Beijing in areas of sensitive technology. In an interview with Reuters, Lula's foreign policy advisor Celso Amorim said Brazil will not veto the installation of a Chinese semiconductor factory in Brazil, and is interested in developing the technology in cooperation with China. In the slew of MoUs China and Brazil agreed to "explore mechanisms to promote bilateral cooperation in scientific and technological research and industrial innovation." That would involve joint research and development activities between public, private and academic institutions, and the exchange of scientists and scientific papers.

"I am convinced that both Ukraine and Russia are waiting for someone else to say, 'Let's sit down and talk,'" Lula told journalists last week. Lula has suggested a peace solution could be the return of newly invaded territory, though not Crimea - an option that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rejected outright. For his initiative to advance, Lula needs China to send a message to Russia, said a European diplomat in Brasilia. Some 20 agreements to be signed include creation of a sixth satellite in a joint program started in 1988, which will be used for monitoring the Amazon, Brazil's foreign ministry said. China overtook the United States as Brazil's top trading partner in 2009 and is a major market for Brazilian soybeans, iron ore and oil.

Bolsonaro's electoral outlook contrasts sharply with former U.S. President Donald Trump, another right-wing populist who challenged the results of his failed re-election campaign. Bolsonaro never conceded his narrow defeat in the October election and continues to question the reliability of Brazil's voting system. RISING CONSERVATIVE STARSStill, conservative powerbrokers allied with Bolsonaro are ready to reshuffle the deck for the next election cycle. He said a TSE decision to bar Bolsonaro from running would only boost the ex-president's political appeal. Any right-wing substitute could win with his endorsement, he added, while side-stepping the high rejection rates Bolsonaro faced as a candidate last year.

BRASILIA, April 5 (Reuters) - A Supreme Court judge backed a government move to crack down on illegal gold mining in Brazil, suspending a legal practice of buyers accepting the origin of the precious metal with paper receipts based on the "good faith" of the seller. The injunction by Justice Gilmar Mendes gave the government 90 days to adopt a new regulatory framework for the gold trade to stop the sale of gold mined illegally from indigenous lands and other environmentally protected areas. The previous government of President Jair Bolsonaro eased environmental protections and encouraged wildcat mining in the Amazon rainforest. A surge in illegal mining on the Yanomami indigenous reservation caused disease and malnutrition that led the Lula government to declare a humanitarian crisis. The Brazilian Institute of Mining (Ibram), which represents gold mining companies such as AngloGold Ashanti Ltd (ANGJ.J) and Yamana Gold Inc (YRI.TO), as well as multinational giants such as Vale (VALE3.SA), Rio Tinto Ltd (RIO.AX) and BHP Group Ltd (BHP.AX), said 20% of Brazilian gold had no declared origin in 2021, citing data from the National Mining Agency.

☆ Brazil envoy met Putin to push Ukraine peace talks - CNN Brasil
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRASILIA, April 3 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva sent his top foreign policy adviser to speak to Russian leader Vladimir Putin about potential peace talks to end the war in Ukraine, CNN Brasil reported on Monday. "It would be an exaggeration to say the doors are open (to peace talks), but it's not true to say they are totally closed," the envoy Celso Amorim told CNN Brasil in an interview published on its website. Two government officials told Reuters that Amorim stopped in Paris on his way back to Brazil, but they provided no details of his engagements there. Lula has proposed creating a group of countries to mediate peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in a war that has raged for more than a year. Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Lisandra Paraguassu; Editing by Brad Haynes and Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Brazil creates rights medal named after Black writer, replacing princess
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRASILIA, April 3 (Reuters) - Brazil's leftist government on Monday abolished a human rights medal that former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro had named after the daughter of the country's last monarch, replacing it with a prize named after a Black writer and abolitionist. The medal will now be named after Luiz Gama, who was a leader of the movement to abolish slavery in Brazil in the 19th Century. The government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva established a human rights ministry as soon as it took office in January and has now created the prize named after Gama. "It is not that a white person cannot be part of the anti-racist struggle, but about recognizing an abolitionist Black man as a defender of human rights," deputy minister Rita Oliveira said in a statement. Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Josie KaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Bolsonaro lands back in Brazil to lead right-wing opposition
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Ton MolinaBRASILIA, March 30 (Reuters) - Brazil's far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro returned from the United States on Thursday, welcomed back after three months by hundreds of chanting supporters at capital Brasilia's airport. Bolsonaro, who never conceded defeat in last year's election, is expected to lead the opposition to leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, officials in Bolsonaro's PL party said. Supporters with Brazil flags draped around their shoulders sang the national anthem and chanted "legend" as they awaited Bolsonaro to exit the arrivals area, where security was tight. The Lula government is just doing everything wrong," said 45-year-old small business owner Anderson Clayton, wrapped in a Brazil flag. Bolsonaro left for the United States two days before he was due to hand over the presidential sash to Lula on Jan. 1.

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