Brazil

PORTO VELHO, Brazil (AP) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday said he has accepted four planes from Chile to help fight Amazon fires, and he accused the French president of portraying himself as “the one and only person” concerned about the environment.

PORTO VELHO, Brazil (AP) — Acrimony between Brazil and European countries seeking to help fight Amazon fires deepened on Tuesday, jeopardizing hopes of global unity over how to protect a region seen as vital to the health of the planet.

PORTO VELHO, Brazil (AP) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has insulted adversaries and allies, disparaged women, blacks and homosexuals, and even praised his country’s 1964-1985 dictatorship. Yet nothing has rallied more anger at home and criticism from abroad than his response to fires raging in parts of the Amazon region.

The concern for the protection of the Amazon seems to have reached a new zenith.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — It happens, on average, more than five times a day in Rio de Janeiro: Police open fire and someone dies.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s official monitoring agency is reporting a sharp increase in wildfires this year, and President Jair Bolsonaro suggested Wednesday, without citing evidence, that non-governmental organizations could be setting them to make him look bad.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — An armed man on Tuesday took dozens of hostages on a bus in Brazil and threatened to set the vehicle on fire with gasoline before police shot him dead in a four-hour standoff broadcast live on television.

The past two weeks have brought Paraguayans a political earthquake and a crowd of new household names, all connected to a bilateral energy deal signed with Brazil in May and kept under wraps until late July.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Fans from around the world honored bossa nova pioneer João Gilberto, filing past his coffin at his funeral in Rio de Janeiro on Monday.

The final match was held in Lyon, France, where the crowd chanted “Equal pay! Equal pay!” as the game ended.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people are filling a main Sao Paulo thoroughfare for one of the world’s largest LGBT pride parades.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s Senate has rejected a decree by President Jair Bolsonaro that loosened the country’s strict gun laws, dealing a blow to the far-right leader who had lobbied for lawmakers to approve the measure.

Protesters in cities and towns across Brazil took to the streets to condemn an education ministry proposal to reduce funding for Brazilian public universities by 30% during the remainder of 2019.

Latino Rebels Radio: June 2, 2019

How did an American debate about racism make its way to this Latin American nation?

Many Brazilians feel this right-wing former congressman has not delivered on his campaign promises.

The set of proposals that aim to increase the state’s capacity to fight organized crime, corruption and urban violence was presented to Brazilian governors in early February by Minister of Justice Sérgio Moro.

The latest from the Latin America News Dispatch podcast.

Relations between the two countries are deteriorating fast, too.

The hashtag, in Portuguese, is #EiBolsonaroVaiTomarNoCu.

It is a hallmark of what those of us in the complex problems field call a “VUCA” world—a world that’s volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.