Brazil

Brazil said a final farewell to Pelé on Tuesday, burying the legend who unified the bitterly divided country. Newly inaugurated President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva paid his respects at Vila Belmiro, the stadium where Pelé played for most of his career.

Against the backdrop of increasingly violent protests by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who has fled to Florida in hopes of escaping prosecution in Brazil, Sunday saw the formerly jailed Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party resume the presidency.

Senior editor Hector Luis Alamo gives a rundown of some of the facts, bits of news, real histories, and actual lies he came across during the past week.

This week’s wrap-up comes to you from the cozy confines of quarantine, as senior editor Hector Luis Alamo has managed to catch COVID for only the second time this year.

November ended as an extremely violent month in Brazil—not only in the political field, with fanatics of the still-President Jair Bolsonaro again blocking roads and even resorting to terrorism, but also with the mass shooting at two schools in Aracruz, in the interior state of Espírito Santo.

A group of 16 municipalities filed a lawsuit on November 22 against multiple Big Oil companies for downplaying the risks of their fossil-fuel products on climate change.

Brazilian soccer great Pelé thanked fans worldwide on Thursday for the well-wishes he’s received since being admitted to a São Paulo hospital amid his fight against cancer. The 82-year-old Pelé, who had a colon tumor removed in September 2021, was hospitalized Tuesday to regulate his medication, his daughter said.

More than three weeks after losing a reelection bid, President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday blamed a software bug and demanded the electoral authority annul votes cast on most of Brazil’s electronic voting machines, though independent experts say the bug doesn’t affect the reliability of results.

Founded in 2017, the Latin American Movement of Mothers of LGTB+ Children lobbies governments to eliminate prejudicial laws and better enforce existing bans on violence and discrimination.

A striking line of red paint approximately eight inches wide and spanning a kilometer in length appeared on Friday in parts of downtown San José. Part of a project called Kilometer Downtown, its intent is to guide tourists to hotels and safe spots where they can ask for information.

The defense ministry has put out a report highlighting flaws in Brazil’s electoral systems and proposing improvements, but there is nothing to substantiate claims of fraud from some of President Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters protesting his October 30 defeat.

The announcement, made on Friday, is part of the Biden administration’s effort to directly address the disproportionate impacts of pollution that have existed for decades in many low-income communities and communities of color.

Latino Rebels Radio host Julio Ricardo Varela welcomes Roberta Braga of Equis Research to break down the contentious and highly competitive second round of Brazil’s presidential election and weigh it against the destabilizing threat of disinformation.

In the run-up to Brazil’s presidential election, many feared a narrow result would be contested and spell the death knell for Latin America’s largest democracy. So far, however, the worst fears have been averted.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration signaled a willingness to hand over power, two days after a nail-biting election loss to leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and amid speculation the far-right incumbent might fight the result.

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday did not concede the election he lost to leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a brief speech that marked his first comments since results were released two days ago.

The election to Congress of Bolsonaro supporters, as well as a deeply divided Brazilian public, spell difficult years for incoming President Lula da Silva. Backed by a broad coalition of supporters on the left and the right, he will also have a hard time satisfying all of his allies.

Four years ago, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s reputation and political future were in tatters. On Sunday, in yet another twist, Brazilian voters chose him by the narrowest of margins to once again lead the world’s fourth-largest democracy.

SÃO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s electoral authority said Sunday that Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the leftist Worker’s Party defeated incumbent Jair Bolsonaro to become the country’s next president.

A violent showdown at a Bolsonaro rally on Sunday left two wounded, and political tensions remain heightened leading up to the October 30 runoff election between right-wing incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro and left-wing former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Adriano Leite Ribeiro, known as “Adriano Imperador”, was once the greatest soccer player in Brazil. But he turned his back on the glitz and glamor of stardom, choosing instead to spend time in the favela of his boyhood—which sparked a racist and classist backlash in the Brazilian press.