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Lucas Berti

@lucasberti

Lucas Berti covers international affairs — specialized in Latin American politics and markets. He has been published by Opera Mundi, Revista VIP, and The Intercept Brasil, among others.

bolsonaro hearings committee
Power

Bolsonaro fears the reaper as Covid hearings kick off

Bolsonaro's pandemic response will be under the microscope. Whatever the probe's outcome, it is unlikely to be positive for the president

9 hours ago • Débora Álvares
bolsonaro accused of being a nazi
Power

Congress wants to repeal censorship law. Is the replacement any better?

The 1983 National Security Law has been used as a tool to intimidate demonstrators. Lawmakers hope to introduce a replacement, but will it be any better?

4 days ago • Renato Alves
impeachment bolsonaro brazil covid pandemic
Power

What actually constitutes an impeachable offense in Brazil?

Many have called for the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro for his mismanagement of the pandemic. But what does the law actually say on the issue?

5 days ago • Beatriz Rey
As Congress kicks off pandemic hearings, Bolsonaro strikes back
Power

As Congress kicks off pandemic hearings, Bolsonaro strikes back

A Supreme Court ruling forced the Senate to launch a hearings committee to investigate the Bolsonaro government's pandemic response

1 week ago • Débora Álvares
supreme court seat churches
Power

In-person worship trial used as tryouts for Supreme Court seat

Brazil's Solicitor General and Prosecutor General are using a trial on the reopening of churches to please President Jair Bolsonaro and boost their chances to win a spot on the Supreme Court

1 week ago • Débora Álvares
Patent Patents requests can pend for decades. Photo: Alex rodrigo brondani
Business

Change to patent law could be a blow to Brazilian innovation

A Supreme Court ruling limits medical patents to a maximum of 20 years. Investors in innovation are likely to steer clear of Brazil

4 days ago • Ana Ferraz
Oil rig and platform in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Marchello74/Shutterstock
Business

The (promising) state of Brazil’s oil sector, during the pandemic

Oil has been one of the few Brazilian economic sectors largely unharmed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Further improvements are expected as opportunities open for foreign companies

1 week ago • Suzanne Driscoll
small businesses university students
Business

University students pitch in to save ailing small businesses

Students in São Paulo develop projects to assist small businesses in São Paulo, which have been among those hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic

1 week ago • Renato Alves
waterway infrastructure brazil investments
Business

Vastly underused, Brazil seeks to boost its waterway transport system

Only China and Russia have more navigable inland rivers than Brazil, yet only 2 percent of the country's cargo is transported via waterways

2 weeks ago • Renato Alves
private vaccines brazil
Business

Vaccination by private companies could cause Brazil more headaches

Congress is set to allow private companies to purchase coronavirus vaccines and immunize their employees. Health experts are against it

2 weeks ago • Gustavo Ribeiro and Renato Alves
data protection council brazil
Tech

Tech Roundup: The importance of a national data council

Brazil's Data Protection Council is one step closer to creation, which will give regulators a huge boost in decision-making and research

1 day ago • Natália Scalzaretto and Ana Ferraz
tourism sector virtual trips
Tech

Tech Roundup: Virtual trips could save Brazil’s tourism sector

This week’s topics: How tech could help the tourism sector survive. Brazilian startup hubs join forces to build a stronger environment

1 week ago • Natália Scalzaretto
Starlink expands satellite internet access to Latin America
Tech

Starlink expands satellite internet access to Latin America

Starlink, Elon Musk’s new venture, aims to close the internet gap in rural areas. Latin America is next on the project's to-do list

2 weeks ago • Bonny Renner
Butantan Biological Institute
Tech

The São Paulo research institute leading the charge toward a Brazilian vaccine

Created 120 years ago, the Butantan Biological Institute has a proud history of scientific developments and immunization campaigns

2 weeks ago • Lucas Berti
MVNOs and 5G; Embraer's flying car; and WhatsApp Pay is back to stay
Tech

Tech Roundup: Brazilian MVNOs ready to surf the 5G wave

This week’s topics: MVNOs and 5G; Embraer's flying car; and WhatsApp Pay is back to stay

2 weeks ago • Natália Scalzaretto
Health agent in Serrana
Society

What we can learn from Brazil’s only fully-vaccinated city

In Serrana, around 300 kilometers north of São Paulo, the local population has taken part in a mass vaccination experiment and now hopes to return to a normal life

1 day ago • Renato Alves
favelas poverty covid
Society

In favelas, economic chokehold adds to the virus fears

With cases and deaths at record levels, cities have tried to listen to experts and close the economy. For those living in favelas, however, restrictive measures cause economic distress and hunger

1 week ago • Ana Ferraz and Bruno Rico
Vaccination in indigenous community in Amapá, northern Brazil. Photo: Alex Pazuello/Semcom
Coronavirus

Brazil vaccinating indigenous communities at a snail’s pace

Indigenous people were included among Brazil's vaccine priority groups, but they are receiving immunization at a much slower pace

3 weeks ago • Renato Alves
vaccine outlier
Society

How São Paulo became a positive vaccine outlier in Brazil

São Paulo is suffering from overcrowded hospitals. Still, Brazil's richest and most populous state is making great strides in vaccine rollouts

1 month ago • Natália Scalzaretto and Lucas Berti
Air Force official transporting medical oxygen tanks to Manaus, in the Amazon
Coronavirus

Brazil faces widespread oxygen shortage amid coronavirus peak

Increased demand and consumption around the country could lead to oxygen shortages, similar to those seen in Manaus two months ago

1 month ago • Renato Alves
As U.S. and Brazil discuss the Amazon, civil society says "don't trust Bolsonaro"
Environment

As U.S. and Brazil discuss the Amazon, civil society says “don’t trust Bolsonaro”

The two countries are set to discuss terms over potential U.S. financial aid to help Brazil fight deforestation

3 days ago • Renato Alves
Petrobras oil rig along the Brazilian coast. Photo: Petrobras/ABr
Environment

New “pre-salt” oil reserves on the Amazon coast excite markets

Researchers claim to have found new deepwater oil reserves off Brazil's northern coast. However, environmental agents say coral reefs could be destroyed by oil extraction activities

1 week ago • Renato Alves
oil spill brazil environmental risks
Environment

Brazil’s next oil lease auction threatens hundreds of marine species

Brazil's National Oil Agency is set to sell off 92 oil fields in October, but many are located close to environmental reserves

2 months ago • Renato Alves
Class-action lawsuit seeks reparation from Norwegian giant for disaster
Environment

11,000 Brazilian families sue Norwegian miner for environmental disaster

Norwegian giant Norsk Hydro repeatedly discharged toxic waste into rivers surrounding the town of Barcarena, damaging the local environment

2 months ago • Renato Alves
environment disaster vale mining brumadinho
Environment

Effects of Brumadinho disaster all too present two years on

A tailings dam collapsed in the Minas Gerais town of Brumadinho two years ago. The victims remain without homes and water

3 months ago • Renato Alves
Mexico gambles on homemade Patria vaccine
Latin America

Amid a slow rollout, Mexico gambles on homemade vaccine

President AMLO presented the new vaccine as being 100-percent made in Mexico, but it relies on technology developed in the U.S.

2 days ago • Lucas Berti
Uruguay luring disgruntled Argentinian businessmen
Latin America

Uruguay luring disgruntled Argentinian businessmen

Uruguay has often served as a sort of a tax haven for Argentinian businessmen. Now, more Argentinian firms are also calling Uruguay home

2 days ago • Ignacio Portes
constitution Chile has waken up," said protesters in 2019. Photo: Aus films/Shutterstock
Latin America

What good will Chile’s new constitution really do?

One political scientist believes Chileans are being too optimistic about the benefits of a new constitution, without realizing the risks

5 days ago • Francisco Ricci
vaccine Santiago police patrol the streets during quarantine. Photo: Erlucho/Shutterstock
Latin America

Vaccine story so far in Chile, Latin America’s fastest rollout

Chile has been a success story in rolling out coronavirus vaccines. But why are infections still rising at an uncontrolled pace?

6 days ago • Lucas Berti
mexico Many Mexicans still don't wear face masks on the streets. Photo: Eve Orea/Shutterstock
Latin America

The pandemic’s actual death toll in Mexico likely to be 60 percent higher

The government in Mexico discretely published a report on Saturday revising the coronavirus death toll in the country by 60 percent

3 weeks ago • Lucas Berti
anti-partisanship brazil
Opinion

Ahead of 2022, anti-partisanship is a looming risk for Brazil

More and more Brazilian voters have no party allegiances of their own, while actively opposing at least one political party. That is a problem

2 weeks ago • Beatriz Rey
bolsonaro political crisis
Opinion

Bolsonaro is scrambling on shaky ground

After a major cabinet reshuffle, President Jair Bolsonaro should manage to find some political stability. However, it will come at a price

2 weeks ago • Leonardo Barreto
democracy brazil index
Opinion

Brazil among world’s top 10 democratic backsliding countries

Data shows the trend beginning in 2016, prior to the Bolsonaro government

3 weeks ago • Beatriz Rey
Bolsonaro meets with members of the Federal Accounts Court, in August 2019. Photo: Isac Nóbrega/PR
Opinion

Can any attempt to hold the Bolsonaro accountable be apolitical?

A prosecutor from Brazil's Federal Accounts Court issued a request to suspend Bolsonaro and members of his cabinet

4 weeks ago • Beatriz Rey
Lula is the least of Bolsonaro problems
Opinion

Lula is the least of Bolsonaro’s problems

Rising inflation, an uncontrolled pandemic, and massive economic uncertainty should keep Bolsonaro up at night — much more than Lula

4 weeks ago • Leonardo Barreto
Joan Lowell hollywood cerrado
Tourism

When Hollywood royalty traded it all for a Brazilian farm

In the mid-20th century, a group of Hollywood movie stars gave up the glitz and glamor to become farmers in the Brazilian state of Goiás

6 days ago • Renato Alves
Stone City Pireneus lost hidden history Brazil
Tourism

The ancient stone city of Pireneus: Brazil’s best-kept secret

The city of Pirenópolis attracts tourists from all over for its lavish vegetation. But its most stunning attraction is remains unknown

3 weeks ago • Renato Alves
voluntary lockdown brazil
Tourism

Businesses in Brazilian tourist city organize their own voluntary lockdown

Small business-owners in Alto Paraíso de Goiás took matters into their own hands after the local mayor failed to do so

1 month ago • Renato Alves
Foreign residents in Brazil being turned, despite right to enter
Coronavirus

Foreign residents in Brazil being turned, despite right to enter

The government decreed that visitors from the UK would be denied entry, except for permanent residents. However, this has not been observed

3 months ago • Lucas Berti
The show must not go on for Rio de Janeiro's Carnival
Tourism

The show must not go on for Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival

The world's most iconic carnival destination has definitively canceled its 2021 celebrations, causing huge losses to multiple sectors

3 months ago • Renato Alves
South American Football pandemic
Coronavirus

South American football says: “What pandemic?”

Football in South America has continued largely unaffected during the Covid-19 pandemic, and executives want fans in the stadium

3 weeks ago • Lucas Berti
bernabéu bela vista real madrid
Sports

The part-time Brazilian team that sold out the Santiago Bernabéu

In 1958, a football team billed as the "champions of Brazil" played a glamorous tour in Europe — but the lowly Bela Vista had won anything

4 months ago • Renato Alves
video game football players
Sports

Brazilian footballers take on video games in legal battles

FIFA is Brazil's most popular game, but scores of footballers have sued the developers over the use of their names and likenesses

4 months ago • Lucas Berti
maradona monetary theory
Sports

Diego Maradona’s little known contribution to monetary theory

Maradona's legendary goal against England in the 1986 World Cup is memorable for many reasons — and has even helped shape financial policy

4 months ago • Lucas Berti
maradona argentina football
Sports

What Maradona represents for Argentina and Latin America

Tributes roll in as Diego Armando Maradona, one of the greatest footballers ever to play the sport, dies at his home in Buenos Aires aged 60

5 months ago • Euan Marshall and Lucas Berti
investors visa brazil
Business

How to get a Brazilian investor visa

Brazil offers indefinite residence permits for foreigners who invest in Brazilian companies, or set up their own enterprise

3 weeks ago • Iure Pontes Vieira
How to become a Brazilian citizen
Guide to Brazil

How to become a Brazilian citizen

Migratory processes in Brazil are notoriously cumbersome and time-consuming, but the country's requirements for naturalization are fairly liberal

2 months ago • Iure Pontes Vieira
paraguayan war
Guide to Brazil

Looking back at South America’s bloodiest war

The Paraguayan War was a brutal conflict opposing Paraguay and an alliance between Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. It ended 150 years ago

4 months ago • Natália Scalzaretto
rondon indigenous
Guide to Brazil

Marechal Rondon: the legacy of a lifelong defender of indigenous rights

Cândido Rondon devoted his life to protect indigenous communities and inspired generations with a humanistic approach to native peoples

4 months ago • Euan Marshall and Lucas Berti
são paulo revolution
Guide to Brazil

São Paulo’s forgotten rebellion

São Paulo celebrates today the 1932 Constitutionalist Revolution. However, the state's history of battles and skirmishes goes beyond 1932

9 months ago • Natália Scalzaretto

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