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Latin America Weekly

Recreational cannabis could be made legal in Mexico

Jun 30, 2021 13:15 8 min read (Updated: Jul 07, 2021 5:13)

Hello! Welcome back to the Latin America Weekly newsletter. In this issue, we explain Mexico’s decision moving towards allowing recreational marijuana; how Latin America is exposed to earthquake damage, and the lingering challenges for the region’s LGBTQIA+ population.

Mexico scraps recreational marijuana ban

marijuana legalization
Activists and citizens marched in Mexico City on May 8 for marijuana legalization. Photo: Gill Figueroa/Shutterstock

By an 8-3 majority, Mexico’s Supreme Court struck down laws criminalizing the recreational use of cannabis in the...

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blogger santos bolsonaro
Power

Pro-Bolsonaro blogger accused of collusion with U.S. Capitol rioters

The Supreme Court believes Allan dos Santos was plotting an attack similar to the January 6 riots in Brazil

2 days ago • Amanda Audi
final report
Power

Covid inquiry requests indictment of Bolsonaro: what comes next?

After almost six months of investigations, senators have accused Jair Bolsonaro of nine crimes for his handling of the pandemic. Now, the ball is in the prosecutor general's court

4 days ago • Janaína Camelo
northeast Jair Bolsonaro visits Feira de Santana, Bahia, in April. Photo: Alan Santos/PR
Power

Bolsonaro failed to plant his flag in Brazil’s poorest region

Last year, Jair Bolsonaro wanted to take Brazil's poor Northeast from the left. He failed — and has all but ignored the region ever since

5 days ago • Janaína Camelo
bolsonaro tv public
Power

Bolsonaro’s extensive spending on public TV broadcasts

Jair Bolsonaro is firmly on the campaign trail, seeking re-election next year. And he has used public broadcasting company EBC to broadcast his public appearances, drawing ire from civil society

1 week ago • Janaína Camelo
chloroquine senator
Power

Covid inquiry yet to grill senator and ‘chloroquine brothers’ on ineffective drug scandal

A case revealed by The Brazilian Report is among the stones left unturned by the Senate’s Covid hearings committee

1 week ago • Amanda Audi
truckers Protest created fuel shortages in multiple states. Photo: Leonidas Santana
Insider

Fuel distributors end protest, but keep strike plans alive

2 days ago • Janaína Camelo
guedes g20 rome
Insider

Seeking foreign investment, Economy Minister doesn’t know who he’s meeting on G20 trip

2 days ago • André Spigariol
guedes bolsonaro press conference
Insider

Guedes stays, despite losing much of his power and prestige

2 days ago • André Spigariol
Bolsonaro's new aid scheme to leave up to 20 million unassisted
Insider

Bolsonaro’s new aid scheme to leave up to 20 million unassisted

2 days ago • Ana Ferraz
guedes resignation deny
Insider

Bolsonaro to visit Paulo Guedes. Sources deny resignation rumors

2 days ago • Janaína Camelo
health minister covid report
2022 Race

In the wake of Covid report, Health Minister takes part in public rally

3 days ago • Janaína Camelo
Senate President to switch parties eyeing presidential bid
2022 Race

Senate President to switch parties eyeing presidential bid

4 days ago • Janaína Camelo
datena president
2022 Race

TV presenter says he’ll run for president in 2022

1 week ago • Gustavo Ribeiro
Democratas chairman ACM Neto speaks at the party's national convention, approving its merger with the PSL. Photo: Democratas
2022 Race

Parties make progress on merger to create giant conservative group

3 weeks ago • Janaína Camelo
Doria third-way unity Lula Bolsonaro
2022 Race

Doria suggests withdrawing to create third-way unity against Lula and Bolsonaro

3 weeks ago • TBR Newsroom
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Business

Is it finally niobium’s time to shine?

The darling of Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, the country is leading the charge in developing new uses for niobium, hoping to transform it into an important facet of the Brazilian economy

3 days ago • Janaína Camelo
investments financial education
Business

Influencers give ‘realistic’ financial advice to poor Brazilian families

More and more poorer Brazilians are turning toward investment and financial education. A group of "accessible" influencers is there to help

4 days ago • Amanda Audi
Why have Brazil's 2021 IPOs bombed?
Business

Why have Brazil’s 2021 IPOs bombed?

Mid-year optimism has faded as over-hyped start-ups struggle amid tough macroeconomic conditions

6 days ago • Natália Scalzaretto
Ticket price boom the latest obstacle for Brazil’s aviation sector
Business

Ticket price boom the latest obstacle for Brazil’s aviation sector

Many international border closures have been revoked, but Brazilians rushing to book trips abroad are faced with another impediment: soaring ticket prices

1 week ago • Ana Ferraz
mango brazil
Business

Brazil’s mango boom another unexpected effect of Covid-19

When the pandemic struck in the U.S. and Europe, Brazil's mango exports suddenly went through the roof amid increased demand

2 weeks ago • Renato Alves
digital id dark energy data privacy
Tech

Tech Roundup: Brazil to issue digital ID cards

The most important news in tech and innovation in Brazil. This week: the new digital ID; data privacy as a human right; Brazil exploring dark energy

2 days ago • Ana Ferraz
cancer guavas
Tech

Brazilian researchers develop cancer treatment using guavas

Using knowledge from a similar technique using a pigment extracted from tomatoes, researchers from the University of Brasília have found a way to obtain the substance from red guavas — highly popular across Brazil

6 days ago • Renato Alves
water Lowering reservoir in Paraíba. Photo: Cacio Murilo/Shutterstock
Tech

Tech Roundup: Amid water crisis, Brazil’s asks tech for help

Geotechnology, ESG seal, and Brazilians content consumption online

1 week ago • Ana Ferraz
5g internet
Tech

Tech Roundup: Small broadband providers want in on 5G

The biggest news on tech and innovation in Brazil this week

2 weeks ago • Ana Ferraz
NFTs football bus apps
Tech

Tech Roundup: Brazilian football enters crypto game

The most important news about tech and innovation in Brazil this week

3 weeks ago • Ana Ferraz
pandemic brazil
Podcast

Explaining Brazil #174: The extent of Bolsonaro’s pandemic crimes

Members of the Covid hearings committee disagree on whether to indict President Jair Bolsonaro for genocide against indigenous groups and murder

4 days ago • Gustavo Ribeiro
mercosur brazil argentina
Podcast

Explaining Brazil #173: Saving Mercosur

A deal between Brazil and Argentina breathes new life into the Mercosur trade alliance. At least until the next crisis, that is

2 weeks ago • Euan Marshall
inflation brazil bolsonaro
Podcast

Explaining Brazil #172: A president’s worst enemy

Inflation is set to hit the 10-percent mark this week. And historical data shows that high inflation and a poor economic outlook are bad omens for incumbent presidents

3 weeks ago • Gustavo Ribeiro
Brazil's own Tuskegee Study
Podcast

Explaining Brazil #171: Brazil’s own Tuskegee Study

Between the 1930s and the 1970s, hundreds of black men were unknowingly used as subjects in an American syphilis study. In 2020, a Brazilian HMO allegedly used elderly citizens for Covid experiments without their knowledge or consent

4 weeks ago • Gustavo Ribeiro
peronism argentina
Podcast

Explaining Brazil #170: Peronism facing an existential crisis

Last week's midterm primaries in Argentina delivered what was arguably the worst electoral defeat Peronism has ever suffered. But the problem goes beyond short-term woes

1 month ago • Gustavo Ribeiro
vaccination Polio vaccine campaign in Salvador, Bahia. Photo: Joa Souza/Shutterstock
Society

Vaccination rates hit 20-year low in Brazil. But anti-vax movements are not to blame

None of the federal government's mandatory vaccines for children reached the 90-percent coverage target in 2020, with researchers blaming the trend on the underfunding of public health

9 hours ago • Amanda Audi
tiradentes belo horizonte pandemic
Society

Belo Horizonte set the pandemic bar high for the rest of Brazil

Findings from Imperial College London show that, if Brazil's other major cities had followed Belo Horizonte's lead during the pandemic, the country could have avoided over half of its Covid-19 deaths

3 days ago • Renato Alves
vaccine covid tourism
Society

They traveled abroad for a vaccine. Now they are in limbo

Without clear regulations on vaccine mandates, Brazilians immunized abroad struggle to get the country's "vaccination passport"

1 week ago • Amanda Audi
covid deaths brazil 600k
Society

Brazil Covid death toll tops 600,000. But the pandemic is receding

As vaccines become more widespread in Brazil, the spread of the coronavirus becomes less deadly. But experts warn that it remains too soon for a victory lap

2 weeks ago • Gustavo Ribeiro
fuel prices
Society

Brazilians resort to deadly cost-saving measures amid fuel price hikes

With domestic gas canisters becoming prohibitively expensive for poor households, some Brazilians are resorting to cooking with ethanol — which is highly dangerous and has led to an increase in life-threatening domestic accidents

3 weeks ago • Amanda Audi
amazon forum
Environment

World BioEconomy Forum comes to the Amazon

With the Amazon set to play a big part in Glasgow at COP26, public and private sector representatives meet in Belém this week to discuss the bioeconomy in the rainforest

6 days ago • Natália Scalzaretto
energy plant inequality
Environment

Brazil’s spending on polluting energy will increase inequality levels

The energy crisis has made blackouts a real possibility, but spending on thermoelectric plants to avoid outages will increase inequality

3 weeks ago • Amanda Audi
carbon markets
Environment

Brazilian lawmakers aim to regulate carbon markets ahead of COP26

Congress is seeking to get the jump on the government and approve carbon market legislation before Brazil's delegation jets off to Scotland, hoping to conclude Article 6 negotiations in Glasgow

3 weeks ago • André Spigariol
amazon deforestation
Environment

Abandoned Amazon land can advance decarbonization plan

Forest regrowth can help compensate for carbon emissions from deforestation. But one new study argues Brazil isn’t doing nearly enough of it

2 months ago • Charlotte Smith, Erika Berenguer and Jos Barlow
Droughts will become increasingly more common in the Amazon
Environment

Brazil set to be devastated by climate change

A new IPCC report shows how rising sea levels, floods, and droughts will impact the country if emissions continue to rise

3 months ago • TBR Newsroom
el salvador football
Latin America

After Congress and the courts, Bukele looks to control football in El Salvador

Riding a wave of popularity, the provocative president now wants to change how the national association is run, risking severe sanctions from FIFA, the sport’s governing body

1 day ago • Ignacio Portes
shining path Relatives of Peru's thousands of "disappeared" citizens from the country's war with leftist guerrillas protest in front of the Government Palace in Lima. Photo: Mariana Bazo/Reuters via Alamy
Latin America

The Shining Path is long gone, but its specter continues to hover over Peruvian politics

Now little more than a bogeyman for the right, the history of the left-wing terrorist group shows how it may take longer for wounds to heal

1 week ago • Ignacio Portes
kast chile
Latin America

Chile sees Sichel slip and Kast climb ahead of Election Day

Once treated as a credible presidential contender, Sebastián Sichel's campaign is in freefall. Taking his place is José Antonio Kast, once described as Chile's answer to Jair Bolsonaro

1 week ago • Ignacio Portes
democracy President Jair Bolsonaro arrives at the Santiago International Airport for a 2019 bilateral visit. Photo: Marcos Corrêa/PR
Latin America

Brazil shelves its pro-democracy agenda in Latin America

Under pressure from China and agribusiness interests in Congress – and growing global concern over President Bolsonaro’s own behavior – Brazil does a foreign policy about-face

2 weeks ago • André Spigariol
brazil argentina mercosur
Latin America

Brazil gets Argentina to compromise on Mercosur tariffs

In a meeting that didn't include Economy Minister Paulo Guedes, Brazil and Argentina reached a deal which breathes new life into Mercosur

2 weeks ago • André Spigariol
spending cap guedes
Opinion

Brazil’s spending cap is finished. Where to tie up Ulysses now?

The Bolsonaro administration decided to poke holes in Brazil's five-year-old federal spending cap. Where to go from here?

2 days ago • Luciano Sobral
hunger poverty brazil
Opinion

Brazil’s hunger figures skyrocket. But presidential candidates look the other way

The number of Brazilian enduring food insecurity has increased almost 30 percent in three years. But all but one of the leading presidential candidates are ignoring the issue

6 days ago • Beatriz Rey
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Opinion

Why the U.S. flag became a far-right symbol in Brazil

The Washington Post was shocked that the U.S. flag had been adopted by the Brazilian far-right. But It shouldn't have been

2 weeks ago • Beatriz Rey
opposition ciro gomes
Opinion

Plans for opposition truce in Brazil will be dead on arrival

Seen by many as the most credible third-way option for Brazil's 2022 election, Ciro Gomes is seeking a political ceasefire with the Workers' Party. But how long can such a truce last?

2 weeks ago • Andre Pagliarini
pandora papers Economy Minister Paulo Guedes speaking to investors in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Ilan Pellenberg/FramePhoto/Folhapress
Opinion

Legal ins and outs of the Pandora Papers leaks affecting high-ranking Brazilian officials

The Pandora Papers leak revealed that both Economy Minister Paulo Guedes and Central Bank chairman Roberto Campos Neto own offshore companies in tax havens. But what are the legal ramifications of owning such assets?

2 weeks ago • Iure Pontes Vieira
tourism Empty tables in a tropical oceanfront bar and restaurant during the Covid-19 pandemic. Salvador, Bahia. Photo: David Fadul/Shutterstock
Tourism

The never-ending taxiing of Brazil’s tourism sector

Tourism was one of the areas hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Now, even with vaccination coverage improving, a series of factors are standing in the way of any meaningful recovery

3 months ago • Ana Ferraz
shark attacks recife
Tourism

Recife’s shark problem: too many questions and too few answers

The northeastern city of Recife is famous for its beaches, but locals and tourists are warned to stay away from the water, due to the risk of shark attacks

3 months ago • Renato Alves
arrudatitan maximus monte alto brazil dinosaur
Tourism

Meet the Arrudatitan: São Paulo’s very own dinosaur

First discovered in 1997, the specimen was originally believed to be a relative of the Aeolosaurus, but new research shows it came from a completely different genus, exclusive to São Paulo

6 months ago • Renato Alves
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

7 months 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

7 months ago • Renato Alves
october 12 People light candles to celebrate the day of Our Lady of Aparecida. Photo taken on Oct. 12, 2016. Photo: Nelson Antoine/Shutterstock
Guide to Brazil

October 12: a celebration of Brazil’s patron saint

According to legend, fishermen were inundated with fish to catch soon after finding an image of a black Virgin Mary. Since then, Our Lady of Aparecida has become Brazil's most popular and important saints

2 weeks ago • Euan Marshall
Rio's Christ the Redeemer. Photo: Ricardo Cohen/Shutterstock
Guide to Brazil

The story of Christ the Redeemer, 90 years old

Brazil's most popular tourist attraction, the story of how Christ the Redeemer came about is a fascinating one. This week's Rio celebrates the statue's 90th anniversary

2 weeks ago • Renato Alves
brazilian inquisition
Guide to Brazil

The lesser-known story of the Brazilian Inquisition

After terrorizing much of Spain and Portugal, the inquisition spread to many of these countries' colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Americas — including to Brazil

3 weeks ago • Renato Alves
Paulo Mendes da rocha
Guide to Brazil

Paulo Mendes da Rocha leaves behind incomparable legacy in Brazilian architecture

Among the most influential modernists in Brazilian history, Paulo Mendes da Rocha designed many of São Paulo's most famous tourist attractions and left a legacy of devoted followers

5 months ago • Renato Alves
The Valongo Wharf was an active slave port for 20 years, during which up to 1 million African slaves landed in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Halley Pacheco de Oliveira/WikiCommons
Guide to Brazil

The forced immigration of the slave trade in Brazil

Brazil took in more African slaves than any other country during the Atlantic slave trade, and the effects of this brutal period can still be felt today

5 months ago • Euan Marshall

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