Brazil

How Brazil’s Crisis Is Bleeding into the Rest of South America

Until a few years ago, Brazil possessed one of the most active foreign policies in the developing world. It built an impressive network of embassies and consulates, opening more than 60 posts during the 2000s alone in Africa, Asia and beyond. Brazil also actively engaged in debates ranging from humanitarian intervention in Libya to rethinking … Read more

Film Review: The Second Mother

Val trails nervously behind as her long-estranged daughter, Jéssica, enters the guest room of Carlos and Bárbara, an upper-class São Paulo couple. “So this is where I’ll be staying?” asks Jéssica, as she bounces on the “good mattress.” Jéssica has just arrived from the northeast and has talked her way into getting a tour of … Read more

Podcast: Inside Rousseff’s Trip to New York to Decry a ‘Coup’

Also available for download for Apple iOS and Android. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is visiting New York in a dramatic attempt to convince the international community that she is victim of a “coup d’état without weapons.” Providing an insider’s view of this strategy to save her presidency is Matias Spektor, a professor of international relations … Read more

Brazil’s Economy, Explained in a Pair of Flip-Flops

Havaianas is to Brazil what Apple is to the United States. More than a pair of flip-flops, they are part of the country’s self-image, a product that embodies the idea of Brazil as a carefree country of surf, samba and soccer. So the distressed sale in November of Havaianas’ parent company, Alpargatas S.A., was symbolically … Read more

AQ Top 5 de Chefs Jóvenes: Rodrigo Oliveira

Read in English Por ridículo que pueda parecer, la élite acaudalada de São Paulo tradicionalmente rehuía a los restaurantes “brasileños”. Para esta, una comida de lujo tenía que ser francesa, portuguesa, japonesa o cualquier otra, mientras fuera extranjera –preferencia que era un reflejo de la historia de la ciudad como punto importante de llegada de migrantes, … Read more

Podcast: Cardoso Says Impeachment ‘Not a Happy Day … But It Was Necessary’

Also available for download through the App Store and on all Apple devices. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, president of Brazil from 1995 to 2002 and still an important leader of the opposition, defends the decision by Congress to impeach President Dilma Rousseff. Speaking with AQ editor-in-chief Brian Winter late Sunday as the final votes were being cast, Cardoso … Read more

Podcast: Rousseff Won’t Go Quietly, Even If She Loses Impeachment Vote

Also available for download through the App Store and on all Apple devices. Even if she loses Sunday’s impeachment vote, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is likely to keep fighting for her job, says one of the people who knows her best. Thomas Traumann, a political analyst who until 2015 was Rousseff’s spokesman, explains why investors … Read more

This Week in Brazil Podcast: Brazil’s ‘Que Se Vayan Todos’ Moment

Also available for download through the App Store and on all Apple devices. Is Brazil facing a “lost decade” from dual political and economic crises? AQ’s editor-in-chief Brian Winter answers this question in the latest episode of AQ’s new podcast, This Week in Brazil. After a reporting trip to Brazil this past week, Winter concluded that if there’s … Read more

O momento ‘Que se vayan todos’ do Brasil

Read in English Quando a economia da Argentina entrou em colapso no fim de 2001, todo mundo tinha certeza absoluta de quem era a culpa. Distante, hermético e cada vez mais propenso a balbuciar as palavras em seus discursos públicos, o presidente Fernando de la Rua havia conseguido desordenar completamente as contas públicas do governo … Read more

Impeachment and Brazil’s ‘Que Se Vayan Todos’ Moment

Leia em Português When Argentina’s economy collapsed in late 2001, everybody was absolutely sure whose fault it was. Aloof, hermetic and increasingly prone to slurring his words in public, President Fernando de la Rúa had managed to trash the government’s fiscal accounts in just two years in power. Steakhouses and nightclubs were empty, unemployment was … Read more

AQ Top 5 Young Chefs: Rodrigo Oliveira

Leer en español See the rest of the AQ Top 5 As ridiculous as it may sound, São Paulo’s moneyed elite historically shunned “Brazilian” restaurants. Fine dining meant French, Portuguese, Japanese, or anything else foreign — reflecting both the city’s immigrant-heavy background and its prized self-image as distinct from the rest of Brazil. That finally began to … Read more

The Simple Anti-Zika Trick You Won’t See in Brazil

To combat the spread of the Zika virus, Brazil has zapped male mosquitoes with gamma rays, rolled out cyber mosquitos and smartphone apps, released genetically modified mosquitoes into the wild, and deployed nearly 250,000 troops to spray insecticides and add larvicides where mosquitoes lay eggs. Indeed, Brazilian authorities seem willing to do almost anything to curb Zika’s expansion. Just don’t ask them … Read more

This Week in Latin America: Obama in Havana, Venezuela in Crisis

Sign up here to get This Week in Latin America delivered straight to your inbox every Monday. Cuba, Argentina Host Obama: Cuba and Argentina each play host to U.S. President Barack Obama this week, with human rights issues shading both visits. Today, Obama will hold a working meeting with Cuban President Raúl Castro, who will then host a state dinner … Read more

The Endgame of Brazil’s Crisis: Four Things to Watch

After one of the most eventful 24 hour periods in Brazilian history, the crisis threatening President Dilma Rousseff appears to have entered its endgame. For those trying to handicap the odds of her impeachment, or simply struggling to make sense of it all, here are four things to watch in coming days: 1. The … Read more