“This pact exists throughout Brazil. It’s not privileged to Rio de Janeiro. Truth be said, it’s a very organic, structured relationship between Rio de Janeiro politicians, militia groups and the police.
How does it function?
Militias control growing amounts of territory. Approximately one million to 1.9 million people (in Rio...
Flashbacks, possibly nightmares, haunt the ghost of an old empire.
In December 2023, 57 years after the sun and Union Jack descended over British Guiana, Britain’s HMS Trent, a Royal Navy patrol vessel, was spotted sailing into a Guyanese harbor. “Nothing that we did in the past or we will...
Danger lurks with election of large number of pro-Bolsonaro governors and radicalization of Bolsonaro’s supporters who refuse to accept election results.
The impeachment of Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was “carried out within the constitutional framework.” This comment was offered not by Lisa Kenna, the current U.S. Ambassador to Peru and...
“Blindness that affects the other side also affects us.”
— Mano Brown
The saying goes: Um negócio pra boi dormir.” Literally, the Brazilian aphorism means: (To give) something for the bull to sleep. In practical layman’s terms it pre-figures social interactions where somebody, a group of people or an entity, says...
“In a serious country we wouldn’t have an investigation dragging on for four years,”— Marinete da Silva, mother of slain Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman Marielle Franco.
RIO DE JANEIRO – Four-plus years after the assassination of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco (38), social media giant Facebook has yet...
Trade warfare and interference in the free functioning of the judiciary are the current expressions of United States interventionism in Latin America, particularly in Brazil.
With the largest economy in the region and the eighth-largest in the world, Brazil holds a central strategic importance for the United States in its...
Political Intrigue Grows As Brazilian Election Approaches
Déjà vu is playing out in Brazil. After protracted media and judicial campaigns against former president Luíz Inácio Lula da Silva, translating into his imprisonment for one-and-a-half years, the effect has been minimal, if any, as far as the 2022 presidential polls are...
Preface
Evidence related to local Rio de Janeiro intelligence operations in these matters have not been ascertained. Incidents are fairly new and ongoing. Two separate arrests of the main subject of this investigative series occurred over a two-week period in February 2025: One was for reckless driving; the other involved...
Evidence collected by The Intercept revealed that Operation Car Wash, an anti-corruption investigation led by Brazilian Federal Prosecutors and the Federal Police from 2014 to 2021, received support from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The operation had a significant impact on Brazilian politics, including the undermining of the...
In Part I of our series, we reflected on some of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s personal and political background, as well as his success during two terms as president of Brazil. We also highlighted one of his long-time political rivals, former São Paulo governor Geraldo Alckmin. Alckmin's sudden...
