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Latin American stocks advanced, with Brazilian stocks posting the biggest gains on a continued positive outlook for the local economy. Meanwhile, Mexican shares were boosted by a flurry of merger activity on both sides of the border.
Brazil's Bovespa Index surged 765.10 points, or 2.02%. Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index climbed 361.58 points, or 1.88%, while Argentina's Merval Index shed 1.89 points, or 0.10%. Brazilian stocks rallied, as investors were heartened by an improved local inflation outlook. Economists polled in the central bank's latest weekly market survey said they expect IPCA consumer price inflation to come in exactly on target at 4.5% this year, down from forecasts of 4.57% seen last week. Economists also predicted that the country's reference Selic rate will fall to 14.13% through the end of the year, down from previous estimates of 14.25%. The Selic rate currently stands at 16.5% annually. Adding to positive sentiment, Brazil posted a US$ 3.681 billion trade surplus in March, up from a US$ 3.343 billion surplus a year earlier, the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade said. Exports during March totaled US$ 11.367 billion and imports totaled US$ 7.686 billion. That compared with US$ 9.251 billion in exports and US$ 5.908 billion in imports a year earlier. Lending additional support to the market, concerns about the direction of the government's economic policy continued to recede. Recently appointed Finance Minister Guido Mantega said this Monday, April 3, that the government's commitment to tight 2006 fiscal austerity targets is "sacred." In recent days, Mantega has expressed support for the policies of his market-friendly predecessor Antonio Palocci, who stepped down amid repeated corruption allegations. In corporate news, airline manufacturer Embraer said it plans to increase investment to US$ 290 million during 2006. During 2005, the company invested the equivalent of US$ 249 million at the current exchange rate. "We have been launching a number of key new planes in the last couple of years and continue to invest in improving our products," Embraer said. Separately, Embraer reported on Saturday net fourth-quarter earnings of 205.2 million reais, down from 307.3 million reais a year earlier due largely to the appreciation of the Brazilian real. Oil giant Petrobras said its petrochemicals unit, Petroquisa, decided not to use an option to boost its stake in petrochemicals firm Braskem. The company had until Friday to raise its stake in Braskem to 30% from 10%. An investment bank today downgraded Braskem to "sell" from "neutral" after Petroquisa's decision. In other research news, a major investment bank upgraded cosmetics maker Natura Cosméticos SA to "buy" from "neutral" on earnings growth. Meanwhile, another firm downgraded long steel giant Gerdau to "peer perform" from "outperform," due to valuation. Mexican issues rallied today, as merger fever took hold on both sides of the border. Mexican stocks leapt to a fresh record high, with the IPC Index up nearly 2% on the day. Mining firms also benefited from advancing metal prices. Topping headlines, wireless phone company America Movil agreed to purchase South American and Caribbean assets from Verizon. The firm formed a joint- venture with Telmex to buy Verizon's 28.5% stake in Venezuela's CANTV for US$ 676.6 million. America Movil also agreed to buy Verizon Dominicana for US$ 2.06 billion and a 52% stake in PRT for US$ 939 million. In other deal news, Libbey Inc., a glass tableware maker, agreed to buy Vitro de C.V.'s 51% stake in Vitrocrisa Holdings and related firms for US$ 80 million. Libbey now owns 100% of the firm. Elsewhere, National Mining and Metal Workers Union members went on strike today in the Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas, effecting mills owned by Monterrey-based Grupo Villacero and the Mexican unit of Mittal Steel. Argentine shares barely budged today, as investors chose to ignore the broader regional market rally. Investors are awaiting economic data in the form of the consumer price index for March. On the corporate front, France's Suez SA said that is considering selling its controlling stake in Argentina's Aguas Cordobesas. Thomson Financial - www.thomsonfinancial.com
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Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose.