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Latin American stocks were mixed, with Brazilian and Argentine shares falling on profit taking following a recent rally. Upbeat local economic data in both Brazil and Argentina helped to limit losses, however.
Meanwhile, Mexican shares extended recent gains, as investors were cheered by strong employment figures and continued earnings optimism. Brazil's Bovespa Index dropped 163.15 points, or 0.41%, while Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index added 46.45 points, or 0.23%, and Argentina's Merval Index fell 16.58 points, or 0.87%. Brazilian stocks slumped, as investors locked in some profits following a three-day rally on optimism about the outlook for interest rates at home and in the U.S. The Brazilian central bank, as expected, lowered the Selic base interest rate by 75 basis points to 15.75% per year, marking the seventh-consecutive rate cut amid indications of tame inflation. Earlier this week, investors were also cheered by minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's last FOMC meeting showing that the end of the U.S. monetary tightening cycle may be near. Fueling expectations for further interest-rate cuts in Brazil, the private Getúlio Vargas Foundation reported that its General Price Index, or IGP-M, dipped 0.5% in the 10 days through April 20, compared with a 0.1% decline in the same period in March. The data helped to ease concerns about the inflationary impact of high global oil prices. Adding to positive sentiment, Brazil posted a current account surplus of US$ 1.35 billion March, up from February's surplus of US$ 725 million, the central bank said. That brought the 12-month current account surplus to US$ 13.32 billion, or 1.61% of gross domestic product. On a less upbeat note, the Brazilian Census Bureau (IBGE) said that Brazil's official jobless rate rose to 10.4% in March from 10.1% in February. In corporate news, Banco do Brasil S.A. was in focus after Brazil's national monetary council approved late yesterday an increase in foreign capital in the bank to 12.5% from 5.6%. Elsewhere, Mexican shares extended a recent run-up on continued optimism about the first-quarter earnings season. Cement giant Cemex late yesterday reported a 14% gain in first-quarter net profit to US$505 million from US$444 million in the year-earlier period. In addition, the company reached its sales goals. Lending additional support to the market, the National Statistics Institute reported late in today's trading session that Mexico's unemployment rate fell to 3.4% in March from 3.6% in February. In corporate news, Televisa said a fund owned by billionaire Carlos Slim's son bought about a 2.8% stake in U.S. Spanish-language television firm Univision Communications. The market's gains were limited somewhat today by investor caution ahead of the Bank of Mexico's monthly policy meeting tomorrow. The bank is widely expected to pause or end its eight-month monetary easing cycle, leaving the overnight rate at 7.25%. Argentine issues dipped, as investors took profits following a recent rally. In economic news, national statistics agency INDEC reported today that its index of economic activity, which is a proxy for gross domestic product, surged 9.5% in February from a year earlier and climbed 1% from January. On a month-on-month basis, GDP had been flat in January and December. The data suggests that the Argentine economy, which grew a robust 9.2% for all of 2005, remains on solid footing. Thomson Financial - www.thomsonfinancial.com
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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. 
The push of vigilante groups in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) in the last three years is the most important and alarming information of the just-released study by the Rio de Janeiro University's Violence Research Center (Nupev-Uerj). 
A dispute over drug trafficking territory in Rio de Janeiro has intensified lately, leaving in its wake unprecedented acts of violence, such as the downing of a police helicopter in the northern zone of the city on October 17. Three policemen died and another two were injured. This event has drawn the attention of the international media, who are raising the issue of public security for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio.