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Latin American shares fell on concerns that the U.S. Federal Reserve may continue to raise interest rates after hawkish comments by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke on Monday, June 5.
Bernanke warned that the Fed must be vigilant to ensure inflation remains in check, even if economic growth starts to slow. Brazil's Bovespa Index dropped 182.06 points, or 0.50%. Mexico's benchmark Bolsa Index fell 156.64 points, or 0.83%, while Argentina's Merval Index lost 5.44 points, or 0.33%. Brazilian stocks ended the session lower amid continued worries that the U.S. Federal Reserve will extend its monetary tightening cycle longer than previously expected. Shares were also pressured by disappointing local economic data. Official data released today showed that industrial production in Brazil held steady in April from March and fell a surprising 1.9% from April 2005. Meanwhile, motor vehicle production and exports reached their highest-ever levels in May as automakers took advantage of seasonal factors, the Brazilian Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association, or Anfavea, reported. Auto production for the month reached 245,179 units, up 20.1% from April. May was the single-best production month ever for Brazilian automakers, representing an increase of 10.4% against May 2005. Elsewhere, Mexican shares continued their decline, with losses spread across nearly every industry. Shares of wireless phone company America Movil gave up early gains following Deutsche Bank's upgrade of its shares to "buy" from "hold". Shares of fixed-line phone company Telmex declined, as did those of copper miner Grupo Mexico. Shares of Mexico's largest retailer, Wal-Mart de Mexico, saw a substantial decline as well. Shares of cement maker Cemex were also down following an announcement late Monday that 97.4% of shareholders had received new shares in lieu of cash as part of the company's dividend program, resulting in the issuance of 105.9 million CPOs. Elsewhere, Argentina's Merval Index was lower, extending Monday's 2.5% loss. In corporate news, shares of Quilmes Industrial SA, the country's largest brewer, declined as an analyst questioned the stock's strength and downgraded its rating. On April 13, InBev SA, the world's biggest beer producer, paid US$ 1.2 billion to raise its stake in Luxembourg-based Quilmes Industrial, which is also the largest brewer in Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. InBev brews the Belgian lager Stella Artois and Germany's Beck's and was formed in August 2004 when Belgium's Interbrew combined with Latin America's major brewer AmBev in an US$ 11.4 billion deal. 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.