By John Paul Rathbone

One sign of how Brazilian foreign policy has changed subtly under Dilma Rousseff – and become less aggravating to the US – can be seen in the Brazilian president’s response to the death of Hugo Chávez.

Ms Rousseff declared three days of mourning following the death on March 5 of Venezuela’s president and led a minute’s silence live on national television.

“We recognise a great leader, an irreparable loss and above all a friend of Brazil,” she said of the socialist leader, adding carefully that “on many occasions, the Brazilian government did not agree” with his policies.

Since assuming office in 2011, Ms Rousseff, a technocratic manager, has taken a more restrained approach to foreign policy than her predecessor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the charismatic former trade unionist who often publicly embraced Mr Chávez.

While Mr Lula da Silva liked to travel the world and make front-page news, Ms Rousseff has focused more ... Read More

BY RAUL LOTITTO

CARACAS – With the death of Hugo Chávez, Chávismo has lost its supremacy in Venezuela. It does not matter that so-called Chávistas still control Venezuela’s parliament, 17 of 23 provincial governments, and all key state institutions, including the judiciary. Nor does it matter that Chávez’s handpicked successor, Nicolás Maduro, has already assumed the presidency. All of the signs point to the decline of Chávismo and to the end of Venezuela’s role as Latin America’s populist core.

Between last October’s presidential election and the one held last month, Chávismo lost almost 700,000 votes to Henrique Capriles’ Democratic Unity Roundtable – a shift that many, including Chávistas, attribute to “Maduro not being Chávez.” This was the first presidential election in Venezuela that resulted in an almost even split among voters (and the outcome itself remains hotly contested). If Venezuela continues along this path, Chávismo could not only lose its majority; it could collapse altogether.

... Read More

BY VINCENT BEVINS

SAO PAULO, Brazil — Shortly before Venezuela’s presidential election, former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva recorded a video supporting Nicolas Maduro, saying he had “stood out brilliantly in the struggle” for a more democratic Latin America.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who was endorsed by Lula in 2010, kept silent on the ultimately victorious candidacy of Maduro, the hand-chosen heir of the late leftist Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez.

The difference in demeanor between the two Brazilian presidents was not surprising to Rousseff watchers. Since assuming office at the start of 2011, she has taken a much more muted approach to foreign policy than Lula, avoiding the type of activism that often annoyed the United States.

Rousseff, 65, “has a more subtle style,” said Gregory Weeks, a professor of Latin American politics at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. “Even if they agree on most things, she considers this to be a more effective way of getting what she wants, ... Read More

BY JOE LEAHY

In 2010, when 60 Minutes came to Brazil to do a piece on the “World’s Next Economic Superpower”, the US television programme chose Eike Batista as the ambassador for the country.

“You know, in the last 16 years, Brazil has put its act together. This is it. Hello, time for Americans to wake up,” Mr Batista said with trademark brashness.

In retrospect, the discovery by primetime TV of Brazil’s economy should itself have been a sell signal for investors that a long boom in Latin America’s biggest economy, fuelled by high commodity prices and credit, was peaking.

It was also a high-water mark for Mr Batista. In only a few years he had amassed a paper fortune that until last year was estimated by Forbes to be worth about $30bn through the listing of his X group of mostly start-up companies. This year, the bubble surrounding the group burst after his oil and gas explorer, OGX, ... Read More

Henrique Capriles, a lawyer by training, has enjoyed a meteoric rise through the political ranks.

He galvanised the Venezuelan opposition after the united opposition parties announced they would choose a single candidate to stand against President Hugo Chavez in October 2012′s presidential poll.

However, Mr Chavez ultimately triumphed with 54% of the vote against Mr Capriles’ 44%.

After Mr Chavez’s death, Mr Capriles accused the late leader’s chosen successor, Nicolas Maduro, of abuse of power in taking on the post of acting president. “To become president, the people have to elect you,” he said.

Now, despite losing a second time, he has pushed Mr Maduro much harder, narrowing the margin between himself and Hugo Chavez’s chosen successor to less than two percentage points, or 265,000 votes, at the April presidential election.

Mr Capriles has refused to accept the results given by the National Electoral Council.

He says there were thousands of irregularities and has demanded ... Read More

BY ANDREW CAWTHORNE & DEISY BUITRAGO

Venezuelan acting President Nicolas Maduro said on Saturday a centuries-old curse would fall on the heads of those who do not vote for him in next week’s election to pick a successor to late leader Hugo Chavez.

Maduro’s invocation of the “curse of Macarapana” was the latest twist in an increasingly surreal fight between him and opposition leader Henrique Capriles for control of the South American OPEC nation of 29 million people.

“If anyone among the people votes against Nicolas Maduro, he is voting against himself, and the curse of Macarapana is falling on him,” said Maduro, referring to the 16th-century Battle of Macarapana when Spanish colonial fighters massacred local Indian forces.

Wearing a local indigenous hat at a rally in Amazonas state, a largely jungle territory on the borders of Brazil and Colombia, Maduro compared Capriles and the opposition coalition to the enslaving Spanish occupiers.

“If the bourgeoisie ... Read More

Por Roger Noriega y Felipe Trigos

En un video recientemente publicado en las redes sociales, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, ex presidente de Brasil, expresa su apoyo al candidato de La Habana para la presidencia de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.

La injerencia pública del ex presidente Lula en medio de un proceso electoral en un país que no es el suyo es preocupante y al mismo tiempo inconsistente con los valores que el ex presidente dice resguardar.

En 2003, Lula recibió la banda presidencial democráticamente por parte del ex presidente Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Su elección como presidente se llevó

a cabo respetando la ley y la Constitución. Lula hizo lo mismo 8 años después con Dilma Rousseff en un proceso transparente tal y como el suyo.

Más de dos años después de haber dejado la presidencia, la supuesta visión democrática de Lula parece haber cambiado radicalmente. Su apoyo a Nicolás Maduro, quien ilegalmente se autoproclamó vicepresidente y luego ... Read More

BY SIMON ROMERO

 Brazil’s oil production is falling, casting doubt on what was supposed to be an oil bonanza. Imports of gasoline are rising rapidly, exposing the country to the whims of global energy markets. Even the nation’s ethanol industry, once envied as a model of renewable energy, has had to import ethanol from the United States.

Half a decade has passed since Brazilians celebrated the discovery of huge amounts of oil in deep-sea fields by the national oil company, Petrobras, triumphantly positioning the country to surge into the top ranks of global producers. But now another kind of energy shock is unfolding: the colossal company, long known for its might, is losing the race to keep up with the nation’s growing energy demands.

Saddled with a nationalist mandate to buy ships, oil platforms and other equipment from lethargic Brazilian companies, the oil giant is now facing soaring debt, major projects mired in ... Read More

BY ANDREW O’REILLY

As the flag-draped coffin of Hugo Chávez was carried through the streets of Caracas on Wednesday, it was not only Venezuelans mourning the loss of the firebrand former president.

For 14 years, Chávez cultivated a cult of personality and a loyal band of followers throughout Latin America due in equal to his fiery rhetoric and his generous oil subsidies. His death has left a dearth in the leadership of Latin America’s radical Left and given rise to questions about who will fill that role.

“Chávez was an outsized personality and he had the ambitions to spearhead his own Bolivarian revolution,” said Eric Hershberg, the director of Latin American Studies at American University. “There is not an obviously clear successor to take on that role.”

Thanks in part to his regional body named the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA), Chávez built a close coalition of regional leaders that were sympathetic to ... Read More

By Tim Padgett

Like his idol, Fidel Castro, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was one of the most garrulous and pugnacious leaders Latin America has ever known. That makes his death in Caracas today, March 5, at age 58, after a long and secrecy-shrouded fight with a cancer whose type he refused to disclose, feel all the more incongruous: Chávez, who for all of his 14-year rule was as loud and ubiquitous a fixture in Venezuela and Latin America as salsa music on the sidewalks, departed the stage in uncharacteristic silence after not having been seen or heard from publicly for three months.

But Chávez’s demise is likely to spark a constitutional upheaval inside Venezuela, where he and his socialist, anti-U.S. revolution controlled the world’s largest oil reserves and where an electorate bitterly polarized over his heavy-handed governance must now hold a new presidential election within the next month. (Chávez’s Vice President, Nicolás ... Read More

BY BRIAN WINTER

BRASILIA – The conversations with Brazil’s top business leaders often last two hours, and up to four. President Dilma Rousseff asks detailed questions but otherwise listens intently, staring back with an inscrutable frown that occasionally unnerves her guests.

There is talk of investments, and the need for shared prosperity – a favorite topic of Rousseff’s. But in these meetings, the conversation inevitably comes back to the severe bottlenecks that have brought the economy back to earth after a historic boom last decade.

“Brazil needs to focus now on issues like productivity and reducing costs, because that’s the only way we can grow in a sustainable fashion,” said Marcelo Odebrecht, who runs a global conglomerate that bears his family’s name.

“I think we’ve realized that, and the president is moving in that direction,” he said in an interview. “That’s her focus – looking at these obstacles, and getting Brazil growing again.”

The meetings, which have intensified ... Read More

BY BRIAN WINTER & ANA FLOR

SAO PAULO/BRASILIA - Brazil is urging Venezuela’s government to hold elections as quickly as possible if President Hugo Chavez dies, senior officials told Reuters on Monday, a major intervention by Latin America’s regional powerhouse that could help ensure a smoother leadership transition in Caracas.

Brazilian officials have expressed their wishes directly to Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro, the officials said on condition of anonymity. Chavez has designated Maduro as his preferred successor if he loses his battle with cancer.

“We are explicitly saying that if Chavez dies, we would like to see elections as soon as possible,” one official said. “We think that’s the best way to ensure a peaceful democratic transition, which is Brazil’s main desire.”

Chavez is in Cuba receiving cancer treatment and he has not been seen in public for a month, prompting speculation that he is near death.

Venezuela’s constitution says a new election must be held within 30 ... Read More

SO RARELY has political corruption led to punishment in Brazil that there is an expression for the way scandals peter out. They “end in pizza”, with roughly the same convivial implication as settling differences over a drink. But a particularly brazen scandal has just drawn to a surprisingly disagreeable close for some prominent wrongdoers. The supreme-court trial of the mensalão (big monthly stipend), a scheme for buying votes in Brazil’s Congress that came to light in 2005, ended on December 17th. Of the 38 defendants, 25 were found guilty of charges including corruption, money-laundering and misuse of public funds. Many received stiff sentences and large fines.

The supreme court must still write its report on the trial, and hear appeals—though it is unlikely to change its mind. So in 2013 Brazilians should be treated to an unprecedented sight: well-connected politicos behind bars. José Dirceu, who served as chief of staff to the former ... Read More

BY IAN JAMES & FABIOLA SANCHEZ

CARACAS, Venezuela – Allies of cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez steamrolled Venezuela’s opposition in gubernatorial elections on Sunday, winning 20 of 23 states. The only good news for the opposition was the re-election of its top leader, Henrique Capriles, who lost to Chavez in October’s presidential vote.

The vote came less than a week after Venezuela’s charismatic leftist president was operated on in Cuba for the fourth time for a stubborn cancer that many fear he won’t beat. It was widely seen as a referendum on whether his socialist-inspired Bolivarian Revolution movement has enough momentum to outlive him.

Capriles’ win sets him up as the presumed challenger to go up against Vice-President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s hand-picked successor in presidential elections that would be held within 30 days of the president’s death or separation from office.

“It really does underscore the fact that Chavismo really can survive, at least at ... Read More

SAO PAULO –  Pressure is growing for prosecutors to open an investigation into popular former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva amid new accusations he knew about a cash-for-votes in Congress scheme that has seen convictions of 25 people, including his one-time chief of staff.

Silva, who left office in 2010 with an 87 percent approval rating and was once called “the most popular politician on Earth” by President Barack Obama, has so far dodged accusations against him. He denies any wrongdoing in what is seen as the biggest corruption case in Brazil’s history.

But now newspaper editorials, opposition politicians and some average Brazilian voters are saying they want to see the Attorney General’s Office order an investigation into allegations made by a top figure in the corruption case that Silva approved of the scheme and used cash from it while in office.

“He’s such a powerful figure in Brazil — you’re telling ... Read More

BY PETER WILSON

CARACAS, Venezuela — Belkis Martinez isn’t taking any chances. Minutes after hearing that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was leaving for Cuba for another round of medical treatment, the 42-year-old hairstylist who lives in Antímano, a working-class neighborhood of Caracas, was in line at her supermarket buying canned goods and crackers.

“I just can’t help but think that they aren’t telling us the real story about El Comandante,” said Martinez, referring to the president. “If something would happen to him, anything could happen. His enemies could try to take power, or maybe people within in his own party would try. I just want to be prepared for the worst, especially if rioting breaks out or they declare martial law.”

The Venezuelan president’s return to Havana for additional medical care comes as he seeks to deepen the country’s socialist revolution after winning a new six-year term on Oct. 7. Chávez, who has ... Read More

BY SIMON ROMEO

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s high court on Monday sentenced one of the most powerful figures in the governing Workers Party to nearly 11 years in prison for orchestrating a vast vote-buying scheme, sending shock waves through Brazil’s political establishment.

Justices in the Supreme Federal Tribunal, or Supreme Court, announced that José Dirceu de Oliveira e Silva, a top ally and former chief of staff of Brazil’s popular former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in prison after being found guilty of charges that are roughly the equivalent of unlawful conspiracy and bribery.

The length of the sentence for such an influential political operative, who is commonly called José Dirceu in Brazil, and the mere possibility that he could spend some time in prison before being paroled, stood as precedent-setting shifts in a political culture in which impunity in corruption cases has traditionally prevailed, legal scholars ... Read More

In the last debate, Gov. Mitt Romney cited the startling fact that “Latin America’s economy is almost as big” as China’s – with the region’s $7.1 trillion GDP trailing the PRC’s only slightly.

Clearly, Latin America is on Romney’s mind.  Global trade – particularly with Latin America, he stresses – is the second plank in his five-point jobs program.  Along with Canada, Romney cites Mexico as a key partner in North American energy independence – another pillar of his economic recovery plan.  It is no surprise that the entrepreneur in Romney knows a good deal when he sees it.

U.S. economic and fiscal crises and two wars distracted policy makers in Washington and undermined U.S. leadership in the region in recent years. Romney’s plans for restoring fiscal sanity, jumpstarting economic growth, and promoting exports, investment, and energy interdependence will go a long way toward restoring U.S. credibility and engagement.

I have said in ... Read More

CARACAS, Venezuela –  After four election wins, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is on track to completing at least 20 years in power, and supporters such as street bookseller Cristina Tovar say they’re glad to have him in charge.

Tovar has signed up to receive new public housing, and the government has installed brightly painted kiosks for her and other vendors. During the campaign, her city was covered in banners and posters emblazoned with the president’s image.

In a region where military dictators ruled by force for decades, millions of Latin Americans such as Tovar are backing a new crop of leaders extending their rule and dominating power through the ballot box.

Already the Western Hemisphere’s longest-serving president, Chávez has helped lead the charge of incumbents who have secured constitutional changes and stayed on for multiple terms, overturning provisions that had barred or limited re-election. Chávez won the right to indefinite re-election through a ... Read More

BUENOS AIRES – Venezuela’s newly re-elected president, Hugo Chavez, should start preparing to hand over power, former two-time Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in a newspaper interview published on Thursday.

Chavez, who says he has fully recovered from cancer, beat opposition challenger Henrique Capriles by a resounding 11 percentage points on October 7, giving him a third term.

“There was an election in Venezuela, where two people ran, and I thought Chavez would be best for Venezuela. I also think that comrade Chavez should start preparing his succession,” Lula, a close Chavez ally, was quoted as telling Argentine daily La Nacion.

Soon after his latest re-election victory, Chavez, 58, named Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro as vice president. Maduro has been seen as a possible successor to the flamboyant socialist leader since his cancer diagnosis in mid-2011.

The possibility of a recurrence of Chavez’s cancer is the main wild card in Venezuelan ... Read More