José Mujica obituary: idiosyncratic president of Uruguay
Little changed in office. Known as 'the most humble president in the world', Mujica turned the 100-year-old Estévez presidential palace into a museum, crawled to work in his Beetle and donated 90 per cent of his £7,100-a-month salary to social projects. 'I am rich here,' he told a journalist, tapping his chest as he brought out two tatty cushions and plonked them on a pair of rusty garden chairs. Those who considered
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Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Brazil economy on track despite U.S. tariffs, but inflation risk up
July 21 (Reuters) - Brazil's economic growth will stay on track despite the imposition of U.S. tariffs, according to a Reuters poll of economists, but inflation appears at greater risk of worsening if trade negotiations flounder. U.S. President Donald Trump threatened this month to set a 50% duty on Brazilian goods on August 1 in a spat with his counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who vowed to retaliate if diplomacy broke down. However, even under steep tariffs, Brazil's economy should continue expanding at a gradual rate in 2025 and next year with the help of a resilient jobs market. Brazil's gross domestic product (GDP) is forecast to increase 2.2% this year and 1.7% in 2026, according to the median estimate of 38 analysts polled on July 14-21. As in other countries, economists are mostly sticking to a baseline scenario with moderate tariffs. Both forecasts were slightly better than the consensus view of 2.0% and 1.6%, respectively, in an April survey. "The domestic labor market remains quite tight, with unemployment at new lows and the real wage mass still expanding at a brisk pace," said Roberto Secemski, a Barclays economist. "At the margin the uncertainty from tariffs reduces those upside risks, but we don't see them derailing growth at this point." In the poll, inflation is forecast to slow to 4.4% next year from 5.2% in 2025, just a sliver below the top end of the central bank's goal of 3.0% plus or minus 1.5 percentage point. On potential tariff negotiations between the U.S. and Brazil, 13 of 16 participants who shared a view expected the August 1 deadline set by Washington to be extended, giving room for talks. Two envisaged a "no deal" situation that would lead to the implementation of the planned 50% U.S. tariff right after the ultimatum date, mirrored by Brazilian retaliation measures. One saw a deal leaving in place a lower original 10% "reciprocal tariff" the U.S. put on Brazil and other countries in April, with no reprisal from Brasilia. Hopes for negotiations contrasted with elevated tensions last week after Lula called the threatened duty "unacceptable blackmail", while Washington imposed sanctions on Brazilian officials. Trump has linked the 50% tariff to the treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial over charges of plotting a coup. Additionally, the U.S. launched an investigation into Brazil's trading practices. Still, the median U.S. tariff on Brazilian goods assumed in analysts' forecasts was 30%, according to answers to another question, considerably lower than Trump's threatened 50%. Responses to a separate question on Brazil's potential GDP growth in 2026 in a "no deal" scenario pointed to a 1.6%-1.7% consensus range, virtually the same expansion as in the baseline case. While the U.S. is the second biggest destination of Brazil's exports after China, analysts noted the Latin American country may avoid tariff impact by further redirecting trade to its top market in Asia. Yet the median range for next year's inflation forecast under "no deal" was 4.4%-4.9%. This reflected some chances of Brazil exceeding the upper inflation goal bound of 4.5%, which would again frustrate the central bank. Policymakers are expected to keep the country's benchmark interest rate at a two-decade high of 15% at least until the end of 2025, the poll showed. "The main impact of a no-deal scenario and retaliation by Brazil would likely be on the exchange rate," Santander analysts wrote. "Uncertainty about the effects of these events on the domestic economy would probably be reflected in currency depreciation and a reversal of the current inflation downward trend." (Other stories from the Reuters global economic poll)
BBC News
11 hours ago
- BBC News
Powerful Ecuador drug lord 'Fito' extradited to US
The powerful Ecuadorean gang leader Adolfo Macías Villamar has been extradited to the United States to face charges of drug and arms as "Fito", he was recaptured in June, almost a year after he escaped from a high-security prison where he was serving a 34-year sentence for a series of crimes. He will appear in a US federal court on Monday, where he will plead not guilty to international charges of drug and weapons trafficking, his lawyer told Reuters. Macías was leader of Los Choneros gang, which is linked to powerful criminal organisations from Mexico and the Balkans. He is also suspected of having ordered the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in 2023. Los Choneros is blamed for Ecuador's transformation from a tourist haven to a country with one of the highest murder rates in the than 70% of all cocaine produced in the world currently passes through Ecuador's ports. The country is located between the world's two top cocaine exporters, Colombia and Peru. In June, police tracked Macías down to what they described as an underground bunker below a luxury home in the city of Manta. He was taken to La Roca, a maximum security prison. At the time, Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa praised the security forces for capturing him and said that he would be extradited to the country's prison authority said he was taken out of prison in Ecuador earlier on Sunday to be handed over to US authorities. "Mr Macías and I will appear tomorrow before the Brooklyn federal court ... where he will plead not guilty," his lawyer, Alexei Schacht, told Reuters. "After, he will be held in a to-be-determined prison."Ecuadoreans voted in favor of allowing the extradition of citizens in a referendum called by President Noboa, who vowed to crack down on rising March this year, Noboa told the BBC he wants US, European and Brazilian armies to join his "war" against criminal gangs.
The Independent
18 hours ago
- The Independent
Rubio revokes visa for Brazilian judge who went after Trump's buddy Bolsonaro
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reportedly revoked the visa of a Brazilian Supreme Court judge who oversaw the prosecution of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro — a man who President Donald Trump views as an ally. Bolsonaro is currently facing trial for his involvement in an alleged attempted coup to steal Brazil's 2022 election. Trump has likened the former president's attempted coup trial to his own Stormy Daniels hush-money trial, and called Bolsonaro's prosecution "unjust," according to the Daily Beast. 'I have seen the terrible treatment you are receiving at the hands of an unjust system turned against you,' Trump wrote in a letter he sent to Bolsonaro. 'This should end immediately!' This week, Rubio revoked the visa for Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. He also targeted the judge's allies in the court and their family members, revoking their visas "effective immediately." Rubio justified the move in a post on social media, accusing those targeted of censoring "protected expression." '@POTUS made clear that his administration will hold accountable foreign nationals who are responsible for censorship of protected expression in the United States,' Rubio wrote on social media. Trump and his social media company, The Trump Media & Technology Group, sued de Moraes in February, accusing him of censoring conservatives on social media. Rubio's announcement came shortly after authorities in Brazil raided Bolsonaro's house and outfitted him with an ankle monitor. He has also been banned from contacting foreign officials. Rubio made clear his actions were in response to Brazil's moves to hold Bolsonaro accountable. 'Brazilian Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes's political witch hunt against Jair Bolsonaro created a persecution and censorship complex so sweeping that it not only violates basic rights of Brazilians, but also extends beyond Brazil's shores to target Americans,' Rubio said. Bolsonaro himself has echoed Trump's favorite line when defending himself; he called his trial a "witch hunt." Trump has gone so far as to threaten anti-Bolsonaro Brazilians by threatening to levy a 50 percent tariff against the nation. Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva — a leftist who defeated Bolsonaro in 2022 — condemned the Trump administration's targeting of Brazilian judges. "My solidarity and support to the ministers of the Supreme Federal Court affected by yet another arbitrary and completely baseless measure by the United States government," the Brazilian president wrote in a translated social media post. He further condemned the "interference by one country in another's justice system" as "unacceptable" and in violation of "the basic principles of respect and sovereignty between nations."
