LatinNews Daily - 14 April 2026

*Brazil’s social security ministry has announced that civil servant Ana Cristina Viana Silveira will replace Gilberto Waller as the new president of the national social security agency (INSS). The change of leadership follows a tumultuous year for the agency. Waller was appointed in April last year when a corruption scandal hit the INSS, resulting in the dismissal of Alessandro Stefanutto as its head. The INSS corruption case, involving irregular deductions from retirement and pension accounts between 2019-2024, was investigated in a congressional inquiry from August 2025-March 2026, bringing more media attention to the case and adding to the public outrage over the alleged fraudulent deductions. In an interview yesterday on national broadcaster BandNews TV, the party president of the ruling Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), Edinho Silva, suggested that corruption investigations such as the INSS case have contributed to the declining popularity in recent months of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. While Waller has not been implicated in the corruption investigation, his dismissal could represent an attempt by the Lula administration to signal that it is committed to addressing the public concern over the alleged corruption of the INSS.

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