BRAZIL | Declared low BSE risk. On 28 May Brazil’s foreign ministry issued a statement stating that it had been notified by the International Office of Epizootics (OIE) that it had decided to maintain Brazil’s status as a country with an “insignificant risk” for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), or ‘Mad Cow disease’. Brazil is the world’s largest beef producer and exporter and keeping its low BSE risk status is the only way that international export markets for Brazilian beef remain open. The OIE’s decision comes almost three years after the Brazilian government reported a case of “non-classic BSE” in the…
President Dilma Rousseff has appointed a 55-year old constitutional law professor, Luís Roberto Barroso, to Brazil’s 11-member Federal Supreme Court (STF), filling a vacancy left by the retirement of Carlos Ayres Britto in November 2012. The new appointment, while broadly welcomed by local legal experts, must be ratified by the senate, prompting concerns that Barrroso’s involvement in Rio de Janeiro state’s direct action of constitutionality (Adin) against the congressionally approved legislation to amend the country’s oil royalties’ framework may work against him. The STF, led by its combative new president, Joaquim Barbosa, has had several run-ins with congress, most recently…
On 24 May Justice Minister José Eduardo Cardozo stated that the government led by President Dilma Rousseff had “no plan” to repeal the 1979 Amnesty Law. Cardozo was responding to a recommendation by the new Truth Commission, which began its work a year ago, that the government should take measures to allow for suspected perpetrators to be brought to justice. Brazil is also under pressure from international rights groups to respond to the commission’s unearthing of the officially commissioned Figueiredo report, dating back to 1967 and long thought lost, which detailed horrific crimes against Brazil’s indigenous population by landowners and…
In another example of the diplomatic effort Brazil is placing behind its policy of South-South cooperation, the country cancelled around US$900m worth of debt owned by a number of African countries. The announcement was timed to coincide with President Dilma Rousseff’s visit to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa on 25 May, her third to the continent in the last three months, to attend the 50th anniversary of the African Union. Congo-Brazzaville, Tanzania and Zambia will benefit the most of the 12 African countries whose debt is being written off. Congo-Brazzaville owes the most: US$352m, followed by Tanzania (US$237m) and Zambia…
“Like it or not, this is a victorious decade—not for the government, but for the people,” President Cristina Fernández declared on Saturday night, to a vast crowd of supporters in the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires. Tens of thousands gathered to celebrate what the government has been promoting as the “won decade”, marking 10 years since Fernández’s husband, and predecessor as president, Néstor Kirchner, took office in 2003. To ensure a good turnout on the night, the president announced a generous increase in subsidies and benefits to low-income families a few days before. Speaking during a broadcast carried, by…