Weekly Report - 16 April 2026 (WR-26-15)

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva held a ceremony on 14 April to inaugurate federal deputy José Guimarães of his left-wing Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), the former leader of the governing coalition in the lower chamber of congress, as the government’s new institutional relations minister. Guimarães assumes the role amid a difficult time for the Lula administration, with the president’s approval ratings declining, and institutional flare-ups between the executive, legislature, and judiciary.