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Explaining Brazil
- 800 - Can Brazil's Supreme Court survive an election?
For years, Brazil's Supreme Court picked fights with Congress and the presidency. This month it turned on itself. On September 15, the full court sat for more than seven hours to answer a question it has dodged for 130 years, and walked away without an answer.
Gustavo Ribeiro is joined by Brown University historian James Green to unpack what happened inside that session, why it looked more like a schoolyard brawl than the country's highest court, and how a scandal involving a jailed banker and a BRL 130 million contract has swallowed the entire campaign three weeks before Brazilians go to the polls.
They also dig into whether the polls are missing a shy Bolsonaro vote, why one far-right candidate is now accusing Flávio Bolsonaro of being bankrolled from Washington, and what happens if Lula wins by a hair and Trump refuses to recognize the result.
Thu, 17 Sep 2026 - 799 - Civil war at the Brazilian Supreme Court
Brazil's Supreme Court is facing what may be the worst crisis in its history. Justice André Mendonça unsealed the Banco Master investigation, exposing messages between the bank's former CEO and Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Now two factions of the court are openly at war, less than a month before the first round of the presidential election.
Gustavo Ribeiro and James Green break down how the scandal reached every corner of the political spectrum, why Brazilians are left choosing between impunity and disregard for due process, and whether this fight could tip a race that polls call a toss-up.
Wed, 09 Sep 2026 - 798 - The first surprise of the 2016 election
Two polls released Monday shook the political establishment. Augusto Cury, of the small Avante party, took third place in both: 11% in Nexus's survey, 7.8% in Atlas Intel's.
The numbers force rivals and analysts to take Cury seriously for the first time since he entered the race. His rise followed two bursts of exposure: the Aug. 23 presidential debate, which Flávio Bolsonaro, Lula, and Romeu Zema all skipped, and last week's Jornal Nacional interview. His asset appears to be a rhetoric that refuses polarization, suggesting the third way's failure to gain traction has been a problem of supply rather than demand.
The Brazilian Report's editor-in-chief, Gustavo Ribeiro, and James Green, the Brown University historian who chairs the Brazil Office Alliance, discussed what Cury's rise means for the race on our latest joint podcast.
Tue, 01 Sep 2026 - 797 - What's wrong with the Brazilian Congress
Brazil's 2026 campaign is officially underway, and almost all the attention will be on the presidential race. That's a problem, because power in Brazil is increasingly won and lost in Congress — where the budget is controlled and where any president's agenda lives or dies.
Gustavo Ribeiro and James Green are joined by political scientist Beatriz Rey, a researcher at the University of Lisbon, who recently coordinated a Fernando Henrique Cardoso Foundation policy paper with Sergio Fausto on how to fix the way Congress operates.
Her argument isn't that Congress got too strong. Two decades of incremental change made the legislature a genuine co-policymaker, and that part is healthy.
The trouble is that much of that strength was built through the back door: a Leaders' Council that met in restaurants and living rooms instead of the chamber, hybrid sessions designed for a pandemic that never went away, provisional decrees that expire because nobody bothers to vote, a speaker who can yank any bill out of committee, and informal working groups that now write entire bills with no paper trail and no obligation to reflect the party balance of the House.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 - 796 - A visa, a snub, and a reopened wound
The US State Department revoked the visa of Brazil's ambassador to Washington and said the quiet part out loud: it is retaliation for Brasília withholding agrément from Trump's pick to serve as the ambassador to Brazil. Two months before the first round, that is not a protocol dispute. It is leverage.
Gustavo Ribeiro is joined by James Green, professor at Brown University and chairman of the board of the Washington Brazil Office, to unpack the escalation and what it may be building toward — including the case that isolating Brazil lays the groundwork for questioning the October results.
They also take stock of the rest of a rough week in the neighborhood: relations with Argentina downgraded to chargé d'affaires level after Javier Milei's insults delivered on Brazilian soil, and Lula's unforced error on Paraguay, which reopened the wound of the War of the Triple Alliance. On the same day the visa news broke, Marco Rubio was hosting Paraguay's vice president and signing a nuclear cooperation deal.
Then to the campaign: Flávio Bolsonaro's running mate, why no major party wants to join either ticket, and how the public campaign fund and TV ad rules quietly favor the incumbent.
Mon, 10 Aug 2026 - 795 - Brazilian trade: Life after Washington
The US now takes less than 10% of Brazil's exports — the smallest share in decades — and Washington's tariff wall is accelerating a realignment that was already underway.
Gustavo Ribeiro speaks with trade consultant Welber Barral, a former Brazilian foreign trade secretary (2007-11), about what the Section 301 tariffs are doing to exporters on the ground, why more than 30 rounds of talks produced nothing, and why Brasília will not sign the deal Washington handed Argentina. They also discuss Brazil's reciprocity law, the lobbying campaign to suspend US patents, and whether an election year makes retaliation more likely or less likely.
Tue, 04 Aug 2026 - 794 - An imported playbook for Brazil's elections
Senator Flávio Bolsonaro used his turn at Debating Brazil — an event series in which Brazilian presidential candidates present their vision of the country to foreign ambassadors — to revive discredited claims about electronic voting fraud and to promise close alignment with Washington.Gustavo Ribeiro and James Green examine what the Brazilian press overlooked: a foreign policy doctrine that never rises beyond an outline, an unprompted misstep on Taiwan and an open appeal for American support.Also this week: the Brazil Office Alliance brings 16 social movements to the US Congress to press the case for nonintervention, the forced-labor rationale for new tariffs collapses under scrutiny, and new polling from Poder Data finds a sharp shift in Brazilian sentiment toward China.
Fri, 24 Jul 2026 - 793 - Flávio Bolsonaro has a few problems to deal with
On this episode of Explaining Brazil, Gustavo Ribeiro, editor-in-chief of The Brazilian Report, talks with James Green, a historian at Brown University, about the fracturing landscape of Brazil's 2026 presidential race.
Much of the conversation turns on Flávio Bolsonaro, whose campaign has been undone largely by its own missteps. Once the front-runner, the senator is now locked in a public feud with his stepmother, Michelle Bolsonaro, that has cost him support among conservative and evangelical women. Ribeiro and Green examine how that rupture — compounded by his appeals for Washington to intervene against looming trade tariffs — has drained his political capital.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, meanwhile, is extending his lead by staying out of the fray. But the episode looks past the horse race to slower shifts underneath it.
Mon, 13 Jul 2026 - 792 - Brazil's crime syndicates are now terrorist organizations
US Secretary of State Marco RubiodesignatedtheComando Vermelho(Red Command, or CV) and thePrimeiro Comando da Capital(First Command of the Capital, or PCC) as foreign terrorist organizations. The Brazilian Report's editor-in-chief, Gustavo Ribeiro, and the Brazil Office Alliance's president of the board, James Green, discuss the implications for Brazil.
Tue, 02 Jun 2026 - 791 - Lula meets Trump in Washington
Editor-in-chief Gustavo Ribeiro sat down with historian James N. Green to unpack Lula's recent meeting with Donald Trump. While the visit yielded no concrete trade breakthroughs, it has been cast as a diplomatic victory, bolstering Lula's domestic standing against far-right rivals. The discussion also addresses political issues at home: the rejection of a Supreme Court nominee and the steady drift of legislative power toward a more conservative Congress.
Fri, 08 May 2026 - 790 - Trouble ahead for Brazil-US relations?Thu, 23 Apr 2026
- 789 - Time to investigate Brazil's Supreme Court justices? (preview)
Amid deepening polarization and the judiciary’s growing role in the country’s political life, Brazil’s Supreme Court has become accustomed to being rated poorly by a significant share of the population.
In recent years, most of that opposition has come from the far right, which saw the court as a barrier to its onslaught on democracy — including the attempted coup following the 2022 election.
The problem now is that the dissatisfaction has become widespread — and is being driven precisely by a justice who was central to preserving democracy during the coup attempt saga: Alexandre de Moraes.
According to polling institute Quaest, 66% of Brazilians said that, come October’s elections, they would consider voting for Senate candidates who promise to seek the impeachment of Supreme Court justices.
That survey was conducted amid the ongoing Banco Master scandal, which has raised corruption suspicions involving a wide range of Brazilian authorities across all branches of government, particularly members of the judiciary and right-wing politicians.
Thu, 19 Mar 2026 - 788 - Brazil's water leverage. And its fault lines (preview)
Humanity has entered what scientists are calling an “era of water bankruptcy.” According to the United Nations University, many critical water systems around the world are so overused — through depletion, overallocation, land and soil degradation, deforestation, and pollution, all compounded by climate change — that they can no longer be restored. At the same time, global warming and the spread of artificial intelligence promise to dramatically increase demand for water and clean energy across a wide range of countries.In this complex scenario, Brazil is in a privileged position, being home to more than 12 percent of the world’s fresh water, and an electricity matrix that is more than 55 percent hydropower-based. But does an abundance of river basins truly translate into water security?As it stands, Brazil is in a relatively comfortable position to ensure water supply for homes, industries, and crops, as well as the functioning of its hydropower plants. Water availability is also a crucial asset for the country on the international stage. When agribusiness exports dozens of millions of tons of soy each year, it is also indirectly exporting the water used in that process. Half of the water consumed in Brazil goes to irrigation.When federal and local governments court foreign investment to host data centers, they are offering the water used in power generation and in the cooling systems those facilities require. Last week, the lower house even approved a bill granting tax incentives to the sector. The text will still be voted on in the Senate.But experts warn of risks of chronic water shortages in several parts of Brazil over the coming decades, considering projections of economic and demographic growth, as well as the effects of climate change.
Thu, 05 Mar 2026 - 787 - An indigenous victory against Cargill on the Tapajós River (preview)
Advances in oil exploration and the construction of railways and highways in recent years have shown that, when large infrastructure projects clash with matters of Amazon preservation, the Brazilian government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva tends to favor the former.
Some call this progress; others see it as ultimately self-defeating in the face of the ongoing climate emergency. But this week, the usual script of Brazilian developmentalism trumping environmentalism was turned on its head, and on the Amazonian Tapajós River in Pará state, environmentalist forces prevailed.
Fri, 27 Feb 2026 - 786 - Brazilian stocks’ record run (preview)
190,000 points. After a string of record highs that have been piling up since mid-January, the Ibovespa — the benchmark index of São Paulo’s stock exchange, the B3 — surpassed this historic threshold during Wednesday, February 11, closing the day just shy of it.Financial trading volume totaled BRL 38.6 billion, or about USD 7.7 billion. With this result, and only six weeks into the year, Ibovespa has already posted gains of over 18% in 2026.To give a sense of the scale, stock exchange data on foreign investor flows show a net inflow of BRL 26.3 billion in January alone — exceeding the surplus recorded for the entire year of 2025.
Fri, 13 Feb 2026 - 785 - Brasília enters an election year on edge (preview)
Brasília is back to work — and the new legislative year has opened with all the familiar rituals: lofty speeches about stability, institutional balance, and dialogue, plus promises of an ambitious agenda ahead.
But this is no ordinary year.
Brazil is heading into a high-stakes election in October. Voters will choose a president, renew the entire House, elect two-thirds of the Senate, pick 27 governors, and decide the fate of hundreds of state legislators. From now on, everything in Brasília will be filtered through the election calendar — what Congress dares to vote on, what the government is willing to push forward, and even how and when Supreme Court justices make their moves.
And looming over all of it is a growing source of anxiety.
Hovering above the capital is the Banco Master case — an investigation lawmakers privately describe as unpredictable, corrosive, and potentially explosive. We touched on it last week, but its shadow is only getting longer.
Since Operation Car Wash erupted in 2014, Congress has not entered an election year under such a serious risk of being overwhelmed by corruption allegations — the kind that can torpedo campaigns, reshape alliances, and, in some cases, lead to criminal consequences.
Thu, 05 Feb 2026 - 784 - Banco Master and the Supreme Court: After the glory came the crisis (preview)
As the saying goes, the calm comes before the storm. In Brazil’s Supreme Court, the current crisis came after a period of glory and renown.
In September 2025, the Supreme Court made history and became a global reference. Breaking with Brazil’s long tradition of impunity for military interference in politics, the court analyzed a wealth of evidence and convicted former President Jair Bolsonaro and top-ranking military officers for attempting a coup after losing the 2022 election.
That same month, Edson Fachin took office as the Supreme Court Chief Justice and quickly expressed his desire to create a code of conduct for members of the top court. Apparent conflicts of interest involving justices are common — and preventing them is also a way to strengthen the rule of law.
In December, however, the court was pulled into the swirling scandal involving Banco Master — a mid-sized lender that was liquidated amid suspicions of fraud involving billions of reais. The bank’s owner, Daniel Vorcaro, has ties to state governors, lawmakers, high-ranking executive personnel and justices, putting many people under suspicion across the political spectrum.
Late last year, the press revealed that the wife of Justice Alexandre de Moraes had signed a three-year contract with Banco Master worth BRL 129 million (USD 25 million) to work as a lawyer for the bank. The contract's value raised eyebrows.
Soon after, it became public that Justice Dias Toffoli, the rapporteur of the Master case, had recently traveled on a private jet to a football match with the lawyer of one of the bank’s former executives. That alone would already be inappropriate. But from there, the problems only piled up.
Thu, 29 Jan 2026 - 783 - How the Mercosur-EU deal impacts Brazilian firms beyond exports (preview)
Amid a global context of eroding multilateralism and rising US trade wars, Mercosur and the European Union are trying to createa shared marketfor more than 700 million people.
The proposedfree trade zonefor goods and services encompasses 27 European countries, plus Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay on the other side of the Atlantic, with Bolivia in the process of joining as well. Combined, the economies involved in the deal make up for approximately 20% of global GDP.
The deal was finally signed on January 17, after more than 26 years of back-and-forth negotiations.
But yet again, European farming countries are doing whatever they can to stall its implementation. On January 21, European lawmakers backed a resolution to seek an opinion from the EU’s Court of Justice on whether the free-trade deal complies with existing EU treaties.
That could stall the deal by up to two years — although the agreement’s backers, such as Germany, are trying to go ahead and implement it on a provisional basis until the court says its piece.
Wed, 21 Jan 2026 - 782 - What happened to Brazil-Venezuela relations? (preview)
Lula did not recognize Maduro’s 2024 election win, but his first two terms in office in the 2000s saw him make South American integration a top priority of Brazil’s foreign policy, and maintain close ties with the Hugo Chavez government of the time.Venezuela held the world’s largest oil reserves. It was a country with limited development in other sectors, highly dependent on imports, and eager to challenge a US-led world order. Brazil, meanwhile, had industrial goods, construction companies looking to expand abroad, and ambitions to lead the political rise of the Global South. The partnership had the potential to be highly fruitful.Since then, however, much has changed in both countries, and ambitious regional integration projects have stalled. Now the United States is once again pulling Venezuela back into its sphere of influence, and away from China and Russia — and Brazil appears to have little room to maneuver.To understand Brazil-Venezuela relations in the 21st century — including the economic and political choices made by each country — our guests are:Diplomat Rômulo Neves, telling us what he witnessed firsthand in Brazil-Venezuela diplomatic relations while serving at the Brazilian Embassy in Caracas in 2007, during Chávez’s government. He is currently Minister-Counselor at the Brazilian Embassy in Rwanda, and author of the book “Political Culture and Elements for Analyzing Venezuelan Politics,” published in Portuguese by Funag. Our Latin America Editor, Ignacio Portes, discusses what has changed in those bilateral relations during Maduro's government.
Fri, 16 Jan 2026 - 781 - Trump’s Venezuela play: How it reshapes South America’s risk map (preview)
In Latin America, 2026 quite literally got off to an explosive start.
Just before sunrise on January 2, the city of Caracas was violently awoken by the sound of bombs, as US forces launched a sudden, high-intensity strike on the Venezuelan capital. Within hours, President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were in American custody — flown out of the country and headed to New York to face criminal charges.
The Venezuelan government has provided no official death count from the strikes, but they are believed to be in the dozens — at least 40, per some accounts.
Even by Washington’s standards, this was extraordinary. But it aligns neatly with Washington’s new worldview.
In its latest National Security Strategy, the US no longer frames Latin America as a partner. Instead, the US describes it as a buffer — a region expected to stop migrants, narcotics and Chinese influence before they reach US shores.
Mon, 05 Jan 2026 - 780 - Checks and balances turned into vendettas (preview)
In any democratic republic, it’s normal for the executive, legislative, and judicial branches to clash. That’s a sign of mutual oversight. It’s also normal for politicians to make concessions to their adversaries. That’s a sign of democracy.
But the sequence of recent events in Brazilian politics has turned into a sweeping narrative about what happens when these dynamics of checks and balances slide into sheer revanchism and bargaining over the rule of law.
Wed, 17 Dec 2025 - 779 - What needs repair in Brazil's public sector machine? (preview)
In a country with 27 state governments, more than 5,000 city halls, and around 12 million people working in the public sector, calls to reform — or improve — Brazil’s civil service never really seem to go away.
We talked to Brazil's special secretary for state transformation — and asked him to compare the reform proposals coming from the lower house with the Lula administration's approach.
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 - 778 - Good COP? Bad COP? (preview)Thu, 27 Nov 2025
- 777 - Brazil’s Central Bank led a revolution (preview)Mon, 17 Nov 2025
- 776 - Supreme Court to Brazilians: “Follow the money” (preview)
Over the past decade, Brazilian lawmakers have steadily built up procedures to expand their powers over the purse. That has included increasing the overall volume of congressional grants; making a large share of them mandatory spending; limiting the Executive’s discretion over when to release those funds, and creating ways to erase transparency and traceability from the process. A perfect recipe for corruption, which has now trickled down to state and municipal levels.But the Supreme Court has just ordered the three branches of government to run a nationwide awareness campaign — from December through March — to explain how congressional grants are executed. The idea: show the public where they can access information about these amendments, teach people how to track where the money goes, and encourage them to report irregularities or wrongdoing. Will that finally be enough?
Mon, 10 Nov 2025 - 775 - COP30: Will climate action take root? (preview)
Each passing year, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP) gains more urgency. More and more biomes around the world are approaching what scientists call tipping points — the Amazon chief among them. Hosting the 30th edition of COP in Belém, one of the Amazon’s biggest cities, therefore represents one of the most significant responsibilities Brazil’s diplomacy has taken on in recent times.
This week, we are joined by experts with distinct and diverse backgrounds to discuss the climate challenges facing Brazil and the world ahead of COP30. They are:
Adriana Ramos: Executive Secretary of the Socio-Environmental Institute, a civil society organization that monitors indigenous lands and other environmentally protected areas across Brazil, working both with governments and on the ground. She represented the Brazilian Forum of NGOs on the Amazon Fund Steering Committee from 2008 to 2013 and served on the Executive Board of the Brazilian Association of NGOs.
Carlos Nobre: One of the world’s leading climatologists, he is a researcher at the University of São Paulo, co-chair of the Scientific Panel for the Amazon, and a member of academies such as the World Academy of Sciences. He co-authored the research that earned the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 and was also responsible for creating some of Brazil’s main government climate centers, as well as the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in the Amazon.
Natalie Unterstell: President of the Talanoa Institute, a Brazilian climate policy think tank, and member of the COP30 Adaptation Council and the accreditation panel of the Green Climate Fund. She holds a master’s degree from Harvard Kennedy School and has served as a negotiator for Brazil in global climate talks, helping lead Brazil’s climate policy development.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on The Brazilian Report.
Thu, 30 Oct 2025 - 774 - Who will be Brazil's next Supreme Court justice? (preview)
Justice Luís Roberto Barroso is retiring. We unpack how factors such as trust, political ties, and electoral considerations may guide President Lula’s next choice for the court.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on The Brazilian Report.
Thu, 16 Oct 2025 - 773 - 2026 election: A year away, what do polls say? (preview)
President Lula’s popularity has risen. We examine how this might impact the political landscape ahead of the next presidential election.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on The Brazilian Report.
Tue, 14 Oct 2025 - 772 - Brazil's tax system fuels income inequality (preview)
Brazil’s Congress is discussing a proposal for income tax reform. Backed by the Lula administration, the bill seeks to make the country’s system more progressive. But just how unequal are taxes in Brazil?
This week, we host economist Davi Bhering, who co-authored a Paris School of Economics study on Brazil’s tax income system. In our newly released episode of the Explaining Brazil podcast, he unpacks:
Why Brazil’s income inequality may be higher than previously estimated.
How the Brazilian system’s regressivity compares to other countries.
Why his findings may indicate that global inequality is higher than anticipated.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on The Brazilian Report.
Wed, 01 Oct 2025 - 771 - Self-serving politics (preview)
Crowds on Sunday fanned out across Brazil’s 27 state capitals to denounce two measures moving through Congress: a constitutional amendment proposal that would essentially shield lawmakers from prosecution, and a bill that could forgive or soften penalties for those convicted of a coup attempt masterminded by former President Jair Bolsonaro and his acolytes.The demonstrations, initially organized in a spontaneous, online fashion and later embraced by left-of-center parties, were notable not only for their scale but also for how they reframed Brazil’s political symbolism and fault lines.Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on The Brazilian Report.
Wed, 24 Sep 2025 - 770 - The PCC’s sprawling presence in Brazil’s economy (Preview)
A massive police operation exposed how deep Brazil's largest criminal organization has penetrated the legitimate economy.Rafael Alcadipani, a professor at the FGV’s School of Public Administration and a member of the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety, unpacks:
How the PCC evolved into a mafia-like organization, with multiple economic activities.
The impacts of this expansion on democracy.
Brazil’s federal and state-level capacity to combat organized crime.
How the United States might play a role — and the risks.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or on The Brazilian Report.
Wed, 17 Sep 2025 - 769 - Bolsonaro: from the barracks, to the presidency ... to prison? (preview)
The Brazilian Supreme Court has reached a majority to convict former President Jair Bolsonaro of leading a conspiracy to overturn his 2022 electoral defeat. The trial is about to bring an end to a political career long marked by authoritarian views and practices. To review Bolsonaro's political path, the Explaining Brazil podcast invited journalist Juliana Dal Piva. She is the author of the book “O Negócio do Jair” (“The Business of Jair”), published in 2022 by Editora Zahar, and the host of the podcast series “A Vida Secreta de Jair” (“The Secret Life of Jair”), released in 2021 by the website UOL.
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts or on The Brazilian Report.
Thu, 11 Sep 2025 - 768 - Brazil's trial of the century (Preview)
The final stage of Jair Bolsonaro’s coup trial kicked off on September 2 in Brasília. After months of evidence-gathering, arguments and testimonies, the justices are expected to deliver their ruling by September 12, in what is arguably the most consequential trial in Brazil’s recent history.At the center of the case are the riots that occurred on January 8, 2023. They looked eerily like January 6 in the United States — but worse: crowds stormed not only Congress, but also the presidential palace and the Supreme Court itself. But prosecutors say those riots were just the visible edge of something larger — a vast conspiracy to push the military into breaking democracy.So what happens now? How will the justices rule, and what will it mean for Brazil’s fragile democracy — and its powerful military? Our guest today is Davi Tangerino. He’s a criminal lawyer and a professor at State University of Rio de Janeiro. Tangerino also served on Brazil’s National Council for Criminal and Penitentiary Policy, and helped lead the Brazilian Institute of Criminal Sciences.Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts or on The Brazilian Report.
Thu, 04 Sep 2025 - 767 - Can Brazil own its digital destiny? (Preview)
At a time when US President Donald Trump is pressuring Brazil on both trade and military fronts, the country’s digital vulnerabilities have come into focus. The notion of sovereignty now extends beyond borders to the infrastructure, systems and data that underpin the digital world.
How prepared is Brazil to secure its digital sovereignty?
Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts or on The Brazilian Report.
Tue, 26 Aug 2025 - 766 - The battle for control over Brazil's Congress (Preview)
A political drama has unfolded inside Congress. It started with a show of force: after former President Jair Bolsonaro was placed on house arrest, lawmakers loyal to him occupied both chambers, bringing the legislature to a halt. But beneath the theatrics, something more profound is unraveling — a leadership crisis. Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts or on The Brazilian Report.
Tue, 19 Aug 2025 - 765 - Supreme Court places Bolsonaro under house arrest (Preview)
In this edition of #InsiderTalks, we’ve invited experts on law, democracy and electoral trends to analyze the trial of Bolsonaro and his allies for an alleged coup plot. Subscribe to Explaining Brazil Plus on Apple Podcasts for the full episode or go to The Brazilian Report and subscribe to get all of our content.
Tue, 05 Aug 2025 - 764 - US tariffs: Brazil is negotiating with an “elected autocracy” (Preview)
Professor Felipe Campante of Johns Hopkins sees little room for success in negotiations between Brazil and the US, as only the former is following the rule of law. Subscribe to Explaining Brazil Plus on Apple Podcasts for the full episode or go to The Brazilian Report and subscribe to get all of our content.
Mon, 28 Jul 2025 - 763 - Trump declares (trade) war on Brazil (Preview)
In this episode of Explaining Brazil Plus, we analyzed Donald Trump’s threat of a 50% tariff on Brazil and its possible impacts on the country's economy and politics. Subscribe to Explaining Brazil Plus on Apple Podcasts for the full episode or go to The Brazilian Report and subscribe to get all of our content.
Mon, 14 Jul 2025 - 762 - Social security scandals, Brazil's emissions beef and a papal funeralFri, 25 Apr 2025
- 761 - COP 30: are locals ready to shape policies? (Preview)Wed, 23 Apr 2025
- 760 - Penal populism, agro jobs and Bolsonaro under the knifeFri, 18 Apr 2025
- 759 - Trump’s decline, Embraer’s rise, and Lula in a gun fightFri, 11 Apr 2025
- 758 - Brazil braces for Trump's tariffs (Preview)
US President Donald Trump promises a significant tariff announcement on April 2. We gathered a team of experts to discuss how the looming threats of tariffs from the Trump administration may affect Brazil and reshape relations between the United States and Brazil — not just in the short-term future but also in the long run. Panelists:
Tony Harrington, former US ambassador to Brazil. Founding Principal of Albright Stonebridge. He was previously Chair of the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board and currently serves as Chair of the Wilson Center Brazil Institute.
Kellie Meiman Hock, senior counselor at McLarty Associates and a board member of the Inter-American Dialogue. A former US Foreign Service Officer, she served in Porto Alegre, São Paulo and Recife in Brazil, as well as at the Office of the US Trade Representative in the Executive Office of the President as Director for Brazil and the Southern Cone.
Welber Barral, founding partner of BMJ, is an expert in international trade and investment with over 30 years of experience. He served as Brazil’s Secretary of Foreign Trade between 2007 and 2011 and has acted as an arbitrator in Mercosur and WTO disputes. He currently advises Fiesp and presides over IBCI, the Brazilian Institute of Foreign Trade.
This episode is exclusive for premium subscribers and subscribers of Explaining Brazil Plus on Apple Podcasts.
Tue, 01 Apr 2025 - 757 - Bolsonaro charged, egg exports rise, Brazil rethinks defense ties
The Supreme Court decides that Jair Bolsonaro will face trial over coup-plotting allegations. Brazilian producers are exporting eggs to the bird flu-hit US. And Brazil wants to chart its own course in purchasing defense tech. This episode refers to the newsletters:
🧨 Charges accepted (Mar. 27)
🐣 Hatching a new market (Mar. 26)
⚖️ Facing the music (Mar. 25)
Fri, 28 Mar 2025 - 756 - Tax exemptions, rate hikes and voluntary exile
Lula announces major income tax exemptions. The Central Bank hikes interest rates once more. And one of Bolsonaro’s sons flees to the US. This episode refers to the newsletters:
🎰 Lula goes all in(Mar. 19)
📈 Different in form, not content(Mar. 20)
Fri, 21 Mar 2025 - 755 - Inflation, digital transformation and trade war frustration
Inflation data shows little in the way of good news for Brazil. The country’s planned digital currency moves through testing phases. And Trump’s metal tariffs kick in — how is Brazil going to respond? This episode refers to the newsletters:
😢 Brazilian wallets weep (Mar. 12)
🔐 Drex files: Privacy vs oversight (Mar. 12)
Fri, 14 Mar 2025 - 754 - How Brazil can navigate the Trump trade storm (Preview)
We’re launching Explaining Brazil Plus — a premium service bringing you exclusive content every month. As a subscriber, you’ll get access to special episodes and expert interviews, offering deeper insights into Brazil’s biggest stories. Subscriptions are just USD 1.99 a month on Apple Podcasts. But here’s the best part: If you’re already a subscriber to The Brazilian Report, you get it for free!
This week: Reporter Isabela Cruz sits down with Rubens Barbosa, Brazil’s former ambassador to the United Kingdom (1994-1999) and the United States (1999-2006), now a business consultant.
Tue, 11 Mar 2025 - 753 - Oscar wins, fake coffee and fiscal fiascosFri, 07 Mar 2025
- 752 - Carnival, cabinet and crisisFri, 28 Feb 2025
- 751 - Bolsonaro indictment, Trump's lawsuit and a shocking shiftFri, 21 Feb 2025
- 750 - Steel, drought and neopentecostalismFri, 14 Feb 2025
- 749 - Trade wars, health alerts and oilFri, 07 Feb 2025
- 748 - Brazil's Congress elects new leaders
Our podcast is back! For our first episode of 2025, we bring you a crucial topic for Brazil’s political landscape: the upcoming elections for the leadership positions in Congress and how they will affect Brazil’s political landscape, the tensions between the Lula administration and the far right, as well as how the new congressional outlook will affect landmark projects such as the tax reform.
Fri, 31 Jan 2025 - 747 - Delaying the EUDR?Wed, 11 Dec 2024
- 746 - Lula in a currency chokeholdWed, 04 Dec 2024
- 745 - The tax reform gridlockWed, 27 Nov 2024
- 744 - Taking stock of the G20 Summit in RioWed, 20 Nov 2024
- 743 - The Amazon at war - To Be Read: Where authors translate BrazilWed, 13 Nov 2024
- 742 - How the U.S. election influences Latin AmericaTue, 05 Nov 2024
- 741 - A Brazilian MAGA?Wed, 30 Oct 2024
- 740 - The Pantanal's jaguarsWed, 23 Oct 2024
- 739 - Brazil has a gambling problemWed, 16 Oct 2024
- 738 - What to make of Brazil's municipal elections
Brazilians in almost 5,600 municipalities went to the polls to pick new mayors and city council members. The dispute was settled on Sunday in all but 52 cities. This week, we will discuss what conclusions can be drawn from the results, the key races still in play, and the effects of these local races on national politics.
Wed, 09 Oct 2024 - 737 - Has Lula's star dimmed?Wed, 02 Oct 2024
- 736 - Musk flinches in X standoffWed, 25 Sep 2024
- 735 - Brazil on fireWed, 18 Sep 2024
- 734 - The post-Bolsonaro Bolsonaro?
Pablo Marçal, a candidate for mayor of São Paulo who has become a hot name within Bolsonarism — despite not being endorsed by Bolsonaro. Marçal defends many of the values espoused by Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters. More importantly, he deploys a social media strategy that seems to be a version of the Bolsonaro campaign on steroids.
Wed, 11 Sep 2024 - 733 - Brazil’s hidden racism: the truth behind the numbersWed, 04 Sep 2024
- 732 - Cutting the Central Bank's cord?Wed, 28 Aug 2024
- 731 - X marks the spatWed, 21 Aug 2024
- 730 - 50 years of Brazil-China relationsWed, 14 Aug 2024
- 729 - Brazil's Olympic feverWed, 07 Aug 2024
- 728 - Venezuela's vexed vote
Nicolás Maduro claimed victory in Venezuela's presidential election on Sunday, but the opposition and a long list of observers find the announced results difficult to believe. Read show notes
Wed, 31 Jul 2024 - 727 - Brazilian democracy: stronger than we thought? - To Be Read: Where authors translate BrazilWed, 24 Jul 2024
- 726 - Can Lula fix his relationship with Congress?
Despite strategic moves to distribute cabinet positions to center and center-right parties, this has not guaranteed Lula a stable coalition. Some in the president's camp are calling for a reset in negotiations with Congress — but is that possible? Read show notes
Wed, 17 Jul 2024 - 725 - Gun debate becoming ubiquitous in Brazil's Congress
Debates about gun rights and regulations are becoming more and more common in 21st century Brazil, and we explore the forces behind the most prominent arguments.Read show notes
Wed, 03 Jul 2024 - 724 - Markets give Lula a Real reality check
The Brazilian real turns 30 next week. But the currency is reaching the landmark amid an incredible rout, caused by fiscal concerns. Read show notes
Wed, 26 Jun 2024 - 723 - Global ambitions, domestic neglect?
Since returning to the Brazilian presidency, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has shown something of a preference for foreign policy, potentially to the detriment of domestic politics. He's traveled the world, appearing at almost every international summit that will have him, with the articulated goal of "repositioning" Brazil on the world stage. Read show notes
Wed, 19 Jun 2024 - 722 - Strike as an environmental risk
Why disgruntled civil servants are a risk to Brazil's environmental goals. Read show notes
Tue, 11 Jun 2024 - 721 - The Brazilians evangelizing the Middle East - To Be Read: Where authors translate Brazil
A family left Brazil for Afghanistan in the 2000s, aiming to convert Muslims to Christianity. Adriana Carranca talks to Isabela Cruz about this story and the political dynamics surrounding it, as she explained in her work "Soul By Soul." Watch the full interview on Patreon for free!
Fri, 07 Jun 2024 - 720 - Privatizing Brazil's beaches?
A bill pending in the Senate proposes transferring control of coastal land to state governments, municipal authorities, or private interests, raising fear about the future of Brazil's beaches. Read show notes
Wed, 05 Jun 2024 - 719 - Taxing the tops
Shein, AliExpress, and Shopee have become ubiquitous in Brazil, causing much controversy along the way. Now, a bid from domestic retailers to bump up taxes on these platforms seems to have taken hold. Read show notes
Wed, 29 May 2024 - 718 - Lula switches on intervention mode
Swapping out the head of state-controlled oil firm Petrobras, it seems that the Lula government is going full steam on intervention to push through its developmentalist goals. Read show notes LINKS: New series - To be Read - video interview
Wed, 22 May 2024 - 717 - When tragedy becomes a culture war
While rainfall continues to ravage Brazil's southernmost state, authorities warn about the plague of disinformation — which they say is hindering rescue operations. Read show notes
Wed, 15 May 2024 - 716 - Brazil, Britain and the slave trade - To Be Read: Where authors translate Brazil
A new series featuring authors talking about Brazil. The Brazilian Report's To Be Read will be a space for conversations about books that translate the country's history and contemporary political life. In its first meeting, "The Brazilian Report's To Be Read" book club will talk to Adriane Sanctis about the slave trade in the Atlantic, based on her work "Seeking Capture, Resisting Seizure." Read show notes
Sun, 12 May 2024 - 715 - The Rio Grande do Sul floods
Brazil's southernmost state is underwater after days of severe heavy rains, with the human and material tolls mounting by the hour. We examine the extent of the crisis in Rio Grande do Sul. Read show notes.
Wed, 08 May 2024 - 714 - Lula's farming feudsWed, 01 May 2024
- 713 - Love It or Leave It, Ep. 4: Coup praisers, coup plottersSun, 28 Apr 2024
- 712 - Ban the beef bros?
Credited with turning JBS into the world's largest meat-packing company, billionaire brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista are now seeking a return to the firm's board of directors after years of legal troubles. An international advocacy group seeks to stop that. Read show notes.
Wed, 24 Apr 2024 - 711 - Lira's latest Lula feud
House Speaker Arthur Lira and the Lula government's Congress liaison Alexandre Padilha are engaged in a very public disagreement. But what does that mean for the administration going forward? And for Lira's 2025 succession plans? Read show notes.
Wed, 17 Apr 2024 - 710 - Love it or Leave it, Ep. 3: Cross-border persecution in South America
In the third episode of our special series about the Brazilian military dictatorship, we fly over South America, dominated by authoritarian rule in the 1960s and 1970s. We tell the story of how Brazil supported coups in the region and how it operated internationally to persecute exiles. While you're at it, we have prepared a special playlist with songs that defined the resistance against the dictatorships in Brazil and the other countries mentioned in this episode. Read show notes.
Sun, 14 Apr 2024 - 709 - Elon Musk has beef in Brazil
Musk has stated that Brazil is on the verge of becoming an Orwellian dystopia in which one man — Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes — decides what can be said online. Read show notes.
Wed, 10 Apr 2024 - 708 - Love It or Leave It, Ep. 2: Brazilian patriots with an American flag
In the second episode of the special series about the Brazilian military dictatorship, from within to abroad, we are starting our dive into the international connections of the regime, beginning with the U.S. We tell the story of how it participated in the coup, as well as how bilateral relations were conducted from then on. Read show notes.
Sun, 07 Apr 2024 - 707 - Election hopes dashed in Venezuela
Negotiations with the U.S. and the opposition had led to hopes that Venezuela would hold clean elections in 2024. But the Maduro administration stopping adversaries from competing has put that optimism to rest. Read show notes.
Wed, 03 Apr 2024 - 706 - Love It or Leave It, Ep. 1: The dictatorship at a glance
In 1964, in the midst of Cold War tensions, Brazil's President João Goulart was overthrown under pressure from both civil society and the Armed Forces, leading to 21 years of authoritarian rule in Brazil. In this episode, we'll explore the Brazilian military dictatorship in its social, economic, and institutional aspects. Read show notes.
Sun, 31 Mar 2024 - 705 - How Brazil's far-right operates
A new report maps and details the activities and ideologies of more than 20 far-right extremist groups operating in Brazil. Read show notes
Tue, 26 Mar 2024 - 704 - Lula's approval red flags
President Lula's approval ratings have fallen sharply in recent months. We asked a senior Brazil analyst whether it is already time for him to hit the panic button.Show notes.
Wed, 20 Mar 2024 - 703 - Far-right committees in Congress
Radical far-right politicians were chosen to be the heads of some of the most important standing committees in Brazil's House, showing some frailties in the Lula government's position in Congress.Read show notes.
Wed, 13 Mar 2024 - 702 - Why you should care about Brazil's Cerrado
The Cerrado has a strategic significance beyond Brazil: no other biome has such a key role to play in furthering food security while continuing to protect such rich biodiversity.Read show notes.
Wed, 06 Mar 2024 - 701 - After rally, is Bolsonaro stronger or more in trouble?
Jair Bolsonaro got thousands of supporters on the streets of São Paulo. But the rally, although big in size, was no game-changer for him. Euan Marshall, Isabela Cruz, and Cedê Silva explain why.Read show notes.
Wed, 28 Feb 2024
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