Vinícius Junior of Real Madrid celebrates after scoring the team’s third goal during the La Liga EA Sports match between UD Almería and Real Madrid in Almería, Spain, on Aug. 19, 2023.Fran Santiago/Getty Images
Litigating racism. Brazilian soccer star Vinícius Júnior won what his league called a first-of-its kind verdict against racism in Spanish professional soccer. On Monday, a Spanish court sentenced hecklers who made racist gestures toward Vinícius, who plays for Real Madrid, to eight months in prison. In Brazil, both fans and players have been arrested for such behavior, but similar incidents in Spain have gone unpunished until now.
Real Madrid’s public support for racial equality in recent years comes amid something of a political makeover. During Spain’s Franco dictatorship, it was known as the club of the political establishment—as opposed to the more rebellious Barcelona club, an emblem of Catalan identity and the independence movement.
Chiquita has a long history in Latin America. Its dealings in Central America gave rise to the phrase “banana republic.” But the company didn’t always go by that name. What was it originally called?
Bananas International
Global Harvest
Western Trading
The United Fruit Company
American writer O. Henry coined the phrase “banana republic” in a 1901 short story about a place that resembled Honduras under the influence of the United Fruit Company.
Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff sits onstage during a session at an economic forum. She wears a lanyard with her credentials, and her hand is raised to her chin as she looks away with a serious expression.
Dilma Rousseff, the former president of Brazil and the current president of the New Development Bank, attends a session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, June 6.Arseny Kats/Roscongress Foundation via Reuters
This week, foreign ministers from the BRICS countries gathered in Russia for their first meeting since Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates officially joined the group in January. Other hopeful members are now courting the bloc, including Thailand, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, all of which sent senior officials to the summit.
It was also the first BRICS ministerial meeting since Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. On Monday, the group issued a joint statement on the war in Gaza, calling for an immediate release of hostages, the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions on the war, and an independent Palestinian state. It also expressed “serious concern at Israel’s continued blatant disregard of international law.”
Although BRICS has long been a sounding board for grievances over the Western-led international order, its most concrete cooperation has been in finance, trade, and investment, sometimes in non-Western currencies. On this front, BRICS development bank chair Dilma Rousseff—formerly Brazil’s president—announced that the bank plans to issue its first yuan-denominated loans to countries outside of China in 2024 or 2025.
Trade in goods among BRICS countries “has considerably outpaced trade between the BRICS and G7 nations,” according to the Boston Consulting Group. Brazil took additional steps this week to continue this trend. In China, a delegation led by Brazil’s vice president said it had received some $4.5 billion in new credit guarantees and a $100 million investment pledge by vaccine maker Sinovac.
Meanwhile, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s president attended the Saudi sovereign investment fund’s first conference in Latin America, which touted Saudi investments in the Brazilian agriculture, energy, and defense sectors.
Source link : https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/06/14/latin-america-dengue-outbreak-covid-pandemic-brazil/
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Publish date : 2024-06-14 08:00:37
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