Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Rule Changes

Serving third term, began January 2023

Brazil cut Amazon deforestation by a third in the first six months of 2023, putting the world's largest tropical rainforest on track for its lowest annual clearing rate in years. The turnaround arrived fast: just months earlier, deforestation had been running at its highest levels in over a decade. The shift traces directly to a change in government and a rapid restoration of environmental enforcement that had been dismantled under the previous administration.

Updated Feb 21

Force in Play

In office since January 2023 (third term)

Brazil protected Argentina's embassy in Caracas for 14 months after Nicolás Maduro expelled Argentine diplomats in July 2024. That arrangement ended on January 16, 2026, when Italy assumed custodianship—a shift triggered by Brazil's opposition to the U.S. military operation that captured Maduro two weeks earlier, and accelerated by Argentine President Javier Milei's sustained social media attacks on Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Updated Feb 3

Rule Changes

Supports agreement but did not attend signing ceremony

Negotiations between the EU and Mercosur began in 1999. Twenty-six years later, on January 17, 2026, representatives signed a comprehensive free trade agreement in Asunción, Paraguay—the same city where Mercosur itself was founded in 1991. The deal eliminates tariffs on more than 90% of bilateral trade and creates the world's largest free trade zone, covering over 700 million consumers and roughly a quarter of global GDP. Days after the signing, the European Parliament voted 334-324 to refer the agreement to the European Court of Justice over legal concerns about the Commission's decision to split the deal into trade and non-trade pillars, potentially bypassing national parliaments.

Updated Jan 26

Force in Play

Warned that any U.S. armed intervention in Venezuela could trigger a humanitarian catastrophe, elevating regional diplomatic pressure against escalation.

Trump’s Venezuela “blockade” threat is no longer just rhetoric—it’s being scaffolded by fresh Treasury actions and a widening target universe. Since the blockade announcement, Washington has added new Venezuela-linked sanctions and separately hit Iran’s shadow-fleet network, expanding the pool of already-sanctioned vessels that could be swept into real-world stop-and-search enforcement if they touch Venezuela’s trade.

Updated Dec 20, 2025