☀ Domingo Brief — 4-day workweek in Brazil, Uruguay-UK exchange, & Mexican abortion ruling

Each Sunday, take two minutes to catch key stories and opportunities shaping Latin America.

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Welcome back to the Domingo Brief! This week, we’re checking out a pilot project for a 4-day work week in Brazil, Mexico decriminalizing abortion, and Colombian public-private partnerships designed to monitor the Amazon rainforest.

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Trivia of the Week

Roughly 43% of you were correct in calling Nicaragua the primary overland route for overland transoceanic trade prior to the construction of the Panama Canal (though 2nd-place Mexico was a good guess). Nicaragua actually used to be part of the cheapest route from New York to San Francisco, believe it or not! Given the long history of people using Nicaragua to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean (and vice versa), it won’t surprise you to learn that the idea of a Nicaragua Canal has been floated for centuries, beginning in the colonial era, continuing in 1825, and going all the way to a Chinese-financed $50B project announced a decade ago.

Each week, tune back in for the answer to the previous week’s trivia question. No cheating!

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🇧🇷 20 Brazilian companies are trying out a 4-day workweek pilot program. The companies, with over 400 employees, will be part of an experiment by 4 Day Week Brazil. The test will run for 6 months and be the first experiment of its kind in Latin America.

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🇨🇴 Colombian environmental organizations are partnering with Microsoft AI to monitor biodiversity and deforestation in the Amazon. The partnership, titled Project Guacamaya, is designed to provide a more thorough look at the rainforest’s natural richness in order to better know how to protect it, and includes buy-in from both the country’s leading university, Universidad de los Andes, and the Alexander von Humboldt Institute in Bogotá.