☀ Domingo Brief — Plastic pickup, Colombia-US trade, & the new President of Paraguay
Each Sunday, take two minutes to catch key stories and opportunities shaping Latin America.
Welcome back to the Domingo Brief! This week, we’re exploring trilateral efforts to battle plastic pollution in the Caribbean, Colombia’s efforts to renegotiate their free trade deal with the US, and the arrival of Paraguay’s new president.
Trivia of the Week
Just about two-thirds (67%) of you correctly said that Facebook (now Meta) was co-founded by a Latin American. Eduardo Saverin, who co-founded Facebook in 2004 alongside fellow Harvard undergraduate Mark Zuckerberg, was born in São Paulo and only left Brazil for the United States in 1993. Saverin was famously portrayed by actor Andrew Garfield in the 2010 film The Social Network, which followed the founding and early years of Facebook.
Each week, tune back in for the answer to the previous week’s trivia question. No cheating!
🇧🇷 Brazilian imports of Russian petroleum products is set to balloon by 25% this month over July’s figures, with Moscow becoming the largest supplier in this sector for South America’s giant (displacing the US). Due in part to the war in Ukraine and subsequent diplomatic pushback from the West, Brazil has gotten access to discounted prices for oil products. The result? Brazil is the world’s 2nd-largest buyer of Russian diesel today, behind only Turkey.
Latinometrics: The discounting of Russian oil comes due to sanctions by the European Union, Moscow’s traditional customers for oil, as a result of the war. Under both former President Jair Bolsonaro and now current President Lula da Silva, Brazil has taken a neutral stance towards the war in Ukraine.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Latinometrics to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.