Latam Airlines to continue reducing Brazil capacity in 2013

Graciela Ibanez and Paulo Winterstein – Fox Business/Dow Jones Newswires, 03/20/2013

Chilean holding company Latam Airlines Group SA (LFL, LAN.SN) this year will continue reducing the passenger capacity of its Brazilian domestic operations, Chief Financial Officer Alejandro De la Fuente said Wednesday.

Brazil’s poor economic performance took a toll on passenger demand as gross domestic product last year expanded at its slowest pace since 2009, coupled with rising fuel costs and taxes.

For 2013, economists reduced their growth expectations recently amid continued inflationary pressures.

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Documents show Brazilian junta financed Chile’s Pinochet

Fox News Latino – 03/07/2013

Secret documents dating from Brazil’s 1964-1985 military government reveal that the junta gave loans amounting to $115 million to the regime of Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet, Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper said Tuesday.

The files indicate that the money was lent to Pinochet’s government on “especially” favorable terms and was destined for the purchase of military equipment, the daily said.

An Oct. 26, 1976, report marked “Secret” says that Brazil provided “important aid” to the Pinochet regime.

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China, Brazil play important role in reaching consensus at Rio+20: Brazilian diplomat

Xinhua Net, 06/22/2012

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 22 (Xinhua) — Developing countries like Brazil and China have played an important role in helping achieve consensus on sustainable development at a just wrapped-up UN conference, a Brazilian delegate said here Friday.

“Thanks to partners like China, we managed to reach an ambitious document, which preserved the main concerns of developing countries,” Andre Correa do Lago, Brazil’s chief negotiator to the conference, told Xinhua.

He referred to an agreed final document issued at the end of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20).

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Brazilian newspaper reports Brazil protected Chilean interests during Pinochet era

AP/Washington Post, 12/12/2011

Telegrams exchanged between the Brazilian and Chilean governments in the early 1970s show Brazil’s military leaders supported Augusto Pinochet financially and diplomatically during the dictator’s first years in power.

An analysis of the contents of 266 telegrams was published Monday by the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper.

The newspaper looked at correspondence sent between 1973, when Pinochet took power, and 1976.

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China’s interest in farmland makes Brazil uneasy

Alexei Barrionuevo – The New York Times, 05/26/2011

*Paulo Sotero, Director of the Brazil Institute, weighs in on the growing Brazil-China relationship

A farmer working in his soybean field in Uruaçu, Brazil. Demand for soybeans in China has brought Chinese investors here. Photo: Daniel Kfouri/The New York Times

When the Chinese came looking for more soybeans here last year, they inquired about buying land — lots of it.

Officials in this farming area would not sell the hundreds of thousands of acres needed. Undeterred, the Chinese pursued a different strategy: providing credit to farmers and potentially tripling the soybeans grown here to feed chickens and hogs back in China.

“They need the soy more than anyone,” said Edimilson Santana, a farmer in the small town of Uruaçu. “This could be a new beginning for farmers here.”

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Interview: Brazil’s Petrobras keen on cooperation with China: CEO

CRIEnglish.com, 02/22/2011

Brazil’s state-controlled oil and gas giant Petrobras is analyzing future cooperation opportunities with Chinese companies, the company’s CEO Jose Sergio Gabrielli said on Monday.

There are opportunities for cooperation in practically all sectors in which Petrobras operates, and Petrobras already has ongoing agreements with Chinese companies in several fields, Gabrielli said in an interview with Xinhua.

“Last year, we signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) and China Development Bank (CDB) in the fields of exploration and production, refining, transport, sales, petrochemicals, fertilizers and general services,” he said.

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Brazilian airline TAM plans to merge with Chile’s LAN

BBC News, 08/13/2010

Brazil’s largest airline TAM Linhas Aereas is looking to join with Chile’s LAN as demand for air travel in Latin America continues to grow.

TAM said a combined airline would fly to 115 destinations in 23 countries, with a 40,000-strong workforce.

LAN confirmed the agreement, which it said was non-binding. The new carrier would be called Latam Airlines Group.

If the tie-up goes ahead it would be headed by LAN boss Enrique Cueto while TAM deputy chairman Mauricio Rolim would be company chairman.

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China on course to become biggest foreign direct investor in Brazil

MercoPress, 08/12/2010

China’s direct investment in Brazil has surged, putting China on course to be the biggest foreign direct investor in Latin America’s largest economy this year.

Following are some of the major deals that have been announced compiled by Reuters:

* Wuhan Iron and Steel Co is investing up to $5 billion to build a steel mill in northern Rio de Janeiro state. It previously paid $400 million for a stake in Brazilian mining firm MMX (MMXM3.SA).

* China’s Sinochem Corp won the bidding for a $3 billion stake in a Statoil offshore Brazilian oil field.

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Brazil sending rescue teams, equipment to Chile

Jeff Fick and Charles Roth-The Wall Street Journal, 03/01/10

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday that Latin America’s biggest country is sending four search and rescue units and medical equipment, including dialysis machines, to assist Chile in relief efforts after one of the biggest earthquakes in history early Saturday.

After meeting with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet at Santiago’s international airport, Mr. Lula declared in televised remarks that he wanted to express his “solidarity with the Chilean people, my solidarity with [President] Michelle [Bachelet] and to offer my condolences to the families of the victims of this earthquake.”

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