Brazil’s Petrobras raises fuel prices

AFP

Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras announced Friday it is raising fuel prices, infuriating President Jair Bolsonaro as he faces an inflationary spike and a re-election bid in October.

Painful price increases, especially for food and fuel, have emerged as a key weak spot for the far-right incumbent.

Petrobras, the largest company in Latin America, said it will hike gasoline prices by 5.18 percent and diesel prices by 14.26 percent starting Saturday.

It blamed “a challenging scenario in Brazil and the world,” the latter a reference to the war in Ukraine, which has triggered higher oil prices around the world.

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Brazil has already seen fuel prices surge by over 33 percent in the past year, according to official figures — with the last spike in gasoline and diesel rates coming three months ago.

Bolsonaro reacted angrily saying Petrobras “could sink Brazil in chaos.”

In May, Bolsonaro dismissed the president of Petrobras, who had been in the job for just 40 days, with the country’s energy ministry saying “Brazil is currently experiencing a challenging moment.”

As in many countries of the world, prices are soaring in Brazil. Inflation stands at 11.73 percent, far above the central bank’s target of 3.5 percent.

The bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the 11th straight time on Wednesday as it battles inflation.

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Bolsonaro faces an uphill battle against leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010), who leads in opinion polls and is remembered for presiding over a booming economy.

That is a sharp contrast to today, with Brazil’s economy struggling to bounce back from the pandemic and now reeling from the inflationary pressures unleashed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Bolsonaro diagnosed with skin cancer amid coup conviction

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been diagnosed with skin cancer while serving a historic sentence for attempting a coup d’état. His medical team confirmed that the lesions have been removed and that, for now, he does not require further procedures, though he will need regular monitoring.

On Wednesday, September 17, Bolsonaro’s doctors confirmed the diagnosis. The announcement comes shortly after the former leader was convicted of orchestrating an attempted coup.

According to his physician, Claudio Birolini, Bolsonaro has “squamous cell carcinoma, which is neither the most benign nor the most aggressive form — it is intermediate.” Birolini warned, however, that this type of skin cancer “can carry more serious consequences.”

International

Milei praises Paraguay’s growth, calls Argentina’s last 20 years a ‘decline’

Argentine President Javier Milei praised Paraguay’s economic growth over the past two decades during a speech before the Paraguayan Congress on Wednesday (Sept. 17, 2025), crediting it to incentives that favored capitalism. At the same time, he contrasted that progress with what he described as Argentina’s deepening “decline” during the same period.

“If we compare the last 20 years of Paraguay with those of the Argentine Republic, we will find almost diametrically opposite results,” Milei told lawmakers during a special session of Parliament on the second and final day of his official visit to Asunción.

“While you have not stopped growing, we have deepened our decline. If we understand incentives as the engine of capitalism, Paraguay focused on preserving and strengthening them, while Argentina dedicated itself to chaining, directing, and suffocating them,” the right-wing leader stated.

International

Trump administration launches large-scale immigration operation in Chicago

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump intensified a large-scale immigration operation in the Chicago area with the arrival of additional Border Patrol agents on Tuesday and the presence of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem during a raid.

Noem posted a video on her X account showing the immigration operation, in which DHS reportedly removed “violent criminals” from the streets. The footage shows Noem observing the arrest of a man taken into custody at his home early Tuesday morning at an undisclosed location.

“I was in Chicago today to make it clear that we will not back down,” the secretary wrote. “Our work is just beginning,” she added.

The warning from Noem was echoed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Chief Gregory Bovino, who posted a video on X Tuesday showing multiple Border Patrol vehicles arriving in the city with the caption: “Chicago, we are here!”

Bovino, who led the immigration crackdown in Los Angeles implemented since last June, said the team will remain in Chicago to continue the mission they started in California.

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Operation “Midway Blitz” is currently focused on the Chicago metropolitan area and its suburbs. Activists and residents have reported sightings of masked agents and unmarked vehicles in predominantly Latino neighborhoods.