Brazil & Southern Cone - July 2025

This July edition of the Latin American Regional Report: Brazil & Southern Cone begins with a look at the oil exploration drive in Brazil, where the federal oil regulator (ANP) held an auction in June for oil exploration concessions, some of which were in the ecologically sensitive waters near the mouth of the Amazon River.... Read More

The Agência Nacional de Petróleo (ANP), Brazil’s hydrocarbons regulator, held an auction on 17 June and tendered the rights to drill for oil in 34 blocks totaling over 28,000 square km, a total area nearly the size of Belgium.... Read More

The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is reeling from the defeat in June of its revenue-boosting measures, the biggest setback to his agenda since he returned to office in January 2023.... Read More

Brazil’s supreme court (STF) ruled on 26 June that social media companies could be held liable for not actively removing harmful content.... Read More

One of the most divisive political figures in Argentina’s recent history, former president (2007-2015) and vice president (2019-2023) Cristina Fernández, began serving her prison sentence under house arrest on 17 June, after the supreme court (CSJN) upheld her conviction on corruption charges a week earlier.... Read More

Argentina’s President Javier Milei signed a decree on 16 June to expand the powers of the federal police (PFA), which includes allowing arrests and digital surveillance without a warrant.... Read More

Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña held a launch event on 17 June to trumpet his government’s new 2025-2028 National Cybersecurity Strategy.... Read More

Uruguay’s lower chamber of congress has approved an increase in the level of debt the government can raise and the amount it can spend in certain sectors, providing the government led by President Yamandú Orsi with a considerable financial cushion.... Read More

Online retailer MercadoLibre has ramped up its efforts to become Latin America’s dominant digital bank, taking on its main competitor, the Brazilian company Nubank.... Read More

REGION | Mercosur reaches trade deal with Efta bloc.... Read More