LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR a DAILY PUBLICATION of the DIALOGUE Thursday, January 28, 2021
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LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR A DAILY PUBLICATION OF THE DIALOGUE www.thedialogue.org Thursday, January 28, 2021 BOARD OF ADVISORS FEATURED Q&A TODAY’S NEWS Diego Arria Director, Columbus Group POLITICAL Devry Boughner Vorwerk What’s at Stake in Venezuela Must Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Grubhub Release Detained Joyce Chang Global Head of Research, Brazil’s Legislative Guyanese JPMorgan Chase & Co. Fishermen: OAS Paula Cifuentes Director of Economic & Fiscal Affairs, Leadership Vote? The Organization of American Latin America & Canada, States condemned what it called Philip Morris International Venezuela’s “illegal detention” Marlene Fernández of 12 Guyanese fishermen and Corporate Vice President for demanded their release. Government Relations, Arcos Dorados (McDonald’s) Page 2 Peter Hakim President Emeritus, ECONOMIC Inter-American Dialogue Donna Hrinak Peruvian Senior VP, Corporate Affairs, Royal Caribbean Group Lawmakers Jon E. Huenemann Advance Pension Former Corporate and Government Senior Executive System Reform James R. Jones A Peruvian congressional commit- Chairman, Brazilian lawmakers will select the presidents of both chambers of Congress next week. The tee approved legislation to replace Monarch Global Strategies National Congress building in Brasília is pictured above. // File Photo: Brazilian Congress. the country’s pension plans with a Craig A. Kelly Senior Director, Americas new government-run system. Int’l Gov’t Relations, Exxon Mobil Next week, both chambers of Brazil’s Congress will select Page 3 John Maisto their presidents. Incumbent Chamber of Deputies President Director, U.S. Education Finance Group Rodrigo Maia and incumbent Senate President Davi Alcolum- POLITICAL Nicolás Mariscal Q bre are unable to remain in those posts due to term limits. Brazil Ending Chairman, Grupo Marhnos Who are the lawmakers that are most likely to replace them, and what is Military Operation Thomas F. McLarty III driving their support? How is President Jair Bolsonaro influencing the to Curb Amazon Chairman, selections? How important will the change in legislative leadership be to McLarty Associates Deforestation Beatrice Rangel Bolsonaro’s efforts to advance his agenda? Director, Brazil’s government is ending AMLA Consulting LLC its military-led operation to fight Jaana Remes Anya Prusa, Slater family fellow and senior associate at the deforestation in the Amazon Partner, Brazil Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center rain forest, said Vice President McKinsey Global Institute Hamilton Mourão. Ernesto Revilla for Scholars: “Months of campaigning and speculation will Page 2 Head of Latin American culminate next week as members of the Brazilian Senate and Economics, Citi A Gustavo Roosen Chamber of Deputies vote for their new leaders. At the moment, President Chairman of the Board, Bolsonaro’s preferred candidates are favored to win: Arthur Lira in the Envases Venezolanos Andrés Rozental lower house and Rodrigo Pacheco in the Senate. Pacheco has a clear President, Rozental & path to victory over Simone Tebet, according to current vote counts, but Asociados Lira faces a tougher race. His main opponent, Baleia Rossi, is poised Shelly Shetty Managing Director, Sovereigns to secure enough votes in the first round to force a second. Leadership Fitch Ratings votes are by secret ballot, and party discipline is notoriously lax in Brazil. Therefore, Lira—and the Bolsonaro government that supports him—cannot afford to take anything for granted. For Bolsonaro, the result in the lower house is of particular political importance. Outgoing Chamber of Deputies President Rodrigo Maia, who backs Rossi as his replacement, is a power- Mourão // File Photo: ful critic of the president, despite a shared interest in economic reforms. @GeneralMourao via Twitter. Continued on page 2 COPYRIGHT © 2021, INTER-AMERICAN DIALOGUE PAGE 1 LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR Thursday, January 28, 2021 POLITICAL NEWS years, in large part due to oil discoveries made NEWS BRIEFS offshore Guyana in 2015. Guyana has taken Venezuela Must the issue to the International Court of Justice, Mexico’s Slim Remains and the court said last December that it would Hospitalized With Covid Release Guyanese hear the case, Agence France-Presse reported. However, Venezuela has said the court has no Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, one of the Fishermen: OAS jurisdiction in the matter and will not recognize world’s richest men, remains hospitalized its decision. with Covid-19, spokesman Arturo Elías said The Organization of American States on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Slim, 80, a Wednesday issued a statement condemning telecommunications magnate, has been under what it called “the illegal detention by the Ven- Brazil Ending treatment at the National Institute of Nutrition ezuelan dictatorship” of two Guyana-registered Military Operation to in Mexico City. However, Elías said Slim is vessels and their crew. Twelve Guyanese fisher- “doing very, very well,” and that he is in the men were arrested by the Venezuelan navy last Curb Deforestation hospital for “analysis and monitoring.” Slim’s week in waters that both countries claim as family controls América Móvil, Mexico’s largest their own, but which are generally recognized Brazil’s government is ending its military-led telecoms provider. as part of Guyana’s exclusive economic zone. operation to fight deforestation in the Amazon “The General Secretariat demands that the rain forest, Vice President Hamilton Mourão Guyanese citizens are released promptly and said Wednesday at the World Economic Forum, Brazil’s BTG Pactual safely to Guyanese authorities, as well as the the Associated Press reported. The govern- Planning Expansion two detained vessels,” the OAS said. “The reso- ment launched the effort, called Operation lution of the territorial dispute between Venezu- Green Brazil 2, last May. It included the deploy- Into Retail Banking ela and Guyana is a matter that lies under ment of thousands of soldiers in the Amazon. Brazil’s Banco BTG Pactual, Latin Ameri- international jurisdiction and cannot be settled Between July 2019 and August 2020, just ca’s largest investment bank, is planning to by unilateral actions. Any attempt to derail this over 11,000 square kilometers of forest were expand into retail banking, launching products international legal process, such as the decree destroyed, a 9.5 percent increase as compared including credit cards and mortgages, said issued by the Maduro regime, is contrary to to the same period the previous year, according Rodrigo Cury, the head of BTG’s digital retail international law and standards, and has no le- to government data. That level of deforestation unit, Reuters reported today. Cury said the bank gal bearing or significance,” it added, referring was also the highest since 2008. Mourão, who began offering checking accounts to consum- to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The leads the government’s Amazon Council to ers who are not already BTG clients using its incident is the latest in a century-old territo- fight deforestation, said the end of the military BTG+ retail brand. Cury added that the bank is rial dispute that has gained traction in recent operation will mean environmental agencies preparing to launch payroll loans, home equity and mortgages by the end of the year. FEATURED Q&A / Continued from page 1 Lira, in contrast, represents the ‘Centrão,’ a Tabata Amaral, Democratic coalition of conservative parties far more Labor Party member of Brazil’s BBVA Partners amendable to cutting deals with the gov- Chamber of Deputies: “The With Chile’s Bci for ernment—especially once Bolsonaro began A upcoming elections in both Cash Management to engage in the traditional horse-trading chambers of the Brazilian Congress are of Brazilian coalition politics. A partner- critical and will determine the future of our Spanish multinational bank BBVA has selected ship based more on interest than ideology, nation, especially considering the many Chilean bank Bci to provide payment and however, carries its own risks, particularly if projects that must be approved in order for collection services, a move that will allow Bolsonaro’s popularity crumbles further amid Brazil to control the pandemic and recover BBVA clients that have a presence in Chile a rising Covid-19 death toll and economic its economy. My vote will be to ensure that to carry out transactions with Bci, BBVA said woes. If Pacheco and Lira are elected, the we maintain the legislative branch indepen- Wednesday in a statement. “In order to offer government will have demonstrated a certain dent and as a productive counterpower to our clients the widest possible coverage for ability to enact its preferences in Congress. the many threats presented by President their cash management operations at BBVA, The challenge of maintaining that influence Bolsonaro, including his disastrous handling we are creating alliances with leading banks in to pass its agenda still remains.” of the pandemic, which has cost hundreds countries where we do not have a presence,” said Eva Rubio, the head of global transaction Continued on page 4 banking at BBVA. COPYRIGHT © 2021, INTER-AMERICAN DIALOGUE PAGE 2 LATIN AMERICA ADVISOR Thursday, January 28, 2021 will again be responsible for monitoring deforestation in the Amazon. “We have been THE DIALOGUE CONTINUES working on a plan ... for our environmental agencies to resume, at the best of their capac- ity, operations and incursions into the forest,” Do Social Media Platforms he said, the AP reported. Mourão also