Brazil auctioned offshore oil sites
June 19, 2025
Brazil auctioned off several land and offshore potential oil sites near the Amazon River on Tuesday — the Lula administration plans to expand production in untapped regions despite protests from environmental and Indigenous groups, reports the Associated Press.
Nineteen offshore blocks were awarded to Chevron, ExxonMobil, Petrobras and CNPC. The oil companies see the area as highly promising because it shares geological characteristics with Guyana, where some of the largest offshore oil discoveries of the 21st century have been made.
The auction triggered backlash from Indigenous and environmental activists, who said oil exploration near that stretch of the Amazon coast threatens local ecosystems and traditional communities, reports Reuters.
Critics argue the region represents the government’s conflicting development and environmental goals. During his third term as president, Lula has positioned Brazil as a champion in the fight against climate change. But he has also signalled support for fossil fuel development in regions like the Equatorial Margin, as a means of paying for climate-change policy, reports Al Jazeera.
Regional
As unmanned aerial vehicles increasingly dominate global battlefields, Latin America is quietly emerging as a testing ground for drone warfare by non-state actors — from drug cartels to guerrilla insurgencies, according to new report by Evan Ellis. In just over a year, drone attacks in the region have surged in frequency, lethality and sophistication, posing a growing threat to public safety, national sovereignty and regional stability, reports the Miami Herald.
Guatemala
“The same actors who tried to prevent President Bernardo Arévalo from taking office in 2023 are ramping up efforts to oust him. The risk to democracy and human rights in Guatemala needs to be taken seriously,” writes Human Rights Watch’s Juan Pappier in El País. International allies should maintain and consider expanding sanctions against Attorney General Consuelo Porras, and Arévalo should do more to protect fundamental rights and democratic institutions. He should also prepare a strategy for the appointment of a new attorney general next year.
Since 1999, the volunteer Chico Mendes project has planted thousands of trees in Guatemala’s western highlands, bucking deforestation trends, regenerating the landscape while also generating revenue for local communities — Guardian
Brazil
A new law in Rio de Janeiro requires all public hospitals and clinics run by the municipal government to display anti-abortion signs. “Reproductive rights activists view the act as the latest example of a growing trend across Brazil to further restrict access to abortion in a country that already has some of the world’s most restrictive laws,” reports the Guardian.
Regional Relations
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum met with her Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada this week. Though Lula has been a regular guest of the G-7, Sheinbaum was attending her first summit, and her presence marks a break from the isolationist tendencies of her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, notes Catherine Osborn in the Latin America Brief.
Mexico
Hurricane Erick made landfall on Mexico’s southern coast as a major hurricane early today after prompting flash floods, school closings and evacuations in the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, reports the New York Times.
Argentina
Tens of thousands of Argentines protested against Javier Milei’s government yesterday, in demonstrations that marked the start of Peronist leader Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s six-year jail sentence. (Associated Press)
Migration
Foreign citizens who apply for student and visiting scholar visas to the U.S. will be screened for perceived “hostility” toward the United States, and they will be asked to make their social media accounts “public” for the review, reports the New York Times. (See also France 24.)
A Brazilian mother and father have been left distraught after being told by the Home Office that their young children have no right to stay in the UK and should return to Brazil alone, reports the Guardian.
Histories
A leading British marine archaeologist, Dr. Sean Kingsley, is co-directing an expedition that has been allowed for the first time to search for pirate ships off Nassau on the island of New Providence, a notorious pirate hideout 300 years ago, reports the Guardian.