Brazil in January 2026: the most important developments in society
For Brazil, January 2026 was dominated by protests in Europe against the EU-Mercosur trade deal. Farmers in France, Italy and Poland protested as the EU moved to approve the agreement with the Mercosur bloc. In Paris, farmers blocked the ring road and 11 people were arrested in the Île-de-France region; in Milan, tractors blocked traffic. Thousands of Irish and French farmers protested on January 10, and farmers blocked roads and a port. French farmers lifted a blockade on January 12 but staged a new Paris protest on January 13; by January 14 they had left Paris while tensions rose in Toulouse. A Mercosur vote on January 21 drew a rare left-right alliance to the protests. Six people were arrested after clashes between farmers and police in Toulouse on January 27, and farmers were still protesting in the streets on January 29.
In São Paulo, a fire at a hospital forced the evacuation of patients on January 30. A storm on January 27 left 81,000 people without power, floods on January 22 exposed urban deficiencies, and water rationing increased the risk of dengue in one community. On January 25, a lightning strike at a rally of Nikolas Ferreira in Brasília injured 89 people.
President Lula signed a law creating scholarships for teaching students and a decree raising the teacher minimum wage by 5.4%. Brazil announced a visa exemption for Chinese nationals, and on January 28 Lula criticized military intervention in Latin America.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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