Since my last politics update, here's what's happened:
President Dilma reshuffled her cabinet again, naming another woman, Ideli Salvatti, as one of her top advisors. Salvatti, formerly the Fisheries Minister, will now serve as Dilma's congressional relations minister. Despite the shake up, Dilma's popularity has actually increased, with a 49 percent approval rating in the polls. While the cabinet changes had some analysts nervous, the new appointments seem to be working fine for Dilma, and have helped increase the number of women in the highest ranks of power in Brasília. Plus, by bringing an end to the Palocci debacle, Dilma proved she could in fact deal with some of the trickier, more public aspects of governance.
The Battisti case hasn't quite come to an end. He was released from prison on June 9th, and the Italian government began to take action. The Italians recalled their ambassador in Brazil, and have vowed to bring the case to the Hague. Lula cancelled his visit to Italy last week, and Brazilian volleyball players at the World Beach Volleyball Championship in Rome narrowly avoided being pelted by oranges, when spectators threw them onto the sand in protest. While Battisti awaits his permanent residency request to be decided this Wednesday, some Italian officials have threatened to boycott the World Military Games in Rio this July, or even the 2014 World Cup (though that seems highly unlikely).
In Rio, the more than 400 firefighters under arrest were released on June 11th. That didn't stop nearly 30,000 people from participating in a march of solidarity the following day in Copacabana, including teachers from Rio state schools, who are still on strike and protested in another march later in the week. Firefighters are still in negotiations for higher salaries, but rejected the government's most recent proposal. They're also fighting for amnesty after the arrests. While negotiations continue, there are likely to be local political repercussions.
On the economic front, economists lowered yearly inflation predictions for 2011, but raised them for 2012. In the short term, prices are likely to go down as the economy slows. There is some concern that consumer defaults will rise this year and perhaps lead to a credit bubble, though with insufficient information on borrowers, it's hard to tell exact levels of indebtedness. The job market continues to speed along; in May, 252,000 jobs were added, and 1.17 million jobs have been created since the beginning of 2011. The luxury industry is still booming, and Brazil's investment grade was upgraded again this week.
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