☀ Domingo Brief — Panama Opens New Front in Canal Saga

Welcome back to the Domingo Brief! This week, we’re keeping up with Milei’s pension scheme veto, Brazil’s massive mining dam settlement, and more.

Trivia of the Week 🎯

Over half (53%) of you correctly guessed Vaca Muerta as the largest natural gas reservoir in Latin America. Located in the Neuquén Basin in northern Patagonia, Argentina, Vaca Muerta is known as a host rock for major deposits of shale oil and natural gas, and it encompasses over 12K square km. The oil discovery in the region was made in 2010, with proven reserves of about 927M barrels, and as of late 2024, over 1.5K fracking wells were in commission, delivering Argentina’s first energy trade surplus since production began in 2012. On a scientific note, Vaca Muerta is also know for its fossils of marine reptiles.

Each week, tune back in for the answer to the previous week’s trivia question. No cheating!

🇦🇷 Argentine President Javier Milei vetoed a set of bills that would have increased pensions and disability benefits, sparking outrage from lawmakers and advocacy groups. The National Congress had approved funding the measures in early July, but Milei claims the bills would break the government’s fiscal balance and no source of funding exists within Argentina’s finances for the roughly $5.1B disbursement. Argentina’s parliament can still override the presidential veto with a two-thirds majority, but should that happen, Milei has announced his intention to challenge the bills in court.

🇧🇷 Mining giants BHP and Vale have offered a $1.4B settlement for a class action lawsuit brought by hundreds of thousands of victims of one of Brazil’s worst environmental disasters. In 2015, the the rupture of a dam holding mining waste at an iron ore complex in the state of Minas Gerais unleashed a deadly avalanche that swept villages and contaminated hundreds of kilometers of waterways. The lawsuit was brought to a court in the United Kingdom, with the roughly 640K claimants having sought as much as $36B in damages, representing the biggest class action lawsuit in English legal history.

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