Foreign & Public Diplomacy

Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Latin America Brief.

The highlights this week: Brazil sends its foreign minister to a BRICS summit in New Delhi, Guatemalans protest fuel price hikes, and Chile remembers a renowned documentarian.

Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Latin America Brief.

The highlights this week: Brazil sends its foreign minister to a BRICS summit in New Delhi, Guatemalans protest fuel price hikes, and Chile remembers a renowned documentarian.

Brazil’s Balancing Acts at BRICS

The BRICS leaders’ summit in New Delhi last weekend underscored how as the global order unravels, cooperation among the grouping deepens. Many long-standing BRICS demands, such as expanding the United Nations Security Council, haven’t materialized. But the bloc has steadily increased economic ties, including by launching its own development bank.

BRICS members have long sought to reform the Western-dominated order, making their joint positions particularly relevant today. This year, the warring parties of Iran and the United Arab Emirates both sent their presidents—marking the furthest international trip for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian since the Iran war began in February.

Brazil, a founding member of BRICS and the host of last year’s summit, has had a more difficult time steering the grouping’s priorities since it expanded from five to nine members in 2024. (Indonesia, the newest member, joined in 2025.) Brazil opposed the expansion, fearing a loss of cohesion with the addition of avowedly anti-West Iran. Like India, Brazil wants BRICS to be reformist, not revolutionary.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira attended in place of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is in the midst of a reelection campaign. Last week, Vieira said Brazil believes “a multipolar world that promises peace and prosperity must not be confused with a world of spheres of influence.” In other words, Brazil wants a system of rules—not rule by the strongest.

Brazil managed to keep some of its priorities alive in this year’s summit declaration. Notably, in the joint........

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