Author
Articles by Santiago Rodriguez
Brazil
Sertanejo stadiums, funk charts: Brazilian music's export decade
Brazil is Latin America's largest recorded-music market, and after years streaming only its old canon abroad, its new genres are charting globally. How the business works now.
Santiago Rodriguez
Brazil
Brazil's inflation falls to 3.81 percent, back inside the band
February's IPCA dropped sharply from 4.44 percent in January — the disinflation that justified the central bank's first rate cut, with a mid-month reminder that the path is bumpy.
Santiago Rodriguez
Brazil
Copom cuts Selic to 14.75 percent, opening the easing cycle
Brazil's central bank voted unanimously on March 18 to lower its key rate for the first time since the cycle peak — a cautious 25 basis points after five holds at 15 percent.
Santiago Rodriguez
Brazil
Inside the samba school: Rio's Carnival is a year-round industry
Twelve schools, thousands of members each, and budgets in the tens of millions of reais — the party on the Sapucaí is manufactured over twelve months by a workforce the world never sees.
Santiago Rodriguez
Brazil
Brazil grew 2.3 percent in 2025, IBGE reports — deceleration with an explanation
The statistics institute's March 3 release shows growth slowing from 3.4 percent in 2024, with credit at cycle-high rates doing the braking. What the number says about 2026.
Santiago Rodriguez