Earlier this week, Germany’s Der Spiegel reported the latest leak of confidential documents from former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden. According to these reports, the NSA monitored former Mexican president Felipe Calderón’s e-mail account and personal communications, gaining insight into Mexico’s political system and internal stability.

Last week, Rodrigo Tavares wrote in Foreign Affairs about Brazil’s recent involvement in paradiplomacy, or subnational foreign relations, by establishing formal bilateral relations between São Paulo and the UK. According to the article, the U.S. established a similar agreement with the world’s ninth largest city this past March - the first time that the State Department has forged direct relations with a subnational government in the southern hemisphere.

Dancers perform the ballet "Concerto de Bach" at the Saint Peter's Theater in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Oct. 12, 2013. A ballet was staged as the opening show of the China Cultural Month here on Saturday. More than 150 artists from China will present the local audience with a series of cultural feasts such as ballet, acrobatics and art exhibitions from October to December, 2013 in Brazil.

The cows were dying of hunger. Months of drought in northeastern Brazil left 34-year-old Natanael Melo and his 22-year-old wife, Vaniele Costa, with no option. They had borrowed money to buy food for their small herd, but that cash withered away like the crops. It was time to leave.

A decade ago, the Brazilian gangster Li’l Zé took movie screens across the world by storm in the low-budget crime drama “Cidade de Deus,” or "City of God." Set inside the eponymous slum in Rio de Janeiro, the film grossed $30 million, received four Oscar nominations, and won festivals from Los Angeles to Toronto.

A recent survey by Brazilian pollster Ibope, commissioned by the Confederação Nacional da Indústria (CNI, the national industry confederation) confirms that the popularity of the president, Dilma Rousseff, is on the rise amid protest fatigue and boosted by her tough stance towards the US following revelations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had spied on her and on Petróleo Brasileiro (Petrobras, the state-controlled oil company).

The world has a new global voice, and it belongs to Dilma Rousseff. The Brazilian president’s fiery speech yesterday at the United Nations condemning the US spying program solidified her position on the world’s podium as a civil liberties champion unafraid to stand up to Washington, analysts say.

Brazil’s plummeting currency and rising consumer prices have been making life difficult for its businesses and citizens, and prolonging its economic funk. But there a signs of gradual improvement. Here are three recent trends in Latin America’s largest economy worth celebrating.