LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Peru ex-ministers recount Castillo's dramatic final day

The latest in Latin American politics today: Ex-ministers in Peru recount Castillo's dramatic final day LIMA - Cabinet members under former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo say he was planning his impeachment trial defense and appeared confident he would win - right up until his explosive speech trying to dissolve Congress, sparking his dramatic ouster.

The latest in Latin American politics today: Ex-ministers in Peru recount Castillo's dramatic final day

LIMA - Cabinet members under former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo say he was planning his impeachment trial defense and appeared confident he would win - right up until his explosive speech trying to dissolve Congress, sparking his dramatic ouster. Castillo, a former teacher, was facing his third impeachment trial in just over 16 months in office, when he went on the airwaves just before noon on Dec. 7, trying to wrest control of the legislature.

The speech came as a surprise, two members of his Cabinet told Reuters. They initially expected him to survive the vote, calculating Congress only had 73 votes - below the 87 needed to approve his impeachment. For former Culture Minister Alejandro Salas, the speech was the final nail in Castillo's political coffin. "Pedro Castillo committed suicide with a message," he said.

World Bank grants $500m loan for Brazil climate project SAO PAULO - The World Bank's board has approved a $500 million project in Brazil to expand sustainability-linked finance and strengthen the private sector's capacity to access carbon credit markets.

The initiative, in collaboration with Brazilian state-controlled lender Banco do Brasil, will focus on a sustainability-led approach to lending. Banco do Brasil will be able to offer its clients packages that integrate financing with support to access carbon markets through a "one-stop shop", as the World Bank explained it.

Biden announces U.S. delegation to attend Brazil inauguration Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland will lead the U.S. delegation to the Jan. 1 inauguration of Brazil's President-Elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a White House press briefing said on Thursday. (Compiled by Isabel Woodford Editing by Frances Kerry)

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