In a morning newsletter, Bloomberg highlighted, about the trip of the “richest man on the planet” to Brazil, that the “intervention” of Elon Musk would result in “a good image for Jair Bolsonaro five months before the elections”.
He evaluated that Latin America has been turning to the left, “in a region rich in commodities”, but Bolsonaro’s dispute with Lula “is the litmus test to know if change is coming”, in fact.
Subsequently, Bloomberg highlighted that “Musk is praised by President Bolsonaro on surprise trip”. Na Reuters, “Bolsonaro chama proposta de Musk pelo Twitter de ‘sopro de esperança'”.
Leader of the centrão and minister of the Civil House, Ciro Nogueira took a photo with Musk for his social media profile (above), among praise for the “great achievement of our Minister of Communications, Fábio Faria”, also of the centrão.
ESTEVES AND MUSK
In Brazil, according to what leaked from Musk’s lunch by Valor and others, he sat between Bolsonaro and André Esteves, with whom, in fact, he talked — and who was introduced by Faria as the owner of the third Brazilian bank and, “soon, the biggest”.
It was Esteves who took the students from Inteli, linked to BTG Pactual, to ask Musk questions. And her magazine Exame was, according to her, “the only media outlet to have access to the hotel where the meeting is held”.
Exame brought information such as “How much does it cost to have the internet from Starlink”, Musk’s satellite company. “About R$500 monthly.”
MUSK AND THE VALLEY
Two weeks before traveling to Brazil, Musk closed a deal with Brazilian mining company Vale, as reported by Bloomberg and Financial Times, for the acquisition of nickel for the automaker Tesla.
The current direction of the Brazilian mining company “seeks to become the preferred supplier of American automakers”, not just Tesla, “as they increase the production of electric vehicles”. Musk points to nickel as “one of the biggest challenges” facing his company.
And a week ago the businessman gave a public interview, at an FT event, and was asked if he could “go a step further and buy a mining company”. Answered:
“It’s not that we want to buy, but if that’s the only way to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy, then we will. Refining or buying a miner, as long as we can significantly change the trajectory of that miner, are possibilities. Yes.”
The FT linked the response to the Vale deal
INDONESIA ALSO
While Musk was traveling to Brazil, the government of Indonesia, “one of the biggest nickel producers in the world”, announced to the local press an agreement for Tesla to invest in a battery factory. President Joko Widodo met with the billionaire a week ago.
