LATAM POLITICS TODAY -Brazil's Lula says intelligence services failed ahead of Brasilia riots

Brazil's Haddad says Mercosur should be strengthened, have more members DAVOS - Brazil's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said that Mercosur should be strengthened, including through the addition of new members, signaling that the economic bloc will be prioritized in the newly inaugurated government of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The latest in Latin American politics today: Brazil's Lula says intelligence services failed ahead of Brasilia riots

BRASILIA - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said his intelligence services failed on Jan. 8, when government buildings were stormed by supporters of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro. "We made an elementary mistake, my intelligence did not exist (that day)," Lula told TV channel GloboNews in an interview. "We have Army intelligence, Air Force intelligence, ABIN (Brazil's Intelligence Agency); none of them warned me."

Lula's comments come as he said the country's minimum wage must rise in line with its economic growth. Colombia doubles down on diplomatic crisis with Guatemala

DAVOS - Colombian President Gustavo Petro has said the ongoing diplomatic crisis with Guatemala will go "as far" as the Central American country wants to take it. Guatemala called on Tuesday for consultations with its ambassador in Bogota, after previously announcing legal action against Colombian Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez, who led an anti-corruption mission in Guatemala.

Petro has supported Velasquez and stated that he will not accept an arrest warrant to be issued against him after the Guatemalan prosecutor's office accused him of "illegal, arbitrary and abusive" acts. Brazil's Haddad says Mercosur should be strengthened, have more members

DAVOS - Brazil's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said that Mercosur should be strengthened, including through the addition of new members, signaling that the economic bloc will be prioritized in the newly inaugurated government of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay has been abandoned in recent years, Haddad said at a World Economic Forum panel about Latin America in Davos, Switzerland, referring to the Bolsonaro administration.

Argentina to buy back $1 bln in foreign debt in signal to markets BUENOS AIRES - Argentina will buy back overseas bonds equivalent to over $1 billion to improve the South American country's debt profile, Economy Minister Sergio Massa said, looking to send a positive signal to markets despite low reserves levels.

The move will focus on sovereign notes maturing in 2029 and 2030, the minister added, with the program set to start immediately as the country looks to take advantage of a "window of opportunity" after a debt risk index recently fell. Brazil's Vale to pay out $1.5 bln for Brumadinho reparations

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian miner Vale plans to pay out about 7.8 billion reais ($1.53 billion) this year as reparations related to the collapse of a tailings dam in the mining town of Brumadinho nearly four years ago, an exec told Reuters. The rupture of the structure unleashed a giant wave of mud that killed 270 people, most of them employees of the company, in addition to affecting communities, forests and rivers in the region. Three people are still missing. (Compiled by Steven Grattan and Isabel Woodford; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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