Beginning of Essay
On January 12, 1999, over a billion dollars fled Brazil. Three days later, the Central Bank attempted to bring about a limited devaluation of the Brazilian currency, the real, but it failed to prevent a free fall. Over the next two days, another $3 billion was pul ....

Middle of Essay
.... acute stress in the relationship between the federal government and the states; the risk of defaults on state and federal government debt as well as in the private sector; and astronomic and unsustainable interest rates. For Brazil's partners in Mercosurthe common market that joins Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil-its plunge into recession and the quantum leap in the price of their own exports in the Brazilian market (especially for Argentina, which has locked its own currency into a one-to-one relationship with the U.S. dollar by means of a currency board) has put enormous strains on the fledgling trade bloc. Other Latin American governm ....