LATAM POLITICS TODAY-Lula wants new Brazil police unit to tackle environmental crimes

The latest in Latin American politics today:

Lula wants new Brazil police unit to tackle environmental crimes BRASLIA - Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's incoming administration aims to create a new Federal Police unit focused on environmental crimes, the transition team's public security chief told Reuters.

Senator-elect Flavio Dino, widely seen as a leading candidate to be Lula's next justice minister, is running the transition team's task force addressing violent crime, limiting gun ownership and protecting the Amazon rainforest. Lula, a leftist leader who was president from 2003 to 2010, has pledged to end illegal deforestation in the Amazon, one of the world's main buffers against climate change, after it hit a 15-year high under outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro.

Latin American leaders to convene Dec. 14 for Pacific Alliance summit MEXICO CITY - Leaders of four Latin American nations will gather in Lima, Peru, on Dec. 14 for a meeting of the trade bloc known as the Pacific Alliance, Peru's foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

The presidents of Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru will attend the meeting, the ministry said in a tweet, during which Peru will assume the pro tempore presidency of the alliance. The meeting was previously postponed after Peruvian President Pedro Castillo - who is under investigation on allegations of corruption - was barred from traveling for the event.

Brazil's congress backs law for more crypto regulation Brazil's lower house of Congress late Tuesday approved a bill that aims to boost oversight of the country's cryptocurrency sector, after one of the world's largest crypto exchanges collapsed earlier this month.

The proposal, which would see the sector regulated by a government-appointed federal agency, will now pass to outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro for approval. The new rules would apply to legal entities that exchange virtual currencies for local or foreign currencies, exchange virtual assets, conduct transfers or are involved in financial services connected to issuers or vendors of virtual assets. (Compiled by Steven Grattan; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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