Brazil and Venezuela were never really BFFs, but now that ex-presidenta Dilma Rousseff is a thing of the past following her impeachment last year, the two countries couldn't be more ideologically opposed. On Christmas Eve Eve, Brazilian diplomat to Venezuela, Ruy Pereira, was stripped of his rights to work in the country. Venezuela's new "Constituent Assembly" -- aka President Nicolas Maduro's 'yesmen' and 'yeswomen' -- considered him persona non-grata on Friday. The only thing that can be surmised by that is that Maduro's government views the administration of Brazil president Michel Temer too corrupt to have any of his appointees roaming around Caracas. Temer and nearly a third of Brazil's congress are under investigation in the ugly and wide-ranging Petrobras corruption scandal.

Source: Forbes December 24, 2017 15:00 UTC