Passo Fundo, Brazil

South wants to secede: Emboldened by Catalonia’s recent vote in favor of leaving Spain, three southern Brazilian states last week held an unofficial referendum on declaring independence. The South Is My Country movement says Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and Paraná effectively subsidize poorer northern states because they pay much more in taxes than they get in services from the federal government. The referendum, said the group’s leader, Celso Deucher, “is a response by the three colonies of southern Brazil to the madness that is Brasília.” Fewer people turned out to vote in the hastily arranged plebiscite than the roughly 3 percent of state residents who participated in a similar vote last year. But Deucher says awareness of the issue is growing, and he wants next year’s general election to include a referendum on secession.