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Latin America

Panama’s Outrage Over Deportations: Reckoning With A Reality Long Ignored

Panama—and by extension, much of Latin America—is in an uproar. The news of deported migrants, stranded and detained in Panama, has stirred outrage and condemnation. Yet, this is not a new story. It is merely a chapter in a book that has been written, rewritten, and ignored for decades in the United States, even as families, migrants, and human rights advocates warned that such policies would not stay contained within U.S. borders forever. The real question now is: Why is migration only becoming a pressing issue for Latin American nations when they are the ones forced to deal with the aftermath?

Javier Milei Deepens Argentina’s IMF Debt Trap With ‘Emergency’ Loan

Argentina’s President Javier Milei is a self-declared libertarian and “anarcho-capitalist” who has completely subordinated his country to the United States. In a previous article, Geopolitical Economy Report showed how Argentina’s real economy is in severe crisis under Milei. 53% of the population is in poverty, and manufacturing and construction are collapsing amid rapid deindustrialization. However, the stock market has boomed, enriching Milei’s oligarch backers — although even the financial sector took a hit after Milei promoted a crypto scam that caused thousands of his own supporters to lose millions of dollars.

Southcom’s Double-Speak; Every Accusation Is A Confession

Admiral Alvin Hosley demonstrated selective outrage over the fear of multipolarity in the Western Hemisphere. The Southcom commander confirmed the official US military doctrine for the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region on February 13, before the Senate Armed Services Committee. In a poorly disguised assertion of US hegemony, Hosley envisioned, “an enduring commitment to democratic principles…to engender security, capability, democratic norms, and resilience that fuel regional peace, prosperity, and sovereignty.”

What Is A ‘Multipolar’ World?

It is now widely acknowledged that the world is multipolar. This is so uncontroversial that the Munich Security Conference chose the title “Multipolarization” for its 2025 annual report. However, there is not a common definition of “multipolarity”. The Munich Security Report noted that, while “the world’s ‘multipolarization’ is a fact”, the “international system shows elements of unipolarity, bipolarity, multipolarity, and nonpolarity”, in which “multiple order models co-exist, compete, or clash”. Governments have radically different understandings of the meaning of multipolarity.

Mass Deportation As Ethnic Cleansing: On The Ongoing War

The Trump raids have begun . In many ways, nothing is new. Despite liberals’ best attempts at depicting Trump’s policy as qualitatively different, what we are witnessing is merely an intensification of the bipartisan U.S. deportation regime. In other words, “mass deportation” chants might be new, but mass deportations aren’t. During his first term in office, Trump deported fewer people than all previous three administrations. Later, Biden deported twice as many people as Trump. The only thing that substantively changes under the latter is the visibility of these processes. In short, liberals now care. Time for new photo-ops and selective outrage—if that.

The Demise Of USAID: Few Regrets In Latin America

“Take your money with you,” said Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, when told about Trump’s plans to cut aid to Latin America, “it’s poison.” USAID (US Agency for International Development) spends around $2 billion annually in Latin America, which is only 5% of its global budget. The temporarily closed-down agency’s future looks bleak, while reactions to its money being cut have been wide-ranging. Only a few were as strong as Petro’s and many condemned the move. For example, WOLA (the Washington Office on Latin America), a leading “liberal” think tank which routinely runs cover for Washington’s regime-change efforts, called it Trump’s “America Last” policy.

Whether Biden Or Trump, US’ Latin American Policy Will Be Contemptible

With Donald Trump as the new US president, pundits are speculating about how US policy towards Latin America might change. In this article, we look at some of the speculation, then address three specific instances of how the US’s policy priorities may be viewed from a progressive, Latin American perspective. This leads us to a wider argument: that the way these issues are dealt with is symptomatic of Washington’s paramount objective of sustaining the US’s hegemonic position. In this overriding preoccupation, its policy towards Latin America is only one element, of course, but always of significance because the US hegemon still treats the region as its “backyard.”

The Safest Country In Latin America Became A Money Laundering Hub

Once on track to be the safest country in Latin America, now Ecuador finds itself mired deep in gang violence, robberies, assassinations and insecurity. Under the last three neoliberal governments of Lenin Moreno, Guillermo Lasso, and current president Daniel Noboa, there has been a surge in violent crime that has derailed any of the gains made during the leftist Correa government. On January 3rd, Black Agenda Report contributor Clau O’Brien Moscoso spoke to economic analyst Juan Fernando Terán to discuss how the surge in violence in Ecuador has political, economic and geostrategic dimensions, with implications for the whole region.

Trump Attacks Colombia; President Gustavo Petro Fights Back

Donald Trump has kicked off his second administration with a very aggressive foreign policy. Trump is threatening trade restrictions and sanctions on countries around the world, including 100% tariffs on BRICS countries, which now represent 55% of the world population. The US president wants to colonize Greenland. He also vowed to take over the Panama Canal. Invoking “Manifest Destiny”, Trump is even attacking Canada and Mexico, the two largest trading partners of the United States. When Trump selected neoconservative hawk Marco Rubio as his secretary of state, it was a sign that he would be focusing his attention on Latin America

Latin American Ministers Meet To Unify Their Stance On Trump’s Policies

On Thursday, ministers, deputy ministers, and heads of delegations from 10 Latin American and Caribbean countries met in Mexico City to develop a joint strategy in response to the threats of mass deportations by Donald Trump. The “Meeting on Human Mobility in the Northern Route of the Continent: Towards an Orderly, Safe, Regular, Responsible, and Humane Management” was attended by representatives from Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, and Venezuela. “In light of the challenges we face in migration matters, we gathered in Mexico City to discuss and coordinate actions aimed at protecting the human rights of migrants, preventing abuse and mistreatment, managing migration from a humanitarian perspective in an orderly, safe, and regular manner, as well as integrating migrant populations,” stated the Mexican foreign affairs ministry.

US Feminists Look To Latin America For Models To Resist Abortion Bans

As U.S. residents prepare for the start of a new Trump administration, we face increasing threats to health and bodily autonomy, especially for people facing unwanted pregnancies. Currently, 12 states have completely banned abortion, an additional six states have imposed bans within the first trimester and 19 states impose restrictions specifically on medication abortions. In spite of expanding restrictions, the overall rate of abortions has increased nationally, as clinicians in states that allow abortion expand services to meet the needs of people traveling to find care.

What’s Left In Latin American And The Caribbean: Year 2024 In Review

The progressive regional current, the “Pink Tide,” could be better called “troubled waters” in 2024. The tide had already slackened by 2023 compared to its rise in 2022, when it was buoyed by big wins in Colombia and Brazil. Then, progressive alternatives had sailed into power replacing failed neoliberal policies. Since, they have had to govern under circumstances that they inherited but were not their own making. Brazil’s “suicidal veto” in August, which excluded Venezuela and Nicaragua from the BRICS trade alliance, was indicative of triangulating between the US and regional allegiances.

The Geopolitical Dimensions Of The US BOLIVAR Act

Awaiting approval by the US Senate, the bipartisan bill titled “Banning Operations and Leases with the Illegitimate Venezuelan Authoritarian Regime Act,” known by its forced acronym “BOLIVAR Act,” represents a milestone in the institutionalization of illegal sanctions against Venezuela. This law aims to—under a legislative and bipartisan framework—perpetuating the executive orders that have operated as the core of the economic and financial coercion policy against Venezuela over the past ten years. Within the law, the definition of the term “person” as a legal object establishes an expansion of the scope of sanctions, covering everything from individuals and private entities to governmental bodies and their extensions, thereby creating a vast catalog of potential targets on an international scale.

Bolivia: Reinventing The Future Amid Rise Of Far-Right

On the afternoon of June 26, 2024, several militant vehicles and around 300 members of the Bolivian militia and military police, under the command of General Commander of the Armed Forces Gen. Rudy Rodríguez, burst into the Murillo Square in La Paz, surrounded the access to the square and tried to enter by force the Palacio Quemado, the former seat of the presidential office. Immediately, traditional media reported the events taking place in La Paz throughout the country. The information spread through social networks, expanding its reach with the complement of the immediate public opinion of the social sectors with access to the Internet.

Latin American Governments Pay A Price For Challenging Israel’s Genocide

Governments in Latin America have been at the forefront of opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and several of those which have done so suddenly face new threats, even including attempted coups. Adrienne Pine, a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies, said during a recent webinar hosted by the Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition that “anybody who stands with Palestine is going to be attacked in Latin America by the U.S. and by Zionists.” Recent events appear to show the truth of her remarks.