As part of his “Total Peace” plan, President Gustavo Petro has asked Colombia’s armed groups clamp down on lethal violence. While some have complied, others have traded conspicuous violence for other types of coercion, leading many to fear they are taking advantage of the government’s outreach to quietly dig in their heels.
Tareck El Aissami has resigned as Venezuela’s oil minister after a wave of arrests for alleged corruption at the state-owned oil company. It’s unclear whether the arrests signal an internal power struggle within the regime. But El Aissami, an influential confidant of Nicolas Maduro, likely is an important piece of the puzzle.
In recent years, Beijing’s strong foothold in Latin America has caused anxiety in Washington, particularly amid the recent resurgence of left-wing governments in South America. But although Beijing has made considerable gains in the region at Washington’s expense, claims about China’s influence there might be overstated.
Last week, Honduras became the latest country to sever its diplomatic relations with Taiwan and instead recognize the People’s Republic of China. Taiwan has a choice: continue watching countries get picked off one by one due to Beijing’s checkbook diplomacy, or work with its allies to find a new way to relate to the world.
Though Peru’s protests have entered a lull in recent weeks, its neighbors in the Andes are now experiencing their own political challenges, with the presidents of Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia having all hit their own rough patches in recent weeks. While the details of their political crises are different, two big trends connect them.
El Salvador’s controversial president, Nayib Bukele, has clearly captured Latin America’s imagination. Polls show that his image is quite favorable among the region’s general public, and some politicians are now trying to cash in on his popularity, offering approaches that play off of Bukele’s war against El Salvador’s gangs.