Latin American Countries Boost Ties to Africa Can this era of south-south cooperation outlast leftist leadership?

partially as an economic response to the global oil shock of 1973. For @foreignpolicy.com:

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about whether the Africa policies will endure. But it would be a "basic error" to say South-South cooperation has historically been restricted to the left, scholar Renata Albuquerque Ribeiro told me. Brazil's right-wing military regime sought such ties in the 1970s, 🧵

A Colombia summit last week showcased how several Latin American and Caribbean countries have been building up their Africa policies in recent years, with new embassies and increased trade flows. The trend is stronger in governments with leftist leaders, raising questions 🧵

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Trump’s Summit Offers More Deference Than Details Leaders emerged from the “Shield of the Americas” with few policy specifics.

for counternarcotics-focused messaging—and for sorting leaders in the region by political ideology. For @foreignpolicy.com:

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Latin American heads of state gathered in significant numbers for last weekend's Florida event with Trump, an opportunity to voice a joint agenda. But the event was light on specifics, serving generally to reinforce Trump's preference 🧵

Chile Bids Goodbye to Boric The outgoing president created a new blueprint for the Latin American left.

Observers say Boric nevertheless might be remembered for bringing a focus on human rights back to the Latin American left after the issue had faded in recent years, above all in the case of Venezuela. For @foreignpolicy.com:

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Latin America's first crop of millennial presidents have now been around long enough that they are getting reelected—or replaced by the other side of the aisle. The latter is the case for Chile's Gabriel Boric, who leaves office on Wednesday. 🧵

Sheinbaum Breaks From AMLO on Security The killing of “El Mencho” shows that Mexico’s president has ditched her predecessor’s softer approach to cartels.

in a country the size of Mexico. For @foreignpolicy.com:

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but also to gain access to intelligence for broader anti-crime operations, security analyst Eduardo Guerrero told me. Cecilia Farfán-Méndez of the Gl-TOC said Sheinbaum's approach of following the money still has a long way to go, flagging the low number of money laundering sentences 🧵

While Sunday's raid thrust the Sheinbaum administration's security policy into the spotlight, she has been carving a new path on security for months. The choice to step up cooperation with Washington allowed her not only to head off unilateral U.S. military action 🧵

In India, Lula Puts Middle-Power Diplomacy on Display Brazil’s president hopes to cooperate on AI, critical minerals, and more.

Brazil and India's positions on issues ranging from AI to critical minerals—which they also discussed in New Delhi—are increasingly important amid strains in the international order, Hussein Kalout said. For @foreignpolicy.com:

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between reaping AI's economic gains and protecting from its harms, tech policy expert @ronaldolemos.bsky.social told me the latter is currently overweighted. That’s why it's especially important the policies are seeing debate in global forums, he argued. More broadly, 🧵

At this week's AI summit in India, Brazil showcased its nascent policies toward the technology. Brazilian officials drew up much of the country's draft AI governance based on the EU model, and while they argue their approach strikes a balance 🧵

The Human Toll of Trump’s Cuba Policy Washington wants political change in Havana. Ordinary people are paying the price.

The humanitarian outlook could worsen sharply without a resolution to the standoff or change in tactics, experts say. For @foreignpolicy.com:

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of working with a government insider who is open to cooperating. In the meantime, a U.S. tariff threat has broadly cut off oil shipments to the island; the government has begun rationing fuel at sites that reportedly include hospitals. 🧵

In Cuba, the top U.S. envoy said Washington is in talks with unspecified local officials in an effort to bring about political change this year. He suggested his team favored a repeat of the Venezuela strategy 🧵

Costa Rica Elects a Trump Ally Why the country chose a tough-on-crime candidate for president.

to trade—and history of investments in high-tech sectors—also prompted a positive milestone last year, when the World Bank upgraded it to high-income status. For
@foreignpolicy.com:

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Costa Rica's election was the region's latest to reward a tough-on-crime candidate against a backdrop of rising concerns about insecurity. Drug smuggling routes have grown following the opening of a new port. But Costa Rica's openness 🧵

The Coming Copper Boom Surging demand—and prices—for the mineral stand to benefit exporters in Latin America.

the country could underperform compared to the 2000s copper boom. In other corners of the region, like Mexico, governments are testing whether industrial policies for the copper sector could take off. In @foreignpolicy.com :

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Copper's soar to record-high prices this month—and projections of a coming global supply crunch—are being closely watched in Chile and Peru, which consistently rank in the world's top three producers. Chile is planning to increase production, while experts in Peru warn 🧵

Why Latin America Has Been Demure in Davos U.S. aggression is nothing new for the region.

Carney’s Davos speech on the world order rang familiar to many Latin American policymakers, who have spent years testing active non-alignment in an effort to avoid being boxed in by spheres-of-influence assumptions. In @foreignpolicy.com:

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Trump’s Cuba Calculus The U.S. president has his sights on the island. But it’s a very different case from Venezuela.

Plus, a less commented aspect of the EU-Mercosur trade deal is how it would lock countries into the Paris Agreement on climate change at a moment when that pact is under intense strain.

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Today’s @foreignpolicy.com Latin America Brief looks at factors affecting whether, and how, Cuba is the next target of a major U.S. intervention. 🧵

How Will Latin America Move Forward From the Maduro Raid? No one in the region is saying “TACO” now.

This week's @foreignpolicy.com Latin America Brief:

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in a New York Times interview published today. What’s left? “Putting out fires” through measured but firm diplomacy, & in the long term, diversifying partnerships as well as rebuilding “an international order that is minimally based in rules,” one senior official from the region told me. 🧵

In the wake of Maduro’s capture, several Latin American officials have defended international law and the need to avoid a “Wild West” in their public comments. But the Trump administration has signaled little interest in such arguments, most recently Trump himself 🧵

Latin America’s Year in Review In 2025, the region went up against tariffs, deportations, and a major U.S. military buildup.

A look back at the year in Latin American politics: efforts at trade diversification amid U.S. pressure, the fights for Venezuela’s future & to keep climate cooperation alive, the new politics of migration, & why regional historical dramas won global film kudos.

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China Responds to Trump’s Revived Monroe Doctrine Amid the U.S. naval blockade announcement off the coast of Venezuela, Beijing has released its new strategy for the region.

Both papers are messaging tools, and countries in the region are looking beyond them—to what’s concretely on offer—when deciding how to engage with each outside power. But the papers are nevertheless worth reading side by side.

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This week’s @foreignpolicy.com LatAm Brief: As U.S. threats to 🇻🇪 have intensified, China has updated its public strategy document on Latin America & the Caribbean for the first time in almost a decade. It reads as an indirect rebuttal to Trump’s recent National Security Strategy. 🧵