Six days after Colombia's magnitude 7.4 earthquake, official counts put the dead at 288 to 294. New president Abelardo de la Espriella asked Donald Trump to suspend US tariffs on Colombian goods.
Geopolitics
US strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific have killed fishermen and civilians, with no case reaching a court. Ecuadorean survivors describe attacks Washington never claimed.
Geopolitics
Petrobras has detected indications of oil off the mouth of the Amazon, part of a megaproject contested for several years, Le Monde reports. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva backs the drilling, arguing that Brazil needs hydrocarbon revenue to finance its transition.
Economy
Venezuela's interim government announced on Friday the release of 131 more political prisoners after talks with the opposition supervised by the United States. Folha de S.Paulo described the step as a sign of progress in the US-sponsored negotiations.
Geopolitics
Official figures show that 30,633 companies have closed in Argentina since Javier Milei took office, Telesur reported on Saturday. In May alone the number of registered employers fell by 2,371, and more than 70,000 formal jobs have been lost.
Economy
Telesur reported on Saturday that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation has a 95 percent chance of becoming very strong by late 2026. Forecasters expect effects on rainfall, farming, food supplies and markets across Latin America.
Economy
Rescuers are still searching for hundreds of missing people five days after Colombia's magnitude 7.4 quake, with the death toll put at 281 to 287.
Geopolitics
Venezuela's interim government granted 131 political detainees 'alternative measures' to jail on Friday. Washington called it a crucial step for national reconciliation.
Geopolitics
BP, Abu Dhabi's XRG and Qatar's UCC have won the licence for phase two of Venezuela's offshore Loran gasfield, among the first large foreign investments since the US ousted Nicolás Maduro in January.
Economy
A new poll puts President Lula ahead of Flávio Bolsonaro, but the gap has closed before Brazil's presidential election, Al Jazeera reported on Saturday. Bloomberg had reported the narrowing lead a day earlier.
Geopolitics
Colombia's toll from Monday's magnitude 7.4 quake is now put at 265 to 281 dead, with about 380 people missing and more than 40,000 families affected. Rescuers made a final push on Thursday as the 72-hour window closed.
Geopolitics
Colombia has authorised joint US military operations against cartels on its soil and joined the US-funded Shield of the Americas coalition, Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday.
Geopolitics
The government of Delcy Rodríguez held its first talks with a section of Venezuela's opposition, Al Jazeera reported on Friday, and what they will achieve remains open. Caracas has also restored consular relations with Israel after two decades as Iran's principal strategic partner in Latin America, while Emirati and Qatari companies are entering the country through a BP-led gas deal.
Geopolitics
Colombia's president says at least 265 people died in Monday's magnitude 7.4 earthquake in the west. Aid from regional partners began arriving on Wednesday.
Geopolitics
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that Colombia has joined the regional military coalition against drug cartels, and vowed to continue lethal strikes on boats while warning that the International Criminal Court may investigate them. President Abelardo de la Espriella has authorised joint counter-narcotics operations with Washington, and two people were killed as Colombia stepped up air strikes on rebels.
Geopolitics
Brazil's justice ministry ordered Discord to halt live broadcasts on the platform after the suicide of a teenage girl, Le Monde reported on Wednesday. Alessandro Barreto, who coordinates the ministry's cybercrime unit, denounced what he called terrible moderation failures.
Technology
Ecuadorean crews in the Pacific have been attacked repeatedly by an unidentified outfit using drones, the New York Times reports, and some sailors appear to have been killed. Neither the identity of the attackers nor their purpose has been established.
Geopolitics
Rescuers in western Colombia are still pulling survivors from the rubble after Monday's magnitude 7.4 earthquake. Tuesday's tallies put the dead above 200.
Geopolitics
Israel and Venezuela announced on Tuesday that they had renewed consular relations, 17 years after diplomatic ties were severed in 2009. The Jerusalem Post reports that the step creates an official channel of coordination and follows an Israeli aid and rescue mission after the earthquake in Colombia.
Geopolitics
A magnitude 7.4 earthquake hit western Colombia on Monday, the strongest there in a decade. More than 130 people are confirmed dead and over 570 injured.
Geopolitics
Venezuela's government and the opposition launched negotiations last week aimed at paving the way for elections, according to El País. The Spanish daily reports that the talks are taking place under close watch from Washington.
Geopolitics
Two explosive attacks struck Colombia on Saturday, the first full day of Abelardo de la Espriella's government, which promised a harsh response.
Geopolitics
Federal police, gendarmerie and prefecture forces broke up a protest outside Congress in Buenos Aires on Friday, injuring more than 1,500 people, among them 20 press workers, and detaining at least 28, Telesur reported. Rights groups accuse the security forces of abuses during the rally.
Geopolitics
Bloomberg reports that the Trump administration has increased pressure on trader Harry Sargeant to give up his Venezuelan business, while acting president Delcy Rodríguez appointed Juan Crisóstomo Fernández to head the state electricity corporation Corpoelec. The family of judge María Lourdes Afiuni, jailed for almost a decade under Hugo Chávez, said the courts had definitively closed the case against her.
Geopolitics
Handelsblatt reports that deforestation in the Amazon has dropped to its lowest level in ten years. According to Bloomberg, the pressure has moved across the border into Bolivia, where forest loss is growing.
Economy
Abelardo de la Espriella took office as Colombia's president, replacing Gustavo Petro, and said he would fight without respite against narco-terrorism and all criminal organisations that threaten the country's freedom. Washington announced $1 billion in aid, Le Monde reported, and the ELN guerrilla group is preparing to fight back against the promised military offensive, according to The Guardian.
Geopolitics
Representatives of the Venezuelan government and the opposition held their first meeting under US supervision, El País reported. The parties said they would remain in continuous working sessions until Wednesday, when they will decide whether to continue the talks; opposition leader María Corina Machado was left out.
Geopolitics
Talks between Venezuela's power holders and the opposition have begun under Washington's mediation, seven months after the United States captured President Nicolas Maduro. Le Monde reports the discussions could lead to a political transition and elections, and that they are taking place without the leader of the Venezuelan opposition.
Geopolitics
Venezuela's government turned to other countries for help after two earthquakes left people trapped in rubble, the New York Times reported on Thursday. According to the report, years of shrinking budgets and political repression have weakened the state's ability to mount rescues.
Geopolitics
Colombian national police found and neutralised a bus carrying nearly half a ton of explosives a few kilometres from Cali on Wednesday, according to Breitbart, the only outlet reporting the case. Cali is due to host the inauguration of president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella.
Geopolitics
A State Department official said on Tuesday that Washington had revoked the visa of Brazil's ambassador to the United States, months before Brazil's elections. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called the move irresponsible, according to Global Times.
Geopolitics
Russia's envoy to Cuba, Viktor Koronelli, said no Russian citizens had contacted the embassy for assistance during the blackouts and that no evacuation of staff of Russian institutions is being considered, TASS reported on Wednesday. Cuba's national grid failed twice between Sunday and Monday; Le Monde reported that power was restored while large areas stayed dark, counting the sixth nationwide outage this year, whereas Breitbart counted the fifth failure in a month.
Geopolitics
The State Department has cancelled the visa of Brazil's ambassador to the United States, in what the Guardian describes as retaliation for the Lula government's refusal to approve Donald Trump's nominee as ambassador in Brasília. An official indicated the revocation does not mean the ambassador will be expelled, Al Jazeera reported.
Geopolitics
Argentine grain exports came to a halt as maritime pilots struck in protest against a decree by President Javier Milei, Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday. More than 45 vessels have been affected at Argentinian ports.
Economy
Venezuela's National Assembly put the confirmed death toll from the June earthquakes at 6,125 in a bulletin published on Monday. Criticism of the government's relief effort is growing.
Geopolitics
Representatives of Venezuela's government and part of the opposition are due to meet in the coming week for talks on a transition, backed by Washington. In a message from prison in New York published on Sunday, deposed former leader Nicolás Maduro welcomed 'any path to dialogue'.
Geopolitics
Brazil's Workers' Party nominated President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, 80, for October's election at its convention, with Vice President Geraldo Alckmin again as running mate. Lula said on Sunday he was 'in great shape' and cast the race against Flávio Bolsonaro as a fight for national sovereignty against foreign interests, pointing to the Bolsonaro family's ties to US President Donald Trump.
Geopolitics
Daniel Ortega has announced the eradication of electoral processes in Nicaragua, El País reported on Sunday. The paper writes that the step seals the country's autocratic drift, establishing what it calls Latin America's last dictatorship, and paves the way for a family dynasty.
Geopolitics
A storm in Chile killed two people, left thousands isolated and cut electricity to 180,000, Telesur reported on Sunday. Authorities ordered evacuations and braced for more rain.
Geopolitics
A truck packed with explosives detonated on Saturday outside a police station in the Colombian border city of Cúcuta, wounding at least 11 people according to Daily Sabah and Politika, and 14 according to the South China Morning Post, Le Monde and The Hindu. Politika reported that those hurt were police officers, and Le Monde said the blast, days before the inauguration of far-right president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella, revived concerns about security.
Geopolitics
Police in Peru said 13 people, among them foreign tourists, were killed when a sightseeing aircraft crashed into a field after departing from the city of Pisco, The Guardian reported. The crash on the flight over the Nazca Lines was first reported on Saturday.
Geopolitics
Democracy talks backed by the United States have sidelined Venezuela's opposition leader, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. No details on the format of the talks or the participants were given in the report.
Geopolitics
Nicaragua's constitutional reform aims to extend presidential terms and restrict the opposition, reshaping elections and the country's handling of sovereignty, Telesur reported on Saturday. The outlet said the changes have drawn criticism in the region.
Geopolitics
La Guaira's governor said on Friday that 1,338 people remain missing after the earthquake that hit Venezuela in June. The count is based on a housing census of 95,080 people and on requests from residents.
Geopolitics
Cuba's parliament approved a list of 176 measures on 18 June that opens almost every sector of the economy, including agriculture and banking, to private actors, according to Le Monde. It is the island's furthest move away from a state-run economy so far.
Economy
Researchers found that Caribbean nations suffered $53.2 billion in damage from climate-fuelled disasters, the Guardian reports, the heaviest share of the losses borne by developing island states. The researchers say their findings can inform debates about global climate reparations and financing for mitigation.
Economy
A Bolivian court issued an arrest warrant against former president Evo Morales over his role in anti-government protests, Le Monde reports; the government accuses him of armed uprising and of what it calls terrorism. Morales has withdrawn to his stronghold in the Chapare, a poor rural region in the centre of the country.
Geopolitics
Nayib Bukele has formalised his candidacy for a third term as president of El Salvador while the constitution is being rewritten to suit him, El País reports. According to the paper, the promise of alternation in office is thereby disappearing.
Geopolitics
Keiko Fujimori took office after a narrow election win, becoming the first woman elected by popular vote to lead Peru and marking the return of Fujimorism after almost 30 years, El País reports. Demonstrators protested in Lima as she promised an iron-fisted crackdown on crime, and the presidents of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile attended the inauguration.
Geopolitics
Six months after the Trump administration imposed its oil blockade, Cubans are living through prolonged power cuts with no electricity for fans or air conditioning, the New York Times reported. Its correspondent Jack Nicas described residents unable to sleep in the heat.
Geopolitics
Negotiations between Chavismo and the opposition are due to start on 1 August under Washington's supervision, with the aim of establishing a path toward new elections, El País reports. The talks come two years after the disputed 2024 presidential vote.
Geopolitics
Abelardo de la Espriella announced that his government, which takes office on 7 August, will break diplomatic relations with Cuba and Nicaragua and close at least 14 embassies, including missions in Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua, according to Telesur and Le Monde. Le Monde notes that de la Espriella won the presidential election narrowly and was backed during the campaign by US President Donald Trump.
Geopolitics
Brazil recalled its ambassador to Buenos Aires for consultations after Argentine President Javier Milei made fresh verbal attacks on President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and a Brazilian judge, according to Reuters, Bloomberg and Daily Sabah. Le Monde reported that Brasília also summoned Argentina's ambassador, and that Milei's remarks targeted Mexico and the US Democratic Party as well.
Geopolitics
Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado said on Sunday she will not take part in US-backed talks with the de facto government of Delcy Rodríguez, the South China Morning Post reports. The negotiations had been scheduled to go ahead despite her refusal.
Geopolitics
A storm that caused deaths in Chile has disrupted operations at copper mines, the Financial Times reports. The interruption raises concerns about supplies of material needed for AI-related semiconductor production.
Economy
Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, was set to be confirmed on Saturday as the Liberal Party's presidential candidate, Daily Sabah reports. Separately, Brazilian authorities refused visas to two senior US officials out of concern they planned to sow doubt about the security of the country's electronic voting systems, according to the New York Times.
Geopolitics
Thirty days after the double earthquake of 24 June, reconstruction plans cover more than 128,000 affected people, Telesur reports, while the College of Engineers of Venezuela has inspected over 8,000 structures in Caracas to determine their habitability. Folha de S.Paulo describes teenagers breaking concrete and sawing through rebar in the rubble as they search on their own for their mother's body.
Geopolitics
One month after the 24 June earthquakes, the death toll has passed 5,300 with no official count of the missing, and residents have taken the search for victims into their own hands as government machinery threatens to clear the ruins, El País reports. Carabobo governor Rafael Lacava told Folha de S.Paulo he had "never cried so much in his life", while El País notes that thousands of Venezuelans in the United States remain at risk of deportation to a devastated country amid calls to redesignate Temporary Protected Status.
Geopolitics
Venezuela announced on Friday its definitive withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, which has investigated possible crimes against humanity in the country since 2017, Folha de S.Paulo reports. The same day, Trump said Venezuela is not yet ready for elections, nearly seven months after the capture of Nicolás Maduro, dampening expectations of a return to democratic normality.
Geopolitics
Guyanese authorities confirmed 72 deaths in the capsizing of a state coastal ferry off the country's coast, The Guardian reports. Of an estimated 179 people aboard, 76 were rescued, and efforts continue to salvage the ship and recover all bodies.
Geopolitics
Brazil signed on to the artificial intelligence alliance launched last week by China with 29 founding countries, the Shanghai-based World AI Cooperation Organization, Folha de S.Paulo reports. The move comes as Brazil's Congress postpones its own domestic legal framework for artificial intelligence.
Technology
Indigenous leaders on the Brazilian-Peruvian border told the Guardian that masked gunmen from an organised crime group have entered homes and are taking their communities hostage. A delegation was sent to Brasília in response; the accounts are based on local leaders' statements and are not independently confirmed.
Geopolitics