Latin America’s Year in Review |
Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Latin America Brief, and happy holidays.
This week, we’re looking back at the biggest stories of the year, including the U.S. revival of the Monroe Doctrine, the United Nations climate summit in Brazil, and global recognition for Venezuela’s pro-democracy movement.
Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Latin America Brief, and happy holidays.
This week, we’re looking back at the biggest stories of the year, including the U.S. revival of the Monroe Doctrine, the United Nations climate summit in Brazil, and global recognition for Venezuela’s pro-democracy movement.
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The biggest single event to affect Latin American foreign policy this year was U.S. President Donald Trump’s January inauguration. Under his watch, the United States has launched an aggressive strategy to reshape the Western Hemisphere.
The new U.S. National Security Strategy this month made explicit what Latin American countries experienced throughout the year. Washington is putting resources toward efforts to stop migration, levying tariffs on countries that it says have unfair trade practices, deploying military assets against alleged drug trafficking, and rewarding political allies.
The United States has also cut foreign aid and aimed to punish political adversaries.
Latin American leaders responded in a variety of ways. Some, such as Colombian President Gustavo Petro, pushed back vehemently and experienced further U.S. retaliation. Others were more moderate, including Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who offered compromises on some—but not all—fronts.
And a few leaders embraced Trump: Argentine President Javier Milei won a whopping $20 billion support package for the peso that helped boost his party in midterm elections.
The United States repeatedly intervened in Latin American countries’ domestic politics and threatened their economies. This played out most prominently in Brazil, where Washington tried to meddle in the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally.
But for the........