On March 5, 2022, U.S. officials visited Caracas to hold talks with the heretofore shunned regime of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. “The purpose of the trip” was “to discuss a range of issues, including certainly energy, [and] energy security,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. The United States broke off relations with Venezuela

In late February 2022, Latin American countries were divided over Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine. Most condemned the invasion, but some defended Moscow’s “right to defend itself” against NATO’s alleged encroachment. Venezuela and Cuba openly supported Russian President Vladimir Putin, while other Latin American countries questioned Russia’s moves, and called for dialogue and respect for U.N.

On February 21, 2022, Colombia’s Constitutional Court ruled to decriminalize medical procedures used to terminate pregnancies up to the 24th week of gestation. Before the decision, abortions in Colombia were only legal in cases of rape, if the mother’s health was at risk, or if the fetus had a malformation that compromised its survival. Colombia

By mid-February of 2022, the number of murdered journalists in Mexico had already outstripped the pace set in 2021. At the same time, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s contentious relationship with journalists became seriously intensified by his brouhaha with Carlos Loret de Mola. The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) called on AMLO to suspend a

On February 6, 2022, Costa Rica voted to choose a new president from among a confusing field of 25 candidates without any strong favorites. Two somewhat flawed contenders emerged, former President José María Figueres of the Partido de Liberación Nacional (PLN), and former Finance Minister Rodrigo Chaves, of the Progreso Social Democrático party (PSD). They will

On January 27, 2022, Xiomara Castro took the oath of office as the first woman president of Honduras in a ceremony at Tegucigalpa’s National Stadium. Castro, wife of deposed former President Manuel Zelaya, said that “starting today, the people rule in Honduras.” The left-leaning leader of the Libertad y Refundación Party noted in a Twitter

Across Latin America, political observers are watching the rise of left-leaning coalitions in Brazil and Colombia, two countries preparing for presidential elections in 2022 with extremely unpopular rightwing incumbents whose popularity numbers have cratered. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro seems destined to lose to former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the center-left Partido dos

In early 2022, concerns over unemployment and COVID-19, as well as anxieties about democracy, maintained a death grip on Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s popularity, new polls indicated. Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva remained in strong position to win 2022’s presidential election. As a result, Bolsonaro oscillated between bravado and panic, while offering ever

The triumph of Gabriel Boric on December 19, 2021, in Chile’s presidential election has resonated on the Latin American left. Coming after the narrow electoral success of President Pedro Castillo in Peru, and the decisive victory of Xiomara Castro de Zelaya as president of Honduras, as well as giving momentum to the surging candidacies of

On December 19, 2021, Gabriel Boric, a left-wing legislator and former student activist who gained notoriety during anti-government protests, won the runoff election for president in Chile. With over 99% of the vote counted, Boric won 56% percent, defeating his extreme-right opponent, José Antonio Kast (a fundamentalist Catholic and son of a German officer who