Issue Feb 18-24 2026: Costa Rica’s Minister of Security, Mario Zamora, has said that illegal miners are extracting gold in that country to process and sell in Nicaragua, and has urged officials in the neighboring nation to increase vigilance along their shared border near the San Juan River, the site of an important “smuggling route.”

Issue Feb 18-24 2026: Legislation levying a 30% tariff on products imported from Ecuador is ready and awaiting the signature of Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Products that will be affected by the tariff include 23 items that are subdivided into 72 subheadings, such as rice, fats and oils, bananas, and other goods.

Issue Feb 18-24 2026: The Organization of American States (OAS) stated that it will closely monitor the process of renewing the high courts in Guatemala, after warning of attempts to manipulate the justice system to interfere in the recent judges’ union elections.

Issue Feb 11-17 2026: Ecuador has filed three complaints against Colombia with the General Secretariat of the Andean Community (CAN) in defense of its commercial rights and over security concerns.

Issue Feb 11-17 2026: Colombian Minister of Defense Pedro Sánchez has announced that Venezuela is expelling members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) together with dissenters from the former FARC, a major change in policy for the latter country, which has served as refuge for these armed groups for years.

Issue Feb 11-17 2026: Florida-led group backed by former Menem minister José Luis Manzano acquires Ecuador’s largest daily, ending more than a century of Pérez family control dating back to 1921.

Issue Feb 04-10 2026: The Colombian government has announced that it will be deploying 30,000 soldiers along the 2,219 kilometer-long border that it shares with Venezuela as a security measure in the wake of the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces.

Issue Feb 04-10 2026: Nicaragua has been experiencing a political and social crisis since April 2018, which intensified after the controversial November 2011 elections, in which President Daniel Ortega, 80, in power since 2007, was re-elected for a fifth term, his fourth consecutive term.

Issue Jan 28-Feb 03 2026: The Paraguay-Brazil Chamber of Commerce (CCPB) has called on Paraguayan companies with an export profile to take part in ExpoApras 2026, which will be held in the city of Pinhais, in Paraná state. This is the first time a Paraguayan delegation will attend the event.

Issue Jan 28-Feb 03 2026: Tensions between Colombia and Ecuador have escalated into a broader dispute that goes beyond trade and points to a deeper breakdown in border cooperation. The crisis was triggered by Ecuador’s decision to impose a 30 percent tariff on Colombian products, justified by claims of insufficient collaboration on security in the