Welcome again to Overseas Coverage’s Latin America Transient, and joyful holidays.
This week, we’re trying again on the largest tales of the yr, together with the U.S. revival of the Monroe Doctrine, the United Nations local weather summit in Brazil, and world recognition for Venezuela’s pro-democracy motion.
The largest single occasion to have an effect on Latin American international coverage this yr was U.S. President Donald Trump’s January inauguration. Beneath his watch, america has launched an aggressive technique to reshape the Western Hemisphere.
The brand new U.S. Nationwide Safety Technique this month made specific what Latin American nations skilled all year long. Washington is placing assets towards efforts to cease migration, levying tariffs on nations that it says have unfair commerce practices, deploying army property in opposition to alleged drug trafficking, and rewarding political allies.
The US has additionally reduce international assist and aimed to punish political adversaries.
Latin American leaders responded in a wide range of methods. Some, reminiscent of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, pushed again vehemently and skilled additional U.S. retaliation. Others had been extra reasonable, together with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who provided compromises on some—however not all—fronts.
And some leaders embraced Trump: Argentine President Javier Milei received a whopping $20 billion assist bundle for the peso that helped enhance his get together in midterm elections.
The US repeatedly intervened in Latin American nations’ home politics and threatened their economies. This performed out most prominently in Brazil, the place Washington tried to meddle within the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally.
However for probably the most half, the politically divided area didn’t reply to Trump with a united voice. Deportation offers, in addition to responses to tariffs and threats surrounding strategic property such because the Panama Canal, had been largely performed bilaterally.
One exception was the March election of Surinamese politician Albert Ramdin to guide the Group of American States (OAS). Although Ramdin was not explicitly anti-Trump, his opponent had signaled a powerful alignment with the White Home.
After Washington had threatened to tug assist from the OAS within the first half of the yr, Ramdin labored to unite all OAS members, together with america, round a typical aim: strengthening the worldwide response to Haiti’s political disaster. The U.N. Safety Council went on to approve the OAS-backed plan in September.
Latin American nations have additionally responded to Trump’s insurance policies by in search of to broaden ties with different nations, together with on commerce. A lot of this diversification targeted on Asia, going past simply deepening relations with China.
Peru signed a commerce take care of Indonesia. Chile held 4 rounds of talks towards a free commerce take care of India. South American bloc Mercosur signed a commerce take care of the four-country grouping of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, in addition to a strategic partnership settlement with Japan.
Mexico is making ready to host the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation convention in 2028 and in current months stepped up commerce coordination with Canada. Each nations are events to a North American commerce settlement with america with an unsure future beneath Trump.
Within the yr by way of September, Canada grew as an export vacation spot for Mexican items. Within the yr by way of November, China equally grew as an export vacation spot for Brazil.
Maybe most importantly, Latin America and the Caribbean are ending out the yr with round 2.4 p.c GDP progress—largely in line with regional progress because the COVID-19 pandemic and forward of the Worldwide Financial Fund (IMF) projection in April that the area’s 2025 progress could be a mere 2 p.c.
When the IMF raised its forecast for the area in October, officers on the fund cited a number of components, one in all which was that Latin American nations maintained robust exports to commerce companions the world over.
Venezuelan migrants who had been imprisoned in El Salvador get off a airplane at Simón Bolivar Worldwide Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, on July 18.Federico Parra/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
The dramatic U.S. crackdown on immigration hit Latin Individuals arduous this yr. These measures included the efficient finish to the asylum course of on the U.S.-Mexico border, the termination of protections from deportation for sure Latin Individuals inside america, and new journey bans that prolonged to the members of the family of U.S. authorized everlasting residents.
The US rewarded nations that cooperated with its insurance policies, reminiscent of El Salvador, which imprisoned individuals whose deportations are being challenged in U.S. courts. It’s seemingly that Venezuela’s continued acceptance of U.S. deportees is a bargaining chip in its dramatic standoff with america. In the meantime, because of U.S. assist cuts, nations reminiscent of Mexico and Colombia are responding to an inflow of migrant returnees with out monetary assist from america.
Amid these shifts, 4 nations within the Caribbean Group went in opposition to the grain and liberalized a few of the bloc’s inner migration permissions. Officers acknowledged regional anti-migrant sentiment however stated economics and the necessity for staff spoke louder.
This yr, Colombia chaired an extra time session of U.N. biodiversity talks that started final yr, and Brazil hosted the U.N. local weather convention referred to as COP30. Regardless of moments the place the summits appeared gridlocked or prone to breaking down, each ended with progress.
On the biodiversity convention, nations agreed to steps together with a highway map to mobilize $200 billion per yr by 2030 to guard nature. At COP30, nations agreed to strikes together with tripling the funds obtainable for adaptation finance by 2035.
Colombia and Brazil had been additionally protagonists in a push at COP30 to require nations to make plans for shifting away from financial dependence on fossil fuels. Although the difficulty was not codified within the summit’s closing settlement, nations pledged to advance it within the coming months. Colombia and the Netherlands are internet hosting a global convention on the matter in April.
Venezuelan opposition chief and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize recipient María Corina Machado attends a press convention in Oslo, Norway, on Dec. 11.Rune Hellestad/Getty Pictures
The Nobel Peace Prize returned to Latin America this yr, with María Corina Machado acknowledged for main the Venezuelan opposition by way of final yr’s elections and her ongoing work towards democratization within the nation. Beneath the management of Machado and her allies, Venezuela’s pro-democracy motion has demonstrated tenacity and tact within the face of repression.
This yr, Machado has additionally managed a tough balancing act because the Trump administration makes use of more and more aggressive techniques to use stress on the authoritarian authorities of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The US has broadcast readiness for army motion in opposition to the nation.
That may be a step too far for some members of the opposition—and it’s seen with alarm by regional neighbors which have spoken out in opposition to Trump’s lethal strikes on alleged drug boats that started in September. Washington has not produced particular particulars concerning the greater than 100 individuals it has killed in such strikes within the area this yr.
Latin American music had one other robust yr, with reggaeton artist Dangerous Bunny dethroning Taylor Swift as probably the most streamed artist of 2025 on Spotify.
So, too, did Latin American movie and tv. Argentina’s The Eternaut, an adaptation of a beloved sci-fi comedian guide, grew to become Netflix’s most streamed non-English-language collection quickly after its launch in April.
On the Venice Movie Competition, Ecuador’s The Ivy and Mexico’s On the Highway received awards within the Horizons part for brand new traits in world cinema. Brazil’s I’m Nonetheless Right here received a Golden Globe for greatest feminine actor in a drama and an Academy Award for greatest worldwide movie—the first-ever Brazilian movie to take action.
Extra just lately, one other Brazilian movie, additionally concerning the nation’s 1964-85 army dictatorship, has attracted buzz on the competition circuit. The Secret Agent is now nominated for 3 Golden Globes and shortlisted for the Oscars.
In Overseas Coverage final week, Lucas Iberico Lozada wrote that although the 2 movies differ tonally—I’m Nonetheless Right here is stately, whereas The Secret Agent is zany—each juxtapose “the menace and paranoia of the dictatorship with the sexual and psychedelic liberation of Brazil’s revolutionary tropicália cultural motion.”
In addition they “supply up a extra nuanced portrait of authoritarianism than the everyday Hollywood fare,” Iberico Lozada wrote.
