Latin America Daily Briefing

Jul 17, 2025

Argentina

The United States Department of Justice will file an amicus brief to the New York Court of Appeals, supporting Argentina’s legal argument to suspend its transfer of 51% of its shares of state-owned oil company YPF, says the Buenos Aires Times. In 2024, the Biden administration had filed a similar amicus brief in support of Argentina.
La Nación reports that a tariff agreement between the United States and Argentina is close to being finalized. A joint communication is expected to be released this week, followed by a more detailed document.

Mexico

According to AP News, Mexico City is planning a government-level response to gentrification in the nation’s capital, after a protest last week showcased the ire of locals who are being priced out of their city by “digital nomads.”

Brazil

Trump’s threat of tariffs on Brazilian exports–and President Lula da Silva’s response to these threats–have given Lula an “unexpected boost” ahead of next year’s presidential elections, says the New York Times. “With Mr. Trump and his politically motivated tariffs as a foil, Mr. Lula suddenly has a clear message: We will not back down to a bully.”
The Brazilian Senate passed the “devastation bill” early Thursday morning, a bill that “drastically weakens the country’s environmental safeguards and is seen by many activists as the most significant setback for the country’s environmental legislation in the past 40 years,” says the Guardian. Lula has 15 days to approve or veto the law, though the conservative Congress likely has enough votes to overturn a potential veto.

Venezuela

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is expected to leave the country for the United States out of fear for her life, according to Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who claims Venezuelan intelligence agents and sources in Washington, D.C. informed him of Machado’s plans.

Regional Relations

The creation of a Binational Economic Zone between Colombia and Venezuela was among the main topics of discussion between both countries’ foreign ministers, seeking to reinforce bilateral ties, reports MercoPress.

Climate Summit

In Americas Quarterly, Beto Veríssimo and Juliano J. Assunção analyze the unique opportunity at the UN COP30 meeting in November to position forest regeneration as an "immediate, cost-effective, and politically viable way to remove carbon from the atmosphere.” The authors outline two priorities for forest action: halting deforestation and restoring degraded lands.
Also in Americas Quarterly, AS/COA CEO Susan Segal calls on the United States to not sit out at this year’s climate summit in Belém, Brazil, arguing that “A low-profile presence—or worse, an absence—would represent a missed opportunity to strengthen U.S. leadership in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

El Salvador

Human rights NGO Cristosal is suspending operations and going into exile, reports Reuters, amid increasing crackdowns on government critics carried out by the Bukele administration. Twenty Cristosal employees have fled the country in recent weeks.

Peru

Illegal miners in the Peruvian Amazon ambushed and shot a 60-member mission of Indigenous Wampis guards last week, according to AP News. The attack came just days after the government withdrew from a planned joint operation that was planning to remove illegal mining operations from the area.