U.S. considers drone strikes in Mx
April 9, 2025
The U.S. government is considering launching drone strikes on drug cartels in Mexico, according to NBC. “Discussions among White House, Defense Department and intelligence officials, which are still at an early stage, have included possible drone strikes against cartel figures and their logistical networks in Mexico with the cooperation of Mexico’s government.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to the media report yesterday, saying that her nation would categorically reject any unilateral U.S. military in Mexico and that such military action "would not resolve anything,” reports Reuters.
Yesterday a top Pentagon official told a Senate committee that special operations forces do not have the authority to launch drone attacks at drug cartels in Mexico, even though President Donald Trump has designated them foreign terrorist organizations, reports the Associated Press.
Tariffs
Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs spared Mexico, which reeled in response to previous tariff disruption and have given the country a sudden edge over rival manufacturing hubs, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said yesterday that he is skeptical about Trump's actions and that Brazil needs be balanced and make decisions based on its own reality, reports Reuters.
Panama
U.S. secretary of defense Pete Hegseth said yesterday that the Panama Canal faces ongoing threats from China but that together the United States and Panama will keep it secure. He spoke at a ribbon cutting for a new US-financed dock at the Vasco Nuñez de Balboa Naval Base after a meeting with Panama president, José Raúl Mulino, reports the Associated Press. Hegseth’s remarks triggered a fiery response from the Chinese government, which said: “Who represents the real threat to the Canal? People will make their own judgement.”
Colombia
Colombia remains open to dialogue with National Liberation Army (ELN) fighters, despite their recent offensive in the country's east, peace commissioner Otty Patino said. The Petro administration suspended talks with the largest remaining guerrilla force in January, after the rebels launched a series of attacks in the Catatumbo region, causing around 100 deaths and displacing some 56,000 people. (Reuters)
Brazil
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s approval rating is near its lowest levels, but James Bosworth points to a relevant contradiction in the data: the president is still leading in opinion polls for next year’s presidential election, including in a hypothetical runoff. (Latin America Risk Report)
“Some of this can be explained due to name recognition and the fact that the campaign has not started in full yet. But the more obvious answer is that the highest profile opponent of Lula is Jair Bolsonaro. Even though Bolsonaro cannot legally run, the former president is the counterweight to Lula in the average citizen’s mind,” he writes in the Latin America Risk Report.
“With the first U.N. climate talks in the Amazon approaching, thousands of Indigenous people marched Tuesday in Brazil’s capital, demanding the state guarantee and expand their rights to traditional lands as part of the solution to the world’s climate crisis,” reports the Associated Press.
Ecuador
Sixty-one percent of Ecuadorians say their economic situation and personal security have not improved since President Daniel Noboa took office, according to a YouGov poll commissioned by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. A majority also said that they believe the Ecuadorian economy overall has not improved under the Noboa administration.
Haiti
Médecins Sans Frontières announced it will shutter operations at two facilities in the Port-au-Prince area for three months due to ongoing violence that has complicated patient mobility and also targeted staff. The French charity’s decision will further complicate access to medical care in a context of gang attacks on Haitian medical facilities, and the impact of U.S. aid freezes on hospital, reports the Miami Herald.
Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader announced, on Sunday, new measures to limit migration from Haiti, including expanding a border wall project and seeking harsher penalties for government officials and others involved in the trafficking of undocumented migrants, reports the Miami Herald.
At least 113 people were killed and more than 155 injured when a roof of a well-known music venue collapsed early on Tuesday in Santo Domingo. The authorities used heavy machinery, dogs, drones and other special equipment to sift through the rubble to find survivors and recover bodies, yesterday, reports the New York Times.
The popular Dominican merengue singer Rubby Pérez was performing, and is among the victims of the accident. Also among the dead were the former Major League Baseball players Octavio Dotel and Tony Blanco. (Washington Post, Guardian, AFP)
Argentina
The International Monetary Fund said it has reached a preliminary agreement with Argentina on a $20 billion bailout, reports the Associated Press.
“Fair-minded people are able to tell who is extorting and coercing others and making trouble,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press briefing in Beijing, after Trump advisor Mauricio Claver-Carone criticized Argentina’s currency swap line with China and said it must be jettisoned in exchange for U.S. support for a new IMF loan for Argentina. (See Monday’s briefs.) “We call on the US to get its perspective right and make more tangible contributions to the development of Latin American and Caribbean countries, rather than make an effort to drive a wedge.” (Bloomberg)
Chile
Amazon, Google and Microsoft are building datacenters in water-scarce parts of five continents — including Chile, reports the Guardian.
Bolivia
Fuel and dollar shortages in Bolivia have provoked high inflation in Bolivia — and dented President Luis Arce’s popularity ahead of August’s general election, reports Reuters.
Caribbean
Scientists and start-ups across the Caribbean, in Mexico and at international universities are working on ways to turn sargassum into bricks, pharmaceuticals, a biofuel, fuel for cars and more, reports the Washington Post.
Culture Corner
Buena Vista Social Club, a new Broadway musical, “firmly planted in Havana and crafted by a team of Cubans and Cuban Americans, makes a rousing argument for why Latin America deserves a larger place in the musical theater pantheon,” writes Chase Harrison in Americas Quarterly.