Weekly Report - 08 January 2026 (WR-26-01)

The significance of events can often be diluted by hyperbole, but it is no exaggeration to describe the US decision to mount a military operation to seize Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, as a seminal moment.... Read More

Buoyed by a supremely executed operation to seize Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro (2013-2026) in Caracas on 3 January, US President Donald Trump has mulled the possibility of further military action in other countries whose governments or criminal groups he regards as a threat to US interests, among them Colombia.... Read More

Ecuador suffered its most violent year on record in 2025, with homicides exceeding the previous record set in 2023.... Read More

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva issued a statement on 3 January criticising the US military operation earlier that day resulting in the seizure of Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro.... Read More

The federal audit court (TCU) announced on 5 January that it would launch a probe into the decision by the central bank (BCB) in November last year to liquidate private bank Banco Master, the owner of which, Daniel Vorcaro, is under investigation for alleged fraud during his previous attempts to sell his struggling bank.... Read More

Argentina’s President Javier Milei received significant gifts over the festive season.... Read More

ARGENTINA | Ministers receive salary boost.... Read More

In what is now almost a year since US President Donald Trump took office, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has proven adept at placating her US peer while also defending Mexican sovereignty and interests.... Read More

The derailment of a passenger train in Mexico’s southern state of Oaxaca has raised questions around the safety of the infrastructure megaprojects championed by the ruling left-wing Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) governments of President Claudia Sheinbaum and her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024).... Read More

More than three weeks on from the 30 November general election, and Honduras’ national electoral authority (CNE) has finally confirmed former Tegucigalpa mayor (2014-2022) Nasry Asfura, of conservative opposition Partido Nacional (PN), as the winner of the presidential contest, defeating veteran candidate, Salvador Nasralla of the fellow opposition Partido Liberal (PL) by less than one percentage point.... Read More

One of the frontrunners in Peru’s presidential race could soon be ruled out of the running.... Read More

“It is excellent news for the free world…We celebrate the fall of the narco-terrorist dictator.”  ... Read More