Weekly Report - 26 February 2026 (WR-26-08)

Mexico’s security forces took out the country’s most powerful drug kingpin, Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), on 22 February.... Read More

Venezuela’s President Delcy Rodríguez promulgated an amnesty law for political prisoners on 19 February after it received unanimous support in two debates in the national assembly.... Read More

Peru’s new President José María Balcázar had only been in the job for two days before a court revealed on 20 February that he is due to stand trial in June, for allegedly embezzling funds during his tenure as the dean of the Lambayeque region’s bar association.... Read More

Bolivia’s former president Evo Morales (2006-2019), usually an inescapable presence in the country’s politics, disappeared from public view for over six weeks from early January.... Read More

A new law approved on 20 February by the government majority in Ecuador’s national assembly requires the largely opposition-controlled municipalities to rein back current expenditures on wages.... Read More

With little over a week to go before Colombia’s legislative elections on 8 March, and with presidential polls due on 31 May (with a possible second round runoff, if needed, on 21 June), President Gustavo Petro has started crying foul.... Read More

A panel of four supreme court (STF) justices convicted the masterminds of the high-profile murder in 2018 of Rio de Janeiro city councillor Marielle Franco (2017-2018) and her driver Anderson Gomes on 25 February.... Read More

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva led a government delegation to visit India and South Korea from 18-24 February.... Read More

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In a surprise announcement on 20 February US Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked the visas of three senior Chilean telecommunications officials, whom Washington accuses of compromising “critical infrastructure”.... Read More

On 23 February the US Supreme Court began hearing two cases related to the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, Title III of which allows US nationals, including naturalised Cubans, to sue companies and subsidiaries in Cuba believed to be using properties expropriated after the Cuban Revolution of 1959.... Read More

Honduras’ new conservative Partido Nacional (PN) administration led by President Nasry Asfura has held its first talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which sent a fact-finding mission to Tegucigalpa from 16-20 February to meet the new authorities.... Read More

EL SALVADOR | Remittances up, trade deficit down.... Read More

Panama’s government led by President José Raúl Mulino has formally assumed control of the Balboa and Cristóbal ports on the Panama Canal which previously belonged to Panama Ports Company (PPC), a subsidiary of Hong Kong-headquartered CK Hutchison Holdings.... Read More

“They accomplished their mission.... Read More