Weekly Report - 19 March 2026 (WR-26-11)

After weeks of rumours, Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel has acknowledged that talks are taking place with the US administration led by President Donald Trump which, following its January military incursion in Venezuela and removal of former president Nicolás Maduro (2013-2026), has been applying unprecedented pressure to the island via an oil blockade, among other things.... Read More

Venezuela won the ‘World Baseball Classic’ on 17 March, defeating the US in the final of the competition held in the US.... Read More

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has accused Ecuador of carrying out a cross-border bombing that he said left 27 people dead on Colombian territory.... Read More

The capture of Uruguayan drug kingpin Sebastián Marset in Bolivia on 13 March was hailed by President Rodrigo Paz as proof that counter-narcotics is now a key priority after a period of allegedly lax enforcement under previous left-wing governments.... Read More

Some scandals fade away over time; others have an alarming ability to come back from the dead.... Read More

... Read More

A foreign policy adviser to the US government, Darren Beattie, was expected to travel to Brazil to attend a conference on critical minerals in São Paulo on 18 March organised by the US embassy.... Read More

After holding the benchmark interest rate (Selic) at 15.0% since July last year, the central bank (BCB) decided on 18 March to lower the rate by 25 basis points.... Read More

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum presented her ‘Plan B’ electoral reform on 12 March, following the lower chamber’s rejection of the original reform initiative.... Read More

The legacy of Spanish colonial rule in Mexico has been a major source of diplomatic tension for the past seven years.... Read More

The United Nations designated expert on the situation of human rights in Haiti, William O’Neill, recently claimed that the liberation of territory from gangs and a more “motivated and visible” police presence has provided a “glimmer of hope” for Haiti, which is currently in its third transition phase since the July 2021 killing of former president Jovenel Moïse (2017-2021) plunged the country further into crisis.... Read More

El Salvador’s legislative assembly rushed through a constitutional reform on 17 March introducing life sentences for “murderers, rapists and terrorists” proposed by the government of President Nayib Bukele.... Read More

While the majority of Peru’s plethora of presidential candidates gathered for an election debate on 17 March the latest interim government collapsed.... Read More

“[The US] is publicly threatening Cuba, almost daily, with toppling the constitutional order by force.... Read More