Andean Group - February 2026

The 12 April general elections in Peru will take place against a backdrop of rising violence in which criminal groups are growing visibly more powerful. A tough-on-crime stance is shared by the majority of candidates across different ideologies, as proposals gain traction that were formerly seen as radical, such as restoring the death penalty and placing the military in charge of domestic security. There are also growing concerns about the threat posed by organised crime groups to candidates, two of whom were attacked in the final weeks of 2025. We explore this volatile situation in the first article of the February 2026 Latin American Regional Report: Andean Group.

We then turn our attention to Colombia to discuss a spying scandal which has seen two government ministers accuse the defence ministry of illegally hacking their phones. This is just the latest in a long line of spying scandals in Colombia which have rocked successive administrations.

The next two articles discuss the evolving situation in Venezuela following the US capture of former president Nicolás Maduro (2013-2026) on 3 January and his replacement by President Delcy Rodríguez. The first article examines Rodríguez’s efforts to retain her own political power whilst also balancing the demands of three key groups: the US, the political opposition, and the hardline nationalist faction within the government.

The second piece on Venezuela analyses the sweeping hydrocarbon reform that was approved by the national assembly in late January. The reform – a key demand of Washington – turns the oil and gas industry on its head and would probably cause former president Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), the father of Venezuela’s socialist ‘Bolivarian Revolution’, to roll in his grave.

We then turn our attention to a trade dispute which has erupted between Ecuador and Colombia, with Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa announcing a 30% ‘security tax’ on Colombian imports due to the country’s alleged failure to police its side of the joint border. Colombia has responded with reciprocal tariffs and has also suspended electricity exports to Ecuador.

The next article returns to Peru, where the crisis-wracked state oil company Petroperú is facing a restructuring that may reduce the need for further bailouts. We conclude this edition in Bolivia. The country’s credit rating was upgraded in January by the international ratings agency Fitch, although this good news was overshadowed by the central bank’s revelation of gold debts due to forward sales contracts agreed under former president Luis Arce (2020-2025).