Can Latin America Find Consensus in the Age of Trump?

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Latin America Brief A one-stop weekly digest of politics, economics, technology, and culture in Latin America. Delivered Friday. Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time. Enter your email Sign Up ✓ Signed Up Can Latin America Find Consensus in the Age of Trump? Amid tariffs and aid cuts, the region displayed rare unity at the OAS this week. Osborn-Catherine-foreign-policy-columnist15 Catherine Osborn By Catherine Osborn , the writer of Foreign Policy ’s weekly Latin America Brief. Suriname’s minister of foreign affairs, Albert Ramdin, speaks during a press conference in Paramaribo, Suriname, on Dec. 28, 2024. Suriname’s minister of foreign affairs, Albert Ramdin, speaks during a press conference in Paramaribo, Suriname, on Dec. 28, 2024. Ranu Abhelakh/AFP via Getty Images My FP: Follow topics and authors to get straight to what you like. Exclusively for FP subscribers. Subscribe Now | Log In U.S. Foreign Policy Economics North America South America Catherine Osborn March 6, 2025, 5:59 PM Comment icon View Comments ( 0 ) Welcome back to Foreign Policy ’s Latin America Brief. The highlights this week: Trump’s Mexico tariff saga coincides with a leadership election at the Organization of American States, Uruguay inaugurates a new president, and Brazilians celebrate an Oscar win . Welcome back to Foreign Policy ’s Latin America Brief. The highlights this week: Trump’s Mexico tariff saga coincides with a leadership election at the Organization of American States, Uruguay inaugurates a new president, and Brazilians celebrate an Oscar win . Sign up to receive Latin America Brief in your inbox every Friday. Sign up to receive Latin America Brief in your inbox every Friday. Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time. Enter your email Sign Up ✓ Signed Up Regional Unity on Show at the OAS Latin American countries have faced yet another week of challenges from U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies toward the region. In response to Trump’s vocal concerns about cartels, Mexico transferred 29 high-value prisoners to the United States late last week to face trial. The Mexican government has also raided fentanyl production sites and cracked down on northward migration. But on Tuesday, the Trump administration still imposed blanket 25 percent tariffs on all Mexican goods. Meanwhile, following Trump’s false claims that China controls the Panama Canal, a Hong Kong firm announced Tuesday it would sell its two canal ports to a U.S. company. That night, Trump asserted in a speech to Congress that his administration “ will be reclaiming ” the canal and said that Panama broke a deal with the United States about its use. Panama’s president called Trump’s statements “ lies ” and an affront “to the dignity of our nation.” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum pushed forward with a strategy of calm engagement with Washington. Following a call with Sheinbaum on Thursday, Trump announced that certain Mexican goods exported under a North American free trade agreement would get a one-month tariff reprieve. Still, if Trump’s duties are eventually applied, Mexico’s economy could tip into a recession . Until now, Latin American countries have generally tried to negotiate their differences with Trump individually. There has been no groundswell of regional diplomacy similar to European countries ’ defense of Ukraine or Arab countries ’ mobilization on Gaza, in part due to ideological polarization. This week, however, they landed on consensus in an important hemispheric election. Trump’s policy changes have coincided with the leadership race of the Organization of American States (OAS), which includes diplomats from Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States, and Canada and weighs in on conflict resolution, development, and human rights issues. The OAS’s election for secretary-general is scheduled for March 10. Until recently, it was a two-horse race between Albert Ramdin of Suriname and Ruben Ramírez Lezcano of Paraguay. Ramdin said that he would try to unite the organization, while Ramírez focused on trying to earn the Trump administration ’s backing by stressing U.S. talking points . The latter diplomat denounced authoritarianism in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela and signaled skepticism about Chinese influence in the region. (Paraguay recognizes Taiwan as a sovereign country.) But amid the election campaign, Trump’s freeze on U.S. foreign aid has hampered some OAS programming, forcing cuts at initiatives fighting drug trafficking and organized crime. This week, endorsements for Ramdin poured in from countries led by both left-wing and right-wing leaders. On Wednesday, Paraguay’s government withdrew Ramírez from the race. “The United States is undermining multilateralism,” said a Latin American diplomat, who spoke to Foreign Policy on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive subject . In the OAS election, the diplomat added, “there was a collective response, across different political ideologies,” from countries that “are worried about the sustainability” of the OAS mission. Sign up for Editors’ Picks A curated selection of FP’s must-read stories. Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time. Enter your email Sign Up ✓ Signed Up You’re on the list! More ways to stay updated on global news: FP Live Enter your email Sign Up ✓ Signed Up World Brief Enter your email Sign Up ✓ Signed Up China Brief Enter your email Sign Up ✓ Signed Up South Asia Brief Enter your email Sign Up ✓ Signed Up Situation Report Enter your email Sign Up ✓ Signed Up View All Newsletters Although Ramírez visited Mar-a-Lago following Trump’s election, the White House held back from making an endorsement in the OAS race. Last week, Trump’s envoy for Latin America, Mauricio Claver-Carone, praised both candidates , calling them “pro-American.” Claver-Carone said the Trump administration was “highly skeptical of the OAS because of its inefficiencies.” When asked if the OAS could become a key site for regional diplomacy in the age of Trump, Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador to the United States and the OAS, Ronald Sanders, told Foreign Policy that “the structure of the OAS is not such that it can accommodate bilateral political, trade, and migration issues.” “However, if some dramatic action takes place, such as an unlawful attempt or action to take over the Panama Canal, then the OAS would be obliged to discuss it,” Sanders added. Upcoming Events Tuesday, March 11: A trial begins in Argentina over the 2020 death of soccer legend Diego Maradona. Sunday, March 16: Colombian President Gustavo Petro addresses a new session of Congress. What We’re Following Chevron ordered out of Venezuela. On Monday, the Trump administration gave Chevron 30 days to wind down its operations in Venezuela. The company produces around one-quarter of the country’s oil output. The move is one of Trump’s biggest policy changes on Venezuela. In 2022, the Biden administration issued a license for Chevron to work in the country as part of efforts to encourage a democratic opening in Caracas and ensure oil supplies for U.S. refineries amid a global price shock following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Trump administration officials initially engaged with Venezuela’s government rather than pursuing the “maximum pressure” sanctions of the president’s first term. But hard-line Florida Republicans persuaded the White House to revive harsh oil sanctions last week while Trump was courting their support to pass a budget bill, Axios reported. The economic fallout could be harsh: University of Denver economist Francisco Rodríguez, an expert on the impact of sanctions, estimated that Venezuela’s GDP could drop by nearly 10 percent over the next five years . That could prompt mass migration outflows. New shipping routes. Around three months after a new port opened in the Peruvian town of Chancay, its Chinese operator, Cosco Shipping, announced routes connecting the port to others in Ecuador and Colombia. Goods from the Colombian port of Buenaventura or the Ecuadorian port of Guayaquil can now head to Shanghai after a stopover in Chancay. The Guayaquil-Chancay-Shanghai route cuts between eight and 28 days of travel time from previous routes between Ecuador and China, according to the director of the firm that manages the port of Guayaquil. Current routes take between 35 and 55 days, he said. Some of the main Ecuadorian goods that are expected to travel the route are bananas and shrimp . A giant puppet depicting Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres holding a Golden Globe award is seen at a Carnival parade in Olinda, Brazil, on March 2. A giant puppet depicting Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres holding a Golden Globe award is seen at a Carnival parade in Olinda, Brazil, on March 2. Jose Osorio/AFP via Getty Images Brazil’s Oscar. On Sunday, I’m Still Here won Brazil’s first Academy Award for best international feature film. The movie tells the true story of a woman whose activist husband was apprehended and killed by agents of Brazil’s military dictatorship, which ruled from 1964 to 1985. It captures her perseverance of raising a family while fighting for legal accountability. The Academy Awards ceremony came in the middle of Brazil’s Carnival. For days, partiers dressed as lead actress Fernanda Torres roamed the streets. When news of the award broke, concerts and parades were interrupted for the announcement. Rio de Janeiro’s mayor announced plans to buy the house where I’m Still Here was filmed and turn it into a cinema museum. The film’s mass box-office appeal was far from a given. It criticizes a regime celebrated by former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, whose far-right movement still enjoys significant support. Many conservative Brazilians who admired the film were drawn to its family narrative and to Torres’s subtle and powerful performance, which won her a Golden Globe. In the meantime, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge cited the film in a recommendation to strip legal amnesty from some dictatorship officers. The amnesty was negotiated as part of Brazil’s transition to democracy. Unlike many other Cold War military regimes in South America, perpetrators of some of Brazil’s worst abuses during that period still retain immunity. Question of the Week Which Latin American country has won two Oscars for best international film? Mexico Chile Argentina Colombia The 1986 winner, The Official Story , and the 2010 winner, The Secret in Their Eyes , both told stories related to Argentina’s dictatorship. FP’s Most Read This Week The Perils of a Reality TV Presidency by Ravi Agrawal Trump’s Angry Meeting With Zelensky Prompts Reactions Worldwide by John Haltiwanger Samuel Huntington Is Getting His Revenge by Nils Gilman In Focus: Orsi Takes Office Uruguay’s outgoing President Luis Lacalle Pou hands the presidential sash to new President Yamandú Orsi during Orsi’s inauguration ceremony in Montevideo, Uruguay, on March 1. Uruguay’s outgoing President Luis Lacalle Pou hands the presidential sash to new President Yamandú Orsi during Orsi’s inauguration ceremony in Montevideo, Uruguay, on March 1. Eitan Abramovich/AFP via Getty Images Last Saturday, Yamandú Orsi was inaugurated as the president of Uruguay. Orsi, a center-left former mayor, replaces center-right leader Luis Lacalle Pou, who called for Uruguay to expand its trade relationships and met pushback in the slow-changing South American customs union Mercosur. Signaling a slight departure from Lacalle Pou’s foreign policy, Orsi vowed in his inaugural address to support more regional integration through participation in Mercosur, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, and the OAS. Orsi also said that he would actively pursue “south-south cooperation” around the world. Orsi also sought to invite the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to his inauguration, although Lacalle Pou did not authorize the invitations. It was not immediately clear whether Orsi will accept an invitation from Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to attend July’s BRICS+ summit in Brazil. Orsi’s foreign policy shows signs of continuity, too: Like Lacalle Pou, he backs the implementation of Mercosur’s free trade deal with the European Union. Overall, Orsi advocated for gradual and “ safe change ” in his presidency. As Uruguay’s government has swung from the left to the right and back again in recent decades, the political conversation in the country has remained remarkably civil, the Getulio Vargas Foundation’s Oliver Stuenkel wrote last week in Foreign Policy. “Uruguay ranks above France, the United Kingdom, and the United States in numerous respected democratic indices,” Stuenkel wrote. “It is the result of conscious efforts to build institutions, maintain economic fairness, and cultivate democratic respect.” Catherine Osborn is the writer of Foreign Policy ’s weekly Latin America Brief. She is a print and radio journalist based in Rio de Janeiro. X: @cculbertosborn Read More On Central America | Economics | Mexico | Multilateralism | North America | Panama | South America | U.S. Foreign Policy Join the Conversation Commenting on this and other recent articles is just one benefit of a Foreign Policy subscription. Already a subscriber? Log In . Subscribe Subscribe View 0 Comments Join the Conversation Join the conversation on this and other recent Foreign Policy articles when you subscribe now. Subscribe Subscribe Not your account? Log out View 0 Comments Join the Conversation Please follow our comment guidelines , stay on topic, and be civil, courteous, and respectful of others’ beliefs. You are commenting as . Change your username | Log out Change your username: Username I agree to abide by FP’s comment guidelines . (Required) Confirm CANCEL Confirm your username to get started. The default username below has been generated using the first name and last initial on your FP subscriber account. 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