15 h. ago Trump’s other Latin American feud: why Colombia’s Petro is not Maduro

Leftwing leader rallies his supporters as US president accuses him of drug trafficking and threatens military actionA leftwing South American firebrand calls for his followers to rally in public squares nationwide to defend his country’s sovereignty and decry verbal attacks from Donald Trump. The US president accuses the leader of personally flooding American streets with illegal drugs and imposes sanctions against him and his wife. Threats of military action are followed by a phone conversation between the two leaders.One might imagine that this is a description of the buildup of tensions that led to the 3 January special forces raid on Caracas to capture the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, to face several criminal charges in New York. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Donald Trump invites Colombian President to the White House after days of threats

US President Donald Trump's invitation to Gustavo Petro comes just days after saying an operation targeting Colombia 'sounds good'. He said they'd had a friendly phone call

Politics

4 d. ago Trump predicts he’ll control Venezuela for YEARS and give oil riches to the people as post

TRUMP has said the US will run Venezuela for years and give its oil riches to the people. It comes after the US captured Venezuelan tyrant Nicolas Maduro and vowed to send its oil companies back into the Latin American country. Trump said: “We will rebuild it in a very profitable way. “We’re going to...

Politics

6 d. ago Colombia faces 'attacks and bombings' as Donald Trump plots his next incursion

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has been one of the few world leaders to directly stand up to Donald Trump - and the nation now faces 'attacks and bombings'

Events

7 d. ago Colombian president issues ominous battle cry as Trump contemplates next target: 'Unleash the jaguar'

Colombian President Gustavo Petro issued an ominous threat Monday after President Donald Trump floated that he could be the next target after Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

Politics

7 d. ago Colombian president says ‘I will take up arms again’ if US invades

Gustavo Petro makes remark after Trump threatens military action similar to Venezuela ‘Naked imperialism’: how Trump intervention in Venezuela is a return to form for the USDonald Trump and his Colombian counterpart have turned up the volume of their war of words, further raising tensions between the two countries after US forces attacked Venezuela to remove Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from power.Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday, the US president threatened similar military action against Colombia, saying the South American country is “very sick too” and “run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.” Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago Trump's plan to seize and revitalize Venezuela's oil industry faces major hurdles

President Donald Trump's plan to take control of Venezuela's oil industry and ask American companies to revitalize it after capturing that country's president in a military raid isn't likely to have a significant immediate impact on oil prices

Politics

9 d. ago Colombia sends armed forces to Venezuela border amid concern over refugee ‘influx’

President Gustavo Petro says Colombia rejects US aggression against sovereignty of Venezuela• US strikes on Venezuela – live updatesColombia has mobilised its armed forces in the aftermath of US strikes on neighbouring Venezuela. President Gustavo Petro said Colombia was concerned about refugees fleeing in the aftermath of the attacks.Petro posted on X that his government had held a national security meeting in which it was decided that forces should be sent to the border amid a potential “massive influx” of people leaving Venezuela. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago The Guardian view on the new Monroe doctrine: Trump’s forceful approach to the western hemisphere comes at a cost | Editorial

Over the holiday period, the Guardian leader column is looking ahead at the themes of 2026. Today, how US foreign policy has dramatically – and alarmingly – turned towards Latin America and the CaribbeanDonald Trump is not generally noted as a student of history. Yet over the past year, his decisive reorientation of US foreign policy towards the Americas has revived a playbook dating back two centuries, to the fifth president, James Monroe. Now the 47th is doubling down. An anti-interventionist is having second thoughts. Remarks that sounded at first like bad jokes or random outbursts from the presidential id have become more sinister through repetition or accompanying actions. Only a fool would take all of Mr Trump’s comments literally – but they should certainly be taken seriously.He has refused to rule out using military force to take control of Greenland and repeatedly floated the idea of making Canada the 51st state. He threatened to seize the Panama canal. He has imposed swing...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘Gunboat diplomacy on steroids’: US signs security deals across Latin America

Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro warns Trump administration may ‘destabilise the entire region’ amid rising tensionsWhile all eyes are on the four-month-long US military campaign against Venezuela, the White House has been quietly striking security agreements with other countries to deploy US troops across Latin America and the Caribbean.As Donald Trump announced a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers and ordered the seizure of vessels amid airstrikes that have killed more than 100 people in the Caribbean and the Pacific, the US secured military deals with Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago in the past week alone. Continue reading...

Economics

3 w. ago Reward countries that toe the line, punish those that don’t: that’s how Trump is exerting control in Latin America | Jordana Timerman

His interference in the region has been aided by the collapse of the leftist forces that once pushed back against US imperialismFor the past generation, Latin America has been a place of unstable stability. Marked on the surface by protests, political pendulum swings and spectacular scandals, most of the region has, since the democratisation of the 1980s and 1990s, remained firmly democratic and free of war between states. Though scarred by the violence of armed groups and increasingly powerful criminal organisations, it has, by and large, lived up to its self-assumed moniker of a “zone of peace”.Which is why this year has felt so jarring. Throughout 2025, the first year of Donald Trump’s second term, analysts have obsessively parsed potential US military incursions into a hemisphere once defined by its unified defence of national sovereignty. But the fixation on whether Washington’s escalating pressure on Nicolás Maduro presages a physical military invasion of Venezuela has distrac...

Politics

4 w. ago Chile’s conservative landslide gives Trump new Latin America ally

José Antonio Kast’s victory in presidential election adds to a growing network of Maga ‘equivalents’ in the region

Politics

4 w. ago Petro urges Colombians to celebrate Christmas season despite ELN rebels' forced strike

President Gustavo Petro has urged Colombians to celebrate the Christmas season without fear despite a forced strike announced by rebels

Events