Politics, Business & Culture in the Americas
The Ecuador-Colombia Trade Spat Is a Zero-Sum Game
The Ecuador-Colombia Trade Spat Is a Zero-Sum Game
4 minute read

Both countries stand to lose as their economies take hits and criminal groups benefit from a breakdown in cooperation.

AQ Podcast | A Realistic Look at Venezuelan Oil
AQ Podcast | A Realistic Look at Venezuelan Oil
< 1 minute read

A longtime PDVSA executive discusses what political and economic steps are necessary for the Venezuelan oil industry to begin its long recovery

What Venezuela’s Hydrocarbon Reform Won’t Fix

What Venezuela’s Hydrocarbon Reform Won’t Fix

5 minute read

Updating the nation’s oil law is a necessary starting point, but its impact will most likely fade quickly, an expert writes.

Our Current Issue

What History Tells Us About Trump’s “Big Stick”

AQ’s editor-in-chief dives into the archive of U.S.-Latin America relations, and emerges with four takeaways.

Venezuela’s Generational Democratic Opportunity

The viability of a political transition depends on credibility and the restoration of democracy.

Latin America and the Caribbean: A 2026 Snapshot

AQ tracks political and economic trends as well as key indicators to watch in 12 countries.

Crisis in Venezuela

El Palito refinery in Puerto Cabello, Carabobo state, Venezuela on Jan. 22
Without Institutional Change, Venezuela’s Oil Bonanza Remains Unviable

Sanctions relief, a democratic transition, and deep reforms are essential to recover production.

From left: Vice President JD Vance, President Donald Trump, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a meeting with oil executives in the White House on Jan. 9.
Hostile Takeover and Abandonment Explain U.S. Actions in Venezuela

Two analogies can help us understand today’s state of play and the consequences of Trump’s policy in the country.

Members of the Venezuelan diaspora call for the release of political prisoners outside the U.S. embassy in Bogota on January 19, 2026.
The Way Forward For Venezuela

A successful transition will depend on investment, who leads the military, and more.

Elections

Costa Rica
Costa Rica: Meet the Candidates 2026

Public security tops voters’ concerns ahead of the February 1 election.

Costa Rica's Police from the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) conduct an operation in a house to arrest four suspects in the assasination of the former Nicaraguan military Roberto Samcam, in San Jose, on September 12, 2025. Costa Rican police have arrested four suspects in the assassination on its soil of a fierce critic of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega in June, an official said Friday. Retired Nicaraguan army major Roberto Samcam, 66, was gunned down at his apartment building in San Jose on June 19. (Photo by Ezequiel BECERRA / AFP) (Photo by EZEQUIEL BECERRA/AFP via Getty Images)
Costa Rica’s ‘Safe Haven’ Faces a Reckoning

The country is experiencing an unprecedented security crisis ahead of the February 2026 election.

Trump and Latin America

Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico's president, right, and Mark Carney, Canada's prime minister, speak in Mexico City, Sept. 18, 2025.
Why USMCA May Survive After All

USMCA review will test politics and economic realities. Preserving North American integration remains the least costly path forward, an expert writes.

U.S. President Donald Trump meets Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on October 26, 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Trump is in Malaysia for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, and will next travel to Japan, en route to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
Can Brazil and the U.S. Reach a Deal on Rare Earths?

As Washington seeks to loosen China’s grip on high-tech and defense supply chains, Brasília holds a strategic play.

Dock Sud port in Avellaneda, Buenos Aires province, Argentina, on November 13, 2025.
The Risks and Benefits of Trump’s Latin America Trade Deals

The agreements are potentially historic – but some countries have been left out, and a Supreme Court challenge looms.

Chile

Chilean President-elect José Antonio Kast, during a ceremony to announce cabinet members in Santiago, Chile on Jan. 20
Kast’s Cabinet Set to Confront Distinctly Political Challenges
4 minute read

Chile’s president-elect has rolled out a pro-business cast of ministers, tasked with finding political solutions, an expert writes.

Guatemala

Guatemalan Army soldiers patrol a street of the Nueva Jerusalen neighborhood during the state of emergency declared by the government in Guatemala City on January 20, 2026. Guatemalan soldiers began patrolling gang-controlled neighborhoods in the capital on January 20, after attacks that left ten police officers dead and prompted the government to declare a state of siege, according to official sources and an AFP journalist. (Photo by JOHAN ORDONEZ / AFP via Getty Images)
Guatemala’s State of Emergency Will Test Its Democracy
4 minute read

President Arévalo is not channeling Bukele, but a compromised justice system makes this a dangerous moment that threatens lasting consequences.

Mexico

Washington’s Sharpening Stance on Mexico
5 minute read

As the U.S. reclassifies Mexican cartels as a national security threat, pressure on Mexico is intensifying—and the margin for miscalculation is narrowing.

2026 Trends to Watch

Latin America and the Caribbean: A 2026 Snapshot
2 minute read

AQ tracks political and economic trends as well as key indicators to watch in 12 countries.

Long View

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos (left) and Timoleón Jiménez, known as “Timochenko” (right), the FARC’s leader, shake hands in Cartagena in 2016 before the Peace Accord was finalized. Cuba’s President Raúl Castro (center) accompanied them.
The Unfulfilled Promises of Colombia’s Peace Process
7 minute read

Why the 2016 deal has fallen short of expectations and what it says about the country today.

Brazil

Agrosmart founders Thales Nicoleti, Mariana Vasconcelos and Raphael Pizzi
The Next Generation of Agtech in Brazil
6 minute read

Brazilian tech startup Agrosmart seeks to reshape Latin America’s agriculture.

AQ Q&A

Q&A: How Chile’s Democratic Institutions Hold Strong
2 minute read

Colombina Schaeffer, the director of Fundación Ciudadanía Inteligente, a regional NGO, explains Chile’s civic strength.

Visual Art

Left: Headdress by the Boe people of the Brazilian Amazon, on view at the Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac. Right: Pablo Amaringo, "El baile de los Puca-bufeos," 2009, on view at Americas Society.
Two Museum Exhibitions Reframe Amazon Civilizations
4 minute read

In Paris and New York, curators present a new kaleidoscope of art from a critical region.

Cultura

Cristina Rivera Garza speaks in Berlin in 2025.
Visions of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands
3 minute read

Family history, politics, and ecology remake one another in the new book “Autobiography of Cotton.”

Cultura

"La paga" depicts the life of an impoverished peasant.
A Lost Cinema Classic Reappears
3 minute read

Ciro Durán’s first feature film “La paga” shows the celebrated Colombian director in a new light.

Cultura

Students in Guerrero state protest in Mexico City, in 2014, to pressure authorities to solve the disappearance of 43 vanished Ayotzinapa students that same year.
Latin America’s Unfinished Revolutions
3 minute read

Alma Guillermoprieto’s reportage in “The Years of Blood” embodies the drama and complexity of our new century.

CULTURA

Exploring Bad Bunny’s Oeuvre
3 minute read

AQ’s music columnist examines the artist’s body of work ahead of his Super Bowl performance.

Venezuela

This view shows a gas station in Maracaibo, Venezuela on January 7, 2026. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in January 7, Washington will control sales of Venezuelan oil "indefinitely," a day after President Donald Trump announced Venezuela's interim leaders had agreed to US-managed marketing of 30-50 million barrels of crude.
How U.S. Companies May Return to Venezuela and Be Compliant
4 minute read

Washington has three ways to provide sanctions relief to the country and PDVSA. The cases of Syria, Sudan, and Iraq serve as historical references.

Venezuela

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López, then-Vice President Delcy Rodríguez and Russian Ambassador Sergey Mélik-Bagdasárov appear at an event in Caracas in May 2025.
Washington’s Path to Displacing Rivals in Post-Maduro Venezuela
5 minute read

With Maduro removed, the U.S. faces the difficult task of limiting the influence of China, Russia and Iran without triggering instability.

Colombia

Colombian President Gustavo Petro at Plaza de Bolivar in Bogota, Colombia, Jan. 7, 2026.
Maduro’s Fall May Shape Colombia’s Election
4 minute read

Volatile relationships with Washington and Caracas are crucial wild cards in the upcoming presidential race.

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