News Summaries in March 2026

“A European Leader Who Rejects Trump,” Wall Street Journal, March 28-29, 2026

Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, hasn’t bought into the approach most of Europe has taken toward U.S. President Donald Trump – walk on eggshells.  According to Wall Street Journal reporters Drew Hinshaw, Marcus Walker and Gordon Fairclough,  Sánchez “has been workshopping  an alternative tactic: the ‘Just Say No’ theory of Trump diplomacy.” He has refused to allow the U.S. military to use Spain’s air bases for the war despite Trump’s anger. “Spain,” the reporters write, “rarely the center of gravity in European affairs, has become the standard-bearer for Europeans frustrated at the continent’s fear of standing up to a U.S. president.” Europeans are now moving closer to the position of Sánchez because of anger over the U.S. attack on Iran and Trump’s threats on Greenland. Sánchez said in an interview with the Journal that “good allies are like good friends. They tell each other the truth no matter what. In my view this war with Iran is a big mistake for the world and therefore for the U.S.” The deference and flattery most European leaders have shown toward Trump hasn’t worked, the Journal said. They “find their concerns brushed aside as the White House makes decisions with heavy global consequences.” Some European leaders are rejecting Trump’s pressure on NATO allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said “Germany is not a part of this war, and we do not want to become a part either.” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said “Italy is taking no part and doesn’t intend to.” Twenty-five percent of Europeans now view the U.S. as a friendly power, down from 61 percent two years ago, according to a survey by Polling Europe. Seventy-seven percent of Spanish voters disapprove of Trump, according to a December YouGov survey. Sánchez has benefitted politically from his position toward Trump after slipping in popularity before that. Sánchez has clashed with Elon Musk and is an outspoken critic of Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon. Trump said Spain has been terrible and that “we’re going to cut off all trade with Spain.” But Spanish officials are confident Trump can’t impose an embargo on just one member of the European Union because it trades as a bloc. Sánchez told the Journal “we have a temporary disagreement, but I think that the relationship between the U.S. and Spain is closer than ever. Americans love Spain.” The Journal noted that Sánchez is trying to build a network of left-wing politicians around the world, “mirroring the cross-border club that right-wing nationalists have built.” 

Latin American Lowdown, April 3, 2026

Though much is written about the rise of authoritarianism in Latin America, the pull toward democracy remains powerful. The governments of Argentina, Brazil and Chile returned to democracy after periods of severe military repression. Hopes for the eventual return to democracy in Venezuela continue – whether realistic or not   -- after the repression and economic failures of leftist authoritarian rule and the country’s violent takeover by an imperialist corporate aspiring autocrat, Donald Trump. 

To be sure, Latin America is moving in his direction with the rise of governments sympathetic to Trump in El Salvador, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and potentially Colombia. A left-leaning democracy in Mexico at times bends to his will as a pragmatic tactic to retain independence and self-respect.  Oil-starved Cuba, under Trump’s thumb,  appears on the verge of ending decades of Yankee-defying communist rule.  Latin American voices decrying Yankee imperialism have fallen silent with societies torn by the violence of cartels perhaps appreciative of Trump’s threatened warlike moves against them, however empty and possibly disastrous they might be. 

But to the extent countries in the Spanish-speaking world are moving in Trump’s direction, they are doing so not through military takeovers but because of the decisions of voters in democratic elections, however flawed those democracies might be. Arguably, democracy, not autocracy, largely called the shots. Guatemala saw the surprise election victory of an anti-corruption president; voters in Brazil rejected the authoritarian rule of Jair Bolsonaro.

Of course, democracy teeters on the brink. The United States fended off an authoritarian takeover in the 2020 election but its ability to do so in the congressional mid-terms is unclear. But the lesson of Latin America over the decades, for those living to the north of it,  is that however hard and discouraging the battle to retain democracy might  be, the will to keep it alive and nourish its growth never dies. 

 

 “Union Pioneer Recalls Misogyny and Her Rape,” New York Times, March 20, 2026

One of the leaders of the United Farmworkers union, Delores Huerta spent four months in Washington in 1986 lobbying for passage of landmark legislation that granted amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants. But Huerta said her fellow U.F.W. leader Cesar Chavez did not inform her of a press conference scheduled to celebrate passage of the measure.  Rather, she said, Chavez told her there was a crisis in Florida requiring her immediate attention. Times reporters Sarah Hurtes and Manny Fernandez said Huerta “flew to Florida, only to realize that the emergency was nonexistent and no one was expecting her. She spent the next few days speaking at senior centers.” Huertes, who turns 96 in April, said “I realized they just wanted to get me out of the way so they could take credit for the work. Straight male-chauvinist trick, and I was really upset about that.” Huerta described a machismo culture in which Chavez dominated by the force of his personality. She and Chavez were the public face of the farmworker organizing movement that gathered force in the 1960s. But she said the U.F.W culture under Chavez “forced her to struggle to be heard and to suppress any negative feelings about him and his leadership – including the trauma of rape,” the Times reporters said. Huerta said that in 1966 Chavez entered a farmworker hangout where she was having a beer and tapped her on the shoulder and asked to speak to her. She assumed it was about an upcoming strike and followed him outside to meet with him in a car, which was customary because the office of Chavez was bugged. But she said he drove her to a secluded field and raped her. Numb and in shock, she told no one, including the daughter born from the assault. She said she was worried that talking about it would cripple the farmworker movement whose leader Chavez was regarded as a hero. In an earlier instance in 1960 Huerta said she felt pressured and manipulated by Chavez into having sex with him in a hotel room during a work trip. Huerta said Chavez believed in promoting women as leaders but not at the policy level. “Women are not seen as human beings.  We’re just seen as sex objects. I think it’s a sickness.” A longtime union staff member, Cynthia Bell, said Chavez and other male U.F.W. leaders would demean Huerta in front of the entire staff. “Don’t say nothing, dilapidated bitch,” said one male union board member in 1978. According to the  Times reporters, “he then told her to ‘shut up’ as Mr. Chavez berated her with even worse invective.” She said that David Duran, a priest, took her aside after he witnessed Chavez berating her and said “You don’t have to take that from him, you know? You don’t have to take that from him.” Huerta did push back though, leaving after one brutal meeting at U.F.W. headquarters and returning to her home in Stockton, Calif., for several weeks. When she eventually returned and took a spot at the back of a U.F.W. meeting, Chavez motioned her forward, saying she belonged at the front of the room. In 1993 Chavez told her that he realized he had treated her and another female board member differently --- to which she said she replied “it’s called machismo – it’s called male chauvinism.” A few days later he died while going over a legal case. “That took him out before he would have to face his wrongdoings,” Huerta said. She only went public with her story about Chavez raping and abusing her when Times reporters  recently approached her with evidence that he had molested girls and mistreated women (see summary below, “Cesar Chavez, a Civil Rights Icon, Is Accused of Abusing Girls for Years,” New York Times, March 18, 2026.) She said she suppressed painful memories of him as a survival mechanism. “I saw him as my boss, my hero, as, you know, somebody that would do the impossible. I never talked about it to anybody, and the reason I didn’t is because I just didn’t want to hurt the movement.” The Times reporters noted that Huerta is now often referred to as the Grandmother of the Resistance. “She fought for years for better wages, maternity protections and better safety measures for women doing the backbreaking work of planting and harvesting crops.” 

“Suddenly, Argentina Has a Migration Issue,” New York Times, March 20, 2026

Argentina has often stood out for its openness to immigration -- but under right-wing libertarian President Javier Milei, it is cracking down with aggressive enforcement messaging similar to that of President Trump, says Times reporter Emma Bubola. The Milei government claims with no evidence that tens of thousands of South Americans deported by the Trump administration could create an influx of illegal immigrants into Argentina. The chilly tone contrasts with Argentina’s past.  Roughly 5 percent of the Argentine population consists of foreign nationals – two million people.  In the early 19^th century Argentina saw European immigration as essential to its growth.  “From 1850 to 1913, more immigrants entered Argentina per capita than any other country,” says Bubola. In the early 2000s it recognized migration as a fundamental human right. It guaranteed access to health, education and social services regardless of immigration status. It granted citizenship after two years of residence. In 2024, Argentina deported 620 immigrants. But in January 2026, a government official announced that it had expelled, denied entry or extradited nearly 5,000 people in the prior two months. On a recent Friday, the Liniers neighborhood in Buenos Aires, a hub of immigration, saw hundreds of enforcement agents descend on shops, malls, and cafes. Agents checked the legal status of people, demanded their documents, and detained some. But of the 615 migrants identified there, only 15 did not have legal status. Still, some Argentines welcome the tougher tone. “Today’s migrants are different,” said Laura Solazzi, the 45-year-old daughter of an Italian immigrant who arrived in Argentina in 1948. “Too many people who do not come here to work, do not have documents and do not contribute.” But an immigration advocate, Diego Morales of the Center for Legal and Social Studies, said “they’re creating an internal enemy where there isn’t one.” 

“Maduro’s Wife Has Own Crime Drama,” Wall Street Journal, March 30, 2026

When the Drug Enforcement Administration apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and flew him to New York in January to face narcoterrorism charges, an alleged crime lord went with him – his wife, Cilia Flores. A federal indictment accused her of “conspiring with top Venezuelan officials to smuggle hundreds of tons of cocaine into the U.S., accepting bribes to allow drug flights, and ordering murders,” said Angus Berwick and Juan Forero of the Wall Street Journal. She’d been pursued for years by the DEA. Flores pleaded not guilty to the charges in a Jan. 5 appearance at a federal court in New York, declaring she was “completely innocent.” The indictment provided few details. However, earlier cases and interviews with investigators show she was an ambitious politician who played a major role in constructing her husband’s 13 years of control over the Venezuelan government. She awarded relatives with drug routes and state contracts, according to reporting by the Journal. As a lawyer under the regime of Hugo Chaves, she helped rewrite the constitution. She was appointed president of the National Assembly and had a major role in picking judges. “While other self-styled revolutionaries on Chaves’s government siphoned fortunes from the torrent of government spending, Flores found her own lucrative corner – tipping the scales of criminal investigations, according to people who worked with her,” said Berwick and Forero. Zair Mundaray, a former Venezuelan prosecutor, said she became “an architect of a system of impunity” around drug trafficking. 

“More Die in ICE Custody as Critics Charge Neglect,” New York Times, March 30, 2026

Thirteen people have died in federal immigration custody  so far this year, and 46 since President Trump became president last year, according to Jazmine Ulloa, Allison McAnn and Emiliano Rodríguez Mega of the New York Times. Among them was a man who lawfully entered the United States in 2024. One day he had a sharp pain in his tooth. For about a week, he sought treatment while held in an Arizona immigration detention center, according to several other detainees. He was given only ibuprofen. Soon after, one of his brothers got a call that he was in a hospital intensive care unit. By the time his relatives were given permission to visit him nine days later, he “was on life support, unable to move or speak but still shackled to a hospital bed,” the Times reporters said. He’d apparently gone into septic shock after an infection spread throughout his body.  Fifty-six-year-old Emmanuel Damas, who had migrated from Haiti under a lawful program, died on March 2. Now, as Markwayne Mullin takes over as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, the number of people dying in federal immigration detention commands growing attention. His department says detainees are getting adequate care. Companies such as CoreCivic, which operates the Arizona facility, say they deliver medical care around the clock and provide a proper diet. But a lawsuit and interviews with lawyers, detainees and their families tell a different story. “They describe some of the country’s largest immigration detention facilities as places where diseases and illness are rampant and detainees are often denied sufficient food, clean drinking water, medications and medical care,” the Times said. In 2025, a record number of people – 33 – died in immigration detention, the largest number since the Department of Homeland Security became responsible in 2003 for immigration and border security agencies. Under President Biden, the number of annual deaths ranged from 3 to 11. Under President Obama, the average annual number of deaths was eight. But even at 33 deaths in 2025, the death rate under Trump is “still below historic peaks given the record number of people in ICE detention overall.” At the start of 2026 about 70,000 people were in detention. The highest death rate was in 2004, as ICE leaders were first developing standards and conducting oversight, according to a former ICE official. Critics say oversight is become more critical as detention expands. In a class action lawsuit over conditions at the Adelanto detention center in the Mojave Desert, “former and current detainees describe constantly feeling hungry, delirious and ill from rotten food, and lacking access to medication and medical care,” the Times said. Documents in the lawsuit “also include letters from doctors and lawyers detailing unsanitary conditions and the deteriorating mental and physical health of their clients.” 

“U.S. Allows Russian Oil Tanker to Reach Cuba, Despite Blockade,” New York Times, March 29 2026

A Russian tanker carrying 730,000 barrels of crude oil was expected to reach its planned destination of Matanzas, Cuba, the night of March 30, apparently without the U.S. Coast Guard blocking it. President Trump told reporters on Air Force One the evening of March 29 “we don’t mind having somebody get a boatload, because they need – they have to survive. I told them, if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with that. Whether it’s Russia or not.” But he added “it’s not going to have an impact. Cuba is finished. They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership. And whether or not they get a boat of oil , it’s not going to matter.” Trump said at an investment conference March 28 “I built this great military…sometimes you have to use it. And Cuba is next, by the way.” Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, said “our military is… preparing these days for the possibility of military aggression.” The Russian Embassy in Mexico said the Russian Federation considers all restrictions imposed against Cuba illegitimate and is “prepared to provide all necessary assistance.” Times reporters Jack Nicas and Eric Schmitt said based on interviews with analysts, that “the Russian ship’s arrival would shift the trajectory of a rapidly accelerating crisis in Cuba, buying the island nation at least a few weeks before its fuel reserves run out.”

“Cuba Looks to Vatican for Help as U.S. Pressure Plunges Island Into Crisis,” Washington Post, March 27, 2026

The Cuban government is asking the Vatican for help in easing Trump administration pressure exerted on the communist nation through the U.S oil blockade that is causing blackouts that are growing worse and crippling fuel shortages, said Anthony Faiola and Samantha Schmidt of the Washington Post. Cuban officials have had senior level meetings with the Vatican including with Pope Leo XIV. “Havana’s plea comes as the Vatican’s concern for Cuba and its 11 million people is growing,” said Faiola and Schmidt. The lack of oil is hampering the distribution of humanitarian aid. “Over the past several weeks, crates of aid have been stranded for extended periods at Cuban docks because of a lack of fuel for transportation.” In some cases assistance is being distributed using donkeys. The hope of Cuban officials is that “a lofty institution led by a new American pope may have more sway with President Donald Trump,” the Post said.  “The Cubans have always believed that the Vatican has somewhat of a magical property,” said John S. Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council. The Vatican is being asked to figure out the lowest level of concession Cuba would need to make to persuade the Trump administration to ease up, one source said, but that does not mean the effort will work. Trump has not been moved by Pope Leo’s occasionally pointed but more often indirect criticism of his policies. “The administration is not going to let the Vatican dictate its Cuba policy,” said one person familiar with the talks. “They’re welcome to speak, but the response is, ‘You’re right, there are problems but we didn’t cause them.’” 

“Cubans Dying in U.S. Oil Blockade, Doctors Say,” New York Times, March 27, 2026, 

The U.S. oil blockade on Cuba is crippling its universal health care system, according to Ed Augustin and Jack Nicas of the New York Times. “In interviews, six Cuban doctors said that rapidly deteriorating conditions at hospitals and clinics across Cuba were causing deaths that would otherwise be preventable,” they wrote. Because of the blockade hospitals are canceling surgeries and sending patients home because doctors and nurses can’t commute to work.  Power outages leave clinics struggling to administer chemotherapy and dialysis. Many ambulances aren’t in use because drivers can’t find gas. Pharmacy shelves are largely empty because the virtually  bankrupt government has difficult buying  medicine. In addition, the reporters said, “production of medicine has been mostly halted because factories run on diesel. Vaccine makers are searching for ingredients because the flights that once carried them are canceled because of a lack of jet fuel. And refrigerated vaccine stocks could soon spoil if the blackouts continue.” Cuba’s free health care system has been a bright spot, with life expectancy and infant mortality rates comparable to those of developed countries until the Covid-19 pandemic hit. But stricter Trump administration sanctions have blocked hospitals from replacing aging medical equipment. The sanctions along with failed government economic policies and the pandemic have led to a deep recession. In 2018 infant mortality was four deaths per 1,000 births, lower than in the U.S. By 2025 the rate has risen to 10 deaths per 1,000 births, almost twice as high as in the U.S.  Shortages of electricity have left doctors and nurses in Havana’s largest pediatric hospitals rushing to ventilators to manually pump air into the lungs of sick newborns. Taps are running dry, making sanitation worse. People are having difficulty finding food. Doctors and nurses have been quitting the health system for higher wages elsewhere or leaving the island, leaving those who remain with far higher caseloads. “The remaining health workers are exhausted, especially since they must deal with the same daily challenges of life as their roughly 10 million fellow Cubans,” said Augustin and Nicas. 

 

“T.S.A. Alerted ICE Before Airport Arrests,” New York Times, March 26, 2026

Angelina Gimenez-Lopez and her 9-year-old daughter were walking to a gate to board their flight from San Francisco to Miami March 22, setting out on a trip to visit a relative.  A man in plainclothes stopped her. Minutes later, said Times reporters Hamed Aleaziz and Heather Knight, she “was on her knees crying, as two immigration agents were handcuffing her in front of her daughter, according to video footage that went viral this week.” The 41-year-old native of Guatemala and her daughter Wendy, who lived in the San Francisco Bay area, had been flagged March 20 by T.S.A. on a passenger list for the flight to Miami. The agency then tipped off Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, whose agents within a few hours of  detaining them put them on a plane to deport them to Guatemala. Documents obtained by the Times “shed new light  on how the Transportation Security Administration is sharing with ICE officials the names and birth dates of travelers believed to have been ordered out of the country by a judge,” the reporters said. “That has made it easier for the Trump administration to detain and deport undocumented immigrants as they pass through airports.” Gimenez-Lopez tried to get away when the agents detained her and a growing crowd watched, some of them recording the struggle on their phones and yelling “shame on you” at the agents.  Gimenez-Lopez had no criminal history but was in the U.S. illegally because an immigration judge ordered her to be deported in May 2019 at a meeting she missed. Nothing more had happened in her case until she was detained at the airport. Democratic House representative John Garamendi of California condemned the sharing of passenger information by T.S.A.  with ICE. He said data sharing by the Trump administration appeared to be “omnipresent” and that it put personal information at risk and bypassed due process. “The real story here  is the way in which databases are being used,” he told the Times. “A mother and her daughter are detained, and within 36 hours they’re sent to Guatemala.”  He called the detention the latest example of Trump administration rounding up mothers and children instead of focusing on dangerous criminals. Nancy Tung, chairwoman of the San Francisco Democratic Party, said it was frightening to her that airports were now on the list of places where immigrants could be detained. “These are not the violent criminals that the Trump administration talks about,” she said. “It’s just wrong.” The Department of Homeland Security said the mother and daughter were “illegal aliens” who had final deportation orders and resisted arrest.

“Costa Rica Makes Deal to Receive 25 Deported Migrants a Week From U.S.,” New York Times, March 26, 2026

Costa Rica says it will take 25 deportees a week from the United States. The country’s president, Rodrigo Chaves, said that under the agreement Costa Rica will decide which deportees to accept or reject, including the choice of specific nationalities. The U.S. government will provide financial support, and the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration will pay the costs of housing and meals of the deportees, the Costa Rican president’s office said. President-elect Laura Fernández, who succeeds Chaves in May, said the U.S. has done joint security operations with Costa Rica and provided equipment and training to its police, steps meant to weaken criminal organizations in the country. She said “when you are in an alliance, it is understood that you receive support from your ally and also provide support to them.” Last year Costa Rica received 200 deportees from the U.S. Times reporter Emiliano Rodríguez noted that the country’s ombudsman issued “a scathing, critical report on their treatment. The Constitutional Court found later found their detention to be arbitrary and illegal.” They were then released and given the option to stay or leave Costa Rica. Of the 200, 110 returned to their home countries and the rest were allowed to find jobs and move freely in Costa Rica. A Costa Rican human rights lawyer, Marcia Aguiluz Soto, said “it is a concession that stems from a transactional policy” and “does not benefit the country, our reputation, our citizens or the people who will come to Costa Rica.” 

“Mexican President Sheinbaum Says She Will Uphold Cuban Doctor Agreement as Other Countries Dip [Sic] Out,” Associated Press, March 25, 2026

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said March 25 she won’t end arrangements in which Cuban doctors work in her country at a time when other nations are giving into Trump administration pressure to end the agreements. “It’s a bilateral agreement that helps Mexico a lot,” she said. Latin American and Caribbean countries including Honduras and Jamaica have abruptly shut down the medical missions and sent Cuban doctors home, said AP reporter Megan Janetsky. The Cuban medical teams abroad have a reputation for providing often skilled care with scarce resources. Sheinbaum said “we can’t forget” all the help Cuban doctors have offered during the C0vid-19 pandemic and in rural areas throughout Mexico. She said it’s hard to get Mexican doctors and specialists to go out to those areas and Cubans are willing to go there. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the medical teams are a form of forced labor and called the missions “a form of human trafficking.” Cuba values the arrangements as a way to bring in hard currency and as a form of diplomacy.

“Aid Vessel Arrives in Havana as Cuba’s Economic and Energy Crises Deepen,” Associated Press, March 24, 2026

A ship loaded with solar panels, bicycles, food and medicine arrived in Havana March 24 as Cuba’s economic and energy crises deepened, said AP reporter Andrea Rodríguez. Two other ships also carrying humanitarian aid were expected to arrive in Cuba. The three ships are part of a caravan called “Our America Convoy to Cuba.” More than 650 participants from 33 countries arrived in Cuba last weekend with tons of aid. “These ships are a drop in an ocean of need…at the same time, it’s a gesture of solidarity,” said activist Thiago Ávila. Cuba’s already sinking economy is deteriorating far more quickly since the United States shut off oil shipments to the communist country. “This type of economic warfare shouldn’t exist, this attitude of a pirate state that doesn’t respect international law,” said Ávila. Meanwhile, a ship carrying 200,000 barrels of diesel from Russa to Cuba has docked instead in Venezuela, according to a tracking project called Marine Traffic. 

“Jailed Bolsonaro Granted ‘Humanitarian House Arrest’ Amid Failing Health,” The Guardian, March  24, 2026

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, serving 27 years in prison for a failed coup attempt, has been given permission to serve the next 90 days of the sentence at home because of failing health. “After this period, the presence of the requirements necessary for maintaining humanitarian house arrest will be reassessed, including a medical examination if needed,” Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said in announcing the reprieve. Bolsonaro has been hospitalized since March 13 for pneumonia. He has faced several other health problems since being stabbed by a man in 2018 before his presidency. He recently was in intensive care for kidney and other problems. The Guardian noted that “historically, Brazil’s Supreme Court only reverses house arrest if a detainee’s health improves dramatically, or if there is violation of the established rules, such as not making public statements, posting on social media or giving interviews to the media.” 

“Cuba Rejects ‘Shameless’ U.S. Embassy Request to Bring in Fuel,” Washington Post, March 20, 2026

The United States has shut off the flow of oil to Cuba and it turns out the U.S. Embassy there is feeling the effects of the embargo too. As its own people suffer the effects of dwindling oil reserves and the unwillingness of the United States government to relent, Cuba has denied a U.S. Embassy request to import diesel fuel for its generators,  the Washington Post said in what it called an exclusive report. The Cuban government called the request “shameless” in light of the U.S. blockade, according to diplomatic cables reviewed by Adam Taylor, Samantha Schmidt, Marina Dias and Karen DeYoung of the Post. They wrote that “the denial could force the embassy to order nonessential staff to leave Cuba in May or ‘possibly earlier,’ the embassy warned Wednesday in a cable to the State Department.” 

“Cuban Americans Will Be Allowed to Own Businesses in Homeland,” New York Times, March 19, 2026

Business analysts and lawyers knowledgeable about the Cuban economy expressed skepticism that changes announced March 16 (see next summary) by the Cuban government to open up the country’s failing economy will have enough of an impact. Times reporter Frances Robles noted that “the Cuban government said this week that new regulations would allow Cuban expatriates to own companies and to invest in private companies.” But to Diana Sainz, who together with her husband own two boutique hotels with restaurants in Havana, three small markets and a production center to sell frozen prepared meals, the changes are “a step in the right direction, because any economic reopening is positive, but they’re not enough.” Robles said that to business and legal analysts in the United States who follow Cuba’s economy closely, the latest moves “come across as a desperate effort by a government gasping for air but unwilling to make profound changes that would encourage foreign investment and loosen President Trump’s chokehold” on the economy stemming from shutting off its oil. Cuba’s president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, says he’s in negotiations with American officials about addressing Cuba's challenges. However, he’s regarded as a figurehead without real  power and the Trump administration wants to oust him. The Cuban government appeared to float one possible successor, Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, the deputy prime minister and relative of Fidel and Raúl Castro, who announced the changes. He stressed that investments would not be limited to small companies and could include agriculture and infrastructure. But a Cuban American lawyer in Miami, Pedro A. Freyre, said investors would have to see drastic changes in regulations, a credible legal system, a stable and strong local currency and limits on taxation to be willing to take the plunge. A Republican House member from New York, Nicole Malliotakis, said the Cuban government seized her grandfather’s gas station soon after Fidel Castro took power in 1959. She said there should be no investment until the entire government has been replaced. She asked why anyone should invest knowing that this is a regime that stole businesses and property. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said March 17 that “Cuba has an economy that doesn’t work. What they announced yesterday is not dramatic enough. It’s not going to fix it.” Paul Johnson, co-chair of the United States Agriculture Coalition for Cuba, which is urging more agricultural trade between the two countries, said investment would be risky but that it would be people like him that would first take the plunge. “It’s pretty incredible to be sitting in front of the Cuban government saying you or a U.S. company can have your own business in Cuba,” he said. “It’s groundbreaking. I have been doing this 25 years, and I have been waiting for opportunities like this.” 

“Cuba Woos Diaspora to Invest on Island,” Wall Street Journal, March 17, 2026

Cuba’s communist regime announced moves March 16 aimed at bringing life to its moribund economy by opening it up to investment by those who have left the island. A top Cuban government official said in an interview with NBC News that his government is open to a fluid commercial relationship “with Cubans residing in the United States and their descendants,” said Deborah Acosta, Vera Bergengruen and José de Córdoba of the Journal. The official, Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, is a nephew of former Cuban President and Communist Party leader Raul Castro.  He said his government is open to a relationship with U.S. companies and that Cuba hopes to energize its infrastructure and sectors including real estate and tourism. “His remarks are a departure from decades of hostility toward the Cuban-American diaspora, an affluent and powerful community that has historically been aligned with the Republican Party and has been the main proponent for tightening sanctions on Havana,” the Journal  reporters said. For the influx of capital to occur, the U.S. would have to lift sanctions prohibiting most Americans from business dealings with Cuba. The Trump administration hasn’t said whether it’s willing to do that. “Cuban-American hard liners are denouncing the measures, saying they must come with a change in regime,” the Journal said. According to William LeoGrande, a Cuba expert at American University in Washington, D.C., for the most part only people emotionally attached to Cuba would be willing to invest because of poor economic and business conditions there. 

“A Wary Latin America Seems on the Cusp of Abandoning Cuba,” New York Times, March 17, 2026

For decades, leftists drew inspiration from the example Fidel Castro and his guerillas set for slashing illiteracy, expanding public health care and increasing life expectancy, writes Simon Romero of the New York Times.  Even among opponents of the Communist-run country, Cuba “often earned grudging respect as an unyielding bastion of resistance against generations of American presidents,” he says. But now a new wave of right-wing Latin American leaders view it as a place of authoritarian dysfunction and even leftist governments of the region’s three most populous countries -- Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia – won’t send emergency fuel shipments to the oil-starved island nearing economic collapse because they fear incurring the wrath of President Trump.  After the Cuban revolution in 1959 that brought Castro to power, Mexico became the only Latin American nation to refuse to break off diplomatic and trade ties with Cuba. “That stance produced an informal arrangement in which Mexico would consistently defend Cuba in international forums and oppose the U.S. trade embargo, while Castro agreed not to export revolution to Mexican soil,” Romero says. But in January when the Trump administration threated new tariffs on Mexico if it continued shipping oil to Cuba, the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum switched to sending food and medicine instead. In Brazil, Latin America’s most populous country, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva “has had to balance a tradition of supporting Cuba with Washington’s threats of retaliation and growing domestic skepticism of helping Cuba,” Romero adds. Though Brazil produces twice as much oil as Mexico it hasn’t tried to send any to Cuba. It too is sticking to humanitarian aid. Cuba’s standing in the Brazilian left also has been harmed by repressive tactics such as expansion of civilian groups that spy and inform on neighbors, and criminalizing and censoring online criticism. “As happened in Venezuela under Mr. Maduro, who also imprisoned hundreds of critics, these moves have withered the support Cuba traditionally held in the Brazilian left.” Brazil also has seen a surge in Cuban migrants fleeing their country. Since 2020, 2.75 million people have fled Cuba, with Brazil and Mexico their main destinations. “None of those folks are cheering their government,” said Lillian Guerra, a University of Florida historian. Other factors also deepen Cuba’s regional isolation. Ecuador has expelled all Cuban diplomats. Nicaragua no longer allows visa-free travel by Cubans so they could no longer travel there to reach the United States. Cuba’s medical missions to other countries are a crucial source of hard currency but “Guatemala, Honduras and Jamaica moved to end deals that paid Cuba for providing doctors,” according to Romero. 

“U.S. Prosecutors Investigate Colombia’s President, a Onetime Trump Foe,” New York Times, March 20, 2026

President Gustavo Petro of Colombia is under criminal investigation by the offices of at least two U.S. federal prosecutors, according to Times reporters Nicole Hong, Jonah E. Bromwich, William K. Rashbaum and Annie Correal. They said the inquiries “have been exploring, among other things, Mr. Petro’s possible meetings with drug traffickers and whether his presidential campaign solicited donations from traffickers,” according to unnamed sources. The Times said the investigations are in the early stages and it's unclear they will lead to criminal charges. The relationship between Petro and Trump has been volatile [though seemingly less so more recently]. Trump, the reporters said, “could use the investigations as leverage in seeking more cooperation from Colombia,” both a top cocaine producer and a crucial American ally in cracking down on drug trafficking. Another possible use could be to try to influence the outcome of Colombia’s presidential election in May. Petro can’t run again but has a handpicked successor. Petro March 20 denied that anyone was investigating whether he had ties to drug traffickers. He said “I have never in my life spoken with a drug trafficker.” He said that instead he spent years exposing links between Colombian politicians and drug traffickers. Separately, the Associated Press reported March 20 that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration named Petro a "priority target," meaning DEA suspects he has had a significant impact on the drug trade. AP reported March 12 that Petro and Venezuelan Interim President Delcy Rodriguez canceled a highly anticipated meeting planned for March 13 at their border. They did not explain the reason but said a meeting would be held at a future date. Petro said that shortly before the cancellation President Trump called him to wish him success in the meeting with Rodríguez. 

“Colombian President Accuses Ecuador After 27 Charred Bodies Found Near Border,” The Guardian, March 17, 2026

Tension between the neighboring countries has spiked after Colombia’s leftist president Gustavo Petro accused Ecuador’s Trump-friendly president, Daniel Noboa, of crossing the border to bomb targets inside his country. Petro said the remains of 27 people had been found near the border and that the attack did not appear to have been carried out by Colombian forces or illegal armed groups, said Guardian reporter Harriet Barber. Petro said an unexploded bomb dropped from an aircraft was found “100 meters from the home of an impoverished peasant family.” Petro said late March 16 “we are being bombed from Ecuador.” Noboa denied that, saying that Ecuadoran security forces were operating strictly within his nation’s borders. He said Ecuador is fighting “narcoterrorism” in all its forms and “bombing places that serve as hideouts for those groups, of which many [groups] are Colombian.” He said Colombia has allowed criminal groups to infiltrate Ecuador by neglecting the border. Ecuador has begun carrying out joint military operations with the United States targeting narcotics. Petro has called for “a shift toward crop substitution and rural development over militarized enforcement,” said Barber. Petro  said concerning the recent attack that munitions were found near families that “peacefully decided to replace their coca leaf crops with legal crops.” He said he appealed to Trump last week to intervene. He said he told Trump “take action and call the president of Ecuador because we do not want to go to war.” 

“Chevron’s Man Was CIA’s Too,” Wall Street Journal, March 16, 2026,

This is an excellent piece for understanding how government in the United States works, for better or worse, at least for now, and how María Corina Machado, despite creativity and courage on behalf of democracy that was sufficient to win her a Nobel Peace Prize, got pushed aside on the advice of a former Chevron insider in favor of the autocratic Maduro deputy Delcy Rodríguez in the early days of the post-Maduro era. 

A pivotal person in the historic changes unfolding in Venezuela isn’t a prominent public figure, but rather a behind-the-scenes, former oil industry lobbyist, according to reporting by Joel Schectman, Christopher M. Matthews and Vera Bergengruen of the Wall Street Journal. “In the months before President Trump moved to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Central Intelligence Agency turned to an old friend  for advice on who should replace the autocratic leftist,” the reporters recount. “Former Chevron executive Ali Moshiri told the agency that if the U.S. government tries to oust the entire Maduro regime and install the democratic opposition led by María Corina Machado it would have another quagmire like Iraq on its hands, according to people familiar with the matter.” Moshiri argued that Machado did not have the support of Venezuela’s security forces or control of its oil infrastructure. His advice was to stick with another autocratic leftist in the near term, Maduro’s deputy Delcy Rodríguez. Trump was on board with that, saying after Maduro’s removal that “she doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.” The role of Moshiri “in Washington spycraft,” which the Journal said it was revealing for the first time, “offers a window into how Trump embraced the energy industry’s unsentimental playbook for dealing with autocratic regimes. And it marks a dramatic turnaround for Chevron’s prospects in Venezuela,” where it has continued to do business over decades of political unrest and now has an advantage as oil production ramps up. Chevron said that between spring of 2025 and the removal of Maduro in early January of 2026 it did not authorize anyone working for or on behalf of Chevron to engage with the CIA relating to Venezuela’s leadership. Moshiri left the company in 2017 and his consulting relationship with it ended in 2024. He declined to discuss any contact he had with the CIA. A CIA spokeswoman called the Journal story “fantastical” and the White House said Chevron played no part in the operation that removed Maduro. The Journal reporters said that Moshiri as the head of Chevron’s oil production in Venezuela had “unparalleled access” to the most powerful figures in the Venezuelan regime including to the late Hugo Chavez when he was in power; Chávez referred to Moshiri as a “dear friend.” According to “people familiar,” Moshiri has, since Chávez was in power, provided information about Venezuela’s leaders to the CIA, with the approval of senior Chevron executives. After the death of Chávez in 2013, Moshiri deepened his ties to Rodríguez, “a Chávez acolyte who became a central figure in a regime that destroyed the country’s economy.” After rising to the top of the Venezuelan government, Rodríguez managed the country’s oil sector as well as the state security apparatus, “which is accused of jailing thousands of political prisoners in detention centers where many were held without charges and tortured.” Chevron saw her as someone they could do business with, a person willing to change her mind if an argument was convincing. However, advisors to Trump viewed Chevron with suspicion, because they believed its oil revenues helped to keep Maduro in power. The Trump-appointed U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said the license Chevron had to operate under President Biden “shamefully bankrolled the illegitimate Maduro regime.” Trump ordered Chevron to wind down its operations. Trump wanted to oust Maduro quickly, but the CIA knew little about Venezuela because of its focus on terrorism and China. Trump’s new CIA director, John Ratcliffe, was shocked at how limited his agency’s operations were in Venezuela, where the U.S. closed its embassy in 2019. He directed the agency to focus on “America’s backyard.” The Journal reporters said “the idea wasn’t just to send spies to gather more information, but return to the early days of the spy agency when it used hard-edged covert operations to shape the Western Hemisphere to Washington’s liking.” Chevron then began to find a more receptive audience in the Trump administration, and Trump met several times in 2025 with its CEO Michael Wirth. The CIA turned back to Chevron to gain an understanding of the Venezuela’s convoluted oil sector and the workings of Maduro’s inner circle. “Moshiri explained to the CIA that the Venezuelan opposition wasn’t capable of keeping the oil flowing, let alone running the country,” the Journal said. It noted that “Trump had vowed to voters to keep the U.S. out of foreign entanglements. If the agency was going to oust Maduro it needed to be clean and have a quick payoff that Trump could claim as a win. Wirth’s promised oil boost was seen as a way to offset inflation and a potential political windfall.” 

“Venezuela’s Opposition Leader Wants to Go Home. Trump’s Advice: Don’t,” New York Times, March 13, 2026

At the start of March, María Corina Machado, Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner for her efforts to promote democracy while facing brutal repression, announced her intention to go back to her country to lead “a new and gigantic electoral victory.” She’s regarded by many as the true winner of the 2024 presidential election that then President Nicolas Maduro refused to recognize. She said she planned to return within a few weeks. But then she met March 6 with President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House, who greeted her warmly and hosted her at  a breakfast  followed by a two-hour meeting in a private room off the Oval Office, said Times reporters Anatoly Kurmanaev and Tyler Pager.  “But the hearty welcome belied a negative message delivered during the meal,” they wrote. Trump’s polite recommendation was that she not return for now because the security conditions were volatile and he was concerned about her safety. But Trump’s emphasis has been on Venezuelan oil and he’s been overflowing with praise for Delcy Rodríguez, the number two figure in the repressive Maduro government who is now Venezuela’s interim president. He’s called her “a wonderful president” who has done “a great job” as Americans take barrels of oil out of the country. The U.S. State Department has now officially recognized Rodríguez as Venezuela’s leader. Machado is hugely popular among exiled Venezuelans living in Florida and Trump’s close ties to Rodríguez haven’t kept him from praising Machado. But she, from exile, “has seen her political capital erode at a decisive time in her country’s future,” the Times reporters said. Polls show Machado would easily win an election if it were held and she has said one could happen as early as next year. But Trump officials doubt Machado’s capacity or willingness to compromise with elites including remaining Maduro forces and aren’t talking about an election until the second half of 2027. Sources say Rubio, who has strongly supported Machado in the past,  has made it clear that Venezuela needs to have a democratically elected president before Trump leaves office in early 2029. It’s unclear what effect Trump’s breakfast advice will have on the timing of a Machado return to Venezuela. 

“In Cartel-Stricken Corner, Mexicans Are Open to U.S. Intervention,” New York Times, March 13, 2026

Although eight in ten Mexicans are opposed to the idea of U.S. military strikes against cartels in their country, that  resistance is beginning to crack in the northwestern state of Sinaloa. Residents there are about 20 months into a war that broke out when the Sinaloa Cartel fractured into two parts, said Times reporters Paulina Villegas and Jack Nicas. Businesses have closed and families have fled. “It’s the last option we have,” Oliver Zamora, a 23-year-old meat seller told the Times. According to a group representing mothers searching for their missing children, more than 18,000 people in Sinaloa have gone missing since 2006, and more than 5,500 of those people with the past 20 months. “People don’t go out at night,” said Augustin Coppel, the head of a major department store chain that carries his name.  According to Coppel and other business leaders, Sinaloa lost almost 10 percent of its gross domestic product in 2024 and 2025, with many businesses closing and jobs disappearing.  Cartel members scoffed at the idea of U.S. military attacks until President Trump ordered the military attack on Venezuela that deposed President Nicolás Maduro. “Now suspicion runs deep among some cartel members,” the Times reporters said. “Some said they feared their own ranks had been infiltrated by both Mexican and U.S. government informants." Both factions of the cartel have expanded their arsenals to protect against a U.S. military attack. For her part, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said that law enforcement operations in Mexico will be conducted exclusively by Mexican security forces. Some Sinaloa residents are skeptical that a U.S. attack would help, saying they fear it could intensify the violence. “They should attack the problem from the inside, not the outside,” said a retired teacher, José Valde Pino, concerning the U.S. “We’re not the problem. They have the highest rate of drug addicts in the world.” 

“Cesar Chavez, a Civil Rights Icon, Is Accused of Abusing Girls for Years,” New York Times, March 18, 2026

A New York Times investigation posted March 18 concluded that “extensive evidence” supports the accusations of two women that civil rights icon Cesar Chavez abused them for years when they were girls. The investigation by Times reporters Manny Fernandez and Sara Hurtes said that the two women, Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas, described the abuse as occurring from around 1972 to 1977 when Chavez “was in his 40s and had become a powerful, charismatic figure who captured global attention as a champion of farmworker rights.” The two women had not shared their stories publicly until now. The  Times reporters said the extensive evidence they uncovered supported not only their accusations but also those raised by several other women concerning Chavez, the co-founder of the United Farm Workers who died in 1993 at the age of 66. The U.F.W. has now canceled its annual celebrations honoring Chavez, saying it did so because of what it called the “profoundly shocking” accusations. The reporters said they interviewed several women who told their stories for the first time, and also 60 other people including the top aides and relatives of Chavez. They said they reviewed hundreds of pages of union records, confidential emails, photographs and other material. Rojas said Chavez had intercourse with her when she was 15 – statutory rape under state law. Murguia said she was 12 when Chavez first began molesting her by groping her breasts but never had intercourse with her. Chavez “also used many of the women who worked and volunteered in his movement for his own sexual gratification,” the reporters said, including “his most prominent female ally in the movement, Dolores Huerta.” The reporters said Huerta, who will be 96 on April 10, “said she was unaware of any sexual abuse of teenage girls. Moments after some of that abuse was described to her, Ms. Huerta broke down, sobbing and wailing.” Huerta said “It’s kind of like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation I think.” Huerta “said she has held on to a dark secret for nearly 60 years,” the Times reporters said. Huerta said that during the winter of 1966 Chavez drove her out to a secluded field, parked and raped her inside the vehicle. She said she didn’t report the rape because the police were hostile to the farm worker movement and she was afraid no one in the union would believe her. Her description of the rape couldn’t be independently verified because she said she had told no one until a few weeks ago. The Chavez family said March 17 it couldn’t judge the allegations, saying they “are deeply painful to our family.” It said “as a family steeped in the values of equity and justice, we honor the voices of those who feel unheard and who report sexual misconduct.” Here’s how The Times described the social justice legacy of Chavez: “Through a series of grueling fasts, grape boycotts and marches that captured the world’s imagination, Mr. Chavez drew a spotlight to the plight of the American farmworker. He not only improved wages, living conditions and health care for generations of farmworkers and their families but also strengthened the political power of Latinos, giving their voice and concerns an urgency and moral authority on the national stage. He was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in 1994.” 

“Venezuela. Iran. Now Cuba Tops Trump’s List,” New York Times, March 18, 2026

The comments on Cuba March 16 by President Trump were a stunning example of how he regards his power and its scope, says a news analysis by Times reporter Jack Nicas. “I do believe I’ll be having the honor of taking Cuba,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “Taking Cuba in some form, yeah. Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it – I think I could do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth.” No other president since Fidel Castro took power in Cuba “has so publicly pondered seizing control of the country, until now,” Nicas notes. “And after Mr. Trump’s military attacks in Venezuela and Iran this year, his comments may not simply be off-the-cuff musings.” In fact, “they seem to suggest that Mr. Trump is pushing toward a third consecutive attempt to behead a foreign government, perhaps before the year finishes its first quarter.” Cuba hasn’t received any significant shipments of oil or fuel since January 9. Gasoline on the black market now costs $35 a gallon and electricity goes out almost every day. There was a nationwide blackout March 16. People are struggling to get food and medicine and surgeries are being postponed. Trump hasn’t yet pressured the Castro family, which Nicas says “remains in power behind the scenes." That’s in keeping with the approach Trump took in Venezuela avoiding regime change but forcing the existing government to comply. The existing government in Cuba has made a major shift in policy, with its economic czar Oscar Pérez-Oliva announcing March 26 that Cubans abroad can invest, bank and do business in their home country. Trump himself seems likely to take advantage of an economic reopening. “A real estate mogul with a long interest in South Florida and the Caribbean, Mr. Trump has long coveted the island,” Nicas writes. In 1998 a company he controlled secretly hired consultants to visit Cuba to explore its potential, possibly a violation of the U.S. embargo on Cuba, according to a Newsweek investigation. Trump Organization executives visited Cuba in 2011 and 2012 on the lookout for a golf course there, according to Bloomberg. For its part, Russia is signaling it’s prepared to back Cuba, Nicas says.  The Kremlin said Cuban and Russian officials have been in close contact. Bloomberg reported that a tanker carrying more than 700,000 barrels of Russian crude oil is scheduled to arrive in Cuba by the end of March in a test of the U.S. embargo on the island (“Cuba’s Worse Fuel Crisis in Decades May Get Relief from Russia,” Japan Times, March 18. 2026). It would take 20 to 30 days to refine the crude oil, Bloomberg said, quoting University of Texas researcher Jorge Pinon. 

 “By Suing GOP States, Trump Tries to Set Policy Without Legislation,” New York Times, March 16, 2026

In  a string of recent lawsuits, the Trump administration has reached settlements with friendly adversaries – allowing it to strike down laws protecting immigrants without going through the legislative process. Last June, for example, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton signed an agreement with the Trump administration agreeing that a law should be invalidated allowing undocumented high school students in the state to pay in-state tuition at public universities. “The resolution eliminated any need for a slow and messy vote to overturn the statue in the State Legislature,” wrote Times reporter Zach Montague.  In Florida, Montague recounted, the state sued the Biden administration in 2023 to stop the federal government from allowing scores of migrants into the country under parole status, just as strict pandemic-era curbs on entering were expiring. Shortly after Donald Trump returned to the White House in early 2025, his Department of Homeland Security signed a consent decree that settled the three-year-old suit by imposing a 15-year freeze on use of the parole power. A former official in the Biden administration said the agreement would put “an asterisk” the ability of presidents in the future to use the parole power if their views on immigration are different than those of Trump. “They’re going to have to think about not just whether using parole is within their legal authority, but also whether Florida is going to believe it’s a violation of this consent decree, and what the consequences of being hauled into court will be over that decision,” said Tom Jawetz, who served as deputy general counsel in the Homeland Security Department. The Texas law, the Dream Act, was adopted in “a rare moment of overwhelming bipartisan consensus,” said Montague. It “set a national precedent as the first in the country to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students.” Versions of the law were adopted in more than two dozen other states. Soon after the Texas settlement with the Trump administration the state of Oklahoma signed a nearly identical agreement. Watchdog groups have tried to intervene, “arguing the courts were being abused as a secretive fast-track to kill the laws more cleanly than by forcing legislators to vote to repeal them,” Montague said. According to Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward, “these manufactured lawsuits undermine the rule of law and inflict serious harm on both communities and democratic institutions.” 

“Cubans Intensify Protests, Government Building Sacked,” Wall Street Journal, March 16, 2026

A growing number of Cubans are banging pots when the sun sets in protest of their country’s authoritarian regime, says Wall Street Journal reporter José de Cordoba. Angry about dire living conditions, protestors in one town “sacked the headquarters Saturday [March 14] of the Communist Party, making a bonfire with the office furniture,” he said. Shouting “libertad, libertad,” hundreds of protestors fought police in Morón, a city of some 70,000 people, then marched to the headquarters, according to the Cuban government and social media videos. Demonstrators threw rocks at the headquarters and tried to set it on fire at a time when the city had been without electricity for 30 hours. The absence of electricity is almost a nightly thing across Cuba, and the pot banging is becoming louder with darkness obscuring the identity of protestors. Cuba’s president Miguel Díaz-Canel warned against violence, saying “complaints and claims are legitimate, as long as they are made with civility and respect for order.” The head of the Communist Party then held a rally of  “revolutionary reaffirmation” outside the headquarters. William LeoGrande, a Cuba analyst at American University, said “people are incredibly frustrated” by an economy on the brink of collapse, its deterioration hastened by the United States shutting off shipments of oil to Cuba. He said “it’s no surprise that you get occasional outbreaks of unrest and even rioting.”  

“’Unbelievably Unequal’: Report Shows How 1% of Mexicans Own 40% of Country’s Wealth,” The Guardian, March 12, 2026

Mexico for decades has been plagued by rampant income inequality, says Guardian reporter Oscar Lopez. A recent report by Oxfam Mexico showed that the richest 1% of Mexico owns 40 percent of the nation’s wealth. Nearly 19 million have to struggle to put food on the table [Mexico’s population totals 133 million, according to Worldometer https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/mexico-population/].  Mexico’s inequality is “almost inconceivable,” said Viri Ríos, director of Mexico Decoded, which calls itself the most subscribed English language Substack publication on Mexico https://www.mexicodecoded.com “Inequality in our country has been around for centuries: we’ve just grown accustomed to living this way.” Lopez said that Mexico’s 22 richest billionaires have seen their wealth double  in the last five years to a total of $219 billion, based on Oxfam data. But there is some good news too because the poor at the same time have grown somewhat less poor. Mainly because of increases in the minimum wage under former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the number of people living in poverty has fallen by 13.4 million, a drop of almost 26%. The population of people living in extreme poverty has decreased from almost 9 million to 7 million. Ríos calls the reductions in Mexico’s income inequality historic. “There are many policies, especially labor policies, that are changing income distribution in the country in ways we haven’t seen in decades.” The World Inequality Database shows that even as the richest of the rich get richer, income inequality in Mexico is at its lowest point since 2006. https://wid.world/

“Bolivia Arrests Alleged Drug Kingpin Accused of Putting Hit on Paraguayan Prosecutor,” The Guardian, March 13, 2026

Signaling the return to law enforcement cooperation between Bolivia and the U.S., Bolivian authorities have arrested one of South America’s most wanted criminals. He is 34-year-old Sebastián Marset, an alleged Uruguayan drug trafficker who is being extradited to the United States on charges of laundering money through U.S. banks. Marset is the self-anointed “King of the South,” something he stamped on bricks of cocaine as he allegedly trafficked tons of cocaine from South America to Europe. He is also accused of having “ordered the murder of a Paraguayan prosecutor who was shot dead as he honeymooned on a Colombian beach in 2022,” said Guardian reporter Thomas Graham. The centrist government of Bolivia’s new president Rodrigo Paz brought the return of law enforcement cooperation with the United States, "almost 20 years after his leftwing predecessor Evo Morales expelled both the U.S. ambassador and the Drug Enforcement Administration,” said Graham. Paz, who became president on Nov. 8, 2025, became the first conservative elected president in 20 years. He surprised observers when he beat out a more prominent right-wing opponent, according to a Public Broadcasting Service story (“What to Know About Rodrigo Paz….Oct. 20, 2025). A Bolivian senator, Paz inherited “an economy in shambles after 20 years of rule by the Movement Toward Socialism party, founded by charismatic former President Evo Morales (in office 2006-2019),” the PBS story said. 

“Brazil’s ex-President Bolsonaro is in Intensive Care with Pneumonia, Hospital Says,” Associated Press, March 13, 2026

The 70-year-old former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, is receiving treatment for pneumonia in an intensive care unit in a hospital in the capital, Brasilia, the facility said March 13. “Pneumonia in patients over 70 is always serious because it can progress to septicemia, since the bacteria can normally enter the bloodstream and cause an even more severe condition,” said Brasil Caiado, one of Bolsonaro’s doctors. AP reporter Eléonore Hughes said “earlier in the day, Bolsonaro’s eldest son Flávio said on X that his father was being transferred from prison to a hospital after waking up with chills and vomiting.” Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup. His son Flávio has said he will run for president this year. Polls show that Flávio and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are almost tied. 

“Paraguay Lawmakers Approve Defense Agreement Allowing an Increased U.S. Military Presence,” Associated Press, March 11, 2026

The Chamber of Deputies in Paraguay okayed an agreement March 10 with the the Trump administration allowing U.S. military and civilian personnel to be present in their country on a temporary basis. President Santiago Peńa, a close ally of President Trump, is expected to sign the agreement. The deal allows for the presence of U.S. security forces for training, joint exercises, and humanitarian assistance. It empowers the U.S. to have criminal jurisdiction over its personnel while in Paraguay. Some lawmakers balked at giving foreign troops immunity from prosecution. “We believe in international cooperation, but we also believe in strong states, respected institutions and real democratic sovereignty,” said congressman Raúl Benitez. But Paraguay’s foreign minister said the agreement would strengthen efforts against transnational organized crime and “terrorism,” AP said. He said there was no possibility of the U.S. installing military bases in Paraguay. The Peace and Justice Service, a civil group that has a broad presence in Latin America, said the agreement “does not represent progress in security, but rather the formalization of a geopolitics of impunity that undermines the pillars of our national dignity.”

“Americans Are a Target in Immigration Crackdown,” Wall Street Journal, March 10, 2026

Protestors, observers and passerby taken into custody by federal agents during immigration crackdowns in cities were publicly identified as terrorists and attackers in hundreds of social media posts  by U.S. officials, a Wall Street Journal investigation found. The investigation by Brenna T. Smith, Hannah Critchfield, Brian Whitton, Belle Cushing and Emma Scott of the Journal concluded that “the Department of Homeland Security, created in 2002 to protect Americans, has turned its force against citizens.” Of 279 people accused by officials on the social media site X of attacking federal officers in the past year, 181 were U.S. citizens, the Journal said. Almost half of those Americans were never charged with assault, and none have been convicted at trial. “Yet names, mug shots and other identifying details posted by the government put a bull’s-eye on them,” the reporters said. “In a few cases, their home and workplace addresses were leaked online, drawing death threats.” Some of those accused took on the costs of bail, hiring a lawyer and taking days off from work to appear in court – “including cases where videos debunked the assault claims.” If they were exonerated, the government social media sites said nothing. In cities with high-profile crackdowns, federal prosecutors said they’ve been pressured to bring assault charges by Justice Department leaders even if the cases were undercut by contrary evidence or otherwise weren't worthy of prosecution. Fifteen of the Americans accused by the U.S. on social media of assault have pled guilty, 10 to lesser charges, including a man who threw rocks at a protest, a woman who brandished a knife, and a man who spit on an officer. Fifty-one more cases are pending. A Department of Homeland Security spokesman said the agency is following the Constitution to uphold the rule of law and that the First Amendment “protects speech and peaceful assembly, not rioting.” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said federal officers face daily threats, many from “violent left-wing rioters.” But “most of the assault allegations against American protesters posted on X were unsubstantiated,” the Journal said. David Bier of the libertarian Cato Institute said federal agents have acted as if civilians don't have the right to observe or record them. "Once you adopt those positions then everyone's a viable target," he said. U.S. officials accused 32 citizens in posts on X of intentionally using their vehicles as weapons. One person pled guilty of assault and three people had their cases dismissed. The Journal said that none of the others it identified were charged. Videos showed that a government vehicle sideswiped the car of a Chicago woman, a U.S. citizen on her way to work, the Journal said.  After the crash masked agents drew weapons and seized the woman. “Witnesses yelled, ‘You hit her,’” the Journal recounted. 

“Justice Department Official Eyes Cases Against Cuba Leaders As Trump Floats ‘Friendly Takover,’” Associated Press, March 6, 2026

The U.S. attorney for Southern Florida is considering criminal investigations of Cuban government officials as President Trump eyes a “friendly takeover” of the island nation. [The United States used alleged criminal lawbreaking as the pretext for invading Venezuela and capturing its authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro, along with his wife and bringing them to New York to stand trial.] The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jason Reding Quiñones, has formed a working group  of federal prosecutors and Drug Enforcement Administration officials to try to build cases against Cuban officials, said AP reporters Alanna Durkin Richer and Joshua Goodman. It wasn’t immediately clear which officials would be targeted and what laws they might be charged with breaking. Trump said in February that high-level talks were underway to try to conduct a “friendly takeover,” and repeated that claim in early March. “They want to make a deal so bad,” he said of Cuba’s leaders. Trump said “his attention would turn back to Cuba once the war with Iran winds down,” the AP reporters said. Republican Florida lawmakers, including U.S. Senator Rick Scott and House members Maria Elvira Salazar and Carolos Gimenez have called for a criminal probe of the 1996 downing of four planes operated by anti-communist exiles. Salazar and Gimenez in a Feb. 13 letter to Trump spotlighted news reports indicating that former President Raúl Castro gave the order to shoot down the unarmed Cessna aircraft in which the exiles were flying. They said it is time to bring Castro, who was head of the Cuban military at the time, to justice for “this heinous crime.” AP reported March 13 that Cuba will release 51 people from prisons, something Cuban officials said resulted from a spirit of goodwill and close relations with the Vatican (“Cuba Will Release 51 People from Prison in an Unexpected Move.”) According to another AP story, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel confirmed March 13 that discussions with U.S. officials are underway to identify “bilateral problems that require solutions based on their severity and impact” and find solutions. He said the goal was to “determine the willingness of both parties to take concrete actions for the benefit of the people of both countries.” Trump has said Cuban leaders would be smart to avoid the fate of Maduro. 

“Dismay as Hegseth Urges Latin American Allies to Join ‘Offense Against Cartels,” The Guardian, March 5, 2026

In a presentation to the “2026 Americas Counter Cartel Conference,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged Latin American officials to remain “Christian nations, under God, proud of our shared heritage with strong borders”  (see related summary below, “Trump Convenes ‘Shield of Americas’ conference….March 7, 2026).  He said they should not be led astray by “radical narco-communism, anarcho-tyranny…and uncontrolled mass migration.” He advised Latin American countries to move more aggressively against drug cartels, “warning that the Trump administration may otherwise act unilaterally in the region,” said Guardian reporter Tiago Rogero. Hegseth said in a speech to defense ministers of countries aligned with Trump that “it is our preference, and it is the goal of this conference, that in the interest of this neighborhood, we all do it together with you.” White House official Stephen Miller said “what we have learned after decades of effort is that there is not a criminal justice solution to the cartel problem…The reason why this is a conference with military leadership and not a conference of lawyers is because these organizations can only be defeated with military power.” He said cartels are “the Isis and Al-Qaida of the western hemisphere and should be treated just as brutally and just as  ruthlessly as we treat those organizations.” David Marques of the Brazilian Forum on Public Safety called an exclusively military response to drug trafficking “a very absurd simplification.” He said that such trafficking involves complex transnational supply chains. He said “if the fight is not multi-dimensional, it will be fruitless, and will produce only death and spectacular, politically ‘sellable’ actions, but very little efficiency in tackling the business that is supposedly being targeted.” Marques added that Mexico has used military force against cartels for decades and the results have not been positive. 

“ICE Plans to Keep Fort Bliss Detention Camp Open Under a New Contractor,” Washington Post, March 11, 2026

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency plans to keep open a detention center at Fort Bliss in Texas, a facility contracted to hold more detainees – 5,000 – than any active ICE holding center in the nation. The Post reported earlier that ICE was taking steps to close the center, Camp East Montana, but corrected that report to say ICE terminated a contract to operate the facility. Post reporter Douglas MacMillan said “it’s exceedingly rare for ICE to cancel the contract for a detention facility and even rarer for the facility to stay open when that happens,” according to a former senior ICE official who served in the Obama, Biden and Trump administrations, Claire Trickler-McNulty. The facility “has struggled to provide safe and humane housing for thousands of people,” MacMillan wrote. “Detainees have complained of physical abuse by guards, inadequate food and substandard medical care, and three people died there in the span of two months,” he said. ICE’s own inspectors found the facility violated dozens of federal standards, including those for keeping detainees safe and assuring their access to lawyers, and for learning about their cases and being able to file complaints. The contract ICE ended was with Acquisition Logistics, LLC. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Lauren Bis said the new contract, with Chantilly, Va.-based Amentum Services, will allow more on-site staff, precise quality assurance and better ICE oversight of contractors. The Post said ICE awarded the new contract without a traditional bidding process. MacMillan said Camp East Montana’s population dropped to 1,500 detainees recently, roughly half as many as in January. And it recently closed its doors to attorneys and visitors because of an outbreak of measles, according to Democratic House member Veronica Escobar, who represents El Paso. Separately, the Post reported March 11 that a judge has ordered a 14-day pause in converting a warehouse in western Maryland to a detention center for as many as 1,500 people, saying the administration has not conducted a required environmental impact study (“Judge Orders Pause on ICE Detention Center Construction in Maryland”). A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said “let’s be honest about this. This isn’t about the environment. It’s about trying to stop President Trump from making America safe again.”

“Judge Halts Tight Limits on Appeals By Migrants,” New York Times, March 10, 2026

A federal judge said March 8 the Trump administration can’t immediately revamp the process by which migrants can appeal rulings by immigration judges. The decision paused major changes that were set to take effect March 9, said Times reporters Zach Montague and Mattathias Schwartz. The judge, Randolph D. Moss, described the proposed changes as “a fast-track mechanism for disposing of the vast majority” of immigration court appeals. Doing that would clear the way for more deportations. He said the government hadn’t given the public a chance to comment on the changes, as was required. The decision seemed to leave room for the administration to try again using required notice-and-comment procedures. Democracy Forward, a legal nonprofit group that argued the case for the plaintiffs, said the decision means the administration “cannot play games with the immigration appeals system to eliminate basic due process and fast-track deportations.” The proposed changes would have automatically dismissed appeals unless a majority of the Board of Immigration Appeals, which oversees the decisions of immigration judges, voted to reconsider the case within 10 days. Laura St. John, the legal director of the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, said it often takes at least a week to gather needed material and file an appeal. If an appeal were only permitted if the board acted within 10 days many people would lose the right to a meaningful review of their cases, she said. 

“How D.H.S Has Retreated on Immigration Tactics, for Now,” New York Times, March 10, 2026

The Trump administration has scaled back its deportation strategy, leading to a drop in arrests in February, the New York Times said in a story reported by Nicholas Nehamas, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Hamed Aleaziz, Albert Sun and Julie Bosman. The change follows “months of high-profile, militarized immigration raids in major American cities.”  Agents “have focused on conducting more targeted enforcement operations, rather than indiscriminate street sweeps,” according to anonymous federal officials. The less aggressive posture is a reminder of the difficulty of deporting millions of undocumented immigrants, which is the administration’s goal. Although voters who returned Donald Trump to the White House were attracted to tough enforcement, “many Americans have balked at seeing the crackdown put into practice, forcing the White House to recalibrate its approach,” the Times said.  The number of arrests per day in February was down about 11 percent compared to January. Part of the reason was that ICE arrested fewer people without criminal records. “Overall, arrests have fallen to their lowest levels since September,” the Times said. There’s doubt however that the dropoff will last for long because of the influence of White House official Stephen Miller. “It does seem like they’re pulling back a bit because of the negative publicity, and because of the political impacts,” said David Lapan, who served as press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security in the first Trump administration. “But how long do they sustain that, knowing they’re not going to make the numbers they want?”  

“Trump Convenes ‘Shield of Americas’ Summit With 12 Latin American Leaders,” The Guardian, March 7, 2026 

President Donald Trump convened a meeting of Latin American leaders March 7 he described as an effort to counter cartels. “Just as we formed a coalition to eradicate Isis, we now need a coalition to eradicate the cartels” he told the 12 regional leaders at the “Shield of Americas” summit. “Now that America is secure, and our borders are secure, we want to focus on our neighbors and help our neighbors with their borders and the challenges they have,” said Kristi Noem in her new job as envoy to the coalition after she was moved out of her Cabinet post as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. In attendance were the leaders of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago. Guardian reporter Edward Helmore wrote that “Trump complimented Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who was not present at the meeting, but still maintained that the cartels ‘are getting worse and taking over the country. The cartels are running Mexico. We can’t have that. Too close to us, too close to you.’” Trump also praised Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez, saying “she’s doing a great job working with us.” The U.S. legally recognized the government of Venezuela last week. Trump said “we’re looking forward to the great change that will be coming to Cuba,” which is on the verge of collapse after the U.S. cut off Venezuela’s supply of oil to the island. He said of Cuba that “they have no money, they have no oil, they have a bad philosophy and a bad regime” but want to negotiate with the U.S. “Cuba is in its last moments of life as it was but it will have a great new life.” Trump said regional cooperation would counter China. “We will not allow hostile foreign influence to gain a foothold in this hemisphere that includes the Panama canal.” 

 

“Cuba Shuts Its Quito Embassy as Ecuador Expels Its Diplomats,” Associated Press, March 6, 2026

Cuba’s diplomatic mission left Ecuador March 6 after the country’s president, Daniel Noboa, gave it 48 hours to leave. Cuba’s foreign ministry said it was ceasing all functions at its embassy in Quito and expressed regret over the “unilateral and unfriendly action” of Ecuador. AP reported that “Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the measure was adopted within the framework of international diplomatic law, but didn’t say why they were forcing the diplomats to leave.” Under the Vienna Convention countries can declare diplomats persona non grata without explanation. The rupture occurred a few days before President Trump was scheduled to meet with several conservative Latin American leaders in Florida. Trump has characterized Cuba as a “failed nation” and aims to force its communist government from power through an oil embargo. 

“Letters from an American,” Heather Cox Richardson, March 7, 2026

The following concerning recent devolopments related to Latin America is quoted verbatim from the free daily newsletter written by Boston College Professor Health Cox Richardson:

On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned representatives from sixteen Latin American and Caribbean countries that if they don’t adopt more aggressive strategies against drug cartels, the Trump administration will do it for them. Hegseth urged the countries to remain “Christian nations, under God, proud of our shared heritage with strong borders,” and not be led astray by “radical narco-communism, anarcho-tyranny…and uncontrolled mass migration.”

Tiago Rogero of The Guardian reported that Latin American countries resisted the framing of Hegseth’s speech. The title of his article used the word “dismay.”

In Miami today, Trump and his advisors convened a “Shield of the Americas” summit with twelve of Latin America’s Trump-aligned leaders. At the meeting, Trump called for an “anti-cartel coalition” that would use military might to crush drug cartels. Former homeland security secretary Kristi Noem told the group: “Now that America is secure, and our borders are secure, we want to focus on our neighbors and help our neighbors with their borders and the challenges they have.”

Trump suggested that Cuba was next on his list of countries to topple. “We’re looking forward to the great change that will soon be coming to Cuba,” Trump said. “They have no money, they have no oil, they have a bad philosophy and bad regime.” “Cuba is in its last moments of life as it was, but it will have a great new life,” he said.

 

‘No to War’: Sanchez Doubles Down After Trump Threat to Cut Off Trade with Spain,” The Guardian, March 4, 2026

After U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at Spain for denying bombers heading for Iran permission to take off from jointly operated U.S.-Spanish bases, the country’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez said in a March 4 speech he was not changing course. Sanchez said Spain would “not be complicit in something that is bad for the world – and that is also contrary to our values and interests – simply out of fear of reprisals from someone.” Trump had threatened retribution in the form of cutting of all trade with Spain. “Spain has been terrible,” Trump said March 3 during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. He said he had told U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “cut off all dealings” with the country. Sánchez in his March 4 address urged Iran, Israel and the U.S. to stop the war. “You can’t respond to one illegality with another because that’s how humanity’s great disasters begin.” Sánchez said “you can’t play Russian roulette with the destiny of millions,” wrote Guardian reporter Sam Jones. “Nobody knows for sure what will happen now. Even the objectives of those who launched the first attack are unclear. But we must be prepared, as the proponents say, for the possibility that this will be a long war, with numerous casualties and, therefore, with serious economic consequences on a global scale.” Jones noted that “Merz said later he had told Trump privately that Spain could not be excluded from a trade agreement reached between Brussels and Washington last year” since Spain is a member of the European Union. Merz said “we negotiate about tariffs with the United States only together or not at all. There is no way to treat Spain particularly badly.” 

“Appeals Court Upholds Protected Status for 350,000 Haitians,” New York Times, March 6, 2026

A federal appeals court late March 6 upheld a Feb. 2 lower court ruling that said the Trump administration broke the law when it decided to end the temporary protected status of 350,000 Haitians in the United States. The 2 to 1 ruling by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit  allows the Haitians to continue living and working legally in the United States while a lawsuit challenging the termination of their protected status continues in federal court. Times reporter Miriam Jordan noted, however, that “the long-term fate of Haitians with the status is still unclear because the Trump administration is likely to file an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court seeking to rescind the protection while the case is being litigated.” District Court Judge Ana C. Reyes concluded in the Feb. 2 ruling that the Trump administration failed to review conditions on the ground in Haiti before ending the temporary protected status. 

“Haitians Find Haven in Ohio, in Echo of Underground Railroad,” New York Times, March 5, 2026

As Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, spent anxious weeks awaiting a Feb. 2  federal court ruling on whether their temporary protected status would end, potentially leading to immediate deportation, Americans were mobilizing in that city to help them. “In churches and community centers, they organized prayer services, marches and petition drives,” wrote Times reporter Miriam Jordan. “Volunteers ran practice drills. Others agreed to serve as legal guardians for children whose Haitian parents feared they could be detained.” And “some did something more risky: they discreetly converted spare bedrooms and finished basements into places of refuge.” In the days leading up to the anticipated decisions many of the 10,000 Haitian residents of the city began disappearing from jobs, schools, and churches. A small secret network formed to give refuge to Haitian families, echoing an aspect of Springfield much earlier in American history --  it was once a stop on the Underground Railroad, the abolitionist network that set up way stations to help enslaved people flee north toward freedom.  The Times wrote about the previously undisclosed people offering shelter now using only their middle names because of the secrecy surrounding their efforts. One said “I’m really mad at the way the government is treating newcomers. We are a country of immigrants.” Although some complain about the strain on social services, the thousands of Haitians who came legally to live in Springfield under temporary protected status or as U.S. citizens have been credited with filling vacant jobs in the depressed city and returning it to economic health. But Donald Trump and J.D. Vance shattered their sense of stability during the 2024 presidential campaign by falsely claiming they were stealing the pets of residents and eating them. Harboring an unauthorized immigrant is a felony punishable with up to five years in prison. In the past, smugglers and employers have been targeted but not ordinary citizens. To help Haitians, local groups organized food deliveries and neighborhood patrols to watch for federal agents. Other individuals quietly offered their homes to provide emergency shelter, a way of addressing a more fundamental concern that the Department of Homeland Security has the addresses of all individuals with temporary protected status. “This needs to be happening, even if there are risks,” said one resident willing to help. In response to a Times request for comment, a Homeland Security spokeswoman said people who lose temporary protected status should use the federal self-deportation mechanism in which they get a free one-way plane ticket and $2,600 in federal assistance to help them resettle elsewhere.  On 7 p.m. the night of February 2 ,a judge issued an order blocking the administration from ending the temporary protected status of Haitians pending an ongoing lawsuit on the matter.  But the willingness to provide shelter remains, should the need arise. “Even though they have been given temporary relief, they still live day to day not knowing if tomorrow another decision will upend their lives,” said a local teacher. 

“As Cuba’s Oil Dries Up, Stream of Canadian Tourists Slows to a Trickle,” New York Times, March 5, 2026

“What does it mean to prevent a single drop of fuel from reaching a country?” Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel asked recently. “It means affecting food transportation, food production, public transportation , the functioning of hospitals, institutions of all kinds, schools, economic output, and tourism.” In the case of tourism, the effects have been devastating. Travel restrictions imposed by President Trump and his move to  block all foreign oil from Cuba “has brought the industry – already weakened after the Covid-19 pandemic – to its knees,” said Times reporters Frances Robles and Vjosa Isai. “Cuba has relied on tourism, and on sun-starved Canadian visitors above all others, as a pillar of its collapsing economy,” they wrote. A recent Canadian visitor said “The Cuban people love Canadians. They would say, ‘you know, we would die without Canada.’” But with jet fuel in Cuba running out and blackouts growing worse, “Russian and Canadian airlines suspended flights to Cuba, a move that jeopardizes the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people,” they said. Trucks, cars, and motorbikes have been abandoned and litter the roadway to the airport, apparently because there is no gas, said the Canadian visitor, Debbie Sutherland, a 64-year-old behavioral therapist from Ontario. Airlines have sent empty jets to retrieve thousands of tourists. In 2025, Cuba had an estimated 1.8 million international visitors, compared to 4.7 million in 2018. The number of Americans visiting dropped from 638,000 in 2018 to 110,000 in 2025. Air Canada said it suspended flights because added stops for fuel would have disrupted its schedules. A spokesman added that food and medical care were becoming scarce. “We do not want to put the health, safety and well-being of our passengers at risk.” The Trump administration’s strategy has been to cut off sources of foreign currency going into Cuba, not just from tourism but also from the medical missions Cuba sends abroad, in an effort to end communist rule. 

 

“Spain Denies U.S. Permission to Use Jointly Operated Bases to Attack Iran,” The Guardian, March 2, 2026

Spain has barred the U.S. from using jointly-operated air bases on its territory in Rota and Morón to launch attacks on Iran. Pedro Sanchez, Spain’s socialist prime minister, condemned “unilateral military action” by the U.S. and Israel. He warned that it is contributing  to “a more hostile and uncertain international order.” Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, said that although the Spanish government wants “democracy, freedom and fundamental rights for the Iranian people,” it categorically would not allow its bases to be used in the ongoing military operation against Iran. Defense minister Margarita Robles said “operations have to comply with international legal frameworks and there has to be international support for them.” Sanchez said in a speech March 1 “today, more than ever, it’s vital to remember that you can be against a hateful regime – as Spanish society is as a whole when it comes to the Iranian regime – and, at the same time, against an unjustified and dangerous military intervention that is outside international law.” Guardian reporter Sam Jones noted that “Sanchez’s blunt condemnations are unlikely to endear him to Trump, who last year tore into Spain for refusing to accept NATO’s proposal for member states to increase their defense spending to 5% of their GDP.” Jones also noted that Sanchez “has been among the most vocal European critics of both Israel’s war in Gaza and the EU’s response to it.” 

“Venezuela’s Bogus Amnesty Law,” Opinion, Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2026

Calling the measure passed by the Venezuelan National Assembly “the amnesty law” is grossly misleading, says Wall Street Journal columnist Mary Anastasia O’Grady. “Its title suggests the regime is moving toward national reconciliation by extinguishing the spurious records of crimes it claims its opponents committed. The text says something very different.” Some targets of the regime “may be forgiven for crimes of which they  were never convicted before an independent judiciary. Bravo.” But others, such as opposition leader María Corina Machado “are excluded from the blanket absolution.” This is “pure propaganda,” one Venezuelan told O’Grady, who pointedly asks whether the unpopular Venezuelan dictator Delcy Rodríguez will  be allowed by President Trump to get away with it. Trump says the U.S. runs Venezuela and wants Rodríguez to release all political prisoners but he isn’t prepared to put U.S. troops in the country to enforce that. So, Rodríguez has been “slow-walking the process.” The non-governmental organization Foro Penal says that of some 1,000 political prisoners behind bars six weeks ago, 568 remain in prison. That includes 182 members of the military. And even those released have been told their cases are still open and many political figures who have been released have been instructed not to speak publicly.  Her refusal to obey Trump has the backing of the Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello,  who controls many of the weapons in Venezuela. On the other hand, she has to create the appearance of cooperating with Trump – “enter the so-called amnesty law, a Kafkaesque piece of legislation to tie the opposition in legal knots while pretending to facilitate a democratic transition.” The law is filled with exclusions of people who get amnesty. The Venezuelan constitutional law expert Ramón Escovar León said “the breadth of the language allows for expansive interpretations, and, consequently, the possibility of generating new threats of legal persecution.” O’Grady concludes that “the end of one era cannot be proclaimed while the legal instruments that made the previous era possible remain in place.” 

“U.S. Opens Military Action in Ecuador Against ‘Terrorist Organizations,’” New York Times, March 3, 2026

The Pentagon said March 3 that the United States has launched joint military operations with Ecuador against what it calls  “terrorist organizations” in that country. Eric Schmitt and Luis Ferré-Sadurni of the Times said the move “appeared to be a major expansion of the U.S. military’s unilateral strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific that the Trump administration has accused of carrying drugs.” They said U.S. Special Forces soldiers are helping Ecuadoran commandos carry out raids against suspected drug shipment facilities and other drug-related locations, according to an unnamed U.S. official.  Americans are helping plan the raids and providing intelligence and logistics support but not actually carrying them out. “The operations are a powerful example of the commitment of partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to combat the scourge of narco-terrorism,” said the U.S. Southern Command. Ecuador is the world’s largest exporter of cocaine despite the fact that it doesn’t produce it. It is the trafficking route for criminal groups in Peru and Colombia. A Trump administration military campaign against alleged drug trafficking has since early September killed 150 people in 44 known strikes against boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. Legal experts say the killings are against the law because the military can’t target civilians who do not pose an imminent threat of violence even if they are suspected of committing crimes.  Ecuador has emerged as a key ally in the use of military force against smugglers. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa is using it to fight drug gang violence that has led to a record number of homicides in his country. He wanted the United States to build military bases in Ecuador but Ecuadorans rejected that approach in a national referendum. Noboa said March 2 that he is also targeting illegal mining.  About three weeks ago the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine met with military leaders from around the Western Hemisphere to better coordinate against drug trafficking and criminal organizations in the region. 

“Under Pressure from Trump, Cuban Leader Calls for ‘Urgent’ Economic Change,” New York Times, March 2, 2026

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said March 2 that an “urgent transformation” is needed of the embattled country’s economic model. Speaking before Cuba’s Council of Ministers, Diaz-Canel said municipal governments and the private sector should be given more autonomy. He urged more foreign investment in energy and a “resizing of the state apparatus,” but his call for change was vague and lacked detail, said Times reporters Luis Ferré-Sadurni and David C. Adams. The oil-starved country, whose supply of oil has been choked off by a U.S. blockade, “is facing one of its  most severe economic and humanitarian crises in decades,” they wrote. Blackouts have virtually paralyzed the economy, school hours have been cut, surgeries called off at hospitals and gasoline sales reduced to the point that many residents bike or walk to work. Meanwhile, “food prices have shot up as tons of imported food shipments have been held up at ports.” President  Trump has hinted that after attacks on Venezuela and Iran, bringing down the Cuban government may be next, although he recently said a change in leadership could wait if he can reach an agreement with the current government to “avoid chaos.” Trump said last week “maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba.” Diaz-Canel spoke of municipalities increasing partnerships with the private sector and of luring investments from Cubans living abroad. He also called for the ramping up of food production. Although Cuba has taken some steps since 2021 to open up its private sector, experts question whether how much it can do without greater dismantling of government control of the economy. Ricardo Torres, an economist at the American University, described the proposals by Diaz-Canel as “change so that everything remains the same.” What is needed is “an implementation program with clear priorities, defined responsibilities, deadlines and popular control,” said Carlos Miguel Pérez Reyes, a businessman who is a member of the Cuban legislature. 

“Argentina’s Top Union Sues to Halt President Milei’s Sweeping Labor Overhaul,” Associated Press, March 2, 2026

The biggest trade union group in Argentina filed suit to block a sweeping overhaul of labor legislation approved by Congress Feb. 27 at the urging of President Javier Milei.  The General Confederation of Labor said in  the suit filed March 2 that the legislation violates constitutional principles. The group said that more than 300,000 jobs have been lost since Milei’s presidency began in late 2023. “Milei considers the changes to Argentina’s half-century-old labor code crucial to his efforts to lure foreign investment, increase productivity and boost job creation in a country where about two in five workers are employed off the books,” AP said. The courts must now decide whether to issue an injunction suspending the legislation until they issue a final ruling. The Wall Street Journal reported Feb.28-March 1 that the legislation permits companies to extend work days from 8 hours to 12 hours, subject to an existing 48-hour per week cap"  (“Argentine Senate Is Poised to Pass Labor Overhaul"). Overtime can be compensated with time off instead of extra pay. “Dismissals would become cheaper and more predictable” for employers. The legislativo also limits the right to strike by requiring essential services to keep 75 percent of their operations running. Critics say the cheaper firings and longer work days could accelerate the loss of jobs. Proponents of the measure say it will help to lure foreign investors deterred by the country’s labor rights.