Welcome again to International Coverage’s Latin America Temporary.
The highlights this week: Weekend elections in Chile and Ecuador take a look at the ability of the area’s ascendant proper, metropolis governments have a second within the solar at COP30, and america rolls again agricultural tariffs.
We shall be off subsequent week for Thanksgiving and return to your inbox on Dec. 5.
Final weekend noticed two main elections in Latin America: Chile held a common election, whereas Ecuadorians voted on a set of proposals put forth by President Daniel Noboa, together with one that might have allowed overseas army bases within the nation.
Chile’s election outcomes appeared to substantiate that the political proper is on the rise throughout Latin America, from Argentina to Bolivia, fueled by public requires a harder method on crime. However on the identical time, Ecuador’s referendum confirmed that there are limits to the leeway voters will give right-wing politicians to pursue hard-line methods if they don’t present outcomes.
Within the first spherical of Chile’s presidential election, Communist Occasion candidate Jeannette Jara got here in first with round 27 p.c of the vote, however right-wing candidates collectively obtained nearly all of assist. Far-right candidate José António Kast, who completed second, is extremely seemingly to win the runoff on Dec. 14. In the meantime, within the legislature, center-right and right-wing lawmakers grew to outnumber the principle left alliance.
In response to an uptick in crime in Chile lately—homicides rose round 33 p.c between 2018 and 2024—Kast has pledged to create new most safety prisons and praised Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s sweeping detention marketing campaign, which has been closely criticized by the human rights group for its jail-first, ask-questions-later method.
Kast’s sturdy efficiency follows center-right Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz’s election final month and comes as conservative candidates are polling sturdy forward of subsequent yr’s presidential election in Colombia, although polling information there’s restricted. The appropriate-wing wave is a reversal from the group of left-wing governments that got here to energy in Latin America following the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, in Ecuador—a bastion of hard-line safety insurance policies—voters handily rejected all 4 of Noboa’s proposals over the weekend.
Maybe probably the most intently watched query was whether or not Ecuador would enable overseas army bases on its soil, on condition that Noboa has made safety coverage the spine of his presidency. Noboa, who’s intently collaborating with U.S. President Donald Trump on his anti-gang technique, had hoped to host a U.S. base for the primary time since 2009. U.S. Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem visited Ecuador this month to tour potential spots for the bottom.
Whereas the opposite three gadgets weren’t as immediately linked to safety coverage—they weighed whether or not to rewrite the structure, shrink the dimensions of the legislature, and reduce funding for political events—many citizens interpreted the outcomes as a referendum on Noboa’s authorities up to now.
It has now been virtually two years since Noboa declared an “inside battle” in opposition to organized crime in Ecuador and granted expanded powers to safety forces to struggle cartels. A collection of violent incidents and controversies have shaken confidence in Noboa’s technique, together with the alleged involvement of Ecuadorian Air Drive troopers within the deaths of 4 boys within the metropolis of Guayaquil final yr. In 2025, homicides within the nation have risen dramatically; within the first half of the yr, they have been up 47 p.c from the identical interval in 2024.
Voters “felt like the federal government misplaced coherence [and] management,” political analyst Sélene Lopez informed information web site Indómita.
Latin America’s obvious right-wing wave over the previous two years has a minimum of one necessary outlier: Mexico, the place the leftist, extremely in style Morena social gathering secured the presidency once more final yr.
Morena shouldn’t be resistant to dissatisfaction over crime, and protests over insecurity underneath President Claudia Sheinbaum’s authorities occurred throughout the nation over the weekend. However total, Sheinbaum already has a robust file on murder discount: In accordance with authorities numbers, there was a 32 p.c drop nationwide since she got here to workplace in October 2024.
Friday, Nov. 21: COP30 is because of wrap up in Belém, Brazil.
Sunday, Nov. 23: Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva begins a go to to Mozambique.
Monday, Nov. 24: The U.S. designation of Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles as a overseas terrorist group is because of take impact.
Sunday, Nov. 30: Honduras holds a common election.
U.S. tariff aid. Trump eliminated tariffs—which he first introduced in April and later modified—on greater than 200 meals merchandise final Friday, providing main aid to agricultural exporters in Latin America and all over the world.
Espresso, bananas, and oranges have been among the many items affected. Trump’s reversal got here after Republicans fared poorly in native U.S. elections earlier this month that largely centered on cost-of-living points.
The announcement additionally got here as Washington holds bilateral commerce talks with a number of Latin American international locations. Final week, Trump introduced commerce frameworks with Argentina, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Guatemala, whereby the international locations would cut back tariff and bureaucratic obstacles to U.S. imports, together with Guatemalan taxes on U.S. digital providers and Salvadoran tariffs on U.S. industrial items. Trump steered that the international locations would finally get tariff aid in return.
Farther south, Brazil has solely partially benefited from meals tariff aid: A few of its meals exports, resembling espresso and beef, stay topic to greater tariffs that Trump added in July, which Brasília hopes shall be eliminated via ongoing bilateral talks.
U.S. army buildup. Final week, the household of Colombian fisherman Alejandro Carranza stated that it will file a lawsuit in america, claiming that the U.S. authorities wrongfully killed Carranza in one of many latest boat strikes that it has carried out within the Caribbean and japanese Pacific, which have killed a minimum of 83 individuals.
For months, the Trump administration has obtained criticism from Latin American international locations for finishing up what it claims is an anti-drug marketing campaign within the area whereas failing to supply proof that identifies the victims of its strikes. A lot of the army buildup is close to Venezuela, the place President Nicolás Maduro has accused Washington of utilizing the marketing campaign as a canopy for making an attempt to oust him.
America has additionally begun workout routines at army bases in Panama in addition to Trinidad and Tobago, operating jungle coaching in Panama for the primary time in additional than 20 years.
A number of information shops proceed to report back-channel talks aimed toward a possible negotiated exit for Maduro, whom Washington claims leads a drug cartel, as hypothesis rises over whether or not Trump will perform a army strike on Venezuela.
Followers cheer within the streets as Haiti celebrates its victory over Nicaragua and qualification for the 2026 FIFA Males’s World Cup, seen in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Nov. 18.Clarens Siffroy/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Haitian sensation. For the primary time in 52 years, Haiti’s males’s nationwide soccer crew goes to the World Cup. The Grenadiers, because the crew is thought, defeated Nicaragua in a 2-0 match on Tuesday to win their group, which additionally included Costa Rica and Honduras.
The sport passed off in Curaçao; attributable to Haiti’s long-running safety disaster, the nationwide crew has not performed a house sport since 2021. The victory was additional candy for Haitians, because it occurred on the anniversary of the 1803 Battle of Vertières, which paved the way in which for Haiti’s victory over France within the Haitian Revolution.
Qualification for the World Cup happens based mostly on geographic area. Haiti performs within the North American division, from which Curaçao and Panama have additionally certified, as have 2026 World Cup co-hosts Canada, Mexico, and america. From the South America division, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Uruguay are going to the event.
What nation is the world’s high banana exporter?
Guatemala
Brazil
Costa Rica
Ecuador
A person walks previous a globe on the United Nations local weather summit in Belém, Brazil, on Nov. 15.Mauro Pimentel/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
The United Nations local weather summit, which is because of conclude at this time in Belém, Brazil, has been dubbed an “implementation COP” by its organizers—a convention centered on perform unmet pledges made in previous years.
As one technique for this, summit organizers have given a larger-than-usual platform to native governments. Whereas nationwide governments submit emissions targets as a part of the U.N. local weather course of, cities play a serious function in implementing them, stated Caterina Sarfatti, the managing director of worldwide cities alliance C40. A world mayors’ summit in Rio de Janeiro simply earlier than COP showcased new joint initiatives to deal with city warmth and construct sustainable meals programs.
“C40 cities are decreasing per capita emissions 5 instances sooner than the worldwide common,” Safatti informed International Coverage. If cities obtain extra assist and cooperation from different ranges of presidency, within the subsequent 5 years, they may shut 37 p.c of the hole between international locations’ present local weather targets and the extra bold Paris Settlement targets, in response to a latest report by C40 and the International Covenant of Mayors.
Cities have pushed for COP30 negotiators to formalize their function in U.N. local weather talks. “Mayors and subnational leaders may also help join the worldwide COP course of to the surface world and native communities,” Sarfatti stated. The summit determination was initially due at this time, although it was not instantly clear how a hearth evacuation on the convention venue on Thursday may have an effect on that timeline.
“Local weather change is one thing the place cities can cooperate even when other forms of cooperation are troublesome,” Oleh Serniak, the mayor of the Ukrainian metropolis of Pustomyty, informed International Coverage at an Inter-American Dialogue aspect occasion final Friday.
Ukrainian-Brazilian relations, as an example, have been strained lately over Brasília’s comparatively shut relationship with Moscow and resistance to arming Kyiv after Russia’s full-scale invasion started in 2022. However the two international locations have partnered on a number of initiatives at COP30, together with a plan to cooperate on inexperienced industrialization.
“Local weather change is aware of no borders,” Serniak stated.
