José Antonio Kast, presidente electo de Chile, ha arribado a El Salvador para reunirse con el mandatario de ese país centroamericano Nayib Bukele este viernes. Lo primero que el fundador del Partido Republicano, de la extrema derecha, realizará será un recorrido por el Centro de Confinamiento de Terrorismo (CECOT), una megacárcel situada a unos 74 kilómetros al sureste de San Salvador y sobre la que pesan acusaciones de vulneraciones a los derechos humanos por parte de organismos internacionales como Amnistía Internacional y Human Rigths Wath (HRW).

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U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that opens the door to imposing tariffs on imports from countries deemed to be supplying crude oil to Cuba, a move designed to raise the external cost of keeping Havana’s energy lifeline open and further constrain fuel flows to the island.

En apenas 24 horas, todos los focos han vuelto a concentrarse en Sinaloa. El ataque a balazos en la capital contra dos diputados de Movimiento Ciudadano y el secuestro de 10 mineros al sur del Estado son la nueva constatación de que la violencia no da tregua. Sinaloa lleva más de un año sometida al fuego cruzado de la guerra intestina entre facciones del crimen organizado. El detonante, la supuesta traición al veterano capo Mayo Zambada, coincidió prácticamente con el inicio de la Administración de Claudia Sheinbaum, que asumió el polvorín sinaloense como una de las máximas prioridades de su estrategia de seguridad. El saldo del dispositivo federal, con mucho peso del Ejército, no es muy luminoso. Más allá de aumentar los decomisos de droga y la detención de algunos capos en la mira de Estados Unidos, otro factor de presión que añadir a un cóctel endiablado, los datos duros muestran que la violencia no ha disminuido. Más bien, sigue subiendo mientras se acumulan los crímenes de fuerte impacto simbólico, como los de estos días.

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Una orden ejecutiva publicada a última hora de la tarde del jueves en Washington es la herramienta con la que Donald Trump ha consumado la asfixia petrolera a Cuba: la estrategia con la que está convencido de que provocará a lo largo de este año la caída del régimen castrista, superviviente a más de seis décadas de bloqueo estadounidense. En 2.207 palabras, el inquilino de la Casa Blanca anuncia la posibilidad de aranceles para los países que proporcionen crudo a La Habana, ya contra las cuerdas energéticas tras el fin de los suministros que recibía de Venezuela.

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Cartagena se convierte durante cuatro días en el epicentro del pensamiento y la cultura de América Latina. Este jueves 29 de enero ha arrancado la vigésima primera edición del Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias, un encuentro que reúne más de 180 participantes procedentes de 25 países en conversaciones, talleres y actividades que abarcan literatura, cine, periodismo, filosofía, música, teatro y ciencia.

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By Ron Cheong

News Americas, Toronto, Canada, Thurs. Jan. 29, 2026: Donald Trump’s political approach has not been defined by a consistent commitment to long-term institutional stewardship – either domestically or internationally. To assume otherwise risks attributing to him a degree of altruism or strategic coherence that his record does not clearly support.

Mark Carney’s responsibility, by contrast, is narrowly defined: to safeguard Canada’s interests. That is what he has sought to do. Faced with erratic threats, the use of tariffs as leverage, and diminishing regard for rules-based cooperation, Canada’s choices have narrowed: acquiesce and absorb repeated shocks, or chart a more deliberate course grounded in clarity, discipline, and resolve.

It would be reassuring to believe that these challenges will fade with a change in U.S. leadership. But Trump is better understood not as an aberration, but as a prominent manifestation of a broader American political current – one increasingly skeptical of alliances, resistant to external constraints, and prepared to deploy economic power coercively. That current is unlikely to vanish overnight. Expectations of a simple return to earlier norms therefore risk confusing nostalgia with strategy.

Binding Agreements Strained — Treaties Treated as Contingent

Recent years have underscored a difficult reality for Canada:

• Agreements, even when formally ratified, can be reinterpreted or disregarded.
• Treaty commitments may be suspended through executive action.
• Stability can erode not because rules cease to exist, but because one party signals that compliance is optional.

The central question is no longer whether the United States will formally withdraw from the USMCA, but whether its conduct increasingly resembles partial disengagement – through tariffs, contested justifications, and the politicization of border administration.

In practice, many Canadian businesses and policymakers already operate on that assumption.

Tariffs are no longer confined to conventional trade disputes; they have become instruments of political signaling. The long-standing belief that economic interdependence would reliably constrain political behavior appears less certain. In some cases, political imperatives now drive economic decisions.

A Watershed Moment in the Global Order

For decades, the United States benefited from an international system reinforced by reserve-currency status, deep capital markets, and broad geopolitical trust. There are growing indications that aspects of that system are being reassessed.

What is unfolding is not collapse, but adjustment. Some countries have chosen to diversify reserve holdings, including through increased domestic custody of gold. Gold prices reflect this broader uncertainty. Holdings of U.S. Treasuries are being reduced incrementally – not in panic, but as part of longer-term risk management. Few actors seek a disorderly outcome that would undermine assets they still hold.

This is how systemic change often appears: gradual rather than dramatic, cautious rather than declarative.

The Limits of Negotiating with a Bully

There has been a persistent belief that Trump could be effectively constrained through negotiation alone. Experience has called that assumption into question.

When tariff threats were linked to geopolitical demand such as pressure surrounding Greenland several countries declined to comply, responding instead through coordinated diplomatic resistance. Figures such as Carney emphasized collective resolve rather than bilateral concession.

Subsequent U.S. messaging shifted, with references to prospective frameworks lacking clear institutional endorsement. Observers differed on interpretation, but the episode reinforced a recurring pattern: pressure applied, resistance encountered, narrative adjusted.

History suggests that coercive bargaining rarely stabilizes relationships. Concessions offered under pressure often invite further demands. Durable outcomes, by contrast, tend to emerge from clear limits combined with consistent engagement.

History’s Warning

Historical analogy should be used with care, but certain lessons recur.

In 1938, Neville Chamberlain returned from Munich asserting that concessions would secure peace. Within months, further territorial expansion followed, culminating in a broader European war.

Appeasement, in retrospect, did not preserve stability.
It weakened deterrence.

Contemporary disputes – whether involving Panama, Colombia, Greenland, Venezuela, Iran, or even close partners such as Canada, differ profoundly in context and scale. Yet the underlying logic of pressure and response remains familiar.

Canada as a Trading Nation

Canada is fundamentally a trading nation. Beyond exporting goods, it depends on durable commercial relationships and deeply integrated supply chains.

For many years, Canadians assumed that the U.S. relationship, unequal but fundamentally pragmatic, rested on shared economic self-interest. Highly integrated economies, it was believed, would avoid actions that imposed disproportionate harm on themselves.

That assumption now warrants re-examination.

The Risks of Escalatory Economic Threats

Threats of sweeping tariffs, such as a hypothetical across-the-board increase tied to Canada’s pursuit of diversified trade, would carry serious risks for both economies.

Such measures could disrupt housing, automotive manufacturing, energy markets, and cross-border supply chains with unusual speed and severity.

Canada is not a great power. But it is a capable one: resource-rich, institutionally stable, and deeply embedded in global markets. Treating it as economically subordinate would not only strain bilateral relations; it would undermine shared economic resilience.

What Middle Powers Must Do

So what course remains for Canada?

The one middle powers have historically taken under pressure.

Stay calm.
Stay strategic.
Stay firm.

Avoid panic.
Avoid theatrics.
Avoid reflexive concession.

There is a difference between compromise and capitulation. Between diplomacy and dependency. Between reducing risk and institutionalizing vulnerability.

Geography is immutable. The United States will remain Canada’s closest neighbor and largest trading partner. Abrupt disengagement is neither realistic nor desirable.

But neither can Canada accept a condition of recurring economic coercion – where each political cycle introduces renewed uncertainty.

That is not partnership.
It is not stability.
It is not free trade.

Canada cannot control the direction of U.S. domestic politics. But it can reduce its exposure to their volatility. Success will not be measured in rhetoric or applause, but in whether Canada becomes, over time, more resilient – harder to pressure, harder to isolate, harder to threaten economically. That is stability.
Not submission.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Ron Cheong, born in Guyana, is a community activist and dedicated volunteer with an extensive international background in banking. Now residing in Toronto, Canada, he is a fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Toronto. His comments are his own and do not reflect those of News Americas or its parent company, ICN.

RELATED: Taking The Sign Out Of The Window – Mark Carney’s Illuminating Leadership: The Path For Middle Powers

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Jan. 29, 2026: Trinidad and Tobago-born rapper Nicki Minaj says she has received a special U.S. immigration “gold card” from President Donald Trump, signaling what she described as a fast-tracked path toward U.S. citizenship.

Minaj made the disclosure on Wednesday, hours after appearing alongside Trump at a U.S. Treasury Department summit promoting the administration’s new child investment initiative known as “Trump Accounts.” Posting on X, the rapper shared an image of a gold-colored immigration card bearing Trump’s likeness, captioned simply: “Welp.”

She later wrote that she was “finalizing that citizenship paperwork as we speak as per MY wonderful, gracious, charming President,” adding that while the card typically costs up to US$1 million under the program, she received it at no charge.

The so-called “gold card” was created under a September executive order and is designed to offer an alternative pathway to citizenship for highly skilled or high-profile foreign nationals. The White House has not yet commented on Minaj’s specific case.

Born Onika Maraj in Trinidad and Tobago, Minaj has previously spoken openly about her immigration history. In a 2018 social media post, she said she entered the United States as an undocumented child at the age of five, criticizing family separations at the border during Trump’s first term.

At Wednesday’s Treasury event in Washington, Minaj appeared onstage with Trump and businessman Kevin O’Leary, at times holding the president’s hand while he praised her publicly. Trump told the audience he believed Minaj planned to donate significant sums to Trump Accounts on behalf of her fans, though no formal details were provided.

While addressing the crowd, Minaj described herself as “probably the president’s No. 1 fan,” adding that criticism of her political stance has only strengthened her support.

Trump, for his part, praised the rapper, acknowledging that her endorsement has not been without backlash. “She took a little heat because her community isn’t necessarily a Trump fan,” he said. “But I just think she’s great.”

Minaj’s appearance and comments mark a notable political turn for one of the most internationally recognized artists of Caribbean descent, placing immigration, celebrity influence, and U.S. policy squarely at the center of a widening national debate.

RELATED: From Undocumented Immigrant To Trump’s “Number One Fan” – Nicki Minaj Embraces MAGA Spotlight

News Americas, KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Jan. 29, 2026: St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr. Godwin Friday, has laid out his first national budget since taking office – and the figures reveal both ambition and constraint as his administration grapples with rising debt costs, disaster recovery, and tight revenue growth.

Presenting the 2026 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, Friday announced a US$703 million fiscal package, a modest 2% increase over last year’s approved budget, signaling continuity rather than expansion in public spending.

The budget is expected to be financed largely through US$336 million in current revenue and US$362 million in capital receipts, reflecting continued reliance on project-based funding and external inflows rather than organic revenue growth.

A Budget Under Pressure

Recurrent spending for 2026 – excluding debt amortization and sinking fund contributions – is projected at approximately US$374 million, leaving a current deficit of about US$39 million.

“That deficit is not new,” Friday told Parliament, acknowledging that successive administrations have run deficit budgets. “Our challenge is to shrink those deficits over time.”

Revenue projections are slightly weaker this year, driven largely by a sharp 40% drop in non-tax revenue, after the government confirmed there will be no repeat of World Bank reimbursements tied to Hurricane Beryl cleanup under the BERRY Project.

Last year’s budget benefited from a one-off US$7.4 million retroactive reimbursement. That cushion disappears in 2026.

Where the Money Comes From

Tax revenue is projected to reach approximately US$282 million, up marginally by less than 1%. Growth is expected mainly from:

• Taxes on international trade, rising by about US$1.7 million
• Income and profit taxes, climbing roughly 6.5% to US$48 million

Non-tax revenue is forecast at US$53 million, driven largely by government goods and services, expected to generate US$44 million.

Debt Is the Quiet Risk

The most striking pressure point in the budget is debt servicing.

Total recurrent expenditure – including amortization and sinking fund contributions – rises to US$484 million, a 13.7% increase over last year.

Debt amortization alone jumps to US$100 million, up nearly 26%, while sinking fund contributions climb to US$9.3 million. “Amortization is worrying,” Friday admitted — a rare note of candor that underscores the long-term fiscal challenge facing the small island economy.

Wages, Pensions, And Transfers

Public sector compensation increases by US$14.5 million, reflecting wage obligations and staffing costs. Pension payments rise modestly to US$34.6 million, including:

• US$29 million for civil service pensions
• US$5.6 million in government contributions to the National Insurance Services, (NIS)

Transfers for training, grants, and regional obligations rise by about US$10 million, adding further strain to recurrent spending.

Capital Spending Gets Tighter – And More Targeted

Capital spending for 2026 is set at US$213 million, a 17% reduction from last year, reflecting a more restrained public investment program.

Still, key ministries will see significant allocations:

• Transport & Works: US$42.7 million
• Education & Vocational Training: US$23.5 million
• Higher Education, Grenadines Affairs, Ports & Airports: US$29 million
• Finance & Economic Planning: US$70 million
• Housing & Informal Settlements: Nearly US$15 million

The focus, Friday said, will be on roads, sea defenses, schools, clinics, and public buildings, with an emphasis on resilience and essential services rather than large new initiatives.

The Bigger Picture

Friday’s first budget is less about bold expansion than fiscal navigation – balancing debt obligations, disaster recovery, and public expectations in a constrained economic environment.

The message is clear: the new government inherits limited fiscal space, rising debt costs, and fewer one-off supports – and the hard choices are just beginning.

RELATED: What Now After Davos

EL PAÍS celebra su medio siglo de historia durante la XXI edición del Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias. Tras el evento inaugural en España con la participación del fundador de Microsoft, Bill Gates, los actos conmemorativos continúan en Colombia dentro de este festival cultural y de ideas, que comienza este jueves y finaliza el domingo. La programación preparada por el diario reúne a destacados periodistas y escritores para reflexionar sobre ambos oficios y sus desafíos.

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The British Ambassador to Honduras, Juliana Correa, attended the inauguration of President Nasry Asfura on 27 January at the National Congress. During the ceremony, Ambassador Correa delivered a letter from His Majesty King Charles III to President Asfura, reaffirming the UK’s commitment to strengthening political dialogue and advancing shared priorities, including democratic stability, sustainable development, and social wellbeing. 

By Maria Muradyan 

Most of the narratives about immigration are wrong. They are simplistic, outdated, and dangerous. — Ernesto Castañeda.  

This quote carries particular weight here in Washington, DC, where harmful rhetoric and harsh policy are produced just a couple of blocks away from immigrant communities who face its consequences directly. For decades, the topic of immigration has been at the forefront of American political discourse. Americans on opposite ends of the aisle have consistently disagreed on immigration policy and whether or not we as a country have a responsibility to accept people who cross the border and enter America “illegally”. Opinions on the topic, though always polarizing, have transformed and intensified drastically in the last decade, with the election of President Donald Trump and the emergence of the “MAGA” movement. The slogan “Make America Great Again” can be most often associated with right-wing populism, conservative nationalism, but perhaps most famously, a narrative that casts Latin American immigrants as threats to national security and as a strain on American society. 

The current administration’s rhetoric and policy on immigration have single handedly created one of the most polarized political environments in American history. As the political climate has shifted, these ideological divisions have fueled a wave of widespread misconceptions and stereotypes about Latino immigrants, who they are, why they come, and the impact they have on American society. These harmful misinterpretations not only distort public attitudes but also pave the path for harsh immigration policies and are used to justify the unlawful and inhumane deportation practices carried out by ICE in Washington, DC, and across the nation. 

In an effort to better understand these stereotypes and the effects they have on victims and their families, I conducted an interview with Dr. Ernesto Castañeda, a migration scholar, professor, and Director of Immigration Lab at American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies. Dr. Castañeda is a leading voice on how misconceptions shape the lived experiences of immigrant communities in DC, and how enforcement, family separation, and uncertainty shape the lives and psychological well-being of youth. 

The first false assumption he addressed is the belief that America has become ‘overflooded with immigrants’. Dr Castañeda pointed out that actual population data proves just the opposite. According to a Pew Research study conducted in 2023, immigrants make up roughly 15% of America’s population (52% being from Latin America). Not only this, but out of the total number of individuals not born in America, undocumented immigrants made up a mere 27% (Pew Research 2025). Locally, immigrants constitute about the same share of the D.C. population as they do nationally. All immigrants make up about 13% of the population, out of which 11.3% identify as Latino (American Immigration Council 2025) 

When looking at data from the 2024 election year, an analysis of tens of thousands of statements made by Trump showed that he repeated the sentence ” [South American countries are] emptying out their prisons and their mental institutions into the United States ” or similar ones over 560 times during his most recent re-election campaign (Marshall Project 2024). Dr. Castañeda explains how these repeated claims are what perpetuate stereotypes such as Latinos are ‘dangerous criminals, ‘ invading the country, and ‘using up public resources. ’ When average Americans, with little knowledge or exposure to immigrants, hear these statements repeatedly, they will inevitably begin to accept them as facts. However, long-term empirical studies show us otherwise. Research analyzed by the Journal of Criminology over the span of 24 years showed that no evidence exists that links undocumented immigrants to the number of violent crimes in the country. Not only this, but this study found that increases in the immigrant population within the states correspond to decreases in the prevalence of violence and crime (Light & Miller, 2018). 

According to Castañeda, current narratives fail to take into account that the vast majority of Latino immigrants come to America to ‘study, work, contribute to science, to work in hospitals, to get married, and that is rarely part of the story’. Furthermore, as he explains both in his book Immigration Realities and in our interview, immigrants actually rely on public assistance at lower rates than U.S. citizens, and this is true even for their U.S born children. They also play an essential role in keeping the economy and population growing. Immigrants contribute to scientific progress, cultural creativity, and the continuation and spread of American ideas and culture. Any evolving society needs new people to sustain itself, and throughout history, immigrants have taken on that role in the United States. 

While these negative narratives dominate the national conversation, their most immediate impact becomes visible in places like DC, where families must confront fear and instability while navigating their day to day lives. The Shrine of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic Church, which is just a short bus ride from the White House, has long served as a place of worship for the Catholic Latin American community in DC. However, in the last several months, it has become a hub for ICE attacks this October. The Associated Press reports that over 40 members of the parish have been recently deported as churchgoers are ‘fearful to leave their homes, get food, medical care or attend Mass’. The Archdiocese of Washington describes these mass deportations as “instruments of terror” for the Latino community of DC. The climate in the city remains especially volatile for mixed status families, who must live with the fear that their loved one will be detained while doing their daily tasks. This became a reality for one member of the Sacred Heart Church whose husband was detained by ICE while selling fruits and vegetables at the family owned fruit stand. She says, “ It’s been a very difficult, bitter month of crying and suffering…our lives changed forever one day to the next” (Associated Press, 2025) 

Stories like these are not limited to Sacred Heart but are a reflection of the unique set of challenges that mixed-status families face in DC and across the nation. These effects are already being felt in DC high schools and universities, where Dr. Castañeda notes the current political environment is having consequences on youth in these mixed status families. He states, “Youth are afraid for themselves and are afraid for their families, for their friends, for the communities…that makes it harder to focus on school, we see that in the universities, we see that with colleagues, we see that with staff members who have undocumented family members”. A 2024 study published by the Journal of Latinx Psychology followed a sample of youth who are US citizens but lived in mixed status families. They discovered that exposure to current violent immigration enforcement, such as witnessing a parent or loved one deported, significantly increases severe anxiety, fear, and depression among the sampled youth. These psychological effects extended beyond the immediate family members, as the trauma was felt even when enforcement actions targeted people in their community rather than someone directly inside the home. Their study also confirmed that anti-immigration stigma quickly becomes internalized, as adolescents in the study reported feeling ashamed of their background, immigrant family, and language (Lieberman et al., 2024). 

These effects could be expected to be felt especially strongly in DC due to the high prevalence of Latino youth immigrants who arrived a decade prior. Beginning in 2014, DC saw a large surge in unaccompanied youth, between the ages of 13-18, who came to America to unite with their parents, grandparents, or extended families. Castañeda explains that since this group of youth has reached a legal adult age, ICE agents might be ‘looking for an excuse to deport them’. As ICE revisits these old cases of unaccompanied minors, they are also using this as an opportunity to track down their immediate and extended families as well as their sponsors. Subsequently, the result is a painful cycle in which youth who once struggled to reunite with their family, once torn apart by borders, must now live in psychological torment and fear of losing each other once more. Current immigration enforcement practices are undoubtedly a form of psychological violence that produces hypervigilance, fear, and depression, and will cause long term trauma in immigrant communities. 

Looking ahead, it is clear that America is in dire need of immigration reform, one that is based on facts, research, and empirical evidence, rather than stereotypes. However, Castaneda notes that the general public is not to blame, as one cannot expect regular Americans to understand topics as complex as immigration law. Rather, this responsibility falls on our lawmakers who must put aside partisanship and focus on creating solutions that maintain the dignity of immigrants, while addressing the realities of the current day border.  

Castañeda explains the best form of immigration reform would be what he calls “generous amnesty”, or a broad pathway to legalization. Individuals and families who have been living in America for an extended period of time and have built entirely new lives must be given a path to citizenship. This is both a moral imperative but also it is a sentiment that, according to him, is largely supported by most Americans on both sides of the aisle. Recent Gallup polls confirm this fact, as 64% of Republicans and 91% of Democrats classify immigration as a positive (Gallup, 2025). A generous amnesty does not mean an open borders concept. Rather, it is a way to create legal paths to citizenship, so that migrants have other options rather than resorting to crossing the border. It is only natural that individuals and families desperate for survival will resort to the only option available to them.  

Second, the US is becoming an aging nation with a retiring workforce and a declining birth rate. With the declining population and lowered birth rates, many key industries, such as agriculture, are having projected worker shortages, unable to meet the labor demands. The Economic Policy Institute finds that “Achieving historically ‘normal’ GDP growth rates will be impossible, unless immigration flows are sustained” (Bivens 2025). Employment based immigration is one way through which the government can offset this issue. Granting a greater number of H-1B and H-2B visas can help balance these effects by bringing in younger and eager individuals who are ready to work in these essential positions. 

In conclusion, data, decades of research, the realities in DC, and Dr. Castañeda’s expertise make one point unmistakably clear. The narratives that dominate our national conversation about immigration are misinformed, outdated, and harmful to those who live with its consequences daily. The political rhetoric from our nation’s leaders creates instability, fear, and psychological trauma in immigrants while simultaneously distorting the public’s perception of the issue. Research continues to show that immigrants make America stronger, enriching society, unifying communities, and bettering the economy. Dr. Castañeda’s work reminds us that looking ahead, we must demand from our lawmakers a change that is rooted in the recognition of these principles and the creation of dignified paths to citizenship.  

As I reflect on my childhood and the little girl I was when I first arrived in America, I see no difference between myself and another little girl today arriving from El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras, Cuba, or Guatemala. We all carried the same fears of an unfamiliar place, the same uncertainty, the same dreams of a brighter, better future in this country. The only difference between the treatments we received was the country we came from and the political implications that country brought with it. It is time that we begin to approach immigration with greater empathy, remembering that we ourselves, or our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, once stood in these very same shoes. Latino immigrants have positively shaped this nation from the beginning of its history, and they continue to do so today. These facts are unmistakable, the human suffering is devastating, and the need for humane immigration reform has long been overdue. 

Maria Muradyan is a senior at UCLA studying Political Science with a strong interest in American politics and public policy. She participated in UCLA’s UCDC program in Washington, DC. Her interests include immigration policy and community advocacy, with a particular emphasis on how political institutions and policy frameworks shape social and economic outcomes. Through her research and writing, Maria aims to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of contemporary policy debates and their real-world implications. 

References 

Castañeda, Ernesto (2025, November 21st), Personal Interview on Immigration. 

Geiger, A. (2025, August 21). What the data says about immigrants in the U.S. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/08/21/key-findings-about-us-immigrants/  

Immigrants in the District of Columbia – American Immigration Council. (2025). American Immigration Council. https://map.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/locations/district-of-columbia/?utm_source=chatgpt.com  

The Marshall Project. (2024, October 21). Fact-checking Over 12,000 of Donald Trump’s Statements About Immigration. The Marshall Project. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/10/21/fact-check-12000-trump-statements-immigrants 

Light, M., & Miller, T. (2018). Does Undocumented Immigration Increase Violent Crime? Criminology, 56(2), 370–401. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12175  

Henao, L. A., & Stanley, T. (2025, October 27). Immigration crackdown sows fear among Catholic church community in US capital. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/immigration-crackdown-catholic-church-washington-874e6deca9e54a4e14081c63adca7718  

Jamile Tellez Lieberman, Dsouza, N., Valdez, C. R., Pintor, J. K., Weisz, P., Carroll-Scott, A., & Martinez-Donate, A. P. (2024). Interior immigration enforcement experiences, perceived discrimination, and mental health of U.S.-citizen adolescents with Mexican immigrant parents. Journal of Latinx Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/lat0000263  

Saad, L. (2025, July 11). Surge in U.S. Concern About Immigration Has Abated. Gallup.com; Gallup. https://news.gallup.com/poll/692522/surge-concern-immigration-abated.aspx  

The U.S.-born labor force will shrink over the next decade: Achieving historically “normal” GDP growth rates will be impossible unless immigration flows are sustained. (2025). Economic Policy Institute. https://www.epi.org/publication/the-u-s-born-labor-force-will-shrink-over-the-next-decade-achieving-historically-normal-gdp-growth-rates-will-be-impossible-unless-immigration-flows-are-sustained/?utm_source  

Seven sitting heads of government and one president-elect from Latin America and the Caribbean shared the stage in Panama on Wednesday to call for deeper regional integration, an increasingly rare show of cross-ideological alignment in a polarized region. The message was delivered at the International Economic Forum Latin America and the Caribbean, backed by CAF and designed as a high-level convening point for governments, business leaders and multilaterals.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has revived his sharpest anti-Trump rhetoric days before a planned meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, calling on Washington to “return” Nicolás Maduro so he can be tried in Venezuela rather than in U.S. courts.

Bogotá, Colombia – 15 people were killed in a place crash in eastern Colombia on Wednesday morning, including a lower house lawmaker and a political candidate.

The aircraft, operated by government airline Satena, was flying from Cúcuta to Ocaña, two cities in the North Santander department in eastern Colombia, when it disappeared from radar roughly eleven minutes before landing.

After an initial search and rescue effort, authorities were alerted to the wreckage site by local farmers.

“The national government, through the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation Authority, confirm with deep pain the deaths of the people who were on board the HK-4709 plane from Cúcuta to Ocaña,” read a government statement on Wednesday afternoon.

The confirmation came some five hours after the plane left radar coverage; it was due to land at 12:05PM but last made contact with air traffic control at 11:54AM.

On board the plane was Diogenes Quintero, who holds a “peace seat” in the Congress, reserved for victims of the armed conflict. Also on the flight was ​​Carlos Salcedo Salazar, a candidate for the same seat in upcoming elections.

The cause of the plane’s disappearance is unclear, but local authorities have pointed to adverse weather conditions. However, investigations remain ongoing.

The route from Cúcuta to Ocaña was inaugurated last year and welcomed as a symbolic step forward in conflict-struck Catatumbo, long disconnected by air from major cities.

Featured image description: A Satena airplane.

Featured image credit: Wikimedia Commons.

This article was originally published on The Bogotá Post and shared with permission.

The post Commercial plane crash in Colombia kills 15 people, including lawmaker  appeared first on Latin America Reports.

By NAN ET EDITOR

News Americas, Washington, D.C., Jan. 28, 2026: Trinidad and Tobago–born rapper Nicki Minaj is now publicly embracing former President Donald Trump – calling herself his “No. 1 fan” and dismissing criticism of her political turn as motivation rather than deterrence.

“I will say that I am probably the president’s No. 1 fan,” Minaj told the crowd Wednesday at a U.S. Treasury Department–hosted summit in Washington, D.C., marking the launch of so-called “Trump Accounts,” a new tax-advantaged savings program for children.

“And that’s not going to change,” the 43-year-old performer added.

Minaj, born Onika Maraj, said backlash over her support has only strengthened her resolve. “The hate or what people have to say does not affect me at all. It actually motivates me to support him more,” she said. “We’re not going to let them get away with bullying him and smear campaigns.”

Her remarks came just ahead of Trump’s own speech at the event, where she claimed divine protection over the former president. “He has a lot of force behind him, and God is protecting him,” she said.

A Sharp Turn From 2020

Minaj’s endorsement marks a striking reversal from her public stance during Trump’s first term. In 2020, she said she would not “jump on the Donald Trump bandwagon,” and had previously spoken openly about coming to the United States as an undocumented child.

In a widely shared 2018 post, Minaj criticized family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border, writing that she herself entered the country without legal status as a child.

“I came to this country as an illegal immigrant,” she wrote at the time. “I can’t imagine the horror of being in a strange place & having my parents stripped away from me at the age of 5.”

She urged authorities then to stop the practice, calling it “so scary” and pleading for compassion toward children detained at the border.

Rising MAGA Visibility

Minaj’s appearance at the Treasury summit is part of a broader pattern of increasingly visible alignment with conservative causes. She recently appeared at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest and has spoken favorably of Trump during interviews and public events – a shift that has drawn both praise and backlash, including online calls for her deportation.

“I have the utmost respect and admiration for our president,” Minaj said at a recent event. “He’s given so many people hope.”

The rapper has also drawn attention for public feuds, including a recent clash with former CNN host Don Lemon, whom she criticized on social media.

Some have suggested her embrace of the president is to help her brother and husband, who have faced legal challenges, obtain a pardon. Her husband, Kenneth Petty previously served four years in prison as a Level 2 sex offender after he was found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl, whom he held at knifepoint, in 1994.

Her brother, Jelani Maraj, has also faced legal issues. In 2017, Maraj, then 38, was convicted of raping an 11-year-old girl at his Long Island residence. Maraj said the accusations were invented by the victim’s mother to go after Minaj’s family’s fortune. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in 2020.

What Are “Trump Accounts”?

The summit focused on the launch of Trump Accounts, a provision included in last year’s tax legislation. The program provides a $1,000 government contribution for U.S.-citizen newborns, invested in stock market index funds and accessible when the child turns 18 for approved uses such as education, home purchases, or starting a business.

Parents can contribute additional funds annually, with employers, relatives, and philanthropic organizations also allowed to participate. The accounts are managed by private financial firms and are subject to taxes upon withdrawal.

Trump argued the initiative would give children “real assets and a shot at financial freedom,” while critics say it favors families with the means to contribute and does little to address early childhood poverty.

Minaj did not address those criticisms directly but praised the initiative as expanding opportunity for future generations.

RELATED: Has Nicki Minaj Gone Full MAGA?

One Year into Trump 2.0, Some Immigration Myths are Shattering, but Some of the Big Lies from the 2024 Trump Campaign Continue

By Ernesto Castañeda, PhD

One year into Trump’s second administration, significant developments have reshaped U.S. immigration policy. This piece examines key changes and events, clarifies factual misunderstandings, and analyzes how immigration has been framed and discussed in media coverage and political commentary.

Biden Did Not Have an Open Border

It is factually wrong to claim that “Biden had an open border policy and welcomed a record number of undocumented immigrants.” Although this claim is frequently repeated, it is misleading. Following the COVID-19 Pandemic, the U.S., along with the rest of the world, closed its borders for months. Under the pretense of public health, Title 42 was used to block access to asylum at the border. Thus, many individuals seeking asylum, attempting to reunite with family members, or workers reporting to jobs in the United States were trapped en route. Ultimately, a lot of people were forced to wait in Mexico for their opportunity to request asylum, and hundreds of thousands of people were deported from the border shortly after entry. 

Interestingly, after the end of the pandemic and the eventual lift of Title 42, members of the Biden administration came up with creative solutions to deal with a border surge — which again was not caused by the Biden administration but was a by-product of the pandemic and the terrible political, economic, and security conditions across much of Latin America and the Caribbean. In response, the Biden administration implemented the use of the CBP One mobile application, an app developed during the first Trump administration, which allowed individuals to obtain a spot in line to present themselves at border ports of entry for an orderly metered process to enter and request asylum. This was not a promise that all of them would be granted asylum or allowed to stay, but it did allow them to start their legal process. 

There were technical problems with this trial app, and in practice, it amounted to an online algorithmic lottery that created competition among hundreds of thousands of people for appointments. Nevertheless, it was an improvement from sleeping in camping tents during the winter while in line at border entrances in Mexico, or having notebooks where people wrote their names to hold their place in line on a first-come, first-served basis. The CBP One app also generated data on who sought to enter the country and on those permitted to enter. 

Other alternatives to detention, such as ankle bracelets and other tracking apps, allowed the U.S. government to identify newcomers and track their whereabouts. These tools have been used by ICE under the current Trump administration to locate and deport individuals who entered legally under these programs. As I said following Trump’s election, ICE agents would be tempted to detain and deport these easy-to-find immigrants in temporary or between immigration statuses in order to fulfill quotas while inflating the numbers of “dangerous” deportees.

Given hemispheric geopolitics, the Biden administration also created a legal program, known as CHNV, for certain people with family or contacts in the US who could offer financial support if needed and vouch for them to enter the U.S. legally through airports from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, to apply for asylum. These new programs were created for populations from countries to which the U.S. was sympathetic, and because these countries would not accept deportations. These programs shifted what could have been undocumented immigration flows into technically legal immigration flows. These new arrivals quickly received work permits so that they could work legally. This system became a lifeline for the U.S. economy and a lifeline for essential workers, allowing the U.S. economy and society to recover faster from the negative effects of the COVID pandemic.

Images of lines at the border and people sleeping in the streets of El Paso and in front of the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City after the busing of immigrants and the unfortunate statements from New York’s Mayor Adams seemed to make these arrivals unmanageable, but as we have researched at The Immigration Lab, new arrivals have managed to find jobs to pay for the housing, food, and other expenses and even send some money to family in their places of origin. These individuals enter with permission from the government, which knows who and where they are. They are not undocumented nor “illegal.”

The Biden administration deported hundreds of thousands of people from the border, and people from Mexico and many other countries were not allowed in. 

The Biden administration actively helped individuals fleeing crises in Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, as well as those displaced from violent conflict in Ukraine and Afghanistan. Most people were coming into the U.S./Mexico border, raising their hands, waving, presenting themselves to authorities at the border, giving their information, and then following the procedures and instructions that they were given. Many, but not all, of them were then legally allowed into the country, granted work visas soon after staying a few days on the streets of host cities like El Paso, New York City, or Washington, DC. The great majority of the new arrivals eventually found places to rent and obtained jobs in the broader economy. Today, many are either still working or have been deported with no legal grounds or reasons beyond fulfilling ICE quotas to reduce the number of people of color born abroad.

Any serious discussion of immigration must take into account the barriers preventing people from returning and rebuilding a life in their country of origin, including instability, political repression, and economic hardships in countries like Venezuela and Haiti. 

Claims that the Border is Now Secured 

Border communities in the United States have long been safe, as documented in our book “Immigration Realities.” It is true that fewer people are arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border seeking entry, but this is not purely a Trump effect.  There are five main reasons for this: 

1) The pandemic created a bottleneck influx of immigrants that eventually eased during the second part of the Biden administration. The programs discussed above (CBP One and CHNV) onboarded quickly those people who had been waiting at the border for years before. These numbers had already begun to decrease in the last months of the Biden administration due to policy changes and the organic leveling off from the bottleneck and pent-up demand. 

2) There was lower demand for people from Ukraine and Afghanistan to enter through the border. 

3) Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama, and Colombia were pressured by the U.S. to make it even harder to cross the Darien Gap and to get close to the U.S./Mexico border. Many of these countries used their military to control, dissuade migration, and deport people, often without due process. As a result, new arrivals stopped.

4) On January 20, 2025, Trump declared a national emergency at the border and sent the military to certain areas of the border. 

5) People from Latin America are largely no longer arriving seeking to apply for asylum because, contrary to international and U.S. law, people are not allowed to enter the country by applying for asylum at the borders. Title 42 conditions have become chronic. These immigration policies, along with the strong campaign rhetoric, dissuaded many from entering the country, whether illegally or legally.

At his January 20, 2026, press conference, Trump compared his desire for the U.S.-Mexico border to that of North Korea. Likewise, in order to carry out these mass deportations quickly, authoritative actions of going against civil liberties are needed, as seen in Minnesota. He also boasted that “the border is secure” and with “no legislation” on the topic. 

For those concerned about “chaos at the border,” or upset that some new migrants were entering with permission at the border while others could not previously, do not worry. Most of the new arrivals have lost their legal status; many have been detained or deported, or are in the process of moving back. Their absence will have negative consequences for the U.S. employers, neighbors, and communities that relied on them. 

All Immigrants Are Criminals

Trump promised he would deport “the worst of the worst.” Many voters, and even some immigrants themselves, supported and voted for Trump, believing that he was referring only to criminals, not themselves or their loved ones.  As 2026 is already showing, nothing could be further from the truth. Most people detained and deported have no criminal records. For Trump and MAGA, no immigrants from non-majority White countries were welcome or innocent. Even if they had an H1-B visa.

The goal to deport the “worst of the worst” to send ICE or the National Guard to reduce crime in cities was always a lie. There is no need to keep repeating it as either a supposed campaign promise or ICE’s mission, only to compare it to the excesses we have seen on the streets this year. We do not need to abolish ICE; we need amnesty to regularize people. Local police and courts can handle the small percentage of foreign-born individuals who commit crimes. At some point, Trump officials said that most immigrants detained had a criminal record or could build one in the future. In hindsight, the criminalization of migration that Trump and Vance were promoting during the 2024 presidential campaign was successful because they (barely) won the elections. But since the election, those happy with Trump closing the border were in the low 50s in polls at their highest points in time. On January 23, 2026, the views on the border are 50/50; nothing to campaign on. Most people who identify as Democrats and the great majority of independents oppose ICE. Regarding immigration policies in general, the administration is underwater, with many more people saying they have gone too far than supporting it.

In 2025, many Democratic elected federal politicians had been saying on TV interviews that Trump had won the immigration argument, meaning electorally but also implying empirically and in terms of policies. Immigration policies as a whole have been toxic. Contrary to the desire of people in the center right to deport all people without a current immigration status, detentions and deportations in the first year of this Trump administration have largely focused on people who entered legally with a visa or CBP One, people applying to renew their TPS, or asking for asylum. People have been arrested in immigration courts even when judges have not asked for removal. Some individuals have been arrested during their naturalization ceremonies just minutes before becoming citizens. This makes sense if one cares more about quotas and about removing people who are not seen as White before they become American citizens and/or have more U.S.-born children. Trump has also gone after birthright citizenship and has asked for denaturalizations —stripping citizenship from those who proactively jumped all the hoops to become citizens. These facts, along with the many dog whistles and open loudspeaker broadcasting to extreme right subcultures in public speeches, conferences, and X posts, show that the energy behind all these immigration policies is White Christian Nationalism. A dream about racial purity, one not too far from being open to using violence to achieve it, possibly leading to genocide if nobody opposes it. Fortunately, most Americans are against that. But many of those in favor of the current full immigration agenda openly say they do not want religious and racial minorities in the U.S., and even want more to be done. There is no staying neutral on these matters while people are shot at, imprisoned, and terrorized.

Unfortunately, in early 2026, I still hear some elected Democrat officials and operators saying that Trump “had won the immigration debate.” That is false. Others claim without evidence that Trump won, including in 2024, because of his promise to close the border. They forget the 2016 promise about the border wall and how little he built. They do not explain why anti-immigrant claims against caravans and Central American immigration did not help him win in 2000. Other problematic praises from Democratic officials come along the lines of saying, “Trump did a great job closing the border to undocumented immigrants, and that this is a good thing, that should continue.” MAGA without MAGA.

That is disrespectful to the undocumented immigrants and their communities, which would prefer to vote Democrat but are repulsed by such Trumpian comments. In another sense, polls and massive protests show that most people in the interior do not really care about the status of border crossings. What most people care about today is what we see in Minneapolis and what we saw before in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, New Orleans, and many other places around the country. That is an excessive use of force by ICE to find our neighbors who happen to be undocumented. Violations of the Bill of Rights, unconstitutional stops, entering homes without judicial orders, and racial profiling.

Mass Deportations are Regular Politics

The number of undocumented people in the U.S., between 8 and 15 million, and probably around 11 million when Trump retook the Presidency constitutes around 3% of the overall population in the United States. For the U.S. to get rid of all its undocumented population, it would indeed need something related something akin to an authoritarian state. That is what we have started to see, and that is what most people don’t like because there are undocumented kids in schools. There are undocumented nurses. There are undocumented teachers, agricultural workers, construction workers, and also people with their own businesses providing professional services, designing and renovating homes, etc. So, in order to find them, we will have to trample the civil liberties of many citizens. Is it worth it? I don’t think so. So, rather than just calling for the abolition of ICE, reform, or a return to the status quo so that the minimum due processes are followed before deportation, we have to start talking again about amnesty, paths to citizenship, and expanding chosen ways for legal immigration. Because, despite a false rhetoric that this was about “illegality,” this second Trump administration has also limited the legal pathways for migration. He has limited people’s ability to seek asylum. He has really reduced the number of refugees, made it more difficult and expensive to obtain professional visas like the H-1B visa, and curtailed other forms of legal migration, including for international students, the diversity visa lottery, and other programs that had bipartisan consensus that they were good for the country. He has also limited the ability to apply for new immigrant visas and green cards for people from over 75 countries, plus a travel ban of at least 19 countries, and has declared places such as Belize as safe third countries, making gaining asylum in the U.S. more difficult if people passed through those countries and making it easier to deport people from third countries there.

So, it is a masquerade to say that this was only about illegal immigration or getting criminals off the streets. These have been other of the big lies of the 2016 and 2024 campaigns. It is time that we get rid of those lies and we talk about the truth. We need immigration reform that allows people who are already living and paying taxes in the U.S. to do so legally, safely, and as fully recognized members of society. And lastly, we must establish a new legal pathway for newcomers because the country needs workers to keep the U.S. population and economy growing. So that’s what we need today. That’s the truth about immigration.

Ernesto Castañeda is a Professor at American University, where he leads the Immigration Lab and the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies. He has been studying immigration scientifically for over 20 years and has written many books on the subject, among them “Reunited: Family Separation and Central American Youth Migration” and “Immigration Realities: Challenging Common Misperceptions.”

Medellín, Colombia – As Hurricane Maria rampaged through Puerto Rico – the deadliest to hit the island in modern history – Nicole González, a Boricua living in the diaspora, was working on the Mars Rover at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab. 

She lost contact with her family in Puerto Rico for two weeks as the island went dark when the Category-4 storm made landfall with winds of up to 249.5 kilometers per hour (155 mph) in September, 2017. 

“It was all-consuming, and the question that kept replaying in my head was: how can we, as a society, have figured out how to power rovers on Mars for over 10 years, but we can’t manage to keep the lights on for people here on Earth?,” González explained while in conversation with Latin America Reports. 

“A year later, driving through the mountains of Puerto Rico, I saw a hand-painted sign on a home that read ‘365 days without power and counting…’ That image never left me.” 

When Maria hit, Puerto Rico had already been dealing with the effects of Category-4 Hurricane Irma, which had made landfall two weeks prior, on September 6, 2017, and caused two-thirds of the island to lose power. 

Both disasters damaged over a million households, prompted the collapse and obstruction of roads, and led to the deaths of an estimated 4,500 individuals; 64 died from the storm directly – via structural collapse, flying debris, floodings and drownings – but most casualties were associated with lengthy power outages and disruptions in basic services. 

As the power outage hindered dialysis, ventricular assistance, and respiratory machines, it also made it nearly impossible to access health records and store medicines such as insulin. Data also estimates that it cost the U.S. $1100 billion USD in economic damages. 

“Even though I grew up in the diaspora, Puerto Rico was always home in the emotional sense – my family, my roots, my history are there. And every time I was back, the reality of energy insecurity was impossible to ignore,” said González. 

“It wasn’t a theoretical problem; it shaped daily life for the people I love and beyond.” 

González realized that access to something as basic as energy should not depend on slow policy timelines or macro infrastructure; she left NASA, earned a masters’ in Design Impact Engineering from Stanford, and learned to design with communities rather than for them.

Today, the startup she co-founded, Raya Power, makes a plug-and-play solar-plus-battery energy system that does not require professional design or installation, and can be set up in just a few hours. 

A history of instability  

Puerto Rico’s energy crisis much predates the 2017 disasters – as well as the controversial transmission and distribution agreement with Canadian-American firm LUMA Energy in 2020. 

The unincorporated U.S. territory’s electricity infrastructure was initially designed as a colonial patchwork, according to a Yale University study. In the early 1900s, hundreds of small private plants were primarily owned by U.S. sugar corporations, and provided urban centers with power – leaving rural areas in the dark.  

With the 1947 Operation Bootstrap, which sought to convert Puerto Rico from an agrarian economy to an industrial one, officials consolidated the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), which included guaranteed federal funding. 

Another paper published in the Journal of Political Ecology found that, through PREPA, the island gradually reverted to dependence on fossil fuels. By the 1970s, more than 90% of the island’s power came from imported oil, subjecting it to serious market risk. 

PREPA later filed for bankruptcy in 2017 after accumulating $9 billion USD in debt. The Puerto Rican government then signed an agreement with LUMA on June 22, 2020, which granted the private firm full operational control over the island’s electric grid for 15 years.  

LUMA took over operations on June 1, 2021, although the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) had warned since October 2020 that the agreement would lead to full privatization and higher rates for Boricuas.

Most recently, in December 2025, the Puerto Rico government under Governor Jennifer González-Colón sued LUMA as a first legal step to cancel its contract, following years of chronic outages, increases in power bills and the slow reconstruction of the grid following Hurricane Maria. 

“This is unacceptable. They sold the people of Puerto Rico on the idea that they were experts in handling federal issues, that they were experts working on refunds, and that wasn’t true,” Governor González-Colón told AP News last month. 

In a statement, the company noted it is “proud of the measurable progress we have made but there is still more more to be done,” adding that it believes the lawsuit is politically motivated. The firm’s CEO, José Pérez Vélez, also said that the consortium will resort to “all necessary defenses” to maintain the validity of its contract, as per Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día. 

How feasible are solar alternatives? 

Regardless of political pushback against the perceived inefficiencies of LUMA and prior discontent with PREPA, the fact remains: Puerto Ricans cannot rely on their power systems. 

Just this past April, the island saw a system-wide power shutdown which was “not triggered by weather conditions.” 

“The fact that the Event happened under clear weather conditions- commonly called ‘Bluesky’ events- raises serious concerns, especially given similar large-scale blackouts that occurred on April 6, 2022, and December 31, 2024,” investigators also noted. 

Communities are therefore finding resilient ways through which they can remain connected. According to a September 2025 report by IEEFA, more than 10% of electricity consumption in Puerto Rico now comes from rooftop solar – projected to increase 60% by 2028. And, as of 2025, 18.58% of homes in the island have solar installations. 

Raya Power’s alternative, however, is as “easy as getting a new refrigerator or even as setting up an Ikea table in your home,” according to González.

“We set up the system in just a few hours, and unlike traditional systems that push power back to the grid, Raya powers your critical appliances directly. When the sun is shining, Raya powers your connected devices and charges its built-in battery; at night or on cloudy days, it seamlessly blends stored energy with grid power,” the Raya CTO added. 

When the grid goes down – as many Puerto Ricans now learned to expect – Raya switches automatically to run off-grid, powering fridges, air conditioners, internet routers, and lights without interruption. 

Democratizing solar energy, then, is at the cornerstone of the company’s mission: “It’s about giving individuals real control over their energy, their safety and their stability, regardless of where they live or what kind of home they’re in. Not someday, but now.” 

Raya’s technology could not come at a better time. On January 22, the administration of President Donald Trump announced it had cancelled solar projects in Puerto Rico, initially aimed at helping 30,000 low-income families in rural areas achieve power stability. 

A regional approach

Beyond Puerto Rico, however, blackouts often take center stage in public conversations across Latin America. 

In February 2025, 90% of Chileans suffered a blackout due to a failure in a high-voltage transmission line; in Buenos Aires, two back-to-back blackouts in March affected more than 600,000 individuals during a heat wave; and the explosion of a transformer at a thermoelectric power plant in Panama prompted a nation-wide blackout in mid-March,. 

Meanwhile, relentless power instability continues to hinder Cubans’ daily life, with the latest blackout occurring on January 26, 2026 – affecting 60% of the country. 

However, Global Energy Monitor, a San Francisco-based nonprofit research organization, estimates that the region could become a global leader in renewable energies, with the potential to increase its utility-scale solar and wind power capacity by more than 460% by 2030. 

On the other hand the World Economic Forum noted that renewables already provide around 70% of Latin American electricity – with higher shares in countries like Brazil and Uruguay. Yet, its Energy Transition Readiness Assessment showed that while Latin America ranks high on sustainability and equity scores, progress in infrastructure, finance, innovation and human capital continues to lag behind. 

The region thus still has a long way to go before solar becomes mainstream – and even further until it becomes accessible to all. Innovations like Raya Power will be imperative. 

“Energy vulnerability is not unique to Puerto Rico. Our plan is to scale first across Puerto Rico and California, then to markets like Hawai’i and the rest of the Caribbean, with opportunities beyond – including other states and Latin America,” González shared.

Featured image: Via Raya Power

Disclosure: This article mentions clients of an Espacio portfolio company.

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MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Jan. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) invites the Caribbean Internet community to participate in the first ICANN Near You event for the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. The event will take place from 3 to 5 February 2026 in Georgetown, Guyana. The inaugural event offers an accessible and responsive approach to addressing region-specific technical and Internet governance needs.

Hosted in collaboration with the University of Guyana and the Internet Society, the three-day program brings ICANN’s technical expertise directly to local stakeholders to help address challenges related to the local identifier system. The University of Guyana plays a central role in the country’s Internet ecosystem, hosting Guyana’s Internet Exchange Point as well as the country code top-level domain name, .gy. The agenda includes hands-on workshops on the Domain Name System (DNS), Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), and security best practices for Internet service providers and network operators, aimed at strengthening local technical capacity and enhancing the resilience of Guyana’s Internet infrastructure.

“The Caribbean premiere of ICANN Near You in Guyana reflects the strong regional and national collaboration that makes the multistakeholder model work,” said Rodrigo de la Parra, ICANN Vice President for Stakeholder Engagement and Managing Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. “We are grateful for the active participation of the Secretariat of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Office of the Prime Minister of Guyana, as well as the contributions of community leaders such as Lance Hinds, Chair of LACRALO, and Internet governance expert Claire Craig, participating through ICANN’s Community Regional Outreach Program (CROP). Their leadership and support underscore a shared commitment to strengthening technical capacity and Internet resilience across Guyana and the wider Caribbean.”

The event will feature sessions highlighting how stakeholders across Guyana, from students to government officials, can contribute to a stable, secure, and unified global Internet. In addition, ICANN representatives will share practical ways with local law enforcement and government agencies to address DNS Abuse and demonstrate how Guyanese stakeholders can further engage with ICANN’s multistakeholder process.

Participating in ICANN Near You in Guyana is free and open to all. The event will be held at the University of Guyana. For additional details and to register, please visit the registration page.

About ICANN
ICANN’s mission is to help ensure a stable, secure, and unified global Internet. To reach another person on the Internet, you need to type an address – a name or a number – into your computer or other device. That address must be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN helps coordinate and support these unique identifiers across the world. ICANN was formed in 1998 as a nonprofit public benefit corporation with a community of participants from all over the world.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Chile’s president-elect José Antonio Kast held their first bilateral meeting in Panama on Tuesday, shortly after arriving for the International Economic Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean — an event promoted by organizers and regional media as a “Latin Davos.”

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Even in today’s connected world, a journey to Antarctica is not a spontaneous trip you decide to take on a whim. It takes a day or two to get to the bottom of South America for the departure point, you need to build in buffer time, and then there are all those decisions on...

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Mexican journalist Carlos Leonardo Ramírez Castro was shot dead in a restaurant owned by his family in Poza Rica, Veracruz state, on January 8. The 26-year-old covered local organized crime for Código Norte Veracruz, of which he was director, and other regional outlets.

Castro was given police protection in 2024 following threats by the municipal police, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). He lost the security detail when he left the state for a few months and it was not reinstated upon his return.

Two young women linked with Castro were also reported missing following the journalist’s funeral on January 10. Castro’s girlfriend Wendy Arantxa Portilla and friend Karime Montserrat Murrieta, respectively aged 23 and 22, have yet to be found.

Castro is the eleventh media professional killed since President Claudia Sheinbaum took office in October 2024, according to RSF, and the first in 2026.

State investigations into the murder and the disappearances are ongoing.

“Break the cycle of impunity”

International press freedom watchdogs widely condemned the assassination and urged Sheinbaum to fulfil her campaign pledges to combat violence against journalists. She had signed a plan elaborated by RSF a few days before the election in May 2024, of which none of the 22 steps have been fully applied, according to the NGO.

The proposal notably demanded reforms to end the use of abusive lawsuits to harass and censor journalists, improved protection and federal investigations into assassinations and disappearances.

The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) said Castro’s death reflected “structural failures in protection and justice systems” and urged Mexican authorities to “break the cycle of impunity”. 

Last year, Mexico ranked as the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists, with nine killed, only second to Palestine, according to RSF’s report. The situation has worsened in the last two years, with four assassinations in 2023 and five in 2024. 

More than half of the journalists killed and three-quarters of the journalists missing in the Americas were in Mexico. In both categories, the Americas accounted for approximately a third of world cases.

Mexican journalists covering crime outside of the capital face a higher degree of violence, according to a 2024 Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Amnesty International report.

The state of Veracruz has proven particularly dangerous recently. In June, the photojournalist Avisack Douglas Coronado, 47, was murdered in Veracruz city while working with a mayoral candidate. 

In another highly publicised case in Veracruz, Rafael Leon Segovia was detained for multiple charges including terrorism after investigating the Veracruz Prosecutor’s office. He was released from house arrest on January 21 as all charges were dropped.

Featured image description: Picture of Carlos Leonardo Ramírez Castro

Featured image credit: RSF

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Bogotá, Colombia – Colombian President Gustavo Petro has said his government will no longer use United Nations estimates of cocaine production, citing inaccuracies in its methodology. 

For months, Petro has rebuked the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for using coca plant cultivation to estimate cocaine production in Colombia, saying on Thursday that the government “will not use it again.”

The UNODC’s methodology has been a thorn in the side of the South American leader; its most recent report estimated a 50% increase in potential cocaine production in Colombia from 2022 to 2023, leading the White House to accuse Petro of being complicit in drug trafficking.

“The indicator of potential cocaine production has been poorly constructed by the UNODC for decades. Given the obscure statistical method employed, the national government will not use it again,” wrote Petro in a post on X last Thursday.

The UNODC estimates potential cocaine production based on the surface coverage of coca crops, the key ingredient used to synthesise the drug. But Petro claims the method is flawed because the body divides Colombia into four coca-cultivating regions and uses surveys of just one region to estimate national production.

“What they do is extrapolate the indices from high-productivity areas to low-productivity areas and overestimate the potential cocaine production,” wrote Petro in another X post.

Earlier this month, the Colombian National Police published its own report on coca production, which found a 56.9% reduction in the area under cultivation in the three years to August 2025.

Petro said that the police methodology, known as the Integrated System of Counter-narcotics Information and Monitoring (Siima), is “more precise” than the UNODC’s.  

While the UNODC uses satellite imagery for its annual reports, Colombia uses more detailed aerial images from planes and drones, taken in quarterly intervals. 

Petro has also argued that coca hectarage alone cannot predict cocaine exports as there are many factors that determine how much of the drug leaves the country; these include law enforcement seizures, disputes between armed groups, and production for the domestic market.

The UNODC accepted Petro’s criticisms in October, writing, “[we] acknowledge that these data face limitations inherent to scientific studies, such as budgetary and security factors.”

The international drug body also supported Petro’s proposal to update its methods: “Changes in drug trafficking make it necessary to broaden the indicators, moving from measuring only potential production to also estimating the cocaine available on the market.”

Announcing his plans to end UNODC potential cocaine monitoring, Petro said the body’s insufficient monitoring methodology was the “basis for the verbal disagreement that happened with President Donald Trump.”

In September, the White House decertified Colombia as a drug cooperation partner and in October added Petro to a list of sanctioned individuals, accusing him of being “an illegal drug dealer.”

The Colombian leader added that he explained the problems in the UN’s methodology to Trump in a de-escalatory phone call earlier this month.

Petro and Trump are due to meet on Tuesday, February 3, and are expected to discuss joint counter-narcotics efforts.

Featured image description: President Gustavo Petro announces the figures from the Siima report on illicit crops.

Featured image credit: Presidencia de Colombia

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