Our Tuesday Sociedad Media Now newsletter on the latest news & developments in U.S.-Latin America relations.
Colombia’s De la Espriella Says No To U.S. “Incursion” But Praises Bombings of Armed Rebel Groups Alongside Trump Administration
De la Espriella has pledged to preserve Colombian sovereignty and ruled out a U.S.-led “incursion” — while simultaneously advocating for U.S. military bases on Colombian soil, joint aerial fumigation operations, bombing narco-trafficking groups alongside American forces, and joining Trump’s Shield of the Americas security framework, reviving a Plan Colombia-style bilateral security architecture that U.S. congressional Democrats are already calling to scrutinize given de la Espriella’s history as a lawyer for Colombia’s AUC paramilitary organization.
Also, analysts warn that Colombia’s complex security landscape — six active armed groups, the world’s largest cocaine production, and 60 years of continuous conflict — is categorically different from Ecuador, where Noboa’s iron-fist approach fragmented criminal groups without reducing violence or denting drug flows.
Washington Declines Renewel to USMCA Before Deadline — Negotiations Continue
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. declined to renew USMCA on July 1 — converting what was supposed to be a routine six-year extension into a permanent annual renegotiation that runs until 2036 — as the agreement itself remains fully in force.
U.S.-Mexico negotiations enter their third round in Mexico City on July 20 with Chinese goods routing, automotive rules of origin, and agriculture all on the table.
Canada has barely begun substantive talks, and Washington is using the review to extract concessions simultaneously on fentanyl, migration, cartel designations, and continental defense — turning the most consequential trade relationship in the Western Hemisphere into a recurring pressure mechanism that Sheinbaum has managed more deftly than any analyst predicted, but that will now repeat every twelve months regardless of how well she manages it.
