The top news stories facing the Americas today.
Maduro’s Former “Bag Man” Excites Miami Courtroom — as Delcy Rodríguez Throws Alex Saab to the Wolves
Alex Saab landed at Opa-locka Executive Airport on Saturday night, escorted by DEA agents, and appeared in a Miami federal courtroom Monday on money laundering charges — accused of siphoning hundreds of millions of dollars from Venezuela’s CLAP food welfare program meant for the poor.
Hours later, Diosdado Cabello held a press conference claiming Saab was never legally Venezuelan, conveniently erasing two decades of Chavismo, presenting him as a key regime operative. The man accused of stealing food from Venezuela's poorest now faces justice in the capital of the Venezuelan diaspora.
Latin America Sits on Minerals to Power of This Next Century — Washington & Beijing Know It
Latin America holds more than half the world's lithium, the largest copper deposits on earth, and rare earth elements that underpin everything from electric vehicles to artificial intelligence. Washington has poured more than $1 billion into the region since January 2025. China got there decades earlier and controls 90% of global mineral processing. The question now facing every government from Santiago to Asunción is whether this moment of extraordinary demand can be converted into lasting industrial power — or whether it becomes the latest chapter in a five-century history of resource extraction by outside powers.
Paraguay & Taiwan Partner in Development of World’s Largest AI Data Centers
When Paraguayan President Santiago Peña arrived in Taipei last week at the head of a 40-member business delegation, few expected the visit to produce anything beyond the standard diplomatic ceremony. Instead, he returned with a 50/50 joint venture agreement to build one of the world’s largest artificial intelligence computing centers — combining Taiwan’s semiconductor dominance with Paraguay’s enormous surplus of clean hydroelectric energy. The deal is simultaneously an infrastructure project, a technology transfer arrangement, and a direct geopolitical challenge to Beijing from the only South American country that still officially recognizes Taiwan.
