Here is our Tuesday Sociedad Media Now newsletter on the latest developments in U.S.-Latin America relations.
Trump Nominates Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez as U.S. Ambassador to Brazil
MIAMI — Trump’s nomination of Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez as U.S. Ambassador to Brazil puts a first-generation Cuban American from Miami — and a close ally of Secretary of State Marco Rubio — at the center of Washington’s most consequential diplomatic relationship in South America, arriving just four months before Brazil’s presidential election in which Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro are running in a statistical dead heat.
What Washington Wants From a De La Espriella Colombia
With Colombia’s June 21 runoff now set, Washington’s expectations for a de la Espriella government are concrete and far-reaching: resume aerial coca fumigation after a 79% collapse in eradication under Petro; accelerate extraditions of high-value cartel targets; walk back Colombia’s Belt and Road alignment with China; join Trump’s Shield of the Americas security framework; and open the country’s critical mineral reserves to U.S. investment — a five-point reset that would reverse four years of bilateral deterioration and reposition Bogotá as Washington’s closest partner in South America.
