This is our Tuesday Sociedad Media Now newsletter focusing on renewing security relations between the United Staes & Colombia, Russian espionage services in Mexico & Daniel Ortega’s vow to supporters to end future elections in Nicaragua.
Ortega Declares an End To Elections in Nicaragua, Vowing to Block “Yankees” & ”Somocistas” From Power
MANAGUA — Marking the 47th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, Daniel Ortega declared Nicaragua will never hold elections again, vowing that parties backed by “Yankees” and “Somocistas” will never return to power.
The announcement — made after 61 days out of public view — closes off any legal path for the opposition ahead of Nicaragua’s next scheduled vote in 2027, building on last year’s constitutional reforms that named Rosario Murillo co-president and on a government already sanctioned by Washington as a dictatorship.
Mexico’s Russian Spy Problem Resurfaces & Sheinbaum Draws a Careful Line With Washington
MEXICO CITY — A new State Department report on Cuba has revived a diplomatically delicate question for Mexico: why hasn’t it expelled the more than two dozen alleged Russian intelligence officers the CIA identified back in 2022, still operating under diplomatic cover?
President Sheinbaum addressed the matter at her July 20 press conference, confirming roughly 250 foreign agents operate in Mexico under Security Cabinet oversight, while — per REFORMA — directing the Foreign Ministry to evaluate disclosing some of their nationalities, a careful balancing act as U.S.-Mexico relations navigate USMCA talks and recurring friction over unauthorized American operations on Mexican soil.
Colombia’s President-Elect Announces New Security Alliance Upgrade With U.S.
Colombia’s incoming government has agreed to “Plan Patriota 2.0” with Washington before president-elect Abelardo de la Espriella has even been sworn in — a deliberate revival of the 2004 Uribe-era counter-guerrilla program’s branding, this time centered on a new Regional Training Center Against Drug Trafficking and Transnational Threats.
The agreement, arranged through de la Espriella’s incoming defense minister and Pentagon officials, marks a sharp reversal from outgoing President Gustavo Petro’s often-adversarial relationship with Washington and folds Colombia into the broader Shield of the Americas coalition alongside Ecuador and Peru's incoming Fujimori government.
