Lula and Latin America With 12 of its 18 neighbors on the right, Brazil reelected Lula

Of Brazil's 18 neighbors on Publimetro's list, 12 are governed by the right, the center-right or the center/center-right, from Milei's Argentina to Kast's Chile and Abelardo de la Espriella's Colombia^[2].

In South America, besides Brazil, only two countries are outside that group: Uruguay, under center-left Orsi, and Venezuela, under the acting presidency of Delcy Rodríguez^[2].

On January 3, 2026, US forces, with more than 150 aircraft, captured Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores in Caracas. The two were taken to New York, where they are accused of narco-terrorism conspiracy^[3].

"We're going to make sure that that country is run properly," Trump said^[3]. On August 28, he announced a deal for the US to control 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil, negotiated with acting president Delcy Rodríguez. He called it "the biggest oil deal in world history"^[4].

On July 30, 2025, the US Treasury sanctioned Alexandre de Moraes, a justice of the STF (Brazil's Supreme Court), under the Magnitsky Act, a US law that punishes foreigners. Days earlier, the State Department had already revoked his and his family's visas^[5].

A day after the reelection, Trump said, without evidence, that Lula's victory seemed to be another rigged election. No evidence of fraud was presented. The head of the TSE (Brazil's electoral court), Nunes Marques, recognized the result^[6].

In October 2025, standing next to Milei, Trump warned Argentines ahead of the legislative election: "If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina"^[7]. Days earlier, the US had announced a $20 billion currency swap with the country^[8].

Two days before Honduras's election, Trump backed Nasry Asfura and said that if he lost, the US would "not be throwing good money after bad." The same day, he announced he would pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, a former president convicted in the US and sentenced to 45 years for drug trafficking^[9].