The Latin American Report # 455
Colombian President Gustavo Petro continues to play with fire, following the appointment of Armando Benedetti, a divisive, polemical figure, as interior minister. The move triggered a rebellion within the House of Nariño, resulting in the resignation of several ministers following a formal request to do so from Petro. The situation of the first left-leaning president in Colombia is fragile, and he should not look for moments of tension and rupture on his own. The new interior minister, former ambassador to Caracas and the FAO, has been associated with corruption and gender violence. In 2023, some audios in which he is heard insinuating that ill-gotten money entered Petro's presidential campaign unleashed a big scandal. Benedetti was resentful because he had bet on clinching a position in the cabinet after Petro's coronation, and he also felt ignored during a visit to the presidential office. That´s why it is so difficult to understand that the Colombian president has exposed himself so much by finally bringing him into the cabinet. Or maybe the issue is simple and we want to complicate it?
Benedetti will be the bridge between the House of Nariño and Congress (source).What is the problem with Cuba?
While Maduro barricades himself in the Miraflores Palace, relations with Putin point to a good destiny, and Nicaragua is excluded from an order somehow blocking American strategic tech—IA in particular—for adversary countries, Cuba seems to be the toy that Trump has left for the foreign policy hawks of his administration to have fun with. This Tuesday Marco Rubio announced the introduction of new visa restrictions against Cuban officials allegedly associated with professional services export programs, an activity the U.S. portrays as labor exploitation, modern slavery, or even as a variant of human trafficking. It is a lie that Cuban professionals are forced or coerced to go on these “missions”; if anything, they are forced indirectly by the economic circumstances here. The Obama administration canceled a Bush-era parole program that encouraged many Cuban doctors to defect while deployed abroad and go to the United States, but never accepted them as professionals or provided a roadmap so that they could validate their titles there.
Cuba came to earn handsome profits in the past decade through this route, especially with a PAHO-backed Brazil project during Dilma Rousseff's government, cut—I mean the Cuban participation—after Bolsonaro's victory in the 2018 presidential elections. Before this, Cuba's great deal in this sense was a sort of barter of “doctors for oil” with Venezuela, which lost steam many years ago. The main controversy here is that the government retains for itself a large percentage of the money linked to each contract. However, in the Cuban context, what doctors or teachers receive leaves them in a better position, able to boost their economic status consistently. For example, a great friend who was involved with the Brazilian program could use his earnings to buy a two-story house and furnish it soundly. Now this friend hopes to be able to go to Mexico, thanks to a program negotiated with AMLO. Even if new visa restrictions are not a major problem from a practical point of view, insisting on this narrative is bad propaganda for Havana's efforts to attract dollars.
The United States is expanding its Cuba-related visa restriction policy. @StateDept has taken steps to restrict visa issuance to Cuban and complicit third-country government officials and individuals responsible for Cuba’s exploitative labor export program. We will promote…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) February 25, 2025
For cigar aficionados 👇
Cuba's cigar fair showcases humidors as the new object of desire. By @ARodriguezAP & photos from @AP_respinosa https://t.co/PZgkkERR5Q
— E. Eduardo Castillo (@EECastilloAP) February 25, 2025
Cuba's top cigar maker Habanos said that sales of the company’s luxurious smokes had soared to a record $827 million in 2024 as revenues continued to pour in from fast-growing markets in China and elsewhere in Asia https://t.co/JlyUftL8Pj pic.twitter.com/v4yngT0lk9
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 25, 2025
Chile unplugged
The Chilean electricity system is going through a tense crisis after a severe power outage that left nearly all of the nation in the dark, and which still had not been fully resolved by Tuesday night. The unexpected blackout disrupted the daily life of Chileans, with traffic jams and interruptions in banking, financial, mining, and commercial activities. Health services were also affected. The return of power service, estimated at 50% as this goes to print, has been irregular, with reports of breakages in critical equipment for citizens such as refrigerators. President Gabriel Boric charged against power supply companies. “What happened today outrages us. It is not tolerable that because of the responsibility of one or several companies, the daily lives of millions of people are affected,” he said from the Palace of the Mint. A state of emergency and a curfew were decreed.
Chile declares state of emergency after massive blackout.
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 26, 2025
Millions have been left without power in the worst blackout in the country in well over a decade. It caused transport chaos in Santiago, where thousands of people were evacuated from the metrohttps://t.co/vEaiFNTZC1 pic.twitter.com/zg8KYqOL80
A nice story coming out from Chile anyway 👇
'Non-stop laughs and tears': A mother-daughter reunion unfolds in Chile as a woman taken as an infant during the Pinochet era meets her birth mother https://t.co/YzHT8BD9Sj pic.twitter.com/38T20Xy3IK
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 26, 2025
