The Latin American Report # 485

Venezuela

Some 230 Venezuelans in the United States will be deported to Caracas this Sunday, according to veteran Chavista leader and head of the National Assembly Jorge Rodríguez, in the continuation of an agreement negotiated last February by Richard Grener, Donald Trump's special envoy. The flight will land at noon, and is the second to land in Maiquetia after a Maduro-introduced pause associated with the withdrawal of the license to California-based Chevron to extract and export Venezuelan oil to the United States, a blessing from OFAC that had been very useful to revive the activity of the critical sector and with it a spill-over effect on the Venezuelan economy. But Donald Trump's decision to send nearly 240 Venezuelan migrants to the harsh Salvadoran Terrorism Confinement Center, the largest prison in the entire region, seems to have led Miraflores to retake the agreement to save the Venezuelans from an uncertain fate in Nayib Bukele's lands. Foggy Bottom had also threatened bad consequences if deportation flights were not allowed again.

Yet, far from appeasing the owner of the Resolute desk and the hawks of his administration, what has befallen the Chavista government are more sanctions and punishments, starting with the establishment of so-called secondary tariffs of 25% against all commercial activity with the United States of countries buying Venezuelan oil. The measure had already interrupted the flow of the strategic commodity to China and India. If at first Grener's meeting with Maduro, the declarations he made in the framework of CPAC 2025—about ending regime change efforts—, and the automatic reactivation of Chevron's license—at the behest of a powerful Palm Beach tycoon—seemed to indicate that Trump was ready to deal with the resilient Chavismo in exchange for its collaboration with the deportations, South Florida's Cuban-origin representatives and likely Rubio, Mauricio Claver Carone—Trump's special envoy for Latin America—and Waltz forced a 180-degree turn reminiscent of the maximum-pressure policy inaugurated in 2019.

After the order to Chevron to stop its operations, Reuters is reporting in the last hours that companies based in Spain, Italy, France, and India have received notifications about the cessation of Washington's authorization that allowed them to take crude oil out of Venezuela without being subject to sanctions. In any case, the 25% secondary tariffs left practically no alternative but to close down their activities. The government of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV in Spanish) affirms that the country is capable of guaranteeing “production, supply, economic growth and the satisfaction of needs” in any scenario, but undoubtedly the measures designed in the West Wing are a massive and decisive attack on the jugular vein of the Venezuelan economy, especially if they are enforced with maximum severity. Marco Rubio has discretionary power granted by Trump to decide which countries will be subject to the secondary tariffs associated with Venezuelan crude oil.

_Source

X Mexico

Mexico bans junk food sales in schools in its latest salvo against child obesity https://t.co/cr3iVYBdrN

— The Associated Press (@AP) March 29, 2025

“Canada & Mexico won protections against new US auto tariffs in 2018 as US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, but no evidence that Trump honor those commitments as he imposes 25% duties“

[No sign Trump will honor US auto tariff protections won by Canada, Mexico] https://t.co/ZecxGQRYgM

— Norio Nakatsuji (@norionakatsuji) March 30, 2025

The Panama Canal saga

China State broadcaster-linked Weibo account blasts Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison for bending the knee to the United States via Blackrock

Chinese state media attacked Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison's plan to sell its ports near the Panama Canal to a BlackRock-led group in a social media post on Saturday that was taken down minutes later. https://t.co/t75Pko4ZC6

— Bilyonaryo (@bilyonaryo_ph) March 29, 2025

Brazil

Betting on distant but friendlier markets

Brazil meatpacker JBS to spend $100 million to build 2 factories in Vietnam https://t.co/30b3OzBPAq pic.twitter.com/F55ZW0Niqs

— Reuters Asia (@ReutersAsia) March 29, 2025