The Latin American Report # 639

The Ministers of Defense and Interior in Colombia confirmed that their portfolios will continue working with the United States amid the tension characterizing bilateral relations. "Against transnational crime, the response is international cooperation. President Gustavo Petro has given clear instructions to maintain, as has been done, a continuous flow of information with international agencies to combat drug trafficking," said the Minister of Defense, while the Minister of the Interior, the controversial Armando Benedetti, expressed that the CIA, FBI, and HSI will continue operating in the country together with their Colombian counterparts.

It seems the head of the Palacio de Nariño backtracked from the order given this past Tuesday to "suspend [the] flow of communications and other dealings with US security agencies" as long as the US War Department continues blowing (alleged) drug-running boats to pieces in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific. Petro, instead, spoke this Thursday about maintaining coordination between intelligence agencies provided that the information shared by Bogotá is not used in the attacks, although this was not explicitly stated by the first president with a solid leftist tendency in Colombia's democratic history.

"Intelligence information is circumscribed to respect for human rights, [it will be] delivered to the United States if the United States commits to not using it while violating human rights treaties," he defended on his X account. The United Kingdom also suspended intelligence collaboration with Washington directly related to vessels suspected of being involved in drug trafficking in the Caribbean.

Looking good in the Trump's eyes

As I have been consistently observing here, and in a demonstration that the Trump administration's foreign policy is being implemented, Latin American countries aligned with the White House received relief regarding the application of tariffs, and even in the case of Argentina—the most conspicuous—a framework agreement for trade and investments was formalized. Buenos Aires will reduce bureaucracy for certain US exports like cars, food, and medical and pharmaceutical products, while a regulatory environment will also be instituted to "improve the conditions for bilateral and reciprocal access" to their beef markets, something I see connected to Trump's battle to lower the prices of that critical product in the American diet by appealing to Argentine supply, which has been strongly rejected even by part of his organic electorate.

Furthermore, Washington is expected to eliminate 10% tariffs that currently weigh on "certain natural resources not available (in the US) and non-patented articles for pharmaceutical use." The Milei government will particularly advance in "[simplifying] the registration processes for US beef, meat products, offal, and pork products, and will not require facility registration for imports of US dairy products." "It is a privilege and an honor to announce that Argentina and the United States have achieved a Reciprocal Trade and Investment Framework Agreement today," said the Argentine chancellor Pablo Quirno, recently appointed to the position, who also promised that the agreement "creates the conditions to increase US investments in Argentina." Both the Pink House and the White House bet very heavily on defending the Argentine peso as an electoral factor, and for now everything indicates the bet paid off well for them.

A similar dynamic, both in the tariff issue and regarding agreements to streamline bilateral trade, was agreed upon between Pennsylvania Avenue and the Alameda Doctor Manuel Enrique Araujo, from where Nayib Bukele runs the political business in El Salvador. The controversial Central American leader also bet heavily on pleasing Trump very early this year, particularly by making the Salvadoran prison system available for his immigration agenda. The government of Bernardo Arévalo in Guatemala also announced an agreement through which the Trump government reduces the impact of tariffs on its exports to the US market by 70%. Similarly, the Carondelet Palace obtained relief based on the commitment to favor the importation of US products.

This is all for today’s report.