THE return of Donald Trump to the US presidency raises the spectre of him renewing his interventions and “regime change” efforts in neighbouring Latin America, alongside giving a massive boost to the region’s significant far-right forces.

On the latter point, one place where this will be of particular concern to progressives globally is the economic powerhouse Brazil. Here, the far right — and top Trump buddy — Jair Bolsonaro lost the last presidential election to Lula in 2022. Now, anti-democratic forces have welcomed the Trump victory and are now seeking a renewed wave of organisation.

Bolsonaro himself has said: “Trump is back, and it’s a sign we’ll be back, too,” and this week said he has been invited to the upcoming inauguration.

It’s important to remember what a disaster Bolsonaro was in office. His disastrous pandemic denial led to hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths from Covid-19; there was a deadly increase in violence against women, black communities, and LGBTQ+ people; a massive assault on (already extremely inadequate) indigenous rights and environmental protections; austerity programmes that increased poverty and inequality disastrously; and rampant privatisation alongside attacks on union rights and civil liberties.

And, of course, Bolsonaro was also widely seen as encouraging his far-right supporters in a failed coup attempt against Lula when he first returned to the presidency, of which legal proceedings are ongoing.

Specifically, Brazilian police have released a report saying that he “planned, acted and was directly and effectively aware of the actions of the criminal organisation aiming to launch a coup d’etat and eliminate the democratic rule of law.”

In terms of how this could directly interact with Trump’s return, the Wall Street Journal has even reported that Bolsonaro is banking on Trump pressuring Brazil with sanctions to force a reversal of a ban on him holding office until 2030.

What we can say for sure in the tumultuous times ahead, is that Brazil’s left political movements, trade unions and massive social movements (such as the MST landless movement) will need our solidarity — and amplifying of their collective forces — in the months and years ahead, while hopefully social progress deepens in the country, including through the reduction of poverty through important social programmes introduced by the Lula-led government.

And it’s not just Brazil where the interaction between Trump and the domestic far right will have a big impact on political developments.

Social and left movements in other countries in the region have reason to be wary of Trump’s return too.

In countries such as Argentina and El Salvador, where the far right currently governs at the cost of great economic and social misery, the ghastly regimes will feel they now have a friend in the White House.

Meanwhile, bordering the US, Mexico is greatly aware of the waves of xenophobia he has enabled against that country and its people over many years.

In Bolivia, activists will remember how the US enabled a military coup there against the elected Evo Morales-led government in 2019.

And in Honduras where the progressive government has sought to move away from US domination and neoliberalism in recent years, there is already grave concern about US meddling and intervention in upcoming elections coming up at the end of the year.

Earlier this month, after Trump threatened to use the military to force through mass deportations to places in the region including Honduras, President Xiomara Castro showed that her government will not just accept US bullying, saying:

“Faced with a hostile attitude of massive expulsion of our brothers, we would have to consider a change in our policies of co-operation with the US, especially in the military field, in which without paying a penny for decades they maintain military bases in our territory that in this case would lose all reason to exist in Honduras.”

According to the Honduran Vice-Chancellor, Tony Garcia, if the Trump administration’s mass deportation plan comes to fruition, close to 250,000 Hondurans could be deported in 2025 alone.

And Trump’s Latin America agenda also involves direct intervention through sanctions and other means to try to force illegal “regime change” in the interests of the US and its mega-corporations.

While the geopolitical landscape has changed since Trump left office in 2020, having repeatedly threatened military action against oil-rich Venezuela, there is no evidence that the US’s long-standing desire to destabilise the Venezuelan government and achieve “regime change” is off the table.

In fact, recent legislation that even further tightens sanctions — and last week the US putting a massive bounty on the head of Nicolas Maduro — show that this hostility continues to deepen, as illustrated by a New York Times editorial this week advocating military intervention.

And the same applies to other countries in the region too — Trump introduced illegal sanctions on Nicaragua in office. He has regularly made clear his hostility to Cuba and wish to force “regime change.”

With the hawk Marco Rubio at Trump’s side as Secretary of State, in the months and years ahead Latin America then looks set to be facing xenophobia, tariffs, sanctions, military interventions, coup attempts, public support for the far right and more besides.

From the left internationally then our message must be clear — Trump, keep your hands off Latin America!

Join the protest in London when Trump is being inaugurated to show we are united against his reactionary agenda at Downing Street, 5pm, Monday January 20.

For more information visit Brazilsolidarity.co.uk.