Trump’s escalation against Venezuela is about more than oil, it is about regaining control over the ‘natural’ zone of influence of the United States at a moment where its hegemony is slipping, argues VIJAY PRASHAD
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.
Far-right forces are rising across Latin America and the Caribbean, armed with a common agenda of anti-communism, the culture war, and neoliberal economics, writes VIJAY PRASHAD
The US is desperate to stop Honduras’s process of social and democratic change, writes TIM YOUNG
FRANCISCO DOMINGUEZ says the US’s bullying conduct in what it considers its backyard is a bid to reassert imperial primacy over a rising China — but it faces huge resistance



