Welcome again Foreign Policy‘s Latin America Brief.
Highlights this week: The new economy of Brazilian soccerto change Cuban immigration systems, and increased far to the right Colombian presidential election.
The FIFA World Cup starts next Thursday in Mexico City. Before the game starts, the lists are already showing the story about the evolution of Brazilian football. This year, 25 players in the top division of Brazilian clubs have been to be called for the national teams of other countries, more than three times the previous record.
The professional soccer industry in Brazil has long been protective. But in the past decade, it has gone global—opening up foreign players, coaches, and money. This year, the national team will be coached by a foreigner for the first time in decades.
Brazil’s defensive streak became more difficult after its third World Cup title in 1970, when officials concluded that “we’ve done it all with the Brazilian coaches and we don’t need the rest of the world,” said Brazil-based soccer writer Tim Vickery..
By 2015, that mindset had changed. Brazilian teams were not doing well in South American club competitions compared to the big money they had. And Brazil suffered a humiliating 7-1 defeat by Germany at the 2014 World Cup. “It was obvious that Brazil needed an outside shock,” Vickery said.
Brazilian clubs tried foreign coaches, and one surprised: Jorge Jesus, the Portuguese coach who joined the Rio de Janeiro-based club Flamengo in 2019 and he won rank after rank.
“Brazilian football was very defensive,” Vickery said, but Jesus deployed more players in attack than Brazil’s coaches would have done. “They won with style and swagger,” and “that opened the door for more foreign coaches,” he added.
The Brazilian Premier League began raise the limit of foreign players who can play for each club during a match, which rose from three in 2013 to nine today. In 2021, Brazil adopted a the law that made it easier for private investors to buy shares in football clubs that chose to become for-profit corporations.
For international players, “of course the most important thing is the income of the Brazilian clubs,” Rodrigo Capelo, a Brazilian sports journalist, said. In 2024, Brazil’s top-tier clubs collectively earned $1.9 billion, about 10 times revenues of similar companies in Chile or Colombia—helped by the 2021 law as well as increased funding from gambling companies.
Brazilian clubs started to do well internationally and have done so now he won the top championship of South American clubs seven years in a row. In last year’s FIFA Club World Cup, Brazilian teams won Paris Saint-Germain, Chelseaand Inter Milan.
Most foreign players in Brazil come from other South American countries. They can often earn more in top Brazilian clubs than at home and sometimes more than in smaller European clubs. a few of Europe players later in their life they have also started playing in Brazil.
Colombian wing Andres Gomezwho will represent his country in the World Cup, moved from French club Rennes last year to play for Vasco de Gama in Rio de Janeiro. He he told it Globo Esporte that playing in Brazil helped him become known, saying, “Colombia’s national team coach saw the physical level required by Brazilian football, which is world-class.”
Brazil’s new openness to international footballers and sponsorships is a market change in what is still a fairly closed country. Winning streaks and Brazilian teams that moved towards privatization extracted oil to Argentines defending themselves soccer industry to privatize.
Still, some Brazilian clubs that received large injections of foreign money since 2021 he used it quickly and now they are inside financial crisis.
This year’s World Cup may show whether making Brazilian soccer international can help the national team’s performance. The team’s new coach, Italian Carlo Ancelotti, has won several European club titles. Ancelotti is used to being very egotistical and has made himself famous among Brazilians by learning Portuguese.
“I don’t think there is any Brazilian who is not satisfied with the national team in the hands of Ancelotti,” Capelo said, adding that it represents “a big cultural change for us.” Still, “I don’t know if he has the potential to make a revolution with the current generation of players.”
The world will soon find out.
Friday, June 5, to Sunday, June 7: Acting President of Venezuela Delcy Rodríguez concludes his trip to India.
Sunday, June 7: Peru is organizing a repeat of the presidential election.
Thursday, June 11: Mexico plays South Africa in the opening game of the FIFA World Cup.
Cuba is growing abroad. With the U.S. immigration embargo on Cuba and a severe economic crisis, those emigrating from Cuba have sought other destinations in recent years. Encounters between U.S. border officials and Cubans decreased by 85 percent from fiscal year 2024 to 2025.
At the same time, the data published in Foreign Policy last week exhibition that tens of thousands of Cubans chose to enter or apply for residency in Mexico, Brazil, and Uruguay. Spain, where last year’s numbers are not yet available, has also seen rapid growth in Cuban arrivals. All of these countries have left-wing presidents who are not aligned with Trump, Diana Roy and Gil Guerra wrote.
Cubans still face barriers to access to basic services in those countries, though. Mexico’s refugee service faces funding cuts in 2025 due to the withdrawal of US aid, Human Rights Watch said. information last week, adding that “the near complete absence of government aid means that many find themselves without shelter or food.”
Thousands of Cubans also arrived in Mexico last year because they were deported from the United States, according to Human Rights Watch.
People protest about the lack of chicken amid food shortages caused by restrictions in La Paz, Bolivia, June 3. Marvin Recinos/AFP via Getty Images
Bolivia restrictions. Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz cut his salary for half and is turned off his three ministers while the nationwide protests against his government continue. Paz has refrained from military repression; at one time, he has been sent police remove roadblocks in the capital only to see them speeding back up.
Protesters are protesting Paz’s cuts to government spending and want measures such as raises for teachers. Although they protest economic problems, the restrictions are disrupting essential services and have cost Bolivia’s economy about $2 billion so far, according to the country’s National Chamber of Industry.
An unusual festival. A festival was held in Rio de Janeiro last week to celebrate men’s health. People of art and culture from rappers to evangelical pastors he participated in panels, music performances, and workshops with school children.
At a time when misogyny and right-wing content thrive online, the event aimed to promote how caring and vulnerability can lead to better relationships and other benefits, said organizer Gary Barker, of the nonprofit Equimundo. “Fear and hatred find followers immediately. Peace and love take a little longer,” he said.
Over the years, Equimundo has worked with Brazilian groups, such as Mapear Institute and Man Talkwho try to enlist men to fight against sexual violence. The concert focused on: It was paired with a the meeting which discussed what government and organizational policies can help engage men in gender equality work, featuring participants from Argentina, Chile and Mexico.
While some nonprofit work involves lobbying and digital campaigns, meeting offline has a unique value, Barker said: “There’s nothing like talking to a 10-year-old with eyes.”
In what years did the Mexican men’s national team advance the most in the World Cup?
1966 and 1970
1966 and 1986
1974 and 1994
1970 and 1986
Mexico reached quarterfinalist both years. That was a tournament that—like this—the country played on its home turf.
Colombian presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella speaks to supporters behind bulletproof glass in Barranquilla, Colombia, May 31.Rodrigo Buendia/AFP via Getty Images
Colombia’s right-wing presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella faced intense tension in the first round of the country’s elections. presidential election last sunday, income 43.7 percent of the vote and advanced to the second round on June 21 against the left-wing Ivan Cepeda, who received 40.9 percent of the vote.
Right wing candidate Paloma Valencia and Sergio Fajardo followed in third and fourth place respectively.
The second round of the presidential election will be one of partisan voters—and an uphill battle for Cepeda, since Valencia already endorsed de la Espriella. Atlas Intel opinion poll Monday and Tuesday found that de la Espriella led Cepeda by more than 7 points, with only 3 percent of Colombians saying they were undecided.
De la Espriella has promised to cut 40 percent of Colombian government spending, bomb gang sites, and to implement massive detention of people associated with criminal groups. Cepeda has largely pledged to continue the policies of current President Gustavo Petro, including a major increase in the minimum wage and a security strategy aimed at fighting a ceasefire with armed groups.
Cepeda’s campaign focused mainly on his left-wing base, the editorial board of The viewer he wrote this week, saying that he was wrong to refuse to attend the debates because his campaign leaders were “arrogantly expecting a big victory.”
On Sunday, Petro claimed without evidence that the election results were fraudulent, a claim that Cepeda rejected the next day. How he departs from Petro’s communication style and security policies will be important in his second round position, according to analysts.
While hard-line Colombian politicians did not immediately endorse the candidates for the second round, someone else wasted no time: US President Donald Trump, who has been published long approval of De la Espriella on social networks.
