Welcome again Foreign Policy‘s Latin America Brief.
Highlights this week: Mexico and the European Union are updating theirs trade agreementa Brazilian drug gang he travels to Ukraine to gain intelligence on drones, and an exiled Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado he is planning his return.
Senior EU officials were in Mexico City last Friday for the first EU-Mexico summit in more than a decade. They left with something to show for it, to sign an expanded free trade agreement expected to be ratified by both sides in the coming months. It comes after the European Union’s trade agreement with the South American customs union Mercosur was provisionally implemented earlier this year.
The EU’s previous agreement with Mexico covered only industrial goods, but the updated agreement adds services and agricultural products. Also includes measures to facilitate cross-border investment and allow European companies to bid for some Mexican government contracts.
The EU will also collect around 5.8 billion dollars in investments in Mexico which is accompanied by President Claudia Sheinbaum. Plan Mexico economic development strategy, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen he said.
Taken together, these announcements mean that Mexico and European Union countries now have more options for doing business while under fire from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. European Council President António Costa said the agreement is about more than just trade. call it is a “true geographic statement” and a proof of a shared commitment to “principled cooperation.”
The EU and Mexico are currently in a separate trade dispute with the US. Brussels seems to be moving towards a resolution with Washington after the EU countries he agreed to move forward on a draft US trade agreement this month. But Mexico remains in limbo as it begins a review process of its trade agreement with the United States and Canada, known as the USMCA.
More than 80 percent of Mexico’s current exports to the United States. Although Mexico and Canada have said they support extending the USMCA with a few changes, Trump administration officials have floated the possibility of abandoning the deal.
Against that background, Mexico’s agreement with the European Union “comes at the right time,” said former Mexican trade official Juan Carlos Baker. he wrote in Animal Político last week. “According to only one market (especially one that imposes rules on one side and frequent changes) is a big risk that Mexico should reduce through strategic diversification.”
That dependence was shown on Wednesday, when the central bank of Mexico has been lowered the country’s economic growth forecast for this year from 1.6 percent to 1.1 percent, saying that investment was somewhat weak due to uncertainty about the USMCA review.
The EU is Mexico’s second largest source of foreign investment behind the United States. But European investment has not reached its full potential because of the uncertainty over Mexico’s regulatory environment, Valeria Moy, director general of the Mexican Competition Institute, he wrote on Tuesday.
One of Sheinbaum’s first moves as president is a sweep repair of the court which had the direct election of judges and shook the confidence of investors. The new EU-Mexico agreement aims to address such issues. It states that legal disputes over foreign investment will be addressed and a new investment court; courts of this kind in the European Union trade agreements in general is included judges from both parties and third countries.
With the EU deal complete, the Sheinbaum administration is turning to a review of the USMCA. Although it is a tripartite agreement, the United States it started bilateral talks with Mexico first. One round of talks takes place Thursday and Friday in Mexico City, followed by two more in mid-June and mid-July—just in time for the three countries to host the FIFA World Cup.
In public comments and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer this week indicate that despite Mexico’s desire to keep the USMCA unchanged, the Trump administration is seeking to maintain some of its tariffs on Mexico. As a result, Mexico may see reason to be more confident in its growing trade relationship with Europe.
Sunday, May 31: Colombia is organizing the first round of presidential elections.
Monday, June 1: Countries sending teams to the World Cup reached the deadline to announce their full rosters.
Sunday, June 7: Peru is organizing a repeat of the presidential election.
Drones and drug gangs. Brazilian police are investigating suspects from the Red Command drug gang, who traveled to Ukraine to learn about drone tactics used in the war against Russia, a police official said. he told it Brazilian information shops.
The official said that the police had monitored the travel and communication of the men and other people suspected of being members of the gang and gave the journalists a video of the training of drones led by the gang in Rio de Janeiro. On Thursday, the Trump administration appointed The Red Command as a terrorist group.
Brazilians have traveled to Ukraine to fight both sides in war. But the presence of drug traffickers highlights how non-state actors want to increase their use of drones. The Red Order used drones against Brazilian police during government raids in Rio de Janeiro last October; their origin was not clear.
Armed groups inside Colombia and Ecuador they have also used drones against security forces in recent years; Colombian police have begun to develop their own methods of using drones to deal with the situation. In Haitia military contractor employed by the government has used drones to kill hundreds of people in raids against gangs that have also killed civilians, according to reports cited by Human Rights Watch.
Caribbean freedom travel. Barbados and Guyana will soon allow their citizens to travel between the two countries without a passport, their officials said he announced on Tuesday. The new policy is expected to come into effect on July 1. Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali said the move aims to increase tourism and business travel and is part of broader regional cooperation plans.
Travelers will be required to use a digital ID. The announcement is the latest move to liberalize travel in the Caribbean, which has been made go against the grain of broad restrictions on regional migration, citing economic development needs.
Brazil’s national soccer team players train at the Granja Comary training ground in Teresopolis, Brazil, on May 28.Buda Mendes/Getty Images
World Cup Accommodation. As the South American countries announce their World Cup rosters, they also share where the teams will stay during the tournament. The national teams of Argentina and Brazil will be placed near some of the stadiums where they will play in the group stage Missouri and New Jersey known for hosting business travelers.
The national team of Uruguay is heading in the other direction. With its first matches scheduled in Miami and Guadalajara, Mexico, the team has missed a chance luxury rooms in the Mexican resort town of Playa del Carmen. Official of the soccer federation in Uruguay Ignacio Alonso he told it reporters that the team looked for many green spaces where the players could rest and also train.
Iran’s national team also plans to travel from a camp in Mexico to games in the United States, but for a different reason: American authorities did not want the Iranian team to remain on its soil between games, Sheinbaum said. he said on Monday. The Iranian team will be based not far from the border TijuanaMexico.
This year’s World Cup will show whether the adult housing will bring better results on the field. Argentina’s winning 2022 squad remained on a student dormitory in Doha.
Guyana is one of the few countries on the South American continent that is also a member of the Caribbean Community. What else?
Suriname
Colombia
French Guiana
Venezuela
Although other countries have Caribbean coastlines and identities, only Suriname is a member of Caricom.
María Corina Machado speaking during a gathering of Venezuelans in Panama City on May 23.Enea Lebrun/Getty Images
At a meeting of Venezuelan opposition leaders in Panama over the weekend, Nobel Prize winner Maria Corina Machado. he swore to return from exile at the end of the year and compete for the presidency in the next Venezuelan elections. But the schedule of such a competition is not known.
Five months after the Trump administration removed from power the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has done something incomprehensible. references for the requirement of a free vote. US officials have paid more attention restart Venezuela’s oil industry and normalizing relationship with the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former deputy.
Machado’s announcement could increase pressure on Rodríguez to speed up democratic reforms such as freeing political prisoners and allowing journalists to work more freely.
This month, an international group of academic experts on Venezuela and the democratic transition was published suggestions to the country, warning that elections alone—depending on their circumstances—may not bring true democracy.
Venezuela’s 2024 election is a case in point. Opposition candidate Edmundo González won, according to evidence from voting machine receipts, but the Maduro administration claimed victory.
The experts suggested that people of all political stripes hoping for a democratic Venezuela should push for humanitarian improvements, the reopening of civilian areas, guarantees for the armed forces to prevent insurgency, and a negotiated agreement on election terms.
One of their proposals is already underway: They suggested that the more moderate and “maximalist” opposition camps cooperate. The meeting that Machado attended in Panama included different opposition leaders who discussed a common agenda, the Efecto Cocuyo news website said. information. Attendees suggested an election could be held in 2027.
