Latin America News

The Daily Signal reports on Latin America with conservative analysis of regional politics, socialist movements, economic crises, cartel violence, migration pressures, and U.S. policy toward Central and South American nations affecting American security and immigration.
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  • ‘Latinx’ Unpopular With Actual Latin Americans, Poll Shows

    A new Gallup poll shows just 5% of Hispanics prefer to use the term “Latinx” when asked how they would like to be called. The word “Latinx” represents an attempt by leftist academics and activists to make Spanish gender-neutral—in this case, to avoid using the masculine term “Latino” or feminine term “Latina.” These radicals, uncomfortable…
    Douglas Blair
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  • South America Has an Opportunity to Choose Freedom Instead of More Failed Socialist Regimes

    The world witnessed two presidential elections in South America on April 11. One of them gave the victory to Guillermo Lasso, now president-elect of Ecuador. In Peru, an election that featured a total of 18 candidates is now going into a runoff election between Keiko Fujimori and Pedro Castillo. Both of these elections will have…
    Carlos Ron
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  • 2 Students Who Grew Up in Venezuela Warn About Danger of Socialism

    Venezuela once had a vibrant middle class, despite flaws in governance. However, as two students who grew up in Venezuela explained in a Heritage Foundation webinar, embracing the socialist regimes of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro eventually led to utter ruin for all but that country’s elite. Not only was Venezuela impoverished as a whole,…
    Jarrett Stepman
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  • He Lived Under Socialism in Venezuela. That’s Why He’ll Never Support It.

    Andres Guilarte is a university student who lived in Venezuela under a democratically elected socialist regime. Guilarte says food shortages were a daily occurrence. Venezuelans also endure massive blackouts, political persecution, and a lack of access to health care due to the socialist government. Guilarte joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to share his experiences of…
    Rachel del Guidice
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  • Venezuela’s Dictator Hugo Chavez Packed the Courts

    Almost from the moment Republicans said they intended to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Democrats began to vow they would pack the court if Republicans went through with their plan. “If [Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell] holds a vote [on a Supreme Court nominee] in 2020,…
    Carlos Ron
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  • Can Oil-Rich Guyana Avoid the Venezuela Curse?

    The battle for the future of economic freedom in Guyana is being waged right now.  Its gross domestic product growth has improved in anticipation of an oil boom that is now coming on stream. The oil revenues could transform the country, as a petrostate, into the fastest-growing economy in the region. Alternatively, the country could…
    James M. Roberts
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  • Prospects for Freedom in Venezuela Are High Under Trump

    According to media reports, President Donald Trump recently stated he would consider meeting with the illegitimate leader of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. Specifically, the president stated: “I always say, you lose very little with meetings. But at this moment, I’ve turned [the Maduro regime’s request to meet] down.” In the same interview, he also expressed concerns…
    Ana Quintana
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  • Coronavirus Takes Growing Toll on Latin America’s Economies

    The countries of Latin America so far have escaped the worst public health consequences of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Economic damage, however, is already substantial, and has been greatest for Latin America’s most market-oriented countries. Most prominently hurt has been Chile's export-oriented economy, which is ranked No. 15 out of 180 countries scored in The…
    James M. Roberts
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  • Trump Sanctions Russian Oil Giant in Push for Freedom in Venezuela

    The Trump administration announced Tuesday it has imposed sanctions on a Russian state-controlled oil company that does business with the Venezuelan regime of Nicolas Maduro, the socialist strongman clinging to power as an illegitimate president in the South American nation more than a year after the country’s legislature voted to remove him from office.  The…
    Fred Lucas
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  • Native Venezuelan, Now Proud American, Warns of ‘Fruits of Socialism’

    In the 1980s, Patricia Rucker’s family left Venezuela, planning that her father would work for a time in the U.S. “Venezuela to me was the most perfect country you could have on this earth,” Rucker recalls. “Not only beautiful weather—beautiful people, very moral, very safe, very free, never had an income tax. The Constitution of…
    Daniel Davis
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  • Venezuela Is Still Carrying Out Chavez’s Strategy to Poison America. But Trump Can Stop It.

    Venezuela continues to go down the drain. As the world wonders how thuggish Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro manages to cling to power, we received a fresh reminder that the problems plaguing Venezuelans started long before him. It was Hugo Chávez, Maduro’s predecessor and mentor, who set Venezuela on the road to ruin almost two decades ago. We have…
    James Carafano
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  • The Hard Facts Behind Venezuela’s Oil Crisis

    The citizens of Venezuela have gotten used to spending days parked in mile-long lines for state-owned gasoline as shortages worsened for the nation, which holds the largest oil reserves in the world. In the capital of Caracas, hundreds of motorists waited in lines last month while carrying rocks and pipes to defend themselves as Venezuela’s…
    Kaylee Greenlee
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  • Latin America Is Pivoting From Socialism to Freedom

    South America’s attempt at a leftist version of the European Union is on life support. The regional grouping, called the Union of South American Nations, was founded in 2008 and funded by Hugo Chavez’s then-oil rich Venezuela. The group aimed at spreading Chavez’s “socialism for the 21st century” throughout South America. In the years since…
    James M. Roberts
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  • US, Russia Vie Over the Future of Venezuela

    The crisis in Venezuela is only getting worse by the week. And with Russian backing, it looks less likely that dictator Nicolas Maduro will step aside. Ana Quintana of The Heritage Foundation explains what’s at stake, and what’s going on. Read our interview, posted below, or listen to it on the podcast: We also cover…
    Katrina Trinko
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  • This Man Grew Up in Venezuela. Here’s His Message to Americans Who Want Socialism.

    Socialism is just a theory, an ethos, for many born and raised in the United States. But for Ricardo Pita, who was born and raised in socialist Venezuela and came to America about a decade ago, socialism is not just theoretical. He has a message for those who haven’t experienced it and think it will…
    Jarrett Stepman
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  • ‘Blame America First’ Crowd Is Undermining the Fight for Freedom in Venezuela

    Have you ever watched that inspiring speech at the 1984 Republican National Convention by Jeanne Kirkpatrick, the great conservative scholar and ambassador to the United Nations? The one where she defended President Ronald Reagan’s actions to save the Caribbean island nation of Grenada from terror and totalitarianism?  Kirkpatrick scorched Reagan’s critics who refused to blame…
    James M. Roberts
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  • John Bolton: White House Plans for Post-Maduro Venezuela

    Juan Guaido, Venezuela’s lawful leader under its Constitution, was set to lead a march against Nicolas Maduro, who continued to cling to the South American nation’s presidency with the support of Russia, China, and Cuba. The U.S. is among more than 50 countries around the world backing Guaido as Venezuela’s only legitimate leader. After military…
    Fred Lucas
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  • Why All the Blame for Venezuela’s Woes Falls on Chavez and Maduro

    After my recent Spanish-language column at Univision.com looked at the economic collapse in Venezuela, I heard from proponents of socialism who tried to blame the disaster not on the socialist policies of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, but on American economic sanctions. The past week saw even more terrible news from Venezuela, with a weeklong…
    Daniel Garza
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  • Cartoon: Venezuela’s Blackout

    Michael Ramirez
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  • The ‘Mismanagement’ in Venezuela Part of Its Socialist System

    Venezuela is a disaster. Yet 20 years ago, it was the wealthiest country in Latin America. It still has the world’s biggest oil reserves. It should be a happy and prosperous nation. But then Venezuela went socialist. Democratic socialist to be exact. They voted for it. Hugo Chavez promised the poor “social and economic reforms.”…
    John Stossel
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