The Latin American Report # 679

This Saturday, during the last summit of the year for the MERCOSUR bloc, Javier Milei, an eternal debtor to the Republican White House, backed the American approach concerning Venezuela. "Argentina welcomes the pressure from the United States and Donald Trump to liberate the Venezuelan people. The time for a timid approach on this matter has run out. We also urge all other members of the bloc to support this position and unequivocally condemn this authoritarian experiment," said the head of the Pink House in the Brazilian city of Foz de Iguazú.

Since August, US military forces have been deployed in the Caribbean Sea off Venezuela, with the apparent goal of striking a drug trafficking network whose mastermind, allegedly, is in the very Miraflores Palace. This week, Washington reinforced its strategy against Maduro by declaring not only that he leads the so-called, Treasury-targeted Cartel of the Suns, but that his own government structure is a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Since September 2nd, the rebranded US Department of War has conducted 28 highly disputed attacks against vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean, allegedly involved in drug trafficking activities, which have resulted in 104 victims.

The quite large military buildup, which includes the best US aircraft carrier, appears to be part of a psywar-type effort aimed at the "voluntary" surrender of the Chavista leader, without ruling out that it may directly lead to intervention or the execution of land attacks within Venezuela. To the set of pressure tools was added the seizure of tankers involved in the trade of Venezuelan, OFAC-targeted crude oil, instituted as "policy" this week via Truth Social by the owner of the Resolute desk. Although it was said that the tankers subject to seizure were those included on the SDN List, this Saturday it was reported that an un-sanctioned, Chinese-owned, Panama-flagged, and Asia-bound large tanker with 1.8 million barrels of Merey heavy-grade crude was boarded by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Asian buyers have pressured Caracas for representative discounts amid all the problems caused by Trump's "naval blockade." But, on the other hand, even Venezuelans in the United States are denouncing the latest turn by the US president, which for now has unmasked his interest in Venezuela's abundant, world-record oil reserves under a false narrative. "That one monster defeats another monster may bring relief, but it does not force me to side with the remaining monster," the female director of the Venezuelan American Caucus group told EFE from Miami.

MERCOSUR

As part of the MERCOSUR presidents' summit, Uruguay's Yamandú Orsi demanded flexibility in the rules that prevent current members of the bloc (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil) from independently negotiating the signing of trade treaties. "It is imperative that as our needs evolve, the bloc is flexible and modern enough to give us the necessary space to foster the development of our economies and generate substantial growth and benefits for our peoples," stated Orsi, amplifying a demand that Argentina's Javier Milei has also made before but which Peña does not seem to share, although he has other criticisms. Montevideo joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in November. The MERCOSUR is not as compact or united as in the first decade of this century, when the left was the main political force in South America.

EU/MERCOSUR

The President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, António Costa, signed a letter addressed to the head of the Palácio do Planalto, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, committing to sign next month the long-negotiated free trade agreement between the blocs. France and Italy prevented the deal from being signed during this MERCOSUR summit, where Paraguay assumed the temporary presidency of the bloc.

"Experience shows that when Mercosur tries to move forward in a monolithic manner, processes are delayed and opportunities are lost. The relationship with the European Union is a case in point of that slowness, because after decades of negotiations we have not been able to finalize a trade agreement," said Milei, using the context to insist on the need to make the referred bloc negotiation rules more flexible. The new commercial target for MERCOSUR is Vietnam's dynamic economy, betting on achieving a tariff preference agreement with Hanoi.

Regional brief news

• The Bolivian government managed to convince a major transport union to accept the controversial elimination of the fuel subsidy. However, it must be noted that this progress was reached in Santa Cruz, which is the country's main economic engine but also the stronghold of the opposition. "For us, it has been a hard blow, but we have to adjust (…) we believe other transporters must adjust as well, we cannot live at the expense of the State," said a representative of heavy transport there. However, large unions stand on the fight and called for a general and indefinite strike, starting Monday, until the presidential decree is repealed.
  

• Nasry Asfura maintains his lead over Salvador Nasralla, set at 24,807 votes, as of 5:50 PM local time in Honduras. There are still more than 1,800 ballot boxes to be recounted as part of the special review process, which could be followed by another lengthy one to resolve the challenges from the different political parties. In truth, we are talking about a very opaque, poorly designed—from the law itself—electoral process. Among the worst of the world with distance. The general elections took place on November 30th. Shame.
  

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This is all for today’s report.