The Latin American Report # 697

The recent announcement of a trade agreement between New Delhi and Washington, with potential negative implications for Moscow, serves as a natural argument for me to discuss the possibilities of the BRICS group becoming a serious political-economic force not just in relation to the US-led international order but even for itself. In this sense, if there is no strategic cohesion even in its founding core, what remains for those second-level members like Cuba, where some wishful thinkers see BRICS as a hope for growth or at least to alleviate the harsh economic panorama it faces? The Indian prime minister expressed feeling "delighted" by the agreement and committed to working with U.S. President Donald Trump "to take [their] partnership to unprecedented heights."

This EFE wire report indicates that the state-owned refinery Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd has stopped buying Russian crude and is now betting on starting to import Venezuelan Merey 16-grade heavy crude, which perfectly fits its technical requirements. The head of the White House is confident that closing markets to Russian crude can somehow pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin within the framework of negotiations to reach an agreement on the war in Ukraine. According to the mendicant Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, if international pressure on Russia is not intensified, the deadly conflict will not end.

The crypto way

This Reuters wire report leads me to draw another interesting parallel between what is happening in the international arena and Cuba. According to the extensive report from the British news agency, the volume of crypto activity attributable to Iran is receiving exhaustive scrutiny from the US Treasury Department. The interest is to find out if Iran state-linked wallets have taken advantage of the crypto environment to evade US sanctions. As journalists Elizabeth Howcroft and Tommy Reggiori Wilkes acknowledge, "Iran has been effectively severed from the dollar-based system."

Cuba is a country even more isolated from the international economic, commercial, and financial order than Iran, which is why I have suggested that turning to cryptocurrencies could be a necessary move of potential strategic value for the Island. "The harder one squeezes the Iranian economy, the more one better be ready to deal with the consequences, one of which is the expanding use of crypto," the director of the Royal United Services Institute's Centre for Finance and Security told Reuters. If Havana has moved in that direction, it does not seem to have done so with much success, given the extraordinary liquidity scarcity plaguing the Antillean nation, more besieged than ever—in a comprehensive sense—by Washington.

Regional news brief

Where is Evo Morales?, via AP.

Argentina

The devastating wildfires in Argentine Patagonia highlight the consequences of a budget cut policy implemented without sufficient comprehensiveness and responsibility. In this regard, I recommend reading this wire from the AP agency.

On immigration.

To be continued 👇

Judge blocks Trump administration from ending protections for Haitianshttps://t.co/2eFjFMuOCL

— Darius Radzius (@DariusRadzius) February 3, 2026

At least there seems to be a change in tone here 👇; whether it materializes is another matter.

China warns Panama of 'heavy prices' to pay after CK Hutchison contract quashed https://t.co/BeDGrabdhP

— Centro Estudios y Análisis sobre el Futuro Europa (@F_CEAFE) February 3, 2026

This is all for today’s report.