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Hispanic, Latinx and Caribbean Weekly News Analysis

News Summary
Date
News Week
12/03/25 to 12/10/25
Week 49

Economic News and Events

  • US sanctions and military actions intensified pressure on Venezuela's oil sector, with production at 900,000 barrels per day, compared to 3.2 million barrels per day in 2000. (Al-Azzawi, 2025)
  • The dollar exchange rate in Costa Rica has sunk to its lowest point since 2005, the Central Bank of Costa Rica shows the dollar sold for ¢488 on December 6th. (The Tico Times, 2025)
  • Al Jazeera on December 10 highlighted Latin America’s high inequality, noting that the top 10% holds 53% of global income. (Ali and Shafiq, 2025)
  • Chile's copper hit a historical record: $5.18 per pound, boosting 2026 fiscal prospects by up to $2 billion. (CLAE, 2025)

Political News and Events

  • Coverage detailed how Donald Trump has sharply escalated pressure on Nicolás Maduro through sanctions, in what he calls an anti-drug trafficking campaign. (Kozul-Wright, 2025)
  • BBC Mundo highlighted that, a week after voting, Honduras still lacked official presidential results, with the conservative Nasry Asfura and centrist Salvador Nasralla separated by a very narrow margin and the opposition denouncing irregularities. (Buschschlüter, 2025)
  • The former Bolivian president Luis Arce was detained on 10 December in connection with an investigation into alleged corruption dating back to his time as Evo Morales’s economy minister. (BBC News, 2025)
  • Growing regional concern over Donald Trump’s moves to further militarise the US–Mexico border and tighten security vetting, including plans to demand five years of social‑media history from visa applicants from tens of different countries. (FitzGerald, 2025)

Cultural News and Events

  • UNESCO inscribed Córdoba’s emblematic cuarteto on its Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage, making it Argentina’s fourth recognised cultural expression alongside tango, filete porteño and chamamé. (BAT, 2025)
  • Indigenous communities of the Santiago River in the Peruvian and Ecuadorian Amazon, have transformed a once‑feared “dangerous” river into a space for controlled tourism while defending territory, language and ecological knowledge. (Alarcón, 2025)
  • Caribbean local communities confront the tension of being both tourist destinations and strategic political outposts, raising questions about Caribbean identity, memories of earlier foreign interventions, and the cultural consequences of having an expanded military footprint in the region. (Orgaz, 2025)

Social News and Events

  • Haiti remained the region’s most acute humanitarian and security emergency, with gang violence continuing to displace hundreds of thousands, disrupt markets and schools, and leave about half of the analyzed population in acute food insecurity. (ACLED, 2025)
  • Region‑wide, migration remained a central social issue, shaped not only by local crises but also by abrupt shifts in U.S. policy under President Donald Trump, such as new restrictions affecting Cubans, Haitians and Venezuelans. (Robertson, 2025)

References

11/25/25 to 12/02/25
Week 48

Economic News and Events

  • CNN Americas reports that monthly inflation in Caracas has surged back into the 20–30% range, with the bolívar losing around 70% of its value in just three months. (Pozzebon, 2025)
  • Argentina’s economic activity grew 5% year‑on‑year in September and 0.5% month‑on‑month, beating expectations and supporting forecasts of around 3.9% GDP growth in 2025, even as annual inflation is still projected to be close to 30%. (Tobias, 2025)
  • In Costa Rica, tourism revenues and employment are dropping, with an estimated 22,000 jobs lost and many firms facing thinner margins as they earn in dollars but pay costs in the national currency. (The Tico Times, 2025)
  • Honduras remains the poorest country in Latin America (excluding Haiti) by the share of people living on less than about US$3 per day. (BBC Mundo, 2025)

Political News and Events

  • Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro accused President Donald Trump of trying to seize Venezuela’s vast oil reserves under the cover of anti‑narcotics operations. (Rowlands, 2025)
  • Trump’s declaration that Venezuelan airspace is “completely closed,” has reduced commercial flights and left thousands of passengers stranded, while Caracas denounces the move as a “colonialist threat” and rights groups label recent lethal maritime operations possible extrajudicial killings. (Alonso, 2025)
  • The Tico Times reports that President Daniel Ortega’s government has moved around 40 political prisoners from jail to house arrest amid US pressure. (The tico times, 2025)
  • Costa Rica revisits the 1948 abolition of its army, highlighting how this decision shaped its reputation as a “demilitarized democracy” and continues to define its regional identity. (The tico times, 2025)

Cultural News and Events

  • Argentina's 34th annual LGBTQ Pride march held in November expresses both celebration and resistance under President Javier Milei’s right‑wing government. This reinforces Buenos Aires’s role as a symbolic hub of progressive Latin American culture and a reference point for LGBTQ activism across the region. (Buenos Aires Times, AFP, Perfil, & NA. 2025)
  • Latin American intellectuals and artists emphasize that the region has long served as a “laboratory” where politics and culture are tightly intertwined, with literature, music and visual arts often anticipating or critiquing political shifts that later affect diaspora communities. (de Cabo, 2025)

Social News and Events

  • Costa Rica’s worsening social crisis, characterized by rising structural violence, polarization and a spike in femicides, even as the country maintains a reputation for stability. At the same time, coverage of Costa Rica’s army‑free model highlights how past decisions to channel resources into health and education helped create a more equal society. (The Tico Times staff, 2025)
  • Hate crimes against LGBTQ people in Argentina increased by about 70% in the first half of 2025 compared with a year earlier, including a notorious triple femicide targeting lesbians in May 2024. (Buenos Aires Times, AFP, Perfil, & NA. 2025)

References