“As always in Colombia, the heart of the issue is cocaine.” Claire McQue tells “The Intelligence” how resurging violence has killed dozens and displaced tens of thousands. Tune in now econ.st/40PE1jG 🎧

Deeply worrying

Loved this report about people power in South Africa’s most maligned city

“There are so many bodies needing to be processed. There is such a queue of families waiting [for burial] that they are only allowed 30 minutes at the graveside.” theguardian.com/global-develop…

The ELN's role in 🇻🇪 goes beyond a strategic rearguard, as they have moved into gold mining districts and border areas, coinciding with Caracas' interests. “We know that there is a tacit alliance on the federal level in Venezuela,” I told julieturkewitz nytimes.com/2025/02/12/wor…

The IMF estimates that since 2017, Venezuelan migrants have increased annual GDP growth by 0.2 percentage points in Colombia, a boost which will last until 2030. In this week's The Economist economist.com/the-americas/2…

Cientos de migrantes deportados por Trump ahora están atrapados en el hotel Decapolis en Panamá. Les quitaron sus pasaportes, la mayoría de sus celulares y los encerraron en un hotel. Les prohibieron ver a sus abogados. Ando hilo 🧵

If Vance wants America to throw in the towel, he’s entitled to do so. But he doesn’t get to manufacture spurious arguments to justify his president’s increasingly deranged pronouncements about Ukrainian dictatorship & his desperation to normalise ties with Russia.

In April 2022 Russia controlled 19.6% of Ukrainian territory; its casualties were perhaps 20,000. Today Russia occupies 19.2% and its casualties are 800,000. Important piece on Putin’s long game in The Economist economist.com/europe/2025/02…

My brief update in ⁦The Economist⁩ on the deteriorating security situation in Colombia, where the largest active guerrilla group — the ELN — are waging war in three parts of the country. There is little stopping them. Humanitarian crises multiply: economist.com/catch-up-zelen…

Armed groups in #Colombia rely so heavily on child recruitment that in many areas, the war is over the kids. Communities who stand in the way are targeted. Kids who resist or escape are killed. Our Crisis Group story, through eyes of Cauca's children🧵 foreignaffairs.com/north-america/…

🌳 🔥 Wildfires devastated the Amazon basin in 2024 (by ⁦Claire McQue⁩ The Economist) economist.com/the-americas/2…

LatAm lost an area the size of Costa Rica from its mature tropical forests in 2024, says Global Forest Watch. Fires accounted for 60%, releasing 1.15 Gt of CO2—more than all of S. America generated by burning fossil fuels in 2023. My new story in The Economist: economist.com/the-americas/2…

a truly disturbing story. years of deforestation efforts in the Amazon undone by a single year of warming-fuelled wildfires

This week rebels coordinated attacks across south-west Colombia, days after #MiguelUribe, a presidential candidate, was shot in Bogotá. Political violence has been rising since 2022, but this marks a serious escalation. My story in @theeconomist: economist.com/the-americas/2…

🇨🇴 Petro aseguró en infinidad de ocasiones, y lo repitió en campaña, que por ninguna razón se proponía convocar una Constituyente, pero ahora retoma una vez más esa idea 👉 elpais.com/america-colomb… vía @elpaisamericaco EL PAÍS América