Welcome to “The New Monroe Doctrine,” where I give you an update on what’s going on in the Western Hemisphere, south of our border, especially as it relates to the United States.
I write this column every Friday, and every weekend I get a ton of emails about it, which I love. But lately, there’s been a lot of “why don’t you cover this country?” in my inbox, the comments section, and even on social media, so I thought I’d give y’all what you’ve asked for. Rather than picking a handful of the hottest stories from the hemisphere this week, I’m going to give you some news out of every country in the Caribbean and Latin America. Buckle up! This is going to be quite a ride through the Americas.
Mexico
The biggest news out of Mexico this week is probably Claudia Sheinbaum’s government admitting that an oil spill that happened in February in the Gulf of Mexico, that hurt marine life and stained beaches, was caused by a leak near the Abkatun field run by state-owned Pemex. The government initially blamed seabeds and tankers, and now some Pemex executives will lose their jobs over the matter.
Meanwhile, the New York Times did a piece on the 133,000 people currently missing in Mexico, thanks to organized crime. This is a topic we don’t talk about enough, in my opinion.
And if you were a big fan of Punch the Monkey in Japan, you may want to acquaint yourself with Yuji at the Guadalajara Zoo. This little patas monkey was rejected by his mother, and he’s being raised by zookeepers and a teddy bear, and he’s adorable.
A baby patas monkey Yuji at Guadalajara Zoo, Mexico is being hand raised after his first-time mother couldn’t care for him.
He is around 5–6 weeks old and being fed around the clock. The teddy bear he holds gives comfort and replaces maternal contact.pic.twitter.com/nKNpibrOKP
— Volcaholic 🌋 (@volcaholic1) April 14, 2026
Belize
A kind of weird story that dominated the headlines in Belize this week was that of a local village mayor who went missing for two days. He was allegedly abducted by two men while on the way to his farm on Monday, tied up, and returned on Wednesday, claiming to be in pain after being abused. It most likely has something to with land disputes in Mayan communities.
Meanwhile, on Friday, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with Prime Minister John Briceño and Foreign Minister Francis Fonseca.
And Belizean law enforcement authorities arrested four individuals (two from Mexico, two from Belize) after they landed a plane with over over 1,200 pounds of cocaine. Their plane became of interest when the United States Interagency Task Force South detected the unidentified aircraft over the Pacific Ocean near San Jose, Costa Rica.
Costa Rica
Speaking of Costa Rica, the Central American nation accepted its first plane of third-country migrants deported from the U.S. — including individuals from Albania, Cameroon, China, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Kenya, and Morocco — after signing an agreement with the Donald Trump administration in March.
The country also experienced a magnitude 5.7 earthquake in the Tamarindo area.
El Salvador
Nayib Bukele continues to make El Salvador great again. This week, he announced Phase 2 of DoctorSV, the government’s ambitious AI-assisted digital health platform. It uses AI built on Google’s Gemini model to help detect, diagnose, monitor, and manage chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and kidney disease.
Step by step, building the best healthcare system in the world. pic.twitter.com/TRIbkdbKwX
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) April 16, 2026
And then there’s this: Democrats are, once again, attacking Bukele. I’ll let Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) explain:
Today, Democrats are holding a hearing to accuse President Bukele of human rights abuses which is all lies. I went to El Salvador (with Democrats) and we witnessed the TRUTH first hand. Thank you @nayibbukele for liberating the El Salvadoran people and your amazing country. pic.twitter.com/bVsqQMk88R
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) April 16, 2026
Guatemala
The Special Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) for the Strengthening of Democratic Institutions in Guatemala concluded its fourth official visit to the country this week. The goal was to ensure fairness and democracy within the country’s institutions. The mission praised the new Constitutional Court, but stressed that the Attorney General selection process must be transparent and based on real merit and integrity.
Honduras
Honduras was one of those countries than moved to the right in 2025, electing President Nasry “Tito” Asfura, who is a part of Trump and Marco Rubio’s Shield of the Americas. The biggest story in the country right now is that the National Congress is attempting to impeach officials from the left-wing LIBRE party, based on their “handling of the previous electoral process, amid accusations of irregularities and actions that would have affected the institutional framework.”
On another note, CNN released the first photos of a “cloud jaguar” that was spotted in the Honduran Sierra del Merendón mountains for the first time in over a decade earlier this year. Jaguars have lost 49% of their historic range in the Americas, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
First ‘Cloud Jaguar’ spotted in 10 years sparks hope in Honduras.
Camera traps have photographed a jaguar high up in the Honduran Sierra del Merendón mountain range, the first time the big cat has been detected there in a decade.
In images shared exclusively with CNN, the lone… pic.twitter.com/oARJh9bfOq
— PROTECT ALL WILDLIFE (@Protect_Wldlife) April 14, 2026
Nicaragua
What can I say? Repression continues. On Thursday, Scott Bessent slapped some new sanctions on some members of the Ortega-Murillo family and companies involved in seizing a U.S.-linked gold mining company and handing it over to China. You can read more about that here: Bessent & Rubio’s Western Hemisphere Blitz: Snatching Visas, Slapping Sanctions.
Panama
There’s a bit of a traffic jam at the Panama Canal this week due to what’s going on in Iran and the Middle East. One tanker — with a Singapore flag but owned by a China-based company (of course) — paid a record $4 million at an auction to jump the queue and get a priority transit slot. That’s nearly four times normal amounts and raised quite a few eyebrows in the shipping industry. The Panama Canal Authority downplayed the amount, claiming it “reflects temporary market shifts” and isn’t the new normal.
Argentina
President Javier Milei will head to Israel next week. He’s the first foreign leader to light a torch at Israel’s official Independence Day event in Jerusalem.
In other fun news, Argentine soccer fans are asking their leader to grow a mustache before the World Cup. Why? “Argentina’s three men’s World Cup final wins each came at a time when the country’s president wore a moustache.”
Bolivia
Bolivia, another country that is part of Trump and Rubio’s Shield of the Americas, is continuing to dismantle what decades of socialism did to the nation. This weekend, the country will hold governor run-off elections in five departments. Many say this is the first big test of the newly elected president, President Rodrigo Paz.
Paz’s government has also “finalized the draft of a new hydrocarbons law, marking a key reform aimed at reviving energy investment and steering Bolivia’s energy sector toward bolstering natural gas and oil production.”
Brazil
Some of the biggest news out of Brazil continues to be the upcoming October presidential elections. Current president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva continues to fall in the polls, and his main opponent, Flávio Bolsonaro, is gaining traction in polls and prediction markets.
BREAKING: Pro-Trump Flávio Bolsonaro officially overtakes China-aligned Lula as the frontrunner to win the Brazil presidential election. pic.twitter.com/QXkGfpmjyH
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) April 14, 2026
Lula also unleashed on Trump during an interview this week, saying he “has no right to wake up in the morning and threaten a country” (meaning Iran and Venezuela).
Chile
A few weeks ago, I started writing an article on Chile’s newly elected president, José Antonio Kast, called “How to Dismantle Socialism in a Week or Less.” I never got around to finishing it, but Kast — another one of those “rightward swing” leaders who was a part of the Shield of the Americas —has been in office just over a month, and he’s doing just that. This week, he introduced a big (beautiful?) bill that would eliminate or roll back several hardcore environmental regulations, reduce the corporate tax, and eliminate property tax for senior citizens. He also began deporting people who are in Chile illegally — something that was a major part of his campaign platform.
Colombia
Gustavo Petro will only be in office for a few more months, and hopefully, Colombia will soon have a new, more conservative (and sane) leader. I won’t get much into that today, but I find it funny that Petro’s government appears to be losing its own left-wing allies. FECODE, Colombia’s largest teacher’s union and a big Petro supporter, has been striking this week due to a number of grievances and a recently reformed healthcare plan.
Ecuador
I’ll keep Ecuador light too since I’ve been covering it a lot independently lately. One big story is that President Daniel Noboa is promising no big energy crisis this year, like the country has experienced in years past. While high demand and the dry season are causing some outages, he promises that the country has enough supply for the rest of the month of April. Last year, Bolivia suffered through 8 to 14-hour rolling blackouts. Many are calling it a major test of his credibility, though I think he’s already proven himself with his recent security efforts, but that’s just me.
Guyana
In Guyana, the big news is that President Irfaan Ali announced that the country is in serious talks to build its first local oil refinery. He said it will help meet local demand and protect national and regional security, which is a major issue for him. He was one of only a few Caribbean leaders at the Shield of the Americas summit.
Paraguay
Y’all ask me about Paraguay a lot, and I don’t write about it much because it’s a pretty stable, conservative place overall — probably one of the most stable and socially conservative places in Latin America. As a matter of fact it’s so stable that Brazilians seeking to get out from under Lula’s socialism are moving there in droves. Many are moving their businesses there too. “Paraguay broke a record in 2025 by granting 40,600 residency permits to foreigners. More than half — 23,500 — went to Brazilians, far outpacing the 4,300 Argentines in second place.”
Peru
The big story out of Peru was that the country held its elections on Sunday, and they were about as chaotic as you might expect from a country that’s had nine presidents in a decade. Officials were arrested. Voting deadlines had to be extended. Some candidates are crying fraud. Right now, it looks like with about 90% of the votes counted, right-winger Keiko Fujimori (17% of the vote) and leftist congressman Roberto Sánchez (12%) will face a runoff in June. I hope to write more about that when we have real, concrete news.
Suriname
The U.S. Air Force launched the Lesser Antilles Medical Assistance Team (LAMAT) 2026 mission in Suriname this week, a “health security cooperation engagement designed to strengthen partnerships, boost medical readiness, and improve access to care across the Caribbean and Latin America.” It’s funny, I spent months listening to George Stephanopoulos tell Rubio that the U.S. was just letting everyone in poorer countries die now.
Uruguay
Uruguay hosted the second annual Regional Coordination Meeting of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Southern Cone Division in Montevideo last weekend. It brought together representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and the United States to discuss combating drug trafficking and organized crime in our region.
Venezuela
An underreported congressional hearing on the Western Hemisphere from this week gave us a lot of interesting information about Venezuela. I wrote about that here: State Department on Venezuela: No Trust, Just Leverage… and a Plan for Elections?
Antigua and Barbuda
And now, for the Caribbean. I’m actually going to Antigua and Barbuda later this year, so I hope to learn more about it in the future. What I can tell you right now is that Prime Minister Gaston Browne (leader of the ruling Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party – ABLP) (and center-right) called for snap elections on April 30, two years shy of the actual election date. He says it’s to secure a fresh mandate amid global uncertainty, but when you get down to it, it sounds like he’s just battling for continued power against the leftist United Progressive Party (UPP). Godspeed, sir.
Bahamas
Lynnette Hooker, a 55-year-old Michigan woman has gone missing in the Bahamas. It happened earlier this month, but it’s getting major media coverage now. She and her husband were sailing when she allegedly fell overboard. Her husband was arrested briefly, but authorities released him, and he’s back in the United States.
Barbados
Barbados’ government has announced that it’s investing $80 million into its water infrastructure. (I know, I know, but people ask me about Barbados, and that seems to be the biggest story of the week.)
Cuba
Cuba is, well, Cuba. I’ve written at length about it lately. But President Trump is speaking as I write this and said that soon, the U.S. military will bring a “new dawn” to Cuba.
NOW – Trump says very soon the “great strength” of the American military will create “a new dawn for Cuba.” pic.twitter.com/EW3kjmaoqC
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) April 17, 2026
Dominica
Dominica’s electricity company (DOMLEC) announced a significant increase in the fuel surcharge for April 2026, largely driven by the rise in global fuel costs.
Dominican Republic
Sadly, parts of the Dominican Republic have experienced intense rains and flooding this week. President Luis Abinader declared a national emergency in several provinces and the capital. Up to 10 people died, around 30,000 have been displaced, and over 6,000 homes have been damaged.
Grenada
In Grenada, attempting or committing suicide is considered a criminal act. This week, the government is advancing legislation to decriminalize it.
Haiti
Around 30 people died in a stampede in Haiti and many more were injured at the historic Citadelle Laferriere World UNESCO heritage site. Students and visitors were taking part in an annual celebration at the popular tourist destination. It’s not clear exactly what happened, but several people have been arrested.
Jamaica
Jamaica has also been hit hard by global fuel prices, which is driving up gasoline, diesel, and electricity costs on the island. The government is adding a cushion via Petrojam subsidies but may have to introduce a new pricing system soon.
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Things seem to be going much better in Saint Kitts and Nevis. The Economic Times just named the country one of the best places to visit in the Caribbean due to the fact that it offers a slower pace of life and isn’t overly crowded. And speaking of tourism, the country welcomed four cruise ships in one day this week, which meant it saw over 10,500 visitors in one day. Hopefully, it’s still not too crowded after that.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
SVG and Taiwan celebrated 45 years of diplomatic relations with Taiwan this week, which included an official visit to Taiwan’s Navy’s 2026 Midshipmen Cruising and Training Squadron,
Trinidad and Tobago
Last but not least, another one of our partners at the Shield of the Americas, Trinidad and Tobago declared a state of emergency in March due to violent crime that impacts public safety. This week, the State Department renewed its Level 3 travel advisory to the country, stating, “Reconsider travel to Trinidad and Tobago due to crime. There is also a heightened risk of terrorism. Some areas have an increased risk.”
—————————-
And there you have it. Some of the biggest headlines from every country in the Western Hemisphere from this week (minus the U.S. and Canada). That was exhausting, but kind of fun. I won’t do this every week, but I hear y’all loud and clear. I will start covering more countries beyond the ones that are the loudest.
Well, as I say, Rubio isn’t handing my exclusives… yet. But after writing that, I think I know more about Latin America and the Caribbean than he does, and I don’t need his exclusives to do my work. I kid!
Have a great weekend, y’all!
You won’t find coverage of the Western Hemisphere and Trump and Rubio’s attention to our partners (and adversaries) in the Americas like this anywhere else. But we can only do it with your support. Please consider becoming a PJ Media VIP member, so we can continue bringing you the news you won’t find in the MSM. It’s less than $20 for an entire year!
