Good morning and happy Friday! Here are the links to the four newsletters published this week.

• Monday - United States - Remain in Mexico renewed

• Tuesday - Nicaragua - Switching recognition to Beijing 

• Wednesday - Politics and Polls (Chile and Colombia)

• Thursday - Ecuador - Lasso's crash - Latin America Risk Report 

As usual, Tuesday’s newsletter was sent to everyone as are the Friday links. The other three newsletters are for subscribers only. 

The reading list links will be sent on Thursday the next two weeks due to the holidays. We may also take a day or two off as things slow down over the coming weeks. Back to the usual schedule early in the new year.

Reading List

New York Times - Haiti’s Leader Kept a List of Drug Traffickers. His Assassins Came for It.

Florida International University - Extortion: The Backbone of Criminal Activity in Latin America

Al Jazeera - How left-wing forces are regaining ground in Latin America

Wall Street Journal - Lithium Prices Soar, Turbocharged By Electric-Vehicle Demand and Scant Supply

New York Times - Green-Energy Race Draws an American Underdog to Bolivia’s Lithium

U. S. Treasury Department - Treasury Uses New Sanctions Authority to Combat Global Illicit Drug Trade

Washington Post - Harris announces private-sector investments as she seeks to address migration from Central America

Washington Post - Opinion: Chile’s election will define its national identity and political struggles all over Latin America

InSight Crime - Could US Anti-Violence Models Work in Latin America?

InSight Crime - Pins and Needles – How Credit Card Fraud Works in Latin America

Wall Street Journal - Brazil Grapples With Old Nemesis Inflation Amid Pandemic

Bloomberg - Brazil Sacks IMF Office, Complaining About Its Estimates

Financial Times - Bunge and Cargill linked to soya supply chains with deforestation risk

Economist - What a Brazilian state can teach the world about education

Bloomberg - Big Oil Gets a Second Chance for Giant Offshore Fields in Brazil

Washington Post - Foreign travelers to Brazil must be vaccinated, high court rules in challenge to unvaccinated Bolsonaro

BBC - Brazil wildfires killed an estimated 17 million animals

Bloomberg - U.S. ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ Mexico Will Moderate Energy Bill

Wall Street Journal - Mexico Says Planned U.S. Tax Breaks for Electric Vehicles Risk Fueling Migration

Washington Post - The last bullfight? Mexico City weighs a ban

Associated Press - US and Mexico begin work on new security framework

Vice - ‘It Was Slaughter’: Migrant Crash Victims Paid Thousands to Reach the US

Wall Street Journal - Venezuela’s Fatal Embrace of Cuba

Financial Times - Digital scheme pays Venezuela health workers from frozen funds

Financial Times - Only a great-power bargain can solve Venezuela’s crisis

Washington Post - ‘Super Mustache’: Venezuela’s newest superhero battles Americans — and looks very familiar

Voz de América - “Autoritarismo digital de China” a la medida de Venezuela

Chatham House - Reforming Venezuela’s electricity sector

Bloomberg - How a Peace Deal in Colombia Brought War on the Amazon

BBC - The priests navigating Colombia's conflict zones

Global Americans - Colombia Is (Finally) Getting on the Trains Train

Washington Post - Colombian police responsible for ‘massacre’ of 11 people in 2020 protests, U.N.-backed investigators conclude

Reuters - Peru's poor Andean hamlets, backed by state, unleash anger at mines

NPR - Vaccinators in Peru's Amazon are challenged by religion, rivers and a special tea

Foreign Affairs - Chile’s Uncertain Next Chapter

Bloomberg - Privatized Water Is in Cross-Hairs of Chile Constitution Writers

Economist - Chile’s presidential front-runners edge towards the centre

U.S. Justice Department - Panamanian Intermediary Pleads Guilty for His Role in an International Bribery and Money Laundering Scheme

BBC - Nicaragua receives China vaccines after cutting ties with Taiwan

Univision - Imminent extradition. Is that what awaits Juan Orlando Hernandez?

Americas Quarterly - From Bad to Worse: Nayib Bukele’s Split with Washington

Human Rights Watch - El Salvador: Critics Blocked on Social Media

Financial Times - Taiwan ally Guatemala fends off Beijing overtures

BBC - Record numbers of young Guatemalans migrate north, leaving families in limbo

Wall Street Journal - Haiti Kidnapping: What Happened to the U.S. Missionaries and When Were They Released?

Washington Post - Remaining U.S., Canadian missionaries kidnapped in Haiti are released

Foreign Affairs - A New Cuba? The Fight to Define the Post-Castro Era

Washington Post - More than 100 House Democrats urge Biden to implement changes in Cuba policy

Rest of World - “We don’t expect Philip Morris to solve tobacco addiction”: Sophie Zhang and a Honduran disinformation researcher on Facebook’s election problem

The Atlantic - America Is Not Ready for Omicron

Washington Post - Documents link Huawei to China’s surveillance programs

Bloomberg - Chinese Spies Accused of Using Huawei in Secret Australia Telecom Hack

NPR - Authoritarians are using migrants as weapons. The White House frets it's on the rise

Upcoming Events

20 December, CSIS - The Future of Security in Venezuela

20 December, Canadian Council for the Americas - The Day After: Chile's Presidential Election

Thanks for reading

Have a great weekend!